Ideas for improving your summer

I highly recommend urging some really nice friends to buy a boat. Then you get to ride in the boat without actually buying one and having to figure out how to fix it and all that boring grownup stuff. Plus if you're really cheeky, you can bring more friends along to share the fun, like maybe your red-haired goddaughter (maniac in bottom photo) and her family. And even if on some sunny weekend you aren't invited, as long as you know where they like to launch the boat, you could just sit there and look really pitiful and because they're so nice maybe they'll let you on board anyway. Next summer I could hedge my bets by bringing a cooler full of Pepsi and beer....or ewww, maybe not.

By the way, Lyons Ferry is a fantastic day trip from Walla Walla, but it was a pretty miserable place to camp. Nothing much but sun and rattlesnakes. Poor Claire--we always have her stay with us for the hottest week of the summer!