Now that I'm finally done with that Crowduck segment, which is the longest single-topic thing by far anywhere on my blog, I can get y'all up to speed on what's been happening recently. I expect you've all been waiting very patiently but a little irritatedly for me to finish up with all this Crowduck stuff and do that.
-First and foremost is band. The day after I started the Crowduck installments I had a band practice, and thence one every day after it. It was really different from what the rest of my summer has been. Especially odd was the first one, where I went to the band room for the first time in several months and was around bunches of people I had forgotten I even knew. It was uncomfortable. After that week of practices, I had band camp.
-Band camp, ouggh.
-I just got back from it yesterday. I'm not even going to talk about it, because it was just like any other week of band camp, which means that it was torture. I'm trying to purge it from my memory by sitting down for the first time in a week and staring at a computer or drawing fonts or stuff like that. Which reminds me: I have a lot of fonts sitting on top of my dresser, prbably twenty pages of them. I still haven't had Mom buy me the program I need to make these sheets of looseleaf into workable fonts. I'm going to do that directly.
-And one more thing: I'm about to start up a business. A t-shirt business. It's going to be called Permanent Marker T-Shirts. As soon as I create it I'll give you the address. I'll have all the funny T-shirts I come up with, which so far is about thirteen. What I need you to do is buy a bunch and then tell everyone you know to buy a bunch, and tell them to tell everyone they know. If it works, eventually the entire world will have heard of my T-shirt business and bought a shirt from me. At $3 profit per shirt, that works out to be $18 billion for me! And all you have to do is tell someone about it. I might even give you a few hundred million if you do.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Having left
We had the 0600 departure today, so at 0515 someone, I think Mom, woke me up, and I spent the next half hour or so gathering up every last trace of what I'd brought. We stuck all our suitcases and other crap on the back of one of those pickup trucks and then we climbed on.
-I took a few last pictures as we went. The lake disappeared into the trees. It was over for this year.
-We loaded our stuff off the pickup onto a boat, then took a different boat from that one (except Micah rode with the stuff) to the end of Provincial Road 309. We unloaded the stuff from the boat and into the car and then we drove off, following Grandma and Grandpa in their big van. About a hundred miles down the road we stopped for breakfast at a place that had good food, despite being called "The Lawg Caybun". I don't know why stupidity is all the rage. My breakfast was really good, anyhow.
-Then, long story short: we drove for seventeen hours. Slept some, listened to CDs, but mostly just sat. Seventeen hours. It's the most boring day I've ever had. Well, maybe a few in school. No. I worked a little bit on an idea I have for a font called "Siwash"*, but I had no notebook paper. We got really familiar with the Harry Potter 3 soundtrack. And also a really weird and spooky-sounding CD called libera that Mom has of a little boys' choir. Toward the end I played solitaire with a deck of cards Micah got at the border shop so many hours ago. I'm not sure where we are right now. I was asleep when we got here. All I can tell you is Toom 218, and I'm not even sure if that's right.
*I've since renamed it "Creek", because it turned out "Siwash" is a derogatory term for an Indian.
-I took a few last pictures as we went. The lake disappeared into the trees. It was over for this year.
-We loaded our stuff off the pickup onto a boat, then took a different boat from that one (except Micah rode with the stuff) to the end of Provincial Road 309. We unloaded the stuff from the boat and into the car and then we drove off, following Grandma and Grandpa in their big van. About a hundred miles down the road we stopped for breakfast at a place that had good food, despite being called "The Lawg Caybun". I don't know why stupidity is all the rage. My breakfast was really good, anyhow.
-Then, long story short: we drove for seventeen hours. Slept some, listened to CDs, but mostly just sat. Seventeen hours. It's the most boring day I've ever had. Well, maybe a few in school. No. I worked a little bit on an idea I have for a font called "Siwash"*, but I had no notebook paper. We got really familiar with the Harry Potter 3 soundtrack. And also a really weird and spooky-sounding CD called libera that Mom has of a little boys' choir. Toward the end I played solitaire with a deck of cards Micah got at the border shop so many hours ago. I'm not sure where we are right now. I was asleep when we got here. All I can tell you is Toom 218, and I'm not even sure if that's right.
*I've since renamed it "Creek", because it turned out "Siwash" is a derogatory term for an Indian.
7 Camp
The last day is depressing. Now I know it's just a few short hours until I'm back in a cramped car with Micah just driving and driving all the way back to Smellville.
-Today I had a bunch of breakfast: 3 Pop-Tarts and a few strips of bacon. Then I lounged around for a few. It'll be another year before I have this much family with me for this long, so I made conversation while it lasted. Family being together. It's always good.
-Instead of Micah, I went with Mom and Dad to fish today. I figured we'd go to "Chuck's Cove"--I'll call it that for now--but we went to Dad's. It was a different cove than what I thought Dad's cove was--Dad didn't even know he had a cove, but apparently this one we were in now was his. At least that's what Mom said. On Dad's very first cast he got a fish, a real kicker of a pike named Dirk. We figured it must be a hot spot. So we trolled around. Nothing happened. That lasted about fifteen minutes. Then Dad caught three more pike. Mom caught one too, and I finally got another fish, even though it was a walleye. A little later we drove back in. The water was really choppy and it got to hurting your butt from bouncing it against the seat. But it was also tremendously beautiful. The air was clear, the sun was bright, and the wind was cool. We were in an especially scenic section of the lake, with granite and forest intermingling on the hilly bank. Boy, do I love this place.
-An hour or so after we got back we decided not to go out to the Falls again today. Going all the way up there in this extra-choppy water would leave you with no butt. So I have no pictures of it until next year.
-Today Ray Henschell, the guy who sold shirts here last year, was here. He had a broader selection of shirts and stuff this year, but none of them had pictures of the lake on them. I'm glad I bought mine last year. Still, I liked the hat I saw there and, even though it was a ridiculous $25, I still bought it. After all, where else am I going to get one? A lot of other people from our camp bought stuff too. Ray Henschell went home pretty rich.
-Earlier today I had a nice talk with Nick, Bill's dad, about what he used to do out here. He was a trapper, back in the '40s. He says it really toughened him up, and he meant way up. When he went into the --Air Force, was it?--he could lift double what everyone else could. After he got out of the Air Force he opened up a restaurant called Nick's, and then when Crowduck "came along", he bought it. I also talked about maps, and he went to get me a Whiteshell map from behind the counter, but he couldn't find any. Maybe there'll be some at the Visitor's Center or whatever. Hope so.
-I went swimming today. There were already three kids--relatives of Bill's?--there, playing on a big yellow thing that you could inflate and then stand on in the water. Their names were Nathan, Sid, and "Jube", but I don't think Micah heard that last one right before he told me. Well, Micah was sitting, on top of that yellow thing, and he hadn't gotten all the way underwater yet. So one of the kids and I decided to push him off. He put up a lot of struggle, but we got him. Then he got all sulky and got out of the lake. He kicked into the lake the stuff I'd taken off before I got in. Oh well.
-We had a huge dinner tonight, with all the great stuff from the rest of the week. I had onion rings, waffle fries, fish, muffins, and salad. It was the best meal I'll have for a year.
-I kept wanting to do something really fun and different to finish off the week, but it was too late to do anything on the boats--they had to be back by 2000--and I couldn't think of anything to do without them. So with a little melancholy I sat down and played Scrabble with Mom and Aunt Irene. I didn't win. I have to do something great tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll go jump in the lake off the dock or something. Definitely I'll take a few more pictures.
-There's some lightning playing south of us. A cool breeze is sweeping in through the screens out here on the porch. I'm sitting here listening to Crowduck and I wish it weren't over. I wish I could stay here and fish and hike and listen to the wind forever. But I can't.
-Today I had a bunch of breakfast: 3 Pop-Tarts and a few strips of bacon. Then I lounged around for a few. It'll be another year before I have this much family with me for this long, so I made conversation while it lasted. Family being together. It's always good.
