Canoe Trip

Well, I confess, the trip was not a week. I guess when I said that I meant four days...

But I'll share each day here so that I have a record of it, feel free to read!

Day 1

The first task of the trip was to drive 3 hours to the meeting ground, where we spotted Spring, Uncle Joe, Uncle Bob, and my boy cousin Hector putting stuff into the three canoes all laid out for us. My mother kindly provided lunch and then we loaded our luggage and ourselves into the canoe. Three canoes left two people for every boat, so Spring's dad paired with me, Austin with Hector, and Uncle Bob with Spring. I was at first surprised by the amount of effort required to pull the paddle through the water, especially since I'd been practicing on land.

Our canoe moved swiftly through the water, and soon we'd overtaken the prayer-conscious religious group that had left before us. Since I was in the front, I didn't have to steer, so I paddled breezily through the silky water. my uncle did most of the work, of course.

Once the bag of cookies from lunch was discovered in our canoe, we became the prime target for bumps and grabs. Hector and Austin even stole the bag of cookies and raced off with them, prompting an all-out canoe war, complete with "light-saber" battles and side-along treasure snatches. Eventually the kids collaborated and we ate all the cookies.

We met up again with the religious group at a campsite we mistook for our own. Spring wanted to ask them for directions, but they were praying, so instead we frolicked in the mud. Once we paddled to our real campsite, we pitched tent and promptly made dinner. Or should I say, Hector made dinner, which I ate. I dutifully mixed up the tang and proceeded to spray every inch of the site with my 7% deet bug spray. The mosquitos rose to the challenge and bit me blatantly on the arm several times. So I escaped to the stuffy tent and read Hamlet while Austin started a fire.