Lakerage 2013

One of my favorite weekends of the summer is Lakerage weekend. This little cottage on tiny Maidstone Lake in the middle of nowhere has a very special place in my heart.

I got there Friday night after hiking Willard, and I played Bullshit for the first time ever. Wow, I'm bad at that game. It pretty much just became us calling bullshit on every turn. 

It was a quieter night than usual, and it would be a quieter Lakerage in general. Naro called it Lakechill. No dogs were invited this time, Gina had plans, no Pinneys could come, Nick didn't come (for the first time ever), and Mysterio and Masha didn't either (for the first time ever). It would just be Naro, Sara, Kevin, Me, Pog and Simone. But we had lots of beers, lots of food, and lots of love for Lakerage. 

We played Bullshit for awhile, then Pog, Simone and I hung out on the porch till pretty late, just enjoying the quiet relaxation vibe. I slept on the couch next to Kevin's couch (somehow these have become our standard couches over the years), and slept probably more than I usually do.

The next morning was pretty standard. I woke up way too early (I think before Kevin for once) and had a Blueberry Sea Dog- a solid breakfast beer. After some breakfast, we all started drinking, swimming, boating, etc. Lakerageing. 

I took my GoPro out (don't know if anyone will ever see that footage) as well as my iphone, in its new waterproof case. The water looked so filthy, and I didn't find any sweet treasures. But I did find a terrifying alien plant. What the hell is this?

Darkening some underwater pics made everything look like space. Badass.

Here's an odd picture of Pog jumping into the water. 

I think we went on 3 separate boat rides that day. And we attempted to use a floating Beirut table. In the middle of the lake. 

I should find this footage, because let me just tell you how hard it is to shred water in the middle of the lake while drunk, trying to shoot ping pong balls into cups that are in a float. The ping pong balls just bounced out of the thing, and it was absolutely exhausting attempting to do this. I knew it wouldn't work, but MAN did it REALLY not work floating in the middle of the lake. 

We attempted it in the boat, and it was just about as stupid.  

It was definitely a more chill Lakerage. Having already mostly abandoned this blog, I didn't take as many pictures either. The day somehow flew by, and soon enough, it was dinner time. 

Last year, Naro told us that there was a guy who bought a pizza oven and sold pizza for like 3 hours on Friday and Saturday nights to residents of the lake. We got the pizza, and it was surprisingly great. So all year, one of my big goals of the summer was to either kayak there and eat pizza in the kayak in the middle of the lake, or the less cool version, eat it in a boat. The place is pretty far away, so the kayak idea was definitely not a great one. Everyone else was totally into it, so we ordered 2 pies and headed out in the boat. It was a gorgeous day. 

ahhhhh... golden hour

Bruno's!

I love the cove this place is in.

The pizza shack!

Let me tell you, eating pizza on a boat rules. 

Pog especially enjoyed it.

So much in fact, that he decided to mimick Shaun's swimming style immediately after eating pizza. WAIT A HALF HOUR POG!

I must be the fattest pig on earth, because this is one of my favorite pictures of the summer:

But I had an idea of eating in a kayak, and I really wanted to make the dream happen. When we got back, I grabbed the last piece of pizza and my one hitter, got into a kayak and headed out to do what I had really been imagining: smoking in a kayak in the middle of the lake and eating pizza during sunset. 

So yea, I'm ridiculous. I know this. But I've always been. I've always had a thing for trying to make cool things better by really going for it in the epic department. I once left a party to lie in a boat in the middle of a river and listen to beautiful music while bats circled over me. I once went to watch 4th of July fireworks with friends and got a BBQ chicken calzone, then once the fireworks started, immediately lay down and blasted Caspian in my ears, completely shutting out the rest of the world. My current favorite thing to do in the world is hike to the top of a mountain, where I smoke and listen to beautiful music, usually alone. It's like I'm in a movie, on top of the word with my own soundtrack. 

Straight edge Mike from 10 years ago would probably shit all over 2014 Mike for adding weed to so many things like this. But I tell you what- doing epic, beautiful, I'm-in-a-movie stuff is awesome on its own. You can do them straight edge. But being high takes away some of the pain, makes me just that much more happier and super relaxed, and shuts out everything other than what matters in these moments. So yea, when you have an image of eating pizza in a kayak in the lake as some sort of grand snapshot of what it means to be free and happy in the summer, it's pretty easy for weed to become part of that. 

I'm writing so much about this because this was genuinely one of my favorite moments of my summer. I began paddling out on a very still and quiet lake while the sun started to disappear. Naro's cousin was there too- I forgot to say earlier that he showed up in the middle of the day and hung with us. He heard what I was doing and asked if he could come along. My immediate reaction was that I didn't want him there- that this was a moment I had dreamed of and wanted to do it right, in complete silence with myself only, but I went with nice Mike and said sure, why not, he could come hang out and smoke in the middle of the lake. 

We got out there and smoked, he lit up a ciggy, and I ate my pizza. I took a picture of what I had dreamt of and ate the pizza: 

Truthfully, it was just whatever, and the hassle of making sure my lighter and one hitter and pizza and phone all stayed dry kind of sucked, but once I had taken my picture and eaten the pizza, I settled in and just enjoyed the moment.