-Instead of Micah, I went with Mom and Dad to fish today. I figured we'd go to "Chuck's Cove"--I'll call it that for now--but we went to Dad's. It was a different cove than what I thought Dad's cove was--Dad didn't even know he had a cove, but apparently this one we were in now was his. At least that's what Mom said. On Dad's very first cast he got a fish, a real kicker of a pike named Dirk. We figured it must be a hot spot. So we trolled around. Nothing happened. That lasted about fifteen minutes. Then Dad caught three more pike. Mom caught one too, and I finally got another fish, even though it was a walleye. A little later we drove back in. The water was really choppy and it got to hurting your butt from bouncing it against the seat. But it was also tremendously beautiful. The air was clear, the sun was bright, and the wind was cool. We were in an especially scenic section of the lake, with granite and forest intermingling on the hilly bank. Boy, do I love this place.
-An hour or so after we got back we decided not to go out to the Falls again today. Going all the way up there in this extra-choppy water would leave you with no butt. So I have no pictures of it until next year.
-Today Ray Henschell, the guy who sold shirts here last year, was here. He had a broader selection of shirts and stuff this year, but none of them had pictures of the lake on them. I'm glad I bought mine last year. Still, I liked the hat I saw there and, even though it was a ridiculous $25, I still bought it. After all, where else am I going to get one? A lot of other people from our camp bought stuff too. Ray Henschell went home pretty rich.
-Earlier today I had a nice talk with Nick, Bill's dad, about what he used to do out here. He was a trapper, back in the '40s. He says it really toughened him up, and he meant way up. When he went into the --Air Force, was it?--he could lift double what everyone else could. After he got out of the Air Force he opened up a restaurant called Nick's, and then when Crowduck "came along", he bought it. I also talked about maps, and he went to get me a Whiteshell map from behind the counter, but he couldn't find any. Maybe there'll be some at the Visitor's Center or whatever. Hope so.
-I went swimming today. There were already three kids--relatives of Bill's?--there, playing on a big yellow thing that you could inflate and then stand on in the water. Their names were Nathan, Sid, and "Jube", but I don't think Micah heard that last one right before he told me. Well, Micah was sitting, on top of that yellow thing, and he hadn't gotten all the way underwater yet. So one of the kids and I decided to push him off. He put up a lot of struggle, but we got him. Then he got all sulky and got out of the lake. He kicked into the lake the stuff I'd taken off before I got in. Oh well.
-We had a huge dinner tonight, with all the great stuff from the rest of the week. I had onion rings, waffle fries, fish, muffins, and salad. It was the best meal I'll have for a year.
-I kept wanting to do something really fun and different to finish off the week, but it was too late to do anything on the boats--they had to be back by 2000--and I couldn't think of anything to do without them. So with a little melancholy I sat down and played Scrabble with Mom and Aunt Irene. I didn't win. I have to do something great tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll go jump in the lake off the dock or something. Definitely I'll take a few more pictures.
-There's some lightning playing south of us. A cool breeze is sweeping in through the screens out here on the porch. I'm sitting here listening to Crowduck and I wish it weren't over. I wish I could stay here and fish and hike and listen to the wind forever. But I can't.
6 Camp
I'm sorry, everyone. I had two days to get the last two entries on the internet, and I forgot. Then I had to go to band camp. But now I'm back and I'll type both of them. Here's this one:
++++++++++++++
I woke up about 0900, I guess. I had some cereal and then I went outside. Every time I do this I end up with Sierra, tickling her or something to make her laugh. I did that for a short time. Then I went down to the beach in my swimsuit and water shoes. But I stood in the water and while it was very pretty, it didn't offer much more than the dock where views came and I wasn't about to put my head underwater to swim, so I ended up only staying one or two minutes. I walked back to the cabin and changed back out of that and retrieved Micah and we went fishing, with Dad.
-I drove up to that cove we discovered yesterday. The wind started lazily drifting us as we cast our lines out and waited. Occasionally I trolled us. I caught the first, and, as it happened, last fish, a real fighter of a pike right next to the boat. Dad took us for a brief but interesting rest stop on a granite and grass peninsula around there, where both of us stepped in a lively colony of ants.
-It's interesting to think about the hills as you boat by them. They roll up and down to all sides of you, closing you into the lake, and they're lush and green. And what really fascinates me is thinking that almost all the area I'm seeing has never been walked on by a person. Aside from occasional airplanes overhead and boat engines on the lake, for all the animals in the forest know there's no such thing as a human. If I went bursting in there, and met a bear, it would have no clue what to make of me. And I would be the first person, ever, to set foot there. I think it's pretty incredible to think that inspite of the millions of years people have been around, it's still possible to be the first person anywhere.
-We drove back, Dad tossed back a couple of beers with the folks, and then we went back out again, this time to go see the Falls. Dad had Micah drive, but Micah wussed out, so Dad drove. Halfway there I realized I'd forgotten my camera. I couldn't believe it. Fortunately Dad's agreed to go back tomorrow. It's a long ride out to the Falls, crossing the entire lake. The Falls start with a bay at the far side.
-The bay is edged with green reeds. It empties out through a small corridor into an imperceptibly flowing river of crystal clear water that seems just like the lake except that it's narrow and the boat only drifts one way, which eventually I realized was downstream. Today we all cast our lines out and drifted haphazardly downstream, occasionally bumping off things on the bank, like parts of a fallen tree. Granite rocks made genial steep slopes at different places on either bank. Then the current took us into a broad, flat, shallow bay with bad fishing, so we took in our lines and Dad drove the rest of the way. Just as we came up onto the Falls, it was weird to see one little corner of the lake where instead of trees on the bank there was no bank at all and the lake slipped off an edge. We hoisted the boat up onto some rocks and tied it up and walked through some grass to go see the Falls close-up.
-Boy, are they ever energetic this year, what with the water level up about a foot. The water slipping into them immediately hits a frothy oblivion sliding uncontrollably down a 45° granite chaotic slope littered with spare boulders, and, in somewhat dry spots, some really brazen bushes. It's impossible to even stand in it on the very edge wihout being swept off to a scenic death. We had to admire it from the edges as it roared perpetually off down the rocks and churned the devil out of the lake water. I could sit there for hours.
-But Micah went over to the ramshackle old dock nearby and somehow started finding things people had dropped off it: first a pretty nice reel repair multitool with a knife and pliers, then three green bottles. He got the multitool himself, but he was too freaked out to get the bottles. I was too for a minute, but finally I took the plunge of faith and went all the way under to grab one at my feet in three- or four-foot water. It was cold, but refreshing. And he gave me 65¢ in poker tonight for it. He made it $1.50 for that one and the two others, but later on he changed it to $1.25. We got in the boat, lazed up the river, and briefly fished a bay up around there. Dad caught a five-inch bass. It was downright cute. Obviously he threw it back.
-We had a terrific dinner that we almost missed coming back late. I liked the fried potatoes especially. And I had two salads. A little while later we started poker. Everyone had drunk quite a bunch. So I should've been the best player around. But I wasn't. I started out playing two hands really badly, letting Grandpa buy me out of a pair of Ks with a stone bluff on one. Then for the rest of the night I had absolutely turd luck. I never should've played poker tonight. I was down only, what, $4.45? Everyone kept urging me on tonight and I was reckless and I'm down $11.45. On the upside, barely any of it is mine. Mom's giving me $5 for allowance and dad gave me $3 just because. And we might not even settle up. We didn't last year.
-Everyone checked out the stars, but there were no Northern Lights, just a beautiful clear sky. Then we went inside. And I read my Bill Bryson book for way too long. At 0215, Mom said, "Well, sun is gonna rise in an hour." I hate trying to sleep un sunlight. I don't think it's risen yet, so maybe she was wrong.
++++++++++++++
I woke up about 0900, I guess. I had some cereal and then I went outside. Every time I do this I end up with Sierra, tickling her or something to make her laugh. I did that for a short time. Then I went down to the beach in my swimsuit and water shoes. But I stood in the water and while it was very pretty, it didn't offer much more than the dock where views came and I wasn't about to put my head underwater to swim, so I ended up only staying one or two minutes. I walked back to the cabin and changed back out of that and retrieved Micah and we went fishing, with Dad.
-I drove up to that cove we discovered yesterday. The wind started lazily drifting us as we cast our lines out and waited. Occasionally I trolled us. I caught the first, and, as it happened, last fish, a real fighter of a pike right next to the boat. Dad took us for a brief but interesting rest stop on a granite and grass peninsula around there, where both of us stepped in a lively colony of ants.
