English Island 2012

 This year's visit to the English island camp on Lake Minitaki was extra special because we were finally able to align our vacation with other family members.  In total, 8 of us plus a puppy made it to the island at the same time.  This made for good company, lots of laughs and amazing meals.  Unlike last year, the water levels were high enough to go fishing, which resulted in several breaded pickerel feasts accompanied with wild rice or potato and grilled veggies.  On non fish days, we dined on steaks or pasta with italian sausage with fresh Ontario corn grilled on the BBQ and an assortment of salads such as German potato salad, warm mushroom salad with dijon vinagrette, green bean and mandarin orange salad with candied pecans.  Not bad for supposedly roughing it in the woods!

 Happy days were spent fishing at the falls, visits to the nearby beach, swimming, reading, knitting, playing board games or just chilling by the rocks or on the deck.  At night we played "family team euchre" with two people collaborating to play each of the four hands.   This made for very interesting team dynamics.

The scenery was gorgeous as usual with beautiful sunsets and moon rises.  Over the years, the family has amassed a huge array of sunset photos looking out from the island.

This year there was an unusually varied number of wildlife sightings, mostly by the rest of the family before Rich and I arrived.  As usual we saw multiple loons gliding and diving in the lake and bald eagles soaring up above.  But there were also bears roaming around the Sioux Lookout trash dump waiting their next snack to be delivered.  In the reeds en route to the falls, a moose and baby calf were spotted.  And the rarest as well as the scariest sighting of all was a fairly large lynx swimming between two islands.  Our family members were in the motor boat when they saw what they thought was a beaver heading towards shore.  When it got out and turned to stare them down, they realized it was actually a very wet and menacing looking lynx. 

It was great spending time with our extended family on this peaceful, beautiful island.