It was really just a wonderful experience out there. This wasn't quite how I had imagined it, but I made it happen, and I was proud. I wish I had found a way to bring music with me, but the utter stillness of the lake was perfect. It was just me and this dude, floating, listening to the sound of the water hitting the kayaks and our friends laughing in the distance, out in the cooler air, watching the sun settle behind a small mountain. It was perfect.

I was pretty high too. I zoned out so bad a few times, and minutes would go by where neither of us spoke or moved. We drifted slightly, but we mostly just sat in one general area until reality settled in and we realized we should probably get out of the water before it was completely dark. What a peaceful, wonderful moment.

Back on land, people were partying and cooking. It was a completely different world and it honestly did take a few minutes to adjust. 

People cooked some stuff and we all hung out on the deck, listening to music and laughing, exhausted from a long day of swimming, boating, drinking, and sun. It was a calmer year, but we're older. That stuff is tiring.

We started to head inside as it got colder, and Kevin took on the DJ role, playing some awesome stuff, and going from stuff like Radical Face to The Fall of Troy. Good work, Slav.

As time went on, Pog got wasted and became the most annoying person on earth, playing guitar and singing cover songs 3 feet from where Kevin was playing music. And over time, Sara zonked out, Naro got a lot quieter, and Kevin started making this face:

Bed time!

always love seeing the moment kevin shuts down

A little before this, but still very late into the night, another of Naro's cousins showed up with his wife. He was at Lakerage 3 or 4, so I somewhat remembered him. He was pretty awesome and knew some of us a little, so we all got along instantly. He drank like a champ too, immediately tearing into that gross doughnut beer that's in those pink bottles.

Eventually, everyone called it a night. I wanted to smoke again before I went to sleep, but I wanted to do so peacefully, and it took forever for Simone to finally drag Pog away from me. Love you Pog.

Once it was just me and a silent lake, I tried to smoke but my lighter was dead from it getting wet in the kayak. I found a giant grill lighter and was a true stoner, making due with what I had. I had a really weird and oddly beautiful moment at the end of the dock. I always end up being the last guy up at every party, and at Lakerage, I always end up hanging out on the end of the dock every year. One year I even played guitar out there. This year, I meant to just look at the super bright moon for a bit, then head in. But instead, I became absolutely mesmerized by the moon. There were a lot of fairly fast moving clouds in between the moon and me, and they slightly swirled, creating this weird effect where it looked like the moon was getting closer and closer to me. Yea, I was high, but still. I swear I've never seen a moon so big, just slowly coming towards me, alone on a silent lake through swirling cloud mist. It was AWESOME.

this picture is garbage, but the moon was big. that's the point.

We all slept in later on Sunday morning, and when I finally made it out to the dock to begin the quiet cleanup, Pog was already swimming. He didn't remember most of the night, only slept like 6 hours, and was wide awake and full of energy. What a pro. 

As cleanup started and Naro dragged his dead body out of his bed and started up with our traditional awesome Sunday morning breakfast, we suddenly heard a splash immediately followed by 2 loons absolutely freaking the fuck out. Right away, we realized what had happened- Pog had somehow jumped off the dock into loons. 

They were freaking out, making their weird call in a panicked, fast forward style. Pog said he dove off the dock, and as he neared the water, saw something black moving under the water and realized it was 2 loons right as he hit the water, hitting them and seeing them freak out as soon as he looked up. There are a lot of loons on Maidstone Lake. 

not if Pog has anything to say about it

Naro started making his world famous hashbrowns. And I was PSYCHED.

He puts camp salt and creole seasoning on these and makes them less intense for us than he does for himself, but they have a nice little spice to them. They're seriously incredible. 

yea, I found a weird setting on my phone

We had bacon, fruit, hashbrowns, eggs, and beer. Perfect Lakerage breakfast.

Pog and Simone then left, and Kevin did too, surprisingly. He decided he really wanted to go mountain biking at Kingdom trails cuz we were so close. I'm bummed anytime Kevin leaves something early, but I couldn't blame him on this one. 

It was just now me and Naros. We decided to do something new, and went out in the boat and drank.

We all jumped in and swam in the middle of the lake while the boat just floated. I took my biggest risk yet with my phone, and took it swimming with me, with no wrist strap or anything, in the middle of an insanely deep lake. I got some cool pics, so I guess it was worth it. But man, that's nerve racking.

Happiest perfectly round-headed Naro ever:

Look at these weird people and their weird bodies:

We headed back and attempted to play some beirut by the dock, which was much better but still pretty hard to do, since we were standing on slippery rocks and were getting battered by huge waves.

One Naro left, then 2 more, then it was just me, the main Naro and Sara. We sat for a few, then I packed up and headed out. They were going to go out to eat, then staying over another night. It always feels odd when everyone leaves, so I can't imagine I'd enjoy it much there with just 1 or 2 people. Although I bet it's insanely relaxing. 

I drove around the other side of the lake on the way home and went to the beach. It was pretty.

And that was it. Another year, another successful Lakerage, even if it was the quietest, tamest one ever. Lakechill. Let's get rowdy this year, huh???

currently listening to: Raekwon- The Lex Diamond Story