-It's interesting to think about the hills as you boat by them. They roll up and down to all sides of you, closing you into the lake, and they're lush and green. And what really fascinates me is thinking that almost all the area I'm seeing has never been walked on by a person. Aside from occasional airplanes overhead and boat engines on the lake, for all the animals in the forest know there's no such thing as a human. If I went bursting in there, and met a bear, it would have no clue what to make of me. And I would be the first person, ever, to set foot there. I think it's pretty incredible to think that inspite of the millions of years people have been around, it's still possible to be the first person anywhere.
-We drove back, Dad tossed back a couple of beers with the folks, and then we went back out again, this time to go see the Falls. Dad had Micah drive, but Micah wussed out, so Dad drove. Halfway there I realized I'd forgotten my camera. I couldn't believe it. Fortunately Dad's agreed to go back tomorrow. It's a long ride out to the Falls, crossing the entire lake. The Falls start with a bay at the far side.
-The bay is edged with green reeds. It empties out through a small corridor into an imperceptibly flowing river of crystal clear water that seems just like the lake except that it's narrow and the boat only drifts one way, which eventually I realized was downstream. Today we all cast our lines out and drifted haphazardly downstream, occasionally bumping off things on the bank, like parts of a fallen tree. Granite rocks made genial steep slopes at different places on either bank. Then the current took us into a broad, flat, shallow bay with bad fishing, so we took in our lines and Dad drove the rest of the way. Just as we came up onto the Falls, it was weird to see one little corner of the lake where instead of trees on the bank there was no bank at all and the lake slipped off an edge. We hoisted the boat up onto some rocks and tied it up and walked through some grass to go see the Falls close-up.
-Boy, are they ever energetic this year, what with the water level up about a foot. The water slipping into them immediately hits a frothy oblivion sliding uncontrollably down a 45° granite chaotic slope littered with spare boulders, and, in somewhat dry spots, some really brazen bushes. It's impossible to even stand in it on the very edge wihout being swept off to a scenic death. We had to admire it from the edges as it roared perpetually off down the rocks and churned the devil out of the lake water. I could sit there for hours.
-But Micah went over to the ramshackle old dock nearby and somehow started finding things people had dropped off it: first a pretty nice reel repair multitool with a knife and pliers, then three green bottles. He got the multitool himself, but he was too freaked out to get the bottles. I was too for a minute, but finally I took the plunge of faith and went all the way under to grab one at my feet in three- or four-foot water. It was cold, but refreshing. And he gave me 65¢ in poker tonight for it. He made it $1.50 for that one and the two others, but later on he changed it to $1.25. We got in the boat, lazed up the river, and briefly fished a bay up around there. Dad caught a five-inch bass. It was downright cute. Obviously he threw it back.
-We had a terrific dinner that we almost missed coming back late. I liked the fried potatoes especially. And I had two salads. A little while later we started poker. Everyone had drunk quite a bunch. So I should've been the best player around. But I wasn't. I started out playing two hands really badly, letting Grandpa buy me out of a pair of Ks with a stone bluff on one. Then for the rest of the night I had absolutely turd luck. I never should've played poker tonight. I was down only, what, $4.45? Everyone kept urging me on tonight and I was reckless and I'm down $11.45. On the upside, barely any of it is mine. Mom's giving me $5 for allowance and dad gave me $3 just because. And we might not even settle up. We didn't last year.
-Everyone checked out the stars, but there were no Northern Lights, just a beautiful clear sky. Then we went inside. And I read my Bill Bryson book for way too long. At 0215, Mom said, "Well, sun is gonna rise in an hour." I hate trying to sleep un sunlight. I don't think it's risen yet, so maybe she was wrong.
Friday, July 22, 2005
5 Camp
It was a lot nicer sleeping inside. And, since Mom and Dad slept in, I didn't get woken up by breakfast being made. I just got up and had a few Pop-Tarts. Then, for lack of anything to do, I walked over to Cabin 5. Sierra was there. So was I think Dave, Erin, and Grandma, maybe Dan, and we all drew stuff. Dan's really bad at drawing. Sierra, at 4 years, has a unique style where the person's head is way bigger than their body and instead of hair they have a handle that looks like a sock connected seamlessly to their head. Everyone wears lipstick. Little kids' drawings are always interesting to look at.
-I got out and walked around some. Nobody was going out: Dad was busy making some "cabbage rolls" and nobody else seemed to feel like it. Eventually Dad got Mom to tend to the rolls and took Micah and me to the Gull Rocks. Well, I drove. So I took us. Dad was too beered to drive. I angled us in no problems. The only problem we eventually came up against was the fish. Dad got a walleye on his first cast and I got a bite shortly after, but after that fishing dropped off completely. Micah and I caught absolutely nothing. Dad got two walleye, but that didn't do us any good because you can't keep walleye in Crowduck and anyhow we were bass fishing. We got bored and left.
-As I drove Dad gave me directions. But it looked like he was pointing me to the long way around some islands, and his directions had been iffy on the way in, so I trusted my judgment instead of his and got us a bit lost, but we made it okay. I briefly got stuck on babysitting duty, and then a while later dinner was ready. It was those blasted cabbage rolls. I tried to eat one, but I was a little unsuccessful, only ate most of it. Luckily there were fish and biscuits and potato stuff too.
-After dinner we saw a turtle on the road. We sure have been seeing the animals this week. I saw a tame deer earlier having a bite from a box Bill puts out for it; there was of course a bear yesterday; foxes; the loons are nice and talkative. I especially like the loons. Beautiful-sounding birds.
-The whole day through, everyone was plotting a surprise party for Aunt Irene, who as it turns out is 60 in a couple weeks. After a lot of sneaking around with balloons and stuff like that, it culminated in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and a lot of really good cake (thanks, Tracy). Mmm, cake.
-There was a gap of nothing, and then poker. I took out $2 and went down to -$9.65. Then I did a lot better than last night. I acutally won a few hands! I was still skirting the edge of staying afloat when I got some pocket Ks and played a perfect hand. I completely bled everyone of all the money I could and took about $6. Though I lost some in In-Between, I still finished with $5.20, putting me at only -$4.45.
-We all walked out of the poker porch and down to The Point to look at the stars. It's not an especially clear night tonight, but it's a lot clearer than any of the other nights we've had. There were no Northern Lights, but we could still see the Milky Way. Isn't that great? There's no way at all to see the Milky way at home. Only here do we get that privilege. The sky was beautiful, and I took a picture that probably didn't turn out and then just tilted back and admired it. When we were all satisfied we walked back and it was time for bed.
-I got out and walked around some. Nobody was going out: Dad was busy making some "cabbage rolls" and nobody else seemed to feel like it. Eventually Dad got Mom to tend to the rolls and took Micah and me to the Gull Rocks. Well, I drove. So I took us. Dad was too beered to drive. I angled us in no problems. The only problem we eventually came up against was the fish. Dad got a walleye on his first cast and I got a bite shortly after, but after that fishing dropped off completely. Micah and I caught absolutely nothing. Dad got two walleye, but that didn't do us any good because you can't keep walleye in Crowduck and anyhow we were bass fishing. We got bored and left.
-As I drove Dad gave me directions. But it looked like he was pointing me to the long way around some islands, and his directions had been iffy on the way in, so I trusted my judgment instead of his and got us a bit lost, but we made it okay. I briefly got stuck on babysitting duty, and then a while later dinner was ready. It was those blasted cabbage rolls. I tried to eat one, but I was a little unsuccessful, only ate most of it. Luckily there were fish and biscuits and potato stuff too.
-After dinner we saw a turtle on the road. We sure have been seeing the animals this week. I saw a tame deer earlier having a bite from a box Bill puts out for it; there was of course a bear yesterday; foxes; the loons are nice and talkative. I especially like the loons. Beautiful-sounding birds.
-The whole day through, everyone was plotting a surprise party for Aunt Irene, who as it turns out is 60 in a couple weeks. After a lot of sneaking around with balloons and stuff like that, it culminated in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and a lot of really good cake (thanks, Tracy). Mmm, cake.
