By Scott Hopperdietzel (OnFocus) – Scott Hopperdietzel is the creator of an outdoor blog named Thankful Outdoors. He shares his passion for the outdoors with readers. The focus of the blog is to “Celebrate the Experience” in his stories; you feel what the connection to the outdoors means to him. His goal is to inspire others to get into the outdoors and create their own experience. Each week he will be sharing his outdoor adventures with OnFocus!
Tuesday, June 30th –
The week’s adventure started with an outing that is the epitome of what Thankful Outdoors represents, “Celebrate the Experience.” I had the opportunity to take Colten out in the boat with the boys and I. Colten is one of my co-worker’s son, and his first love is baseball, but he has taken a recent liking to fish as well. He has spent a lot of time fishing with family and friends, and those outings of wetting a line were from shore. I had looked forward to getting a chance to provide the outdoor experience of fishing from a boat for the first time for Colten.
Our evening out on one of our favorite Taylor/Price County lakes was one that did not produce much action for us for the night. Connor (middle son) boated one bluegill, and the rest of us had a couple of bites but nothing that produced gills in the boat. I don’t recall who had guessed that Connor was going to be the first one to catch a fish. I do remember when I asked the boys, “Who do you think will catch the first fish?” it was Colten who confidently stated it was going to be him. The young man’s confidence in himself made me smile.
It was a beautiful summer evening to be on the water; the scenery did not disappoint us at all. It was a calm evening with a magnificent sunset. We enjoyed sandwiches and chips in the boat that night for supper. The downside to the evening was that the boat would be going back into the shop because it is not running correctly and it was leaking gas into the water – we figured that had some kind of impact on our activity.
I had told Colten that we would have to treat this trip as a mulligan, and we will schedule a follow-up trip once I get the boat fixed.
Because the boat went back to the shop, our adventures on the water were cut short for the week. The heatwave that came into the area took energy from us on trying to get out in the streams. The boys and I decided to stay around home and work on getting caught up on some housework.
Friday, July 3rd –
We did have a surprise family get together Friday night for Dad’s 70th birthday, and it was nice to get the family together. His actual birthday is July 5th, but Friday was when everyone was able to find time in their busy lives to get the whole family together. As we enjoyed the slices of pizza from Pizza Ranch, sitting on the deck around the campfire, the evening slipped away into the family, telling stories.
These moments of family time do not directly involve an actual outdoor activity. I share this journal entry with you for a different reason. It’s a reminder to slow down in life, take some time to get lost in the flames of a campfire and reflect on the positive memories that you have in life. I couldn’t help but think, as I listen to all the grandkids talk with Grandma and Grandpa, how lucky I have been to have a mentor in life like my Dad. I often look at him and think about one of the first writings I had shared; it’s about our unspoken bond. Click here, and enjoy a few moments of what that unspoken bond has meant to me.
In closing, I hope you find a way to get into the outdoors, create your adventure and memories but most importantly, find a way to “Celebrate the Experience.”
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Author: News Desk
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