Memorial Day weekend

Gigi and Charlie

I love the Blue Fish Lodge!

Scrub-a-dub

First mate

Cheers!

The Old Man and the C

Charlie (Mr. "C") takes the helm under the old man's watchful eyes.

Being the captain just wears me out, Dad!

Watching the boat parade from the sun deck. Check out Charlie's
fancy new blue plastic Adirondack chair.

First boat ride of the year

With the lake unexpectedly full in early February, due to heavy rains, we took the pontoon boat out for a cruise. At first the motor was shaky, full of the winter blues. But after a while, we were able to run it out, and it seemed good to go.

Chilly but sunny, and the lake to ourselves

A cat in the tree, at the lake shore in front of the mannequin house

Fall sunset cruise

Sunset

Cruising home

Paddling Yonah Lake

Taylor and I went paddling this morning on Yonah Lake, an impoundment of the Tugaloo River, which forms part of the Georgia-South Carolina border, just downstream of Lake Tugalo. (The river name ends with 2 o's; all other names (lake, park, village, etc.) end with one 'o'.)

Taylor paddles south from Tugalo Park boat launch at head of Yonah Lake

No picture of it, but as we paddled south, we came upon a massive bald eagle in a lakeside tree on the South Carolina shore, startled it, and watched as it circled around us, no more than 100' away. Very, very impressive!

Tugalo Dam, at the head of Yonah Lake.

View of Tugalo Lake, from the road to Yonah Lake. Tugalo Park is a Georgia Power
campground and boat launch, located at the foot of Tugalo Dam,
and at the head of Yonah Lake.

From the road to Yonah Lake, you can see what is probably the biggest house in Rabun County, overlooking Lake Tugalo.

Near top-center is an enormous house on a hilltop overlooking Lake Tugalo.
Photo below shows a Google Earth detail of that house.

The shadows reveal the Disneyland-like towers of this house.

Yonah Lake is the most-downstream of Georgia Power's lakes on the Tallulah watershed. From the top, they are Burton, Seed, Rabun, Tallulah Falls, Tugalo and Yonah. Burton's lake level is 1866' above sea level; Yonah's is 744', and below its dam, 670'; a total drop of 1196', most of it harnessed by hydropower turbines. Yonah has some houses around its shore, but relatively few compared to Burton. Most of the houses on the Georgia side have road access; most of the South Carolina houses are boat-access only.

Father's Day weekend

Cap'n Robert, Angie, Michael, George . . . cruising

Camouflage rabbit

Angie and Michael

Peach-blueberry crisp

Sunset cruise, May 25

 Sunset cruise with Brother Bob, Nancy, Nancy's brother Bob, his wife Mary, Jake and George.

Sunset over the Appalachian Trail, west of Lake Burton

Sun sets on George

Cap'n Robert

Sun goes head-to-head with Jake, gives up and slinks down below the horizon

Cruising out from the head of Timpson Cove: Bob and Mary, Bob and Nancy

Some are red and some are blue; some are old and some are new

One fish . . . 

two fish . . . 

red fish . . .

blue fish!

The blue fish came to us through the generosity of Laura, Taylor and Andrew. The red fish was a gift from our friend Ginger. Rhyming verses courtesy of Dr. Seuss.

 

Thanks!

New boat cushions!

Windblown

George and Daisy

Labor Day Weekend

A boat ride up to the head of the lake, and some kayaking and swimming where the Tallulah River runs into Lake Burton. The water temperature at the bridge was very brisk, compared to Timpson Cove.

The Captain

The Crew: Laura and Jake

Pontoon boat fuel tank advisory

Update: please disregard; replacement tank has been installed (7/26/2011).

Self-portrait of the captain

Cruising

Fall 2010, Timpson Cove

Here are some places to go and sights to see on the lake . . .

Operating the boat

How to be the captain . . .

Lake Tugalo

Taylor on Tugalo

Taylor and I visited Lake Tugalo on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010. We paddled up the Chattooga channel, and picnicked on a sand bar. (We would have motored but the starter rope broke as we were launching.)