-There was a gap of nothing, and then poker. I took out $2 and went down to -$9.65. Then I did a lot better than last night. I acutally won a few hands! I was still skirting the edge of staying afloat when I got some pocket Ks and played a perfect hand. I completely bled everyone of all the money I could and took about $6. Though I lost some in In-Between, I still finished with $5.20, putting me at only -$4.45.
-We all walked out of the poker porch and down to The Point to look at the stars. It's not an especially clear night tonight, but it's a lot clearer than any of the other nights we've had. There were no Northern Lights, but we could still see the Milky Way. Isn't that great? There's no way at all to see the Milky way at home. Only here do we get that privilege. The sky was beautiful, and I took a picture that probably didn't turn out and then just tilted back and admired it. When we were all satisfied we walked back and it was time for bed.
4 Camp
Last night was different, but not better. I got up on accident at 0300, not 0600, and my feet were too cold to let me get back to sleep. I guess I kind of did anyhow, and then at 0800 Dad or maybe Micah came in and said, "Breakfast's ready". So I had some and then, with my last remaining energy, asked if there was a free bed inside. Then I crawled into the bottom bunk and slept until noon. From time to time people looked at me incredulously and said, "Still asleep?"
-I replaced my afternoon fishing trip with a look deep into Erin's mind: I spent a few hours looking at all the drawings she does and listening to her explain them. Erin draws a lot, and she brought her sketchbook here. She has all kinds of strange cartoons about, say, characters from a video game coming to life as high-school students, or someone catching a cold that makes them transform into a different thing each time they sneeze. It's very crazy. She uses an anime style. I've never really liked anime as a style. Nonetheless I thought it was pretty good, at least an accurate portrayal of whatever's going on up there in her mind. I also showed her some of my own stuff in my journal, like the cartoon on page 146, and she thought it was funny. I mentioned I'd spent an hour and a half on my entry last night and everyone in the cabin wanted to know what could possibly take an hour and a half to describe, so I got to read the whole thing aloud. Afterwards Erin cruised through the journal looking for references to herself. She'll have a bonanza with tonight's entry.
-All that was fun and all, but I was really ready to get outside and on another boat out on the lake. I saw Dad getting ready to leave and got in with him. We planned to check out the area around the trailhead of the Whiteshell portage, because the two guys there yesterday said they always find a lot of lures there on the rocks, so it must be a good place. We stopped at a little cove on the way, and then another and then one more. We stayed at that one and never made it to the portage. It was a very quiet, secluded cove, fringed with wild rice. Dad took out one fish after another. It was frustrating, because I couldn't seem to catch any. After he got four or five I finally did pull one pike out, and before that I caught two walleye (one of them pretty nice-sized), so it was okay. I like that place. Maybe if I have a halfway decent fishing day there, it can be Chuck's Cove.
-When we decided we had enough fish we drove back. Up at the cabins, Aunt Irene said we'd probably like to see this, and she and Grandma led us a little ways up the road behind Cabin 6. They pointed our attention to the road. There in the sand were the distinctive tracks of a bear. Irene had actually seen it loaf across camp a little earlier.
-A couple minutes later I was sitting in Cabin 5 and Irene, outside the door, started pointing and in a panicky voice saying, "Bear... bear..." Contrary to what would've been smart, everyone went outside to see if they could see it. Dan and Dad and a few people followed after it and I followed after them. It was a flurry of activity and everyone was pointing to where the bear was, but I couldn't see it. Then everyone said, "Oh, there it goes, it's walking away," and I still didn't see it. And it was gone. I was really disappointed.
-A little later dinner was ready. Pretty much the same as last night, but with some latkes thrown in. We made a few latke jokes. After dinner poker got started. Everone was issued $3.00 --but I only wanted two!-- and we played. My luck wasn't much better than last night. I still didn't win a hand for about half an hour, and then they switched to In-Between just a few hands later. In-Between has not redeemed itself for me yet. I watched my stack of chips magically shrink. I only stayed in through the grace of a "good-boy dollar" Grandpa gave me. And then just barely.
-For some reason, about ten minutes in Micah took my hat. I gave him a quick and by his own admission painless punch on the top of the head and took it back. Then he went to take it again, and I blocked his hand, and somehow his face got into it because I accidentally hit him in the jaw with my elbow. Grandpa got up and cashed in his chips like he just couldn't take any more of the violence. He acted like we'd been kicking each other in the face on top of the table. Then Dan told us both to get out of the porch and swore at us. I hadn't done anything a normal person wouldn't do, and all Micah had done was steal my hat and get elbowed in the jaw, but we still both got kicked out like we'd been having a brawl. I think that's just crap. When we got back to our cabin I called Micah a piece of crap and it felt good. Then I took a little walk down at the dock in the dark. I could barely see anything. The sky has been cloudy all day.
-When I got back Dad was finished with the chapter of my book he was reading and gave it to me. Grandma came in with some hot chocolate she'd offered to make us while we were still playing poker. It was top-notch hot chocolate; I drank that and read my book and explained to Micah why it'd actually been neither of our faults, but Dan's for acting like such a jerkoff, and he went to sleep as I read.
-Now I'm going to go to bed. It is pretty late. Crowduck entries are pretty time-consuming.
-I replaced my afternoon fishing trip with a look deep into Erin's mind: I spent a few hours looking at all the drawings she does and listening to her explain them. Erin draws a lot, and she brought her sketchbook here. She has all kinds of strange cartoons about, say, characters from a video game coming to life as high-school students, or someone catching a cold that makes them transform into a different thing each time they sneeze. It's very crazy. She uses an anime style. I've never really liked anime as a style. Nonetheless I thought it was pretty good, at least an accurate portrayal of whatever's going on up there in her mind. I also showed her some of my own stuff in my journal, like the cartoon on page 146, and she thought it was funny. I mentioned I'd spent an hour and a half on my entry last night and everyone in the cabin wanted to know what could possibly take an hour and a half to describe, so I got to read the whole thing aloud. Afterwards Erin cruised through the journal looking for references to herself. She'll have a bonanza with tonight's entry.
-All that was fun and all, but I was really ready to get outside and on another boat out on the lake. I saw Dad getting ready to leave and got in with him. We planned to check out the area around the trailhead of the Whiteshell portage, because the two guys there yesterday said they always find a lot of lures there on the rocks, so it must be a good place. We stopped at a little cove on the way, and then another and then one more. We stayed at that one and never made it to the portage. It was a very quiet, secluded cove, fringed with wild rice. Dad took out one fish after another. It was frustrating, because I couldn't seem to catch any. After he got four or five I finally did pull one pike out, and before that I caught two walleye (one of them pretty nice-sized), so it was okay. I like that place. Maybe if I have a halfway decent fishing day there, it can be Chuck's Cove.
-When we decided we had enough fish we drove back. Up at the cabins, Aunt Irene said we'd probably like to see this, and she and Grandma led us a little ways up the road behind Cabin 6. They pointed our attention to the road. There in the sand were the distinctive tracks of a bear. Irene had actually seen it loaf across camp a little earlier.
-A couple minutes later I was sitting in Cabin 5 and Irene, outside the door, started pointing and in a panicky voice saying, "Bear... bear..." Contrary to what would've been smart, everyone went outside to see if they could see it. Dan and Dad and a few people followed after it and I followed after them. It was a flurry of activity and everyone was pointing to where the bear was, but I couldn't see it. Then everyone said, "Oh, there it goes, it's walking away," and I still didn't see it. And it was gone. I was really disappointed.
-A little later dinner was ready. Pretty much the same as last night, but with some latkes thrown in. We made a few latke jokes. After dinner poker got started. Everone was issued $3.00 --but I only wanted two!-- and we played. My luck wasn't much better than last night. I still didn't win a hand for about half an hour, and then they switched to In-Between just a few hands later. In-Between has not redeemed itself for me yet. I watched my stack of chips magically shrink. I only stayed in through the grace of a "good-boy dollar" Grandpa gave me. And then just barely.
