A Day At The Lake With Bekah And Ryan

All of my blog friends influence my life in different ways. My blog friend, Bekah, mentioned a US travel pictorial map in one of her Saturday Six blog posts. I checked it out and decided it was the perfect map for Rachel to help us document her travels. And above is Rachel's photo from our brief overnight in Ohio.

And it was perfect that we started out the day doing something inspired by Bekah, because this day we actually got to meet Bekah and her husband, Ryan. They were gracious enough to allow us to crash their annual weekend at the lake.

Ryan's mom took this group picture of us. I am still a little in shock that this actually happened! I am always a little overwhelmed that, all because of this blog, I get to meet so many wonderful online friends and turn them into real life friends. And with every single blog friend, and Bekah was no exception, it's like we're picking up a conversation we just ended recently.

We got to start out our day with Bekah and Ryan with a boat ride. It was awesome! We had so much fun, even Rachel who claimed "I'm scared" without having ever been on a boat ride before. She was loving it by about thirty seconds into it. (And yes, this is Rachel's Indiana picture for her map!)

We went to an amazing restaurant for lunch, Maria's, where the food was delicious and the portions were huge. And then we walked into town for the Mermaid Festival. But first Rachel and Ryan had to check out the Gator. Rachel loved it!

I didn't do a good job of taking pictures because I was too busy talking with Bekah. Ha! But we did get to enjoy a coffee/frap together before we had to leave. Because you can't visit with Bekah and not drink some sort of coffee beverage.

I was sad to say good-bye but I'm so glad we got a chance to meet up with Bekah and Ryan. We had such a good day with them and the kids are really hoping we were serious about buying a cottage on their lake so we could spend more time with them :)

To read Bekah's account of our visit, and to see a hilarious picture of Rachel on the boat, go here.

Read about Day 3 here.