The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA-A pair of great blue heron walked by on spindly legs as we pushed off from the boat ramp at Bennington Lake on this, our fifth adventure aboard the African Queen.

Gifted to us by Grandma Jo Shay, our inflatable raft seats three and came outfitted with reel holders and oar holders as well as a dry-bag. Grandma, in her infinite wisdom, also included life jackets and a patch kit in case we ran into anything too sharp. So far we haven't had to use the patch kit, thankfully, but as life jackets are mandatory, we've gotten good use out of those.

On our first few trips we used a plun...