-For some reason, about ten minutes in Micah took my hat. I gave him a quick and by his own admission painless punch on the top of the head and took it back. Then he went to take it again, and I blocked his hand, and somehow his face got into it because I accidentally hit him in the jaw with my elbow. Grandpa got up and cashed in his chips like he just couldn't take any more of the violence. He acted like we'd been kicking each other in the face on top of the table. Then Dan told us both to get out of the porch and swore at us. I hadn't done anything a normal person wouldn't do, and all Micah had done was steal my hat and get elbowed in the jaw, but we still both got kicked out like we'd been having a brawl. I think that's just crap. When we got back to our cabin I called Micah a piece of crap and it felt good. Then I took a little walk down at the dock in the dark. I could barely see anything. The sky has been cloudy all day.
-When I got back Dad was finished with the chapter of my book he was reading and gave it to me. Grandma came in with some hot chocolate she'd offered to make us while we were still playing poker. It was top-notch hot chocolate; I drank that and read my book and explained to Micah why it'd actually been neither of our faults, but Dan's for acting like such a jerkoff, and he went to sleep as I read.
-Now I'm going to go to bed. It is pretty late. Crowduck entries are pretty time-consuming.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
3 Camp
This morning was just like yesterday morning: it rained some (though it rained more than yesterday); I woke up on accident at 0600, and then I couldn't get back to sleep very well because it was cold. If that happens again tomorrow I'm not sleeping on the porch anymore.
-I had an unattractive breakfast with Dad and some squishy sausages, and then we headed out to [what I thought was] Steve's cove. Two people were already there - I didn't see who they were - and we cast a few times. Then we cast some more. Nothing happened, and nothing kept happening. We sat for a very long time. Dan and Tracy came and then went. Dad hooked one fish, but it got off. Finally we marked it off as a slow fishing day and went back to the dock, no fish caught.
-Dan and Tracy got back a little after us and Dad hatched a plan to go to Ritchie Lake. They said it was our funeral, they weren't even going to try it after last night's rain. But they advised us what kind of lures to take (copper). We had a little break and Dad had some beers and then we got in the boat.
-Ritchie lake is a lake that's a lot smaller than Crowduck. It's a little to the south and it's not connected. You get there by first driving your boat to the trailhead of a portage that goes there, then bringing your lures and plenty of bug spray and hiking 0.6 km to it. There's a canoe padlocked to a tree near the lake and you take out the key you brought and unlock it and then go fishing in Ritchie. Pretty simple.
-I drove to the portage. There were a lot of boats there and even a few people, people not staying at the Camp, just visitors to Whiteshell Provincial Park who were vigorous hikers. Two teenage guys with mud halfway up their shins told us that of the two trails that led from here to there, one was longer and ridiculously muddy, and the other was shorter and absolutely insanely muddy, up to your knees. We got our copper-looking lures and poles and took off down the longer one, which they had recommended.
-The trail was not a trail. Not even remotely. It was a bog. There were whole inches of water standing on top of dark, thick mud. I carefully skirted around it, but I sitll got my shoes wet up to the ankles and plenty inside them too. It was impossible to stay away from the mud. Maybe if I hadn't been carrying stuff I could've, but I lost a lot of maneuverability to the oar I had with me. After a few minutes of squishing, it got a little dryer, and then even ran on a nice granite rock for a few metres, but then it turned off into a flowing, prosperous stream. Dad got to the top of a hill before me and found a sign that said, BIG WHITESHELL, and had an arrow pointing onwards.
-We were on the wrong trail.
-Dad thought we could find a side branch that would take us to Ritchie. We walked on and very soon found ourselves at the end of the trail, with a scenic but disheartening view of Big Whiteshell Lake. Dad conceded we had to turn around. And so we slogged back through the water mixed with mud for long, agonizing minutes. Even though we had been through already, there were places where we were sure continuing was impossible. My favorite spot was where the path emptied into a deep pool a metre wide, flanked on either side by forest too dense to step into, and a small tree had fallen across the pool. Someone had helpfully put a few logs on top of the mud in the pool so people could walk on those, but the logs had been sucked up almost completely by the mud and weren't much help at all anymore. Somehow, we ended up back at the trailhead. Dad inspected the triangular sign put up by the park service a little more closely and saw that, being as how it said "BIG WHITESHELL--.75 KM", we hadn't just taken the wrong one of the two trails, we had put the boat in at the wrong trailhead and somehow accidentally misled the two seasoned hikers we met into thinking we were going to Whiteshell. And so we got back on the boat.
-The portage to Ritchie, unlike the other, was deserted, with only one spot for a boat - a little notch cut in the shoreline with a stream flowing out of it into the lake. We tied the boat to a little rope tied to a little tree, made sure the sign said Ritchie, and did it all over again. The trail was, predictably, insane. Just like the one to Whiteshell, but a little shorter and maybe just a little less severe. It was a tremendous moment when we finally reached the end and saw Ritchie, stretching out steel gray beneath the overcast skies. Dad unlocked the canoe and we carried it through a friendly swarm of dragonflies that were keeping the mosquitoes down for us, and then we got on and pushed off. At last.
-We paddled into the lake up next to a granite rock about a hundred metres away. I stuck my line in and looked out over the hills. The clouds had cleared above us some, but there were still plenty of them around, tall cotton ones floating way up above the distant forests. I took a picture. Then we did some fishing.
-As we sat the wind drifted us slowly back toward shore. We ended up in a bed of wild rice, and I finally, excitedly, caught a fish, the first fish of the day, and my first fish of the trip. It was a little pickerel*, about eight inches long. We threw it back. A little later I caught a mussel somehow. It looked like it had actually bitten my lure. Periodically we had to paddle out of the wild rice and back to the granit rock. Dad caught the first real fish, a nice pike. Around then we decided idly to pull up on the rock, which it turned out was lavishly covered with bird crap, and peacefully but unsuccessfully fished off that. Failing the rock, we got back on the canoe and drifted around. The wind was really picking up. More than that, there were hulking, dark gray clouds coming up from the west. As they blew closer to us I could see torrents of rain dumping out of them. They still had a ways to go before they hit us, but they weren't wasting any time. "Those clouds look foreboding," I told Dad. "Yep, some of 'em are even fiveboding," he said.
-We didn't head in, though I suggested it. Instead we headed for some granite rocks on shore. On the way there I hooked a fish. Finally! This was my first keeper of the week. It was a pike. I hauled it in and decided for the time being I'd call him "Gent". Dad tucked the canoe into a notch you'd swear was made for it and we sat on top of the rocks and fished some more. It was very tranquil. Dad got one more, but all I could get was snag after snag. Meanwhile we watched the storm. It hadn't come up and hit us after all. It was rolling by in front of us, always in full view over the trees we had just hiked through. It was really hammering down over Crowduck, we could see. The huge dark gray clouds had blocked out the sun and were pouring tremendous amounts of rain out of the sky. It was awesome to actually watch it take place while sitting in another lake a long hike away from it.
-When we decided it had almost passed we rowed back to the put-in. Just then was when it did hit Ritchie. We got a good dousing of rain, but no thunder or lightning, and it passed pretty quickly. While it did we got our stuff out of the canoe, put the fish in the net for easy carrying, and locked it up. Then we hiked on back. And it was still ridiculous, only this time I was carrying a net with four heavy pike in it and it had rained not five minutes ago. I was glad to get back to the boat.
-The water at Crowduck was browner than when we left; the storm had really churned up the place. And the boat motor was buried in the mud under the shallow water. So we couldn't get it started or even push the boat out. Dad had me try and pull it up, but it wouldn't budge. We also tried rocking the boat back and forth, and that didn't do anything. We did those two things several times but it was no use. So we sat down and thought.
-"Your shoes are already pretty wet... and the mud's not that deep..." said Dad, "... why don't you wade in there and lift it out?" And as much as I hated to admit it, that was our last chance. Reluctantly I took off my shoes and was happy to discover there wasn't any mud under the water, just sand! But I also discovered I couldn't lift the boat enough. It's hard to grip a boat. So Dad took his boots off and lent me a hand. It was glorious: we pulled it smoothly up and out. No matter we were wet up to our knees; we were going back to camp! And we did.
