Jason Lancaster

Emily’s been off work all this week, so this afternoon we went slalom skiing and wake boarding with Sommer, Dorry, and Cassie. Let me just say, I love water sports. I’ve tried water and slalom skiing 3 times before in Louisiana at Emily’s lake house and have had a great time — and today was no exception.

My fourth time ever skiing (and having tried slalom skiing a couple times before), I felt comfortable enough to give up on the two ski thing and go slalom. I finally made it up out of the water on my first start (yeah!) but fell after just a few seconds. Second try, I got up and stayed up for a good long run. That was my first time ever doing so and quite exciting.

Round two came along and I opted to wake board. Having never done it before, I wondered what it’d be like. It’s definitely easier than slalom skiing. I’m not sure if it was more fun or not. The idea of jumping off the wake is cool but I had a hard time keeping my balance enough to even move through the wake, much less try and jump. I did face-plant a few times. Sommer and the others laughed at me but as I told her, if I’m going to hurt, I might as well hurt and give everyone else a little entertainment.

What fun! I can’t wait to go again.

Last Thursday night Em and I packed our bags to set off for Shreveport, Louisiana. I’ve come to look forward to the time with her family and the different things I do while I’m there.

My first day was spent setting up and playing on a slackline, where I finally got walking backwards down and can go from start to finish on a line. In addition to that, I ended up working on and mastering a new way of mounting that starts with a hang from the line. I tried mounting by jumping both feet directly on the line but think I need a spotter and some more practice as I was thrown onto my head or side each time.

After slacklining, Emily suggested we go to the Revel, an outdoor festival held in Shreveport each year. I was unimpressed with the beer selection until we eventually found a little stand that sold Abida amber beer. The food was really great and I wish I was a little hungrier as there were all sorts of southern foods to try, including: red beans and rice, jambalaya, deep fried jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp dishes, gyros, and all kinds of other stuff. And yeah, I know gyros aren’t southern! Emily and I settled on a few dishes and shared.

Second day was spent at the lake house. Em’s father and I woke up before others and played a morning game of disc golf. Then, after gathering sticks around the property and chopping up and dragging 2 fallen trees into a bonfire pile, we went water-skiing. This marked my third time water-skiing. I’m really comfortable on two ski’s. Not so much on one. I tried the kick off a ski to slalom method and fell a few times hard. Then I tried to slalom straight out of the water and fell a few times. I’m not sure what I need to get the feeling of slalom skiing but it sure is annoying not being able to figure it out. I hope next time works out better. Then it will be off to barefoot skiing.

Third and fourth days were low-key and relaxing. I have some videos of the water skiing which I’ll post on youtube and this entry soon. That sums up my vacation!

The last couple days of my Shreveport vacation were spent at the lake house with everyone. We went out on the boat a few times and went water skiing. This would mark my second time ever water skiing and this time I felt very comfortable on two skis so I began trying to get on one. That is actually called slalom water skiing. My attempts to get up out of the water ended up with some pretty spectacular crashes, so I opted to go with the method of getting up on two and then kicking one off.

The following set of images is a pretty good example of that process and the end result:

Regardless of the fact that I fell, I had an amazing time trying it. EEE’s father suggested I try barefoot skiing but I think I’ll continue working on the slalom skiing first.

After skiing, I built a huge bonfire for everyone’s enjoyment. I wish we had gotten some pictures of how much wood I cleared from the yard. Makes me realize how badly I need to buy a new camera since my accidental cleanup mistake of throwing the camera in the dumpster and not realizing it.

As with typical outdoor outings, I ended up with poison ivy on my feet and I hurt my thumb pretty bad when I slipped on the boat and bent it backwards. No climbing for me for a couple weeks until I’ve healed. Oh well. That just means more time at the house working on renovations.

I’ve been back, but I have not written. I’ve been busy with things, the daily life things like trying to put my luggage away, do laundry, or even wash the dishes. It’s hard to do when you have no time, so the things pile up until its overflowing and you have no time to do things like write about awesome weekends in cool places like Shreveport, Louisiana.

But the things did happen, and they were good things and fun things. I learned to water ski. I got to ride around on a fast boat. I got to be part of keeping a huge bonfire from spreading. I got to swing on a huge tree swing. Lots of cool stuff. I’m sure I have some stories I should write about, but for now I’m going to let the following picture speak for itself.