Pina Coladas: Tim's Ford '09

Summer would not be complete without a trip to Tims Ford Lake.  

Since I was about 12 or so, my family has been extreeeeemely blessed to get to spend time at my Mom's boss' lakehouse.  We have watched it transform over the years, too.  What once started out with a couple bedrooms doubled in size, then more boats were added, and now a whole separate house AND tree house (not just your ordinary tree house) have become part of this amazing space in Winchester, TN.  

Waking up and eating a home cooked breakfast, followed by a mid morning boat ride, tubing and wakeboarding...lunch, afternoon lake run, then more amazing home cooked food and being lazy on the couch.  That pretty much sums up the time spent at the lakehouse over the years.  This year's trip consisted of my mom and dad, Randy and I, and Jodi and Matthew.  We had such a great time.  Of course, it wouldn't be a Tucker vacation without a few glitches, and we did experience a few minor misfortunes this trip.  Yes, the gas cap sank down to the bottom of the lake and the tip of the boat got chipped, but worse things could have happened.  One part of the trip that Randy introduced was the daily pina colada (non-alcoholic of course).  Every day was the same- "Who wants a pina colada?"  He put blueberries, strawberries, basically any fruit we had in the drinks, and they were delicious!..hence the title of this post.

One day we were there was unfortunately cold and not a great day to be in the water.  Instead, we went into town.  Downtown Winchester has lots of old-town charm with old buildings, the "square", and little stores and coffee shops people have really fixed up.  And there is also Hammers, an auction-type store that we have been to each summer for cheap clothes, tools, and homemade jam.  This year I also found a fabric/art store that is in a building that was the first gas station in Winchester.  

Other than wakeboarding, which everyone participated in except Mom, we also got to tube (Randy is much more of a risk taker than me on those things) and we got to play on the old rope swing in one of the coves.  The only thing we didn't get to was taking the boys to jump off the bridge into the water...guess we'll have to wait until next year.  We also did the usual dinner boat ride to the marina to eat seafood.  Of course, everyone ordered seafood except Randy who had a burger.  I'm still convinced he'll come around one of these days.

I'll stop rambling now with a simple but true statement:  I think going to the lake is as good as it gets.  Honestly.  Yes, I still want to go to Hawaii and Italy and Scotland and Australia and.... but give me the lake and I am perfectly happy!  (and I think I'm starting to turn Randy into the same type of lake lover as the rest of my family)