Friday, June 27, 2014 - We had a late lazy morning on our last day. The kids packed up everything while I refused to get out of my sleeping bag. They finally convinced me to get going when it clouded over and the wind picked back up, I didn't want to end up trapped on Alton. We made good time, the canoe didn't feel so unmanageably heavy this time, and everyone had their portage routines down. The puppy by now was fine in the canoe, he liked lying on top of our packs in the sun. And he did a great job the whole trip of walking right next to my daughter on the portages, and then sitting at her heel while they waited for me. Potty training went very well in the tent too, no accidents, and it's a lot easier to let the dog out of the tent than to carry it from it's crate to the yard in the middle of the night! But we did have two puppy incidents today, on one portage the bugs were so bad that the puppy swam out to the canoe as we were loading it in knee deep water and frantically tried to climb in, almost tipping the canoe. And as we were paddling across Sawbill the puppy yawned, stretched, and rolled right off the packs and into the lake. I'm afraid we had a hard time paddling back to him because we were laughing so hard. I had to take off my overshirt and my son wrapped him up in the shirt and zipped him into his jacket he was so cold. He may never swim again, this is just the sort of trauma I was hoping to avoid. But the best part of the day I missed. After we paddled up to the Sawbill landing I grabbed one pack and walked to the lot to get the car while the kids got our gear and canoe out of the way. A group of very buff college aged guys were carrying in their gear as we were unloading, and failed to get my hint when I said if they would give us a moment we would be out of their way, they continued putting their stuff in the water as we unloaded.  After I left to get the car the boys proceeded to capsize twice, right at the landing. They got into their canoe standing up, and tried to walk to the ends. Then tried again, still standing up, but one at a time.  My very petite daughter finally took pity and showed them how to get in a canoe. Then a second group of young men, all in cotton camo and with a keg had a chaotic entry. Meanwhile what my daughter described as a "kick-ass grandpa" one-upped his canoe and threw it on his car, and packed his one or two well organized bags in his car. Score one for the kick-ass grandpas, middle aged ladies, and petite teenager at this landing. We pulled out of the parking lot at the same time as the kick ass grandpa while the college boys were still trying to squeeze their keg and coolers into their canoes. We got my daughter to her rendezvous with her grandma and great aunts in Two harbors, having a lovely soak in the hot tub for a mid-day break, and then my son and I made it back to the Twin Cities in time for dinner. I may never convince my kids to come back with me in June, but on balance it was a great trip.