Saturday, August 27, 2011

I think it was breakfast when DS started talking about heading for home. He'd already won most of the Yahtzee! games, fished, climbed, paddled, and finished his book... but no way was I ready to head out yet, so I talked him into more fishing. We sure tried hard to catch a fish, with no luck. This time, he was more careful with the line, but eventually it sprang off the reel again - Grrrr. The water in the bay was clear enough to see rocks and logs below us. We were paddling south, so decided to explore the ski trail and see if we could walk to Keneu Lake. We found a downed giant tree on the hike - size of the root bed was enormous. We had a nice adventure and a picnic lunch, but never made it to the lake.

Paddling back to camp, DS was a wiggle full of energy wanting to head home to his own room. For distraction, he dressed backwards, played javelin with his paddle, and tried to send us both for an unplanned swim.

What goes down, must come up... aren't those the words to the old song? Well, true enough anyway in the case of paddles and lakes. DS would make a good javelin thrower. He could shove that paddle down several feet and catch it with one hand coming up. By the time we paddled back to camp, he had extracted a promise from me to try to get a bunk room for that evening.
As we had set up the tent the day before, DS grabbed my cell phone out of the otter box and turned it on. He said he wanted to see if we had any "bars". I figured it was pointless, but let him try. To my surprise, he could make a call! He phoned dad and sisters to say "Hi, I am in the Boundary Waters in my tent calling you!". That was just WRONG! But we got the phone out again to check on the bunk room status - I admit I breathed a sigh of relief as VNO told me they were at capacity for the evening. Our compromise then, was a promise to head out at 4am the next morning - one day early.
With that settled, we went for a swim. I had my DicaPac along to waterproof my point and shoot camera. It was fun to take pictures at water level or below. The water was already none too warm - although it was only a few weeks since I had paddled the BWCA with my youngest daughter, and swam multiple times a day. Brrrr, and somehow we freaked out about rocks below and the swim didn't last long.

Time for more hammocking. The skeeters weren't out, but the flies found my ankles regularly. Still, DS used the netting on his hammock and all was well. The sparkles on the pine needles above were beads of sap, dropping from trees above. Time for a nice nap. Chilly after swimming so we grabbed our sleeping bags to cover up - about the most perfect way to nap I can imagine. A good "Nook" book, nice breeze, swaying hammock, and that view. Wish I was there now!

Lasagna and garlic bread with Raspberry Crumble for dessert. Mmmmmmmmmm. A lone loon swimming nearby. Perfect ambience. And DS did the food caching - what more could I want? Nothing!!!

We made a fire, played more games (DS got a Yahtzee on his first roll!!), then slept under a starry clear sky.