SE was pretty bummed that she didn't get to cook a fish with Don the day before. Her goal for the day was to bring him a fish. Don gave us some suggestions of local ponds to try. We drove about thirty minutes to the trail head and hiked a half mile in to Leavitt Pond. The hike was well marked and maintained through the woods - so many ferns and moss.
This was us looking for the trail head.
We found Don's row boat and all hopped aboard. Lily and I were thinking we might paddle around for bit and then sit by the shore and read or hike around some of the trails. Well, this pond was surrounded by rocks and brush, so we were stuck in the row boat - not exactly comfy or relaxing. It was windy and James was doing his best to keep us in the spot Don told us to be in. 
We finally saw a loon we had heard so many times. They are crazy loud and have many different calls.
Nothing biting at all. We hiked back out and evaluated our options. We could hike about a mile into another smaller pond, Rabbit Pond. SE was on a mission to catch a darn fish, but Lily was done. My body was pretty done, but Don said it was a beautiful hike, so we went for it. He did say that this pond had a pretty picnic spot, so Lily and I could sit and read while they fished.
Don was right - the hike was beautiful. Look at this rock! I felt like any minute it was going to wake up and yawn and start talking to us!
Did I mention that Lily was done.
This seafoam green moss was everywhere.
Look at these ferns!
We made it to the pond and SE already had the canoe ready before James could get to it. They set out to fish, Lily laid out in the sun, and I explored the area. It was a very pretty spot. I wanted to go up a little farther to a lookout, but I decided to hang out close by. Lily kept swatting and slapping and grunting at all the bugs. She doused herself in bug spray and was still swatting nonstop. I didn't think the bugs were so bad until I sat down beside her to read. They were relentless - biting flies, ants and mosquitos. We hiked back down to the car while they continued to fish. I read and Lily slept for about 45 minutes until SE and James showed up. SE was not happy. Apparently, they did catch a few small brook trout, but James thought they were a little too small to keep. She insisted Don said they could keep 6-inch fish from this pond, but James wasn't sure. Guess who was right??
We made it back to camp around 4:45. Don saw us coming in and asked how it went. He could tell SE was upset. He told them about a tiny pond a mile up the road where they were guaranteed to catch a fish, hopefully a little bigger. He loaded them up with some lures and gave specific directions. There was no trail here. They thrashed through brush about 300 yards and made it to Beaver Pond and...
Success! SE didn't care how big it was. She was going to cook and eat the darn thing.
They made it back just in time for dinner.
They cleaned and cooked the fish. SE was determined and her daddy made sure it would happen. We ended up spending the evening with our cabin neighbors: a dad and his two sons, 10 and 12, from NC. We all had a good time sharing stories and getting to know each other. It also started pouring outside. We got to snuggle up one more night in our cozy cabin in the rain.
The girls didn't share a bed, but I did find them snuggling up getting warm before bed!
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