As all of our trips start – this one started with the great people at Tuscarora Lodge. We had some of their delicious French Toast and Coffee, got our fishing licenses and got some last minute fishing tips from the new owner Andy. “New Andy” as he’s known seems like a great guy. On the way out, our van driver stopped to say goodbye/hello to Old Andy and Sue – they’ve been our family tripping gurus for four years running and have outfitted us on some “guy trips” before then. Never the one to be shy, I popped out of the van and said my hellos and goodbyes as well. While chatting, they asked to see my map and Sue, knowing our group (4 little kids, 3 adults), directed us towards an island campsite on Seagull instead of Alpine. She and Andy said that if it was open, we needn’t look any further and set up camp for the week. We bid adieu and we were off to Seagull. Heidi is my brother’s wife, although she’s a native Minnesotan, this was her first time to the BWCA. I’d love to report that she was super excited for the wilderness or fishing, but her real interest in going was monitoring her baby “Tyson” who turned 4 in October and was up for his first trip too. The wind could not have been calmer and it could not have been hotter! We paddled for a few hours and were planning on having lunch amongst some mid lake islands and check them out for potential campsites. We stopped at Sue’s favorite spot on Seagull and it was available. We had found our home! It was a great little island that was plenty open to allow the breeze to keep the mosquitoes away. We had lunch, set up camp and spent the afternoon swimming and lazing about! The hot and windless day led to a hot and windless night – it wasn’t the best night’s sleep but I got through it!