A River Queen & Putt-Putt Revenge

Late morning, we hopped on our bikes and pedaled about two miles to the Roosevelt Trail Causeway that separates Long Lake from Chute River. This is a hopping tourist area with lots of boat docks, restaurants, and shoppes. We boarded the Songo River Queen II for a two-hour tour of Long Lake.

The diesel-powered paddleboat slowly proceeded up one coast of the lake and back along the other side with narration by the captain in a strong New England accent. We observed all types of lake residences from campgrounds, to traditional cottages, to huge mansions. And we watched lakers enjoy swimming, boating, fishing, paddle-boarding, sun bathing, jet skiing and other lakey activities. Our captain said that the upper three feet of the lake freezes during the winter so that vehicles and snowmobiles can be driven, and ice fishing sheds installed, on the lake. My southern mind couldn’t conjure up this image. But, at least the lake house owners get another season of use from their expensive properties. 

After docking and disembarking, Jane and I walked across the street to Rick’s Cafe for a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner. Besides sampling local beers, I had a delicious lobster & scallop cream sauce dish while Jane ordered a clam cake sandwich that she deemed so-so. 

After eating, we got back on our bikes and on the way back to the campground, stopped at the Steamboat Landing Miniature Golf course for a round. The last time we played putt-putt was about a year ago in Corolla while celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Jane clobbered me on that bout so, this was my chance for revenge. The course was crowded. There was a family in front of us with a young boy wielding his special putter. He was entertaining to watch and we got tips from the others in the group on the best way to approach each hole. I played well and made almost all of my straight putts. Jane, on the other hand, after getting a hole-in-one on the first hole, was having problems. Funny, how our roles had completely changed since our last match. I ended up well under par and reclaimed the putt-putt victor’s crown, at least for now.

After the game, we continued on our bikes to the RV site. For the evening, I read my ebook outside while Jane was in a nostalgic mood and watched an episode of Columbo on our cable tv. I couldn’t resist coming in for the final scenes, “Uh, just one more thing”.