Canada Report 3:

On Friday the weather settled down a bit. It was chilly, but the skies were mostly clear, and the wind had died down. We had pancakes for breakfast. We were supposed to have French toast, but we were nervous that our bread supply was running low.



The five us headed out for a long fishing trip afterwards. Fish was on the menu for dinner, so we kept a few nice bass that Kristen caught. I had figured out my knot tying mistakes, and started fishing with a Texas Rig. It seemed to work well.



We headed over to the camp site that had been occupied when we first got in. They didn't leave any trash, had cut up a few dead trees, and had an impressive fire pit. We decided we might want to try cooking something on their fire pit for dinner or lunch one day.



At one point during the outing, Milly jumped up on Becky's back as Becky looked over the edge of the boat. Before we knew it, Milly slipped off and splooshed right into the lake. After a few seconds of panicked doggy-paddling by Milly, we got her back in the boat. She didn't seem to enjoy the experience.



We headed back for lunch, then all took naps. At some point Jason took off in the canoe to find the Jonnar portage.

Afterwards Jason, Kristen, and I took off for some more fishing. Jason hooked a nice bass on it's side, so we kept him or her for dinner. Kristen caught a nice bass, but we released it, guessing we had enough for dinner.



We cooked up a huge dinner using the leftover walleye filets from a few nights ago, along with the fresh bass.

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Saturday was another clear, calm, chilly day. We had cereal for breakfast, then headed off on dual adventures. Becky and Jason headed toward the logging road to tire out the dog and see if they could find a few lakes. Kristen and I headed to the small lake below the beaver dam on Manitumeig, where we had camped a few years before. The red dragonflies seemed to like my red plaid shirt.



When we found our camping spot, it was obvious that the water level had raised about 2 feet. The huge rock we had camped on was mostly under water, with our fire pit just a few inches from being submerged. Things had really grown up, making the area look a lot different.

We poked around the lake in the canoe, investigating a few beaver houses, and discovering some pitcher plants. We hiked over to the next lake, and generally enjoyed the weather.



On the way back across Manitumeig we caught a few walleye, including one fairly large specimen. Kristen caught a northern so small it slipped through the holes in the net, back into the water.



We got back to the cabin around 3:30. Kristen and I decided to take another dip in the lake. The water seemed much chillier than it had previously. Kristen really yelped when she got in. After shampooing up and getting out of the lake, I noticed Kristen had a leech on her foot. I pointed it out to her, which caused some panicked screaming and general flailing about. We convinced the leech to leave with some shampoo persuasion, and Kristen eventually settled down.

We decided to abort the plan of cooking Orbs(tm) over at the other campsite, and decided to cook them in our own firepit instead. They were very tasty, as always.

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Sunday was Becky and Jason's last full day in camp. It was a bit windy, with the wind coming from the north, and blowing to the south. After a pancake breakfast, we again split up, this time with Jason and Becky taking Manitumeig, and we headed out on Donley.

Becky and Jason tried to find the impressive dam that Becky remembers vividly from her childhood, and I only faintly. They covered much of the shoreline of Manitumeig, but didn't have any luck.

Kristen and I fished like crazy on Donley. We caught a few really nice bass, then ran into a patch of northerns that slaughtered our Texas rigs. Kristen lost two lures due to broken lines (probably damaged by previous fish). She vowed to come back and wreak vengeance upon the northerns.



We all met up for lunch back at the cabin. Instead of eating there, we motored over to the campsite, and gave the spiffy firepit there a try. It was so large that we had a hard time building up sufficient coals to cook properly, but we eventually got the job done.



Kristen and I waded about in the shallow water, luckily there were no repeats of the leech incident. Since we were out of the wind, we spent a fair amount of time just taking in the sun.

Once we made it back to camp, we resisted the urge to nap, and headed out for another fishing expedition. We had great luck near Sunset Island, and tried the reef near the Bay of Islands. It was too windy there, so we snuck back into the Bay of Islands to find calmer water.

We were having good luck catching small northerns and bass. Then Kristen hooked something that we could tell was huge. The fish was not having any problems pulling line off the reel. All of our eyes widened, and Jason mentioned something nervously about a "Nantucket sleigh ride". Sure enough, the fish Kristen had hooked started pulling the boat subtlety around the cove we were in.

Kristen calmly listened to all the great advice Jason and I were yelling at her, and with nerves of steel slowly brought the fish closer to the boat. At this point I just wanted to see what it was, regardless of whether we landed it or not.

I handed Jason the camera, and told him how to shoot video. The coloring is a bit messed up (I had munged up a few of the settings earlier), but you can get the idea.





The northern weighed 10.5 pounds on a brand new scale that we later verified as accurate. Kristen was using a tiny white jig with a glow-in-the-dark white tail as bait.



After taking a bunch of pictures, we released the mighty beast back into the murky waters, and tried fishing a bit more. Unfortunately everything we caught afterwards seemed a bit anti-climactic, so we headed back in. Jason cooked up some great buffalo chicken wraps for dinner. There was much conversation about huge fish for the remainder of the evening.

