Thursday, June 03, 2010 Great night's sleep for me! We wake around 8:00 am. Get up and around slowly. Beautiful morning. Sunny and only a few clouds in the sky. We eat breakfast of oatmeal and coffee for me and hot cocoa for Stephen. While eating breakfast we are discussing what to do today. We decide it is is beautiful we may just go ahead and head on in. That's it. We've decided to leave today. We start to break camp around 10:00. So nice to pack up dry things. 3 to 4 other canoes pass by. Another group comes by. They ask if we are leaving. If so they would like to have our campsite. 3 canoes and 5 guys. They are from Iowa and the Chicago area. They plan to basecamp. We forget our bear rope. They bring it down to the water to us. We are on the water headed in at 11:40 am. We paddle slowly through Disappointment. Soaking in all the beauty. We arrive at the portage and meet 2 guys. We gave them our remaining leeches and wished them luck fishing. They are double portaging and offer to help with our gear. We decline having single portaged this whole time, we've got it down. 140 rod portage to Snowbank. It is fairly level some small inclines and declines. We reach Snowbank and take off for the other side. It is a nice paddle with only a slight cross wind. We arrive at the canoe dock, unload the canoe, load the truck, tie on the canoe. Its 1:45 pm. We head to Ely. Now for a place to stay for the night, a shower and some food. We settle on the Super 8. Stephen lets me go first for the shower. I take every bit of 40 minutes. It feels amazing. Now his turn. We make phone calls to our daughter who is RVing with Grandma and Grandpa and to my mom. We do a little shopping in town, buying a couple of tshirts and some rootbeer. Dinner at the Ely Steakhouse. For me fried walleye, fries and salad. For Stephen ribeye steak, steak fries, and salad. Great food and great service. My first Diet Coke in almost a week. I didn't miss it as bad as I thought I would. After dinner back to the motel to rest. I can't believe its over. What an amazing trip! My favorite lakes: Splash, Ahsub, and Disappointment. Most challenging portage: Ensign to Vera. Favorite meal: smothered hashbrowns. Things I've learned: I cannot stoop over with 50 lb plus pack on my back and return to standing without falling on my @$$, every portage has an end, you cannot possibly eat as much as you normally would, powdered Gatorade mix is not good, treated lake water tastes just like water from a garden hose, and 5 days in the wilderness with your husband is PRICELESS! Disappointment Lake, Snowbank Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Disappointment Lake, Snowbank Lake,