Day Two Saturday May 29th The girls woke to a crystal clear sky, screaming gulls and singing birds - it was gorgeous out. Lottie and Lisa were up right away and had some breakfast snackies. They'd wait until Amanda woke up to make their full breakfast. As they sat around the camp journaling and visiting they watched two eagles attack a seagull nest on one of the boulders just out from their campsite. They couldn't quite see if the eagles had stolen the gull babies and were eating them or if they had just stolen the gulls own fish catch. After a while it was obvious that they'd had the gull babies for breakfast - all the while the seagulls were screaming in the air at them - it was eerie and almost human sounding. The gulls didn't return to that nest for the rest of their trip. FINALLY the dead awakened and the girls were able to have a real breakfast - cache lake scrambled eggs, fruit cups and banana muffins. The eggs were okay - not Lisa's favorite but the girls liked them - but they were so hungry they'd have eaten tree bark. After breakfast mess was cleaned up the girls decided that they wanted to take the canoe out exploring. Lisa wasn't feeling well so she went back to the tent for a nap. Lisa was a bit leery of letting those two inexperienced paddlers take off, but they both have good heads on their shoulders and promised that they'd stay in sight of the island in front of their campsite. They had a grand time paddling and exploring around all the different little islands. The pulled up on a larger island and went traipsing around the different trails. They even followed the LNT rule and picked up others nasty garbage that was left. They took many photos and were treated to a lady slipper blooming - that was a first for both of them and they were excited about that. When running around that island they soon realized that it was an island with a campsite as they came upon the latrine. The occupants of the site were gone - fishing probably - so they turned around and go back on the water to head back to camp.

By that time Lisa was up and could hear the girls on the water though she couldn't see them. She spent time journaling an looking at all the tiny fish in the water. Some were brown, some had a blue tinge and some were larger and tiger striped. There were tan ones that were almost iridescent - she could see the "guts" of the fish inside. When she sat still enough there were schools of them that would swarm around the rock she was sitting on. Soon tiring of having her butt on a hard rock she decided that she needed to climb out on the downed cedar tree that was hanging over the lake.

She made her way over there, avoiding the water and as many spider webs as she could. The old cedar wasn't as sturdy as she thought and it wiggled a bit when she climbed on it. Once out in the "crook" of it she sat for a few minutes enjoying the sunshine, the view and the silence (the girls weren't talking anymore). Once she climbed down, the girls came paddling from around the west end of the island - they were hungry and out of water. After beaching the canoe - they did it correctly and on their own! - such quick learners - they had lunch of cheese and crackers, more fruit, pudding and any other snackies they could find. The beef jerky was just about gone - of course that's always the first thing to go. They spent the afternoon lying around the campsite chatting and being silly. They drew charcoal tattoos on each other trying to make them look unique and "tribal." However, it wasn't as easy as it seemed. Still it was a fun memory that they made and will always remember. After they finished with that Lottie decided it was time to take her first swim in a Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area lake. She put on her swim suit and water shoes and braved the chilly water - leeches and all! She discovered that the lake directly out from the campsite was quite shallow and she was several yards from shore and the water still was only up to her belly button. She didn't like the "mushy" feeling on the bottomed of the lake - she preferred the rocky area near shore. She did dunk herself completely in the water and swam around for a bit. Lisa and Amanda watched from shore being her cheerleaders encouraging her. It didn't take long for her to be chilled from the early spring waters and she only stayed in the water about 10 minutes. As she came to shore she was covered in . . . . goose bumps . . . . no leaches - she checked very well! Supper that night was pouched chicken with Knorr's Teriyaki noodles for Lottie and Lisa and mashed potatoes for Amanda. Everyone was starved for supper that night and ate quite a bit. They talked about what a fun weekend they had and how sorry they were that it would be ending tomorrow. They got the fire going and cleaned up around camp - took down and packed up the things they could to leave as soon as they go up in the morning. It was decided that instead of cooking breakfast they would pack up, snack and stop at a restaurant on the way home for breakfast. There wasn't much to pack up they'd kept a pretty clean camp site. One more trip to the latrine, water poured over the fire and into the tent they went.