A Series of Unfortunate Events (Day One)

Before I post my Series of Unfortunate Events happenings, I need to preface it with my notion that for the most part, I don't believe in bad vacations. I believe that you can make a vacation great regardless of "unfortunate events". There just seemed to be a few extra difficulties on this particular vacation. Some are humorous happenings, and others (the injury ones) a little sad. There were also, MANY wonderful, fun, exciting parts of the trip that I will get to later. Regardless of the good, or the bad, I believe in this quote, "Happiness isn't a circumstance or a situation, it's a decision."

Our annual trip to Flaming Gorge began on Wednesday, July 6th. It takes a village – well maybe just a family in full cooperation – to prepare for camping at Flaming Gorge. Once we were packed, and ready we left for our trip. The beginning of our trip was very uneventful. We made it to our destination without any troubles. We unpacked quickly, with the help of several kind cousins. We were anxious to get out on the lake and take an evening ride in the boat. After launching the boat, the kids came around to the dock to pick me up. I jumped on the front of the boat, and as I did something slipped out of my jacket pocket, into the lake.

“The keys”, Sarah shouted. The car keys had slipped into the murky water at the dock, quickly making their way to the bottom of the lake. “Oh, no”, I shrieked. Unfortunately, the water is extremely high this year which makes the possibility of finding your keys very slim.

Wanting to solve the problem, I quickly ran to the store at the marina and asked for suggestions. Stacy, Jimmy, and Johnny, became some of my best marina friends. They tied a large magnet to 40 feet of rope to try to fish my keys out of the water. Jimmy fished for my keys for a long time; I got to hear a lot of stories, and learned about selective listening as Jimmy enjoyed telling stories with a lot of profanity. I also, learned to limit the amount of fresh air I inhaled since Jimmy liked his cigarettes. Regardless of Jimmy's vices, he was a good man to offer his assistance.

After idea number one failed, I moved on to other sources. I called On-Star, AAA, and Chevy roadside Service. After hours of researching my problem, a child of mine informed me that we had a duplicate key at home. This information may have been useful hours ago. I quickly called Meagan to bring up the spare key when she came the next evening.

Luckily, we camp with Steve’s family and the Thomas’s, so although I had no transportation, no money, we were not alone. We slipped the boat at night, so we could boat, but we needed transportation to get to the boat, and money for our necessities.

With our kindhearted relatives we were never without anything we needed, and were able to boat the next day with the cousins.