-I changed into fresh pants and Dan and Tracy came back from fishing along with Grandma and Grandpa. They were out driving in the storm, they said, and they had to turn in to shore; it was the first time in ten years they had had to get up on shore to weather a storm out. They even saw a waterspout**--the lake equivalent of a dust devil: Dan was behind some guy, and the guy all of a sudden peeled off left. First Dan was wondering what the hell that guy was doing, and then he saw all this mist. Then he noticed it was swirling and he said, "Uh-uh," and peeled off straight back to East Gull Rock. Grandma and Grandpa were behind him and followed him right around.
-When Dave, who is a pilot and knows his weather, heard the story, he told them that wasn't a waterspout, it was the beginnings of a screaming tornado.
-After Dan's story he played horseshoes with me against Tracy and Uncle Joe. Dan and I lost, which is kind of sad because Tracy has tennis elbow and had to throw left-handed. After that dinner appeared - fried fish, onion rings, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad. I had some of all but the salad, and none of that because my plate wouldn't fit it on. I loved it. Crowduck food is in a class of its own. You can't get fresh fish anywhere else. I ate to bursting. And then we got out the poker.
-I had luck about like the first night. Every time I would get pretty nice hole cards, and then they'd amount to nothing. Slowly but surely I lost everything I won last night. We played an hour and I didn't win a single hand. It was tiresome to say the least. Then finally I got pocket fives and won a pot, and immediately we switched to In-Between. I have no luck with In-Between. In fact Grandpa was the one who kept raking it in, pot after pot. It wasn't even anything like fair. I love poker, but I hate losing. So tonight wasn't a good night for me. I think I'm now back down to -$5.8o.
-When poker dissolved we had a look at the stars. There were clouds lining the horizon all around us, but directly overhead some stars were visible. The sky is great around here, because it's completely black. Nothing around to taint it for a hundred miles. But tonight there weren't many stars and none of the Northern Lights we were looking for. Lots of clouds but not much else.
-Wow, this has been a long one. It's been a heck of a day. I just wrote for an hour and a half.
*There's some dispute over whether this is what it was. Grandma says pike and pickerel are the same thing and that it might've been a tulibee.
**I know this is wrong, but I'm about to correct it with a little drama, so hold tight.
-I had an unattractive breakfast with Dad and some squishy sausages, and then we headed out to [what I thought was] Steve's cove. Two people were already there - I didn't see who they were - and we cast a few times. Then we cast some more. Nothing happened, and nothing kept happening. We sat for a very long time. Dan and Tracy came and then went. Dad hooked one fish, but it got off. Finally we marked it off as a slow fishing day and went back to the dock, no fish caught.
-Dan and Tracy got back a little after us and Dad hatched a plan to go to Ritchie Lake. They said it was our funeral, they weren't even going to try it after last night's rain. But they advised us what kind of lures to take (copper). We had a little break and Dad had some beers and then we got in the boat.
-Ritchie lake is a lake that's a lot smaller than Crowduck. It's a little to the south and it's not connected. You get there by first driving your boat to the trailhead of a portage that goes there, then bringing your lures and plenty of bug spray and hiking 0.6 km to it. There's a canoe padlocked to a tree near the lake and you take out the key you brought and unlock it and then go fishing in Ritchie. Pretty simple.
-I drove to the portage. There were a lot of boats there and even a few people, people not staying at the Camp, just visitors to Whiteshell Provincial Park who were vigorous hikers. Two teenage guys with mud halfway up their shins told us that of the two trails that led from here to there, one was longer and ridiculously muddy, and the other was shorter and absolutely insanely muddy, up to your knees. We got our copper-looking lures and poles and took off down the longer one, which they had recommended.
-The trail was not a trail. Not even remotely. It was a bog. There were whole inches of water standing on top of dark, thick mud. I carefully skirted around it, but I sitll got my shoes wet up to the ankles and plenty inside them too. It was impossible to stay away from the mud. Maybe if I hadn't been carrying stuff I could've, but I lost a lot of maneuverability to the oar I had with me. After a few minutes of squishing, it got a little dryer, and then even ran on a nice granite rock for a few metres, but then it turned off into a flowing, prosperous stream. Dad got to the top of a hill before me and found a sign that said, BIG WHITESHELL, and had an arrow pointing onwards.
-We were on the wrong trail.
-Dad thought we could find a side branch that would take us to Ritchie. We walked on and very soon found ourselves at the end of the trail, with a scenic but disheartening view of Big Whiteshell Lake. Dad conceded we had to turn around. And so we slogged back through the water mixed with mud for long, agonizing minutes. Even though we had been through already, there were places where we were sure continuing was impossible. My favorite spot was where the path emptied into a deep pool a metre wide, flanked on either side by forest too dense to step into, and a small tree had fallen across the pool. Someone had helpfully put a few logs on top of the mud in the pool so people could walk on those, but the logs had been sucked up almost completely by the mud and weren't much help at all anymore. Somehow, we ended up back at the trailhead. Dad inspected the triangular sign put up by the park service a little more closely and saw that, being as how it said "BIG WHITESHELL--.75 KM", we hadn't just taken the wrong one of the two trails, we had put the boat in at the wrong trailhead and somehow accidentally misled the two seasoned hikers we met into thinking we were going to Whiteshell. And so we got back on the boat.
-The portage to Ritchie, unlike the other, was deserted, with only one spot for a boat - a little notch cut in the shoreline with a stream flowing out of it into the lake. We tied the boat to a little rope tied to a little tree, made sure the sign said Ritchie, and did it all over again. The trail was, predictably, insane. Just like the one to Whiteshell, but a little shorter and maybe just a little less severe. It was a tremendous moment when we finally reached the end and saw Ritchie, stretching out steel gray beneath the overcast skies. Dad unlocked the canoe and we carried it through a friendly swarm of dragonflies that were keeping the mosquitoes down for us, and then we got on and pushed off. At last.
-We paddled into the lake up next to a granite rock about a hundred metres away. I stuck my line in and looked out over the hills. The clouds had cleared above us some, but there were still plenty of them around, tall cotton ones floating way up above the distant forests. I took a picture. Then we did some fishing.
-As we sat the wind drifted us slowly back toward shore. We ended up in a bed of wild rice, and I finally, excitedly, caught a fish, the first fish of the day, and my first fish of the trip. It was a little pickerel*, about eight inches long. We threw it back. A little later I caught a mussel somehow. It looked like it had actually bitten my lure. Periodically we had to paddle out of the wild rice and back to the granit rock. Dad caught the first real fish, a nice pike. Around then we decided idly to pull up on the rock, which it turned out was lavishly covered with bird crap, and peacefully but unsuccessfully fished off that. Failing the rock, we got back on the canoe and drifted around. The wind was really picking up. More than that, there were hulking, dark gray clouds coming up from the west. As they blew closer to us I could see torrents of rain dumping out of them. They still had a ways to go before they hit us, but they weren't wasting any time. "Those clouds look foreboding," I told Dad. "Yep, some of 'em are even fiveboding," he said.
-We didn't head in, though I suggested it. Instead we headed for some granite rocks on shore. On the way there I hooked a fish. Finally! This was my first keeper of the week. It was a pike. I hauled it in and decided for the time being I'd call him "Gent". Dad tucked the canoe into a notch you'd swear was made for it and we sat on top of the rocks and fished some more. It was very tranquil. Dad got one more, but all I could get was snag after snag. Meanwhile we watched the storm. It hadn't come up and hit us after all. It was rolling by in front of us, always in full view over the trees we had just hiked through. It was really hammering down over Crowduck, we could see. The huge dark gray clouds had blocked out the sun and were pouring tremendous amounts of rain out of the sky. It was awesome to actually watch it take place while sitting in another lake a long hike away from it.
-When we decided it had almost passed we rowed back to the put-in. Just then was when it did hit Ritchie. We got a good dousing of rain, but no thunder or lightning, and it passed pretty quickly. While it did we got our stuff out of the canoe, put the fish in the net for easy carrying, and locked it up. Then we hiked on back. And it was still ridiculous, only this time I was carrying a net with four heavy pike in it and it had rained not five minutes ago. I was glad to get back to the boat.
