Were They Trying To Kill Me?

I am a water person always have been.  I am a June baby, born under the Zodiac sign of Cancer the crab a water animal.  I have lived most of my life on the west coast of the United States.  Born and raised in Berkeley/Oakland area near water later moving to Seattle surrounded by water and going to college in Santa Barbara less than 2 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Then of course being married on the water on a boat in Seattle.  So it would come as a huge blow when my job relocated my husband and me to Denver for two years.  A landlocked state with limited water; I was stir crazy quickly.  The only bodies of water in the greater Denver area were Dams and Reservoirs not really my idea of water fun but it would have to do for the time being.  In Colorado most water activities take place either on a dam or a reservoir strange for a west coast girl.  For two years I would long for huge bodies of water. 

During this two year stint in Colorado my mother in law and husband would have a great idea or at least I thought.  They would take me to a place called ElevenMileState Park which had what I thought was a huge lake and that sounded awesome to me. I was ready and willing to go.  So we packed up our car for a long day trip of picnicking and hiking and hopefully for me a day by and in the water. I brought my swimsuit in hopes of cooling off since it was an extremely hot day in summer.  The drive was a little over 2 hours from Denver to Colorado Springs and then west to ElevenMileState Park.

When we got there the park was pretty there was a place to picnic, hike and enjoy the beauty that is uniquely Colorado.  We ate our lunch and decided to go for a hike to look around this huge park.  We had been there for almost an hour and I was still wondering where the damn lake was because I didn’t see any water other than the bottled water I had brought with me.  I was starting to get a little suspicious but it was such a beautiful day I decided to look at the glass as half full not half empty and poisoned.

Finally, after another 15 minutes we came upon the lake.  It was truly beautiful and I was excited to jump in and cool off but there were a few things that struck me automatically. The first was that there was no one on or in this lake.  WTF? Where was everyone?  As we got closer to the lake I saw a little shack and could tell that there were many different types of boats next to this shed type thing.  Getting closer I could see that it was a boat rental facility.  And then I saw the sign.  No Swimming!! What? No Swimming? This was crazy.  I still tried to stay positive. Well at least we could go out on a boat.  My husband knew immediately that I was disappointed, he saw the sign and going swimming was all I talked about the whole ride up.  He gave me a look after he spied the sign that said, “I’m sorry I know you wanted to go swimming but don’t be too disappointed.”  

By the time we got to the boat shed I was ready to get out on a boat to at least be out on the water would be a good thing.  I was ready.  Everyone who was on the boat had to wear a life vest which was fine with me, then we had to choose our boat.  I saw this cute little sailboat that I wanted to go out on but my mother in law suggested that we go with a bigger boat so that all three of us could go together.  Boy was I settling on this trip.  The boat was huge and metal not cute at all but at least it had a motor.  I should have been suspicious again but I wasn’t.  I was bummed and just wanted to get out on the water.  

So we got our vests on and carried the boat to the shore.  Put the boat into the water and the boat guy gave us some oars “just in case”. Just in case of what I did not know?  That suspicious thing was creeping up on me again but I pushed it away being so close to getting on the water. We were finally all in the boat and my husband decided to man the motor I wished that I was manning the sail on the other boat though.  There was only a slight wind but it would have been wonderful out on the boat on the water and in the blazing hot sun.  The water was like glass because no one was on it and the reflection of the blue sky made for an amazing ride there were maybe two white fluffy clouds in the sky it was beautiful.  We motored to the middle of the lake and floated around for awhile making small talk.  It was strange being the only boat out there on the water.  You could see for miles in front and behind and there was no one anywhere.  So I asked my hubby if I could take the helm for a bit and take us cruising around to get a good look around the lake.  We had fun cruising around and talking, after a while I stopped the motor so that my husband could take control again (such a man thing) and all was good until I turned around in the boat and caught sight of something that horrified me to no end.  

When I turned around I saw that the sky directly in front of us was dark black and every few moments you could see lightening streaks, you could tell that the storm was headed straight toward us and we were out in the middle of the lake.  My mother in law and husband were laughing.  Maybe it was my reaction or my instant potty mouth but I was scared; after all we were on water in a metal boat just sitting and waiting for a storm to come towards us in a matter of moments.  My husband was trying to get me to relax because I was panicking trying to get him to get us back to shore quickly.  He calmed me down and tried to start the motor. It wouldn’t start.  I yelled at him to keep trying it, but it would not start. I almost pushed him out of the boat trying to start the motor myself but it was dead.  So I quickly grabbed the oars and started paddling (normally I would let my husband do all the work but if you have ever seen him paddle a boat you would know it would be a pointless endeavor unless of course you want to go around in circles).  I was hauling ass getting that boat back to shore as the two of them continued to laugh at me.  As I was rowing I could feel the rain start to pound on me it did not start out light at all it was a total downpour. I was ducking my head as I was trying to row which made it incredibly hard to move the boat but I was doing my best and I got us back to shore and safety just in time. 

I was quiet most of the way home or for at least the first 30 minutes. They kept asking me if I was ok but I had nothing to say.  What do you say to two people that you expect were trying to kill you? Why did they have me out in a metal boat in the middle of the lake during a lightening storm? Why were they wearing rubber soled boots?  This all seemed a little suspicious to me, still does.