Week of August 23, 2020

CAMP PEARSON #2:  The waterfront.  The Lakehouse of course sits next to Keuka Lake on Keuka Bluff.  Generally, the mornings for the grandchildren involved Camp Pearson activities surrounding the Lakehouse or TAProots Farm.  The afternoons on the other hand are usually at the lakeshore, where there are many things to do.  We have a wood staircase leading down to the water, but many years ago we built a path made of large, flat stones for the kids to climb down to the beach.  On the beach is a ring for camp fires and a place to store our kayaks, now three in number including a smaller version that even the five-year-olds can paddle.  The pier goes out to deeper water and holds our deck chairs and lounges.  They cluster around a sizable umbrella to shade the swimmers and conversations.  The pier is great for fishing for panfish, diving and jumping to start a swim, squirt-gun battles, star-gazing on clear nights, and getting aboard our 17’ Boston Whaler motorboat, on a hoist next to the pier.  We have lots of ducks who like to sit on the pier and make a mess, so we have devices like the Gullsweep or the Spider to keep them off our pier.  An improvement this year was the replacement of the old blue barrels on our swim raft with new ones.  Moored about 50feet in front of the pier, The raft has been a favorite destination for our young swimmers who can swim out to the raft and jump off on their trip back to the pier.  There is nothing better to float around in the cool, pure water of Keuka Lake on a hot summer day in Upstate New York.