Canada Report 2:

On Tuesday morning we had some great apple pancakes for breakfast. There wasn't a blueberry to be found, so we settled for sliced apples. The wind was really howling, white caps were making it well into the bay.

A fish carcass had floated down to near the bridge. Two gulls started fighting over it near the sauna, which caused quite a ruckus. The campers finally exited the lake, leaving via the logging road.



The four of us (counting Milly) did a bit of adventuring around the dam. We had fun jumping from rock to rock and looking in the shallow water, although Milly wasn't feeling too brave. The wind was blowing hard enough that a large amount of foam was building up near the damn. When the wind would gust, it'd blow a bit of foam into the air.

Later, I decided it was time for a bath, so I jumped in. The water was definitely chilly, but it didn't take too long to get used to it. I swam out behind gull rock, having fun in the white caps. A little later in the day I convinced Kristen to get in with me, she did her first real swimming in camp.

I poked around in the dungeon and found an old mirror up there that had a bunch of signatures on it. The only dates I could make out were on the back, with a year of 1955.



For dinner I cooked Kabobs on the fire. Without any skewers I had to wire together some of the toasting grills. It worked out better than I expected.

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When Wednesday rolled around, the wind had died considerably, but the skies had become overcast. It was drizzling pretty good by the time we got out of bed. We had a quick bite of cereal for breakfast, then Kristen spearheaded a fishing trip, hoping that the fish would be more active in the rainy weather. Jason stayed in camp to prepare for Becky's arrival.



We headed over to near where the campers had been. We both caught a small northern or two. We tried bass rock, but had no luck. We headed back toward the cabin, knowing Becky's plane was due at any time. I caught a large 4 pound northern behind Sunset Island, right as Becky's plane landed. We could hear Milly's excited barking for quite a while.



Becky had managed to pick up the necessary groceries and lug in all our extra gear. We got everything put away, and then Milly started acting ill. She tried laying down in the dark corners of the cabin, and eventually went outside and laid down under the cabin, drooling. About 10 minutes later she popped out like nothing had happened, and went back into normal Milly mode.

After lunch we headed to Manitumeig for some adventuring. Becky covered it well in her blog entry. I'll only add that Jason's comment about having a good "layer" of gas caused a good amount of mirth afterwards. Future outings usually started with us asking how the layer of gas was looking before we departed the dock.


We got back fairly late, and cooked a late dinner of steak, potatoes, and asparagus. It was around 11:30 by the time we headed to bed.

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Thursday was clearer, but windier. This seemed to be the pattern for most of the trip. It was either still and overcast, or clear-ish and windy.

The wind kept us inside for most of the day. Becky and Kristen worked on the puzzle, Jason practiced tying knots, I read old magazines and napped. The lack of caffeinated soda was causing a lot of naps on my end, while the three others enjoyed their damn coffee all vacation long.

The four of us went on quick boat ride in Manitumeig. Kristen did a bit of fishing but we had absolutely no luck.

We grilled up some chicken for salads, it was nice change from the heavier dinners we'd been having. We roasted marshmallows, broke out some chocolate, and did a bit of reading. After several beers Jason and I were giggling over several of the ads in various magazines, our favorite being for inflatable underwear that would somehow help you "Slim down where you need it most."

Canada Report 1:

Kristen and I took off from Boulder around 2:30 on Friday the 10th and drove straight through the night. Around 3:30 am the only available radio station started playing Meatloaf right as we hit a huge thunderstorm. Cursing our luck at having two calamities strike simultaneously , we struggled onward, reaching Cloquet MN around 6:30 am.

We ate some breakfast and called Jason, knowing he was nearby. He was in Duluth, and a little later we met up. We headed out of town, crossing the border without any issues. Whew!

We ate lunch in Dryden, and did a bunch of shopping. We went to four different places before we got our fishing licenses, and searched around for "Bear Bangers", then settled for fireworks. We were already running low on time, and could only laugh when we finally found the fireworks, but three employees couldn't figure out how to open the cabinet, burning up more valuable time.

We grocery shopped as well. We realized we'd have to tie a lot of gear to the roof of the Focus, as we were going to be very crowded. Jason volunteered, and when I next saw him, a crotchety old man was giving him bad advice. "Your buddy's not doing a very good job", he told me as I surveyed the scene. He'd told Jason earlier that "Rope must be cheap in your country." He eventually wandered off, much to the relief of Jason, who didn't really seem to see the humor in the situation.



We were about 15 minutes late to Wilderness. Herb was waiting for us with a Beaver. We loaded up, and flew in to camp. The ride was real bumpy. We survived.



We got the water pump, water heater, and refrigerators working. Jason did a lot of the work, Kristen and I were a bit zombified from the drive. We were too tired to even cook the simple meal we had planned, and settled for soup. We slept very well.



The next morning Kristen cooked a big breakfast, then we went fishing. Nothing was biting, headed back and ate some lunch. Saw a boat on the lake with a few people fishing. We fixed up some better rods and gear and headed out for more fishing.



