In the afternoon, I played photographer while JIII, Karine and Robert went
wake boarding. It looked like a lot of fun, but since I have not waterskied
since I was 16, and I have never wake boarded, I decided to play it safe,
especially since it is the day before going home.
In high school I participated in an Outward Bound Canoe Camp that took us
into the boundary waters of Minnesota and Canada. I could not remember for
sure which summer we went - so I looked up the Beetles song "Paperback
Writer" (it was released in 1966). We took the bus from Kansas City to Ely,
Minnesota (with no adults along) and by the time we arrived, this was one of
the songs we knew by heart. I wonder how the other bus riders felt about our
singing?
That was quite the experience; my feet were so bruised they were black and
blue. Because we were girls and had to be cool, we had real moccasins - not
smart when you have to portage a canoe across rocky terrain - we may as well
have been barefoot. Then there were the leaches and having to hang your food
from a tree with noisy pots and pans every night to keep away bears.
We were not allowed to bring make-up, curlers or a mirror and we each
started out with 40-50 pound packs with the supplies and equipment we would
need.
There were two of us to each canoe, my partner was Jeananne and when any boy
scouts came along and offered to carry our canoe for us, we were more than
willing to let them try to impress us. Not all the girls felt the same way;
but my mother did not raise a fool.
The waters were so clean and clear that we used to dip our cups in the water
to get a drink. The same could not be said for our motley crew, when we
returned back to base camp they took us straight to the sauna to try and get
all of the dirt off of us.
We really did have a grand time and it was a very memorable experience.
This trip has been the same - an adventure I will never forget.
