Saturday, July 29, 2006

The day dawned clear and lovely, and promised to be a great day to explore! It was also Jules's 13th
birthday and we had the best meal of our trip in store for us when we returned to camp. I fried up a
huge pile of potatoes, onions, and summer sausage with melted cheese on top and we were ready to hit
the water. It was nice to be able to let the duffers stretch out in the canoes, and I resolved yet again not
to go next year without the 3rd canoe.

With the kids in the bow of the canoes, we headed across Lake Three, winding between islands and
checking out cool rocks. By the time we'd gotten to the far end of Lake Four, the kids were bushed, hot,
and hungry again, so we stopped for lunch. We swam and explored the campsite we had stopped at,
which was very pretty and already stocked with firewood for the next lucky camper. Lunch was simple
but good- crackers and cheese, spearmint leaves, and trail mix.

Jesse and Jules decided to stay put while the rest of us headed over to Bridge Lake to continue
exploring. What a pretty paddle, and a welcome change from the open expanses of the numbered
lakes- it was narrow with high banks and rocky outcrops, and I got some great photos of lichen and
this cool rock that looked like an upside down park bench. We also saw a bald eagle and a deer
drinking by the side of the water. Best of all, we were paddling back to rejoin the rest of the group
when we saw what looked like loon and a smaller duck. As we got closer we saw that it was an adult
loon and a baby- still fairly fluffy and about 1/2 the size of the adult. The adult dove and the baby
swam around pepping pitifully, then the adult surfaced pretty close to our canoe, looking mightily
pissed off. We paddled off quickly! We collected Jesse and Jules and began to paddle back to camp- by
this time it was mid to late afternoon. A group of canoes was huddled together looking at their maps,
and I paddled over to see if they needed anything. They were hunting for an open campsite and looking
pretty frustrated, so we directed them to the site we had just left and wished them well, then paddled
back home.

As I mentioned before, this was a special birthday dinner for Jules. We made 3 cheese tortellini with
Alfredo sauce, sundried tomatoes, and pouched chicken and it was stupendous! Thanks, I think, to
Arkansas Man, who suggested the tortellini. For dessert we had another suggestion from the recipe
forum- openface blueberry pie made, of course, in the jello mold oven. Holy Cow! I'm not sure I have
ever felt quite so decadent in the wilderness. We sang goofy versions of the birthday song and
treasured our last night in the woods together.



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