-The water at Crowduck was browner than when we left; the storm had really churned up the place. And the boat motor was buried in the mud under the shallow water. So we couldn't get it started or even push the boat out. Dad had me try and pull it up, but it wouldn't budge. We also tried rocking the boat back and forth, and that didn't do anything. We did those two things several times but it was no use. So we sat down and thought.
-"Your shoes are already pretty wet... and the mud's not that deep..." said Dad, "... why don't you wade in there and lift it out?" And as much as I hated to admit it, that was our last chance. Reluctantly I took off my shoes and was happy to discover there wasn't any mud under the water, just sand! But I also discovered I couldn't lift the boat enough. It's hard to grip a boat. So Dad took his boots off and lent me a hand. It was glorious: we pulled it smoothly up and out. No matter we were wet up to our knees; we were going back to camp! And we did.
-I changed into fresh pants and Dan and Tracy came back from fishing along with Grandma and Grandpa. They were out driving in the storm, they said, and they had to turn in to shore; it was the first time in ten years they had had to get up on shore to weather a storm out. They even saw a waterspout**--the lake equivalent of a dust devil: Dan was behind some guy, and the guy all of a sudden peeled off left. First Dan was wondering what the hell that guy was doing, and then he saw all this mist. Then he noticed it was swirling and he said, "Uh-uh," and peeled off straight back to East Gull Rock. Grandma and Grandpa were behind him and followed him right around.
-When Dave, who is a pilot and knows his weather, heard the story, he told them that wasn't a waterspout, it was the beginnings of a screaming tornado.
-After Dan's story he played horseshoes with me against Tracy and Uncle Joe. Dan and I lost, which is kind of sad because Tracy has tennis elbow and had to throw left-handed. After that dinner appeared - fried fish, onion rings, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad. I had some of all but the salad, and none of that because my plate wouldn't fit it on. I loved it. Crowduck food is in a class of its own. You can't get fresh fish anywhere else. I ate to bursting. And then we got out the poker.
-I had luck about like the first night. Every time I would get pretty nice hole cards, and then they'd amount to nothing. Slowly but surely I lost everything I won last night. We played an hour and I didn't win a single hand. It was tiresome to say the least. Then finally I got pocket fives and won a pot, and immediately we switched to In-Between. I have no luck with In-Between. In fact Grandpa was the one who kept raking it in, pot after pot. It wasn't even anything like fair. I love poker, but I hate losing. So tonight wasn't a good night for me. I think I'm now back down to -$5.8o.
-When poker dissolved we had a look at the stars. There were clouds lining the horizon all around us, but directly overhead some stars were visible. The sky is great around here, because it's completely black. Nothing around to taint it for a hundred miles. But tonight there weren't many stars and none of the Northern Lights we were looking for. Lots of clouds but not much else.
-Wow, this has been a long one. It's been a heck of a day. I just wrote for an hour and a half.
*There's some dispute over whether this is what it was. Grandma says pike and pickerel are the same thing and that it might've been a tulibee.
**I know this is wrong, but I'm about to correct it with a little drama, so hold tight.
2 Camp
It rained some last night; when I woke up, though, it wasn't raining. Dad had made some breakfast, but I was too late to get as much as I wanted. I still got plenty. Then we decided to go fishing. Micah came along with us and we got on the boat to push out.
-The sense of seclusion is terrific. We were out there, three guys in a boat, and all around us the water stretched out to shores we would never walk on. It was deep blue and huge, enough to remind you that you're pretty small when it comes right down to it. We hung a left into Darkwater Bay. We trolled around there for about fifteen minutes, but we didn't catch anything, so we went around to a little cove nearby. [I thought at the time it was Steve's cove, but later I found out it wasn't.] Most family members have a cove named after them, one where they had a particularly good fishing day. This one [I thought] was Dad's, and it was pretty good. He caught the first one. It was a pike, about normal size-- somewhere over a foot. Then Micah got one right after his, another nice pike. We trolled and cast awhile and I didn't catch anything. A while later Micah caught another pike and Dad caught one too. I still had a score of zero. Eventually we got tired and went in.
-I don't know exactly when, but around noon I took a nap-- I guess I just didn't get enough sleep last night. I slept until about three and then decided not to waste the rest of the day and got up to have some chips and salsa. Mom and Dad were gone but Grandma and Grandpa and Dan and Tracy were still sitting around, along with some of our other people. I finished off my chips and salsa and was sitting there in the sun when Grandpa and Uncle Joe told me, "We're going fishing. Want to come along?" I said sure and we went.
-Grandpa drove us to North Bay. At first he got a little lost, but he figured it out and we stuck our lures in the water. We trolled around the bay. And nothing happened. About ten minutes in I thought I got a bite but that was all for me. Ten more minutes or so and Grandpa caught a small pike. Then nothing else happened. We went to another cove on our way back but nothing happened there either except that I got tangled in Grandpa's line, they twisted together for about three feet, and we both had to cut our lines.
-When we got back we formed a loose circle of chairs on the porch like we always do and discussed random stuff. Normally the type of stuff we discuss wouldn't be so interesting-- old tractors, annoying people at work-- but at Crowduck it's enhanced just by being here. That and Dan always adds a bit of funny into the conversation. Dinner happened a little later and we ate plenty, especially of waffle fries, and I sat with Erin and Micah in the screened-in part of the porch, which has a picnic-style table in it. It's nice to just sit around here and have meaningless conversation.
-Bill ran his grader today, an ancient, loud piece of machine that he has to run to keep the roads solvent. When he came back from going all the way to the Whiteshell dock and back I talked to him a little. He told me he did get that letter I wrote him last February after all, and he was honored I'd like to work for him, but he didn't know if it could work out, what with me being a non-resident. Aaron [he and his parents work at the dock; he's 15 or 16 years old], though, lives in Florida and still works here on weekends. I'll dig a little deeper and get all the facts. Maybe it has to do with him going to Ontario when it's not the weekend.
-I took two more dollars out for poker tonight, putting me at -$8 for the week. Then I kept getting some really good hands, and playing it very nicely. I took a lot of money from everyone and regained all of the money I lost yesterday. I had a really good day with Texas Hold 'Em. I'm going to keep playing through the rest of the week. Where I lost money, though, was when we switched to In-Between.
-In-Between is a betting game, except that virtually no skill is involved. It goes like this: the dealer puts two cards on the table with a space in between them for another one. You then bet according to what you think the odds are of the card he puts in the space being between them in value. Aces are high. For example: the dealer (Dan) puts down a 5 and a 6. There is no 5½ card, so you bet nothing and the play goes to the person on your left. Another example: he puts down an A and a 2 (this spread is known as the Acey-Deucey) and, since that's the best spread possible, you bet the whole pot. He puts down a 2 in between them and that's called hitting post: one of the cards already down comes up again. When you hit post you pay double what you bet, and since the pot has accumulated, let's say, $1.50 of other people's bets, you pay $3.00. Sucks, doesn't it? Well, it is possible to win, but evidently I haven't figured out the secret. I couldn't get a decent spread to save my life, so I just kept getting my money whittled away by anteing up once someone else won the pot. Still, though, I cashed out at only -$1.25 for the week, up $6.75 today. Then I watched everyone else funnel their money into a brutal pot that had people hit post on $3.00 and $6.00. I was really glad I got out when I did, but I still wasn't pleased to note that Grandpa won it all when he took the $15.50 pot on a King-Deuce.
-Right after poker a storm came up. At first it was just thunder and lightning. I watched the lightning over the treetops. So quiet, it was pretty eerie, with the pines at the edge of camp jutting into its light. Up here you get reminded a lot that you're not so big after all. I took a few pictures, but I don't think most of them turned out. It's really an incredible experience to see a lightning storm here. With no city light the sky is completely black until a lightning strike. At that point it turns a bright inky blue. And tonight there was a lot of lightning. It flashed on and off wildly, light half the time and dark half. It's vvery awesome.
-By the way:
-In Cabin 5, there are some bats in the roof. Dave just found this out today. He called Bill in and got the eaves repaired, sealing off their usual route out, so during poker they discovered a different way, through a hole into the screened-in porch that's connected to the cabin. There were about a dozen of them flying around in the porch, and they just kind of filtered themselves out the open door, one by one. I don't know if they'll stay gone, but they've left the roof for tonight, at least for a while.