Jason caught a clam shell, Kristen caught a small walleye and a decent sized northern. I had no luck, and lost several lures and leaders. My knots seemed to be tied incorrectly.



Campers on the opposite side of the lake set off some fireworks. Jason broke out the bourbon. That inspired some lively Lebowski and Night Ranger conversations.

Monday morning Kristen and I got up early for some fishing. After a few false starts we finally got out on the lake. I continued to have knot issues, losing my favorite bass-master. I was getting frustrated by lack of luck and lost lures. Kristen caught another northern, but luck continued to be bad.

After we got back, Kristen fished the shore of lower Manitumeig, caught a northern, and fell in partially while trying to land it.

Later, after lunch, we headed to Manitumeig, hoping our luck would improve. Jason caught two walleye within site of the portage, I caught a small one. We moved to another good walleye spot, and started catching more. Eventually Kristen caught the biggest walleye of the day. Her walleye dwarfed the others. We kept a selection for dinner.



Jason and I practiced our cleaning techniques under the watchful eyes of a few gulls. We fried up the fish, trying two batter variations that ended up tasting very similar. We froze the two large walleye filets for later.



An eagle helped the gulls clean off gull rock. Campers are still on lake, more bourbon and Lebowski. Kristen broke out the large "Impossible" puzzle.


More to come!

Kristen and I made it back tonight from our Canada trip. Two weeks of bliss. The cats seem happy we're back, and only a few small house emergencies cropped up (dead TV, and all the laundry soap leaked onto the floor from it's jug).

We had a nice smooth trip back. We swung by Rapid City to see Nono, and had a lovely dinner at Red Lobster. She was excited at how great the food was.

I don't have the camera unpacked yet, so no pictures. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to post them, in one huge update here, or a separate account like I did two years ago, or something else. It'll probably take a while to organize them all and recount the various adventures.

It's crazy around here trying to get ready for the Canada trip. It's also been a little extra crazy at work, but that's starting to settle down, and I'm feeling like we might make it out the door.

Last weekend was pretty laid back. Knowing it was the last weekend in a while that would be "normal", we took it easy. We cooked a big dinner on Saturday night, and did a long run on Sunday. We did a bit of house cleaning as well, and tried to pet the cats a little bit extra.

We have the various cat sitters lined up and run through the process, and we've lined up garden tenders as well. The menu/grocery list for the trip is firming up, and I think we have a handle on everything we need to pack. The real question is whether it'll all fit in the car with enough room for more luggage and Jason & Milly.

I'm definitely looking forward to the point where we're all packed up and on the road. It's going to be a very long drive.

We had a fairly busy weekend. Friday evening Katie and Jordan showed up for the yearly Rockies game tradition. We hung out in Boulder Friday night, trying a fancy new restaurant in the new 29th Street Mall.

Saturday morning we got up for a grueling 9 mile run. Luckily the weather cooperated, although it was a lot more humid than it normally gets around here. Kristen made 6 miles, Katie and Jordan survived their 9 miles, and I decided to be the super achiever and run 12. We were all pretty beat up afterwards, and pretty stinky too.

We showered, ate lunch in Boulder, then headed to Denver to check into the swanky Hotel Monaco. It was within walking distance of Coors Field and a lot of the other downtown hot spots, which was nice. We thought we got lucky with the parking, but ended up having to pay for it after all.




After a good long nap, we headed down to Coors Field and had a good time watching the Rockies whoop up on the Dodgers. The seats were the best I've ever been in at a game, right behind home plate, and back about 17 rows.



We stayed out late (for us, anyway), Kristen switching from "Footloose" dance moves to "Riverdance" moves this year. She likes to keep things fresh. Unfortunately I didn't think to capture any of that in picture or video.

After the full day of activity on Saturday, we took it pretty easy on Sunday. Kristen made great progress getting the house ready for the Canada trip. I measured out the Focus for packing a few coolers and luggage in. I think we'll be fine with three people, a dog, and a slightly lighter load of luggage than normal.

The excitement for the Canada trip is building. In two weeks I hope to be out on the lake somewhere fishing.

We headed to Grand Junction on Friday evening to join in for Jordan's surprise birthday party on Saturday. The traffic was pretty bad along I-70, but we made it there in one piece.

The next morning we met up with Katie, and spent most of the afternoon driving around Grand Junction running errands. Kristen and Katie both picked up the last Harry Potter book at some point. We had a close call when Katie spotted Jordan across the street at the ATM. It's been quite a few years since I've ridden in a car ducked down, trying to avoid being spotted.

Jordan was genuinely surprised, although he did spot a few items in the garage that weren't normally there. We ate a lot of good barbeque and drank a lot of beer. Kristen and I both decided to sit out of the Texas Hold'em tournament, our skills were not up to the proper level to compete.

Sunday we headed back to Boulder, again fighting traffic on I 70. I went for a 9 mile run Sunday evening, Kristen wussed out. On to the week at work!