Pourvoirie du Lac Tessier!

Welcome to Lake Tessier—nearest town Clova, Quebec.

This past Memorial Day holiday, the Donovan-Garber clan took at expedition to the depths of the Quebecian bush for a week of fishing for hefty Northern Pike and Walleye.

The family drove all the way from Pennsylvania and picked me up at the Ottawa Airport in Uncle Joe's van—towing boats, gear, beer and even an 0n-board pisser. After two hours on the road, we arrived at our stop for the night—Maniwaki. Dad and I kicked off dinner Canadian-style with a couple Labatt's Blues. We stayed at the Central Motel—"Au centre de tout!", ("In the center of it all!). "In the center of many potholes" would be more like it.

The next morning, we continued north 2 hours on paved road, before a 6+ hour haul on a sandy dirt road—our destination, Lake Tessier. :)

Dad, Uncle Joe, Sophie and Gary—a first evening spin out on Tessie.

We arrived, checked into our awesome cabin and unloaded the boats and gear. We stoked the fire and snuzzled in with some Yuenglings for our first night.

Aunt Dee smiles and waves.

After breakfast the next morning with the sun shining, we got geared up and hit the fishin'. The air was crisp and fresh and it felt great to be alive.

My main view for the week.

Me, Mom (Sergio) and Dad cruising.

Teri, Sophie and Uncle Joe telling us that the fish aren't biting for them either.

We fished every day that wasn't pissing rain. We filled the cooler with beer and lunch and spent a lot of time pulling over for a wiz.

Me catching the view from a tree stand.

When we weren't out on the water, we spent some good times traipsing through the woods. We found a busted bus in the woods that smelled like death and had suffered some obvious vandalism.

Mom models the busted bus.

We followed an unmaintained trail down to a beautifully still and quiet lake. We found a little canoe in the woods and my dad tried to figure out how we were going to get our boat to this lake.

Mom checking out the pipe to see how much debris we have to break to get the boats through.

The boating-through-pipes experience. :)

I got the fun job of tying the rope to the trees above the pipe so we could pull ourselves through.

We fished the lakes on the other side of the pipe, without much luck. But, it was a fun adventure! Later in the week, we put all 3 boats through to try our luck. Spring hadn't sprung, so the water was cold and the fish were there in swarms, but not biting. We jigged and trolled and threw spinners with every type, size and color of lure, but in the end we only caught about 10 fish between all of us. Luckily, we caught enough Walleye to enjoy an amazing fish meal later in the week.

The cabin was really nice and had a lot of "stuffed animals" hanging around—coyote, bear, elk and more.

The cabin had hot/cold running water pumped right from the lake and generator-powered lights and electricity. Seriously deluxe. After we got it warmed up the first night, the wood fireplace kicked off some serious heat.

Aunt Dee and I got our art on.

I missed my fuzzy little buddies and my ding.

What's cuter than a box o' Cooper-style puppies on your birthday? Nothin'!

Dad with a baby Northern.

Even though, the weather and the fish refused to cooperate, it didn't stop us from fishin'. We were on the water for 4-6 hours most days. It was fun to spend time with my mom and dad. :)

Approaching the cabin from another session on Tessie.

Mom and me at the Welcome sign.

All-around a great trip. Fishing, fire, family, food, beers, cards, puppies, birthday cake, bush-whackin', scum baggin'—really a little of everything. Good times and a true adventure. :)

Belize Trip!

Waterfall view right outside our cabana screen door :)

We did something really smart this year—scheduled a retreat to find the sun while the clouds were still hangin' around the PNW. We spent 8 nights in Belize—4 nights at Blancaneaux Lodge and 4 nights on Coco Plum Caye, a 16 acre island 7 miles off the coast of Belize.

ooOOOooo-la-la...The Honeymoon Cabana!

Chillin' at Coco Plum Caye

Tom and our new UK buddy, Matthew gettin' their fish on

HELLO, Sun!

Tom on the stairs of our cabana

Movie stars? I think not. Ha!