Our camera is a Canon Power Shot SD200, and a couple years ago, Alexander bought a waterproof cover for it so that he and the kids can play around with underwater photography.  They’ve taken a number of photos, especially during our trips to Sutton Lake.  The water there is extremely transparent, although the fish don’t always cooperate with being photographed!

They took quite a few underwater photos during our trip to Sutton Lake yesterday. Here’s one of their pictures.  This bluegill really blends in with the colors at the bottom of the lake!

We decided to return to Sutton Lake for more swimming yesterday afternoon.  We arrived at about 5:30 PM, and swam until after 7.  The water was quite a bit warmer than it was last Friday, although Alexander (who I thought was a fan of cold water) said he would have preferred it to be even warmer.  He and the kids snorkeled and took underwater photos, while I basically paddled around and enjoyed the water.   

After we swam, we went to the picnic area and cooked corn on the grill.  We also had boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and watermelon. 

We got home at 10 PM, at which time I checked my e-mail and discovered that a client in Germany had unexpectedly sent me three large files–a total of 10 pages, all with small print and in a two-column format–to edit ASAP.  I finally finished working on those at 12:15 AM.  Then I went to bed and crashed until I woke up today at 8 AM. 

Here is a view of Sutton Lake from the picnic area.

As a follow-up to our pleasantly cool spring here in Charleston, summer appears to have arrived with a vengeance.  It’s been soooo hot here for the past week!  The temperatures have been in the mid-90s, although today we got somewhat of a break — it only reached the mid-80s.

Last Friday, we made our first trip of the season to Sutton Lake for a swim.  Despite the hot weather, the water still had a lot of cold spots under the surface.  It took some getting used to at first, but once we got completely wet, it was really refreshing.  We stayed in the water for about an hour and a half, then we went to the picnic area and heated up some Mountain House food on the grill.  We had chicken teriyaki with rice, and spaghetti with meat sauce.  Afterwards, we went to the dock and fed the enormous carp and bluegill. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so that I could post a picture of beautiful Sutton Lake.  If we go back some day this week, I’ll try to remember it.   

Gas prices here in Charleston, West Virginia have been vascillating between $3.79 and $3.89 per gallon for the past couple of weeks.  When the kids and I were driving past the group of four gas stations — Go Mart, Chevron, Speedway, and Exxon – in our immediate area yesterday afternoon, we noticed the price had gone up to $3.95 per gallon at all four stations.  Ouch!

I recently learned of a website that has information about gas prices throughout the U.S. and Canada.  It’s called gasbuddy.com.  It has up-to-the-minute data, as reported by volunteer spotters.  With this handy website, one can easily determine which gas station in their area has the lowest prices before a fill-up, which may result in a savings of 10 or 20 cents per gallon.

I played around with gasbuddy.com this evening, and discovered that gas prices in Alaska are currently the highest in the U.S. at an average of $4.25 per gallon, while Arizona has the cheapest gas at around $3.50 per gallon.  The average gas price in West Virginia is near the high end of the spectrum.  The website also has a chart with historical gas prices, going back to 2002, when gas in the U.S. averaged $1.31 per gallon.  Those were the good ol’ days.  

I doubt if we’ll ever see gasoline priced at $1.31 per gallon again at the rate we’re going, but with gasbuddy.com, we can make the best of this expensive gasoline situation.