Pretty pictures from Heron Lake

Now that I'm here only on weekends, it looks even prettier

I start teaching on Monday, so earlier this week I returned to Albuquerque to prepare my syllabi and work on beginning-of-term paperwork. This weekend, we're at the lake, and Tadpole's Boy Scout troop will be camping out and learning to sail Sunfish. We went up this afternoon ahead of the rest of the Scouts to work on getting at least a couple of boats in the water before dark, so there would be less work in the morning. We picked up Tadpole and another Scout, whom I'll call "Bunyan," immediately after school and headed for the lake, with one Sunfish in tow -- the other three were already at Five O'Clock Somewhere.

At the boat ramp, we launched the boat, and Tadpole and Bunyan sailed it over to the marina while Pat and I drove around to the point above the marina to meet them. In this picture, you can see the infamous Narrows, through which one must go to get to the main body of the lake. Since the prevailing wind here is from the west, that means a LOT of tacking, so most people just motor out and then raise sail once they're through it. However, I like sailing out; it kind of goes with having a high-performance boat like Black Magic to do so.

While the others were securing the boat, I took a few more pictures. This is the view to the southwest, toward the boat ramp. We had thunderstorms all around, which, unfortunately, made darkness fall earlier than it otherwise would, but which also made for some spectacular shots of clouds lit by the glow of the setting sun.

These clouds are to the southeast, seen from the point above the marina.

We then came to Five O'Clock Somewhere to pick up another boat, which Pat and Tadpole and Bunyan took to the lake to launch in the dark and also rendezvous with the rest of the troop. The remaining boats can launch in the morning.