Every time I drive down Shields Street, I see a sign with two happy-looking turtles on it. Today I came home full of pent-up energy and asked Dan if we could check out the turtle sign behind our house.

After some decoding — any conversation between Dan and me requires a little bit of translation — he puzzled out that I meant the North Shields Ponds Natural Area, a spot he has biked through often. We hiked a mile-long loop around the ponds and along a shallow section of the Poudre River, where a handful of people were fly fishing.

I absolutely see fly fishing in my future — and, chances are, I’ll fish the happy turtle ponds often.

P.S. A timely example of Dan-to-Erica translation:
ME: Oh look, they sell waders here!
DAN: I don’t think you’d need the full overall-style waders. You could get shorter ones for what you’d be doing.
ME: But the whole point of fly fishing is wearing the cool waders.
DAN: …It is?
ME: Yes! That’s what this is about! Did you think I wanted to catch fish?!