Summer at Weiss Lake and the “Kracken Caravan”

If you need us this summer, we’ll be in this little camper right here, which we call the” Kracken Caravan”. We decided to spend a summer at home in Alabama, sailing the Shinin’ Brite on the weekends, and camping out at the lake.

Shannon’s family has had this property for years. His aunt and uncle have the lot next door, and they’ve got a camper as well. It has become the prime family gathering spot this summer and we are having a ball! The property is on a small peninsula with beautiful lake views all the way around.

The family summer lake camping compound! Shannon’s aunt and uncle’s camper on the right is large enough to house one or several grandchildren for overnights

I wanted to name our camper, because in my world, all vehicles should have a name. When we started looking for a camper to bring here, it took us a minute to agree on how to decorate the inside to make it our own. After much discussion back and forth, we settled on decorating with the Kracken. , and it has been so much fun! According to the Wikipedia article linked there:

” The Kracken is a legendary sea monster of enormous size said to appear off the coasts of Norway. Kraken, the subject of sailors’ superstitions and mythos, was first described in the modern era in a travelogue by Francesco Negri in 1700.”

The Kraken made an appearance in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, is the mascot for the Seattle Ice hockey team, and is also the name of a Gold Spiced Rum . And now, it is also the theme of our lake camper!

Shannon’s Niece made this hanging! We love it!

Weiss Lake – linked there, is in Northeast Alabama. As one of the created reservoirs that stemmed from the damming of the Coosa river back in 1958, it offers over 445miles of shoreline. It is a sports fishing hot-spot, hosting crappie, largemouth bass, and striped bass, and is known as the “Crappie capitol of the world“(info linked) . Also, the Rome (Georgia) sailing club has been stationed here since 1980.

Shannon’s sister, Kristin, caught this huge Carp !

One of the best things about this summer plan, has been leaving the sailboat in the water at the camp, instead of having to trailer it back and forth every time we want to sail. We’ve gotten to take lots of our family members out in the Shinin’Brite this summer for the first time!