-The sense of seclusion is terrific. We were out there, three guys in a boat, and all around us the water stretched out to shores we would never walk on. It was deep blue and huge, enough to remind you that you're pretty small when it comes right down to it. We hung a left into Darkwater Bay. We trolled around there for about fifteen minutes, but we didn't catch anything, so we went around to a little cove nearby. [I thought at the time it was Steve's cove, but later I found out it wasn't.] Most family members have a cove named after them, one where they had a particularly good fishing day. This one [I thought] was Dad's, and it was pretty good. He caught the first one. It was a pike, about normal size-- somewhere over a foot. Then Micah got one right after his, another nice pike. We trolled and cast awhile and I didn't catch anything. A while later Micah caught another pike and Dad caught one too. I still had a score of zero. Eventually we got tired and went in.
-I don't know exactly when, but around noon I took a nap-- I guess I just didn't get enough sleep last night. I slept until about three and then decided not to waste the rest of the day and got up to have some chips and salsa. Mom and Dad were gone but Grandma and Grandpa and Dan and Tracy were still sitting around, along with some of our other people. I finished off my chips and salsa and was sitting there in the sun when Grandpa and Uncle Joe told me, "We're going fishing. Want to come along?" I said sure and we went.
-Grandpa drove us to North Bay. At first he got a little lost, but he figured it out and we stuck our lures in the water. We trolled around the bay. And nothing happened. About ten minutes in I thought I got a bite but that was all for me. Ten more minutes or so and Grandpa caught a small pike. Then nothing else happened. We went to another cove on our way back but nothing happened there either except that I got tangled in Grandpa's line, they twisted together for about three feet, and we both had to cut our lines.
-When we got back we formed a loose circle of chairs on the porch like we always do and discussed random stuff. Normally the type of stuff we discuss wouldn't be so interesting-- old tractors, annoying people at work-- but at Crowduck it's enhanced just by being here. That and Dan always adds a bit of funny into the conversation. Dinner happened a little later and we ate plenty, especially of waffle fries, and I sat with Erin and Micah in the screened-in part of the porch, which has a picnic-style table in it. It's nice to just sit around here and have meaningless conversation.
-Bill ran his grader today, an ancient, loud piece of machine that he has to run to keep the roads solvent. When he came back from going all the way to the Whiteshell dock and back I talked to him a little. He told me he did get that letter I wrote him last February after all, and he was honored I'd like to work for him, but he didn't know if it could work out, what with me being a non-resident. Aaron [he and his parents work at the dock; he's 15 or 16 years old], though, lives in Florida and still works here on weekends. I'll dig a little deeper and get all the facts. Maybe it has to do with him going to Ontario when it's not the weekend.
-I took two more dollars out for poker tonight, putting me at -$8 for the week. Then I kept getting some really good hands, and playing it very nicely. I took a lot of money from everyone and regained all of the money I lost yesterday. I had a really good day with Texas Hold 'Em. I'm going to keep playing through the rest of the week. Where I lost money, though, was when we switched to In-Between.
-In-Between is a betting game, except that virtually no skill is involved. It goes like this: the dealer puts two cards on the table with a space in between them for another one. You then bet according to what you think the odds are of the card he puts in the space being between them in value. Aces are high. For example: the dealer (Dan) puts down a 5 and a 6. There is no 5½ card, so you bet nothing and the play goes to the person on your left. Another example: he puts down an A and a 2 (this spread is known as the Acey-Deucey) and, since that's the best spread possible, you bet the whole pot. He puts down a 2 in between them and that's called hitting post: one of the cards already down comes up again. When you hit post you pay double what you bet, and since the pot has accumulated, let's say, $1.50 of other people's bets, you pay $3.00. Sucks, doesn't it? Well, it is possible to win, but evidently I haven't figured out the secret. I couldn't get a decent spread to save my life, so I just kept getting my money whittled away by anteing up once someone else won the pot. Still, though, I cashed out at only -$1.25 for the week, up $6.75 today. Then I watched everyone else funnel their money into a brutal pot that had people hit post on $3.00 and $6.00. I was really glad I got out when I did, but I still wasn't pleased to note that Grandpa won it all when he took the $15.50 pot on a King-Deuce.
-Right after poker a storm came up. At first it was just thunder and lightning. I watched the lightning over the treetops. So quiet, it was pretty eerie, with the pines at the edge of camp jutting into its light. Up here you get reminded a lot that you're not so big after all. I took a few pictures, but I don't think most of them turned out. It's really an incredible experience to see a lightning storm here. With no city light the sky is completely black until a lightning strike. At that point it turns a bright inky blue. And tonight there was a lot of lightning. It flashed on and off wildly, light half the time and dark half. It's vvery awesome.
-By the way:
-In Cabin 5, there are some bats in the roof. Dave just found this out today. He called Bill in and got the eaves repaired, sealing off their usual route out, so during poker they discovered a different way, through a hole into the screened-in porch that's connected to the cabin. There were about a dozen of them flying around in the porch, and they just kind of filtered themselves out the open door, one by one. I don't know if they'll stay gone, but they've left the roof for tonight, at least for a while.
Monday, July 18, 2005
1 Camp
It wasn't Erin, so I walked past her and turned around in the lobby and went to sleep.
-First I got up at 0800 when Dan and Tracy knocked on the door. I think they wanted me to get Mom up so she could go shopping with them, but I'm not sure, because I was half-asleep. Next I woke up at about 1000, and I think they were trying to get her up again. Every year we go shopping just before the trip, but this year to save energy just Mom, Tracy, and Grandma were going. Usually we go at 8 but this year it fell on Canada Day, so the stores were closed until 10.
-While they were shopping I hung around in Dave & Co.'s room. Erin made me some tea. She and I and the two small ones were the only ones in the room at the time. She says tea is good so I had her make me some. I guess I didn't top it right. She says topping is everything. Later I frankly got worried at 1100, checkout time, because they weren't checking their room out, but I found out they had gotten an hour's swing time somehow. Mom and the shopping women came back and we loaded stuff and then we finally left.
-The sun was out this morning. The scenery was expansive and piny. I liked that two-hour drive. The lakes and everything are very pretty. When we got to our drop-off point we could tell because the highway ended by pouring into the Big Whiteshell Lake. I love that. It's just so different. Half the rest of the people were there already, and Dan said Bill had seen us as he was just leaving on a boat across the lake, so he was coming back in a few. Meanwhile we unloaded the cars. Man, did we ever have a lot of stuff. I think we packed way too much this year. We pack too much every year, that's a given, but this year way too much. We all got nice and tired loading stuff onto the boat that came and then sat down for the ten-minute ride across Big Whiteshell. We were going fast, but the scenery was still great. Then we hit the far dock and started unloading and loading all over again. Everyone got to do their part. Right as we got it all out of the big boat, we realized Mom wasn't there. So a boat went back to get her. We pushed on, though. I sat in the back of a pickup with Erin and Sierra and Dave and Micah and I took pictures. In fact I took a lot of pictures today. I especially liked the one where we saw the lake over some trees. Right after that we pulled into camp. And so the unloading began again. We also had to sort stuff by cabins this time. First we determined who has what cabin. As far as I can tell our family has Cabin 4, the older generation has 6, and everyone else is in 5. Maybe Dan and Tracy are in 6. But we have the best one. Bill remodeled Number 4 last winter, so now it's really posh and swanky, as such terms apply ten miles from everyone else in the deep woods of Canada, and it has a marble fireplace and brand new sinkwork and real pretty walls. As soon as we were done unloading I took a look at the lake. It was beautiful. It stretched out dark blue everywhere in front of me. The banks were carpeted with a green, wild forest full of bears and moose and deer. A little wind whipped up the surface. I loved it. I really love this place.
-Reluctantly I headed back up the hill to the cabins, but not without a picture, and fooled around. That's the beauty of the first day: there's absolutely nothing you have to do, so you can walk around, or you can talk to people, or you can sit down, or anything. I talked aimlessly with Erin. That's the best way to talk. We walked down to The Point [little granite peninsula] and then back up the sand road. After we were done I had some chips and salsa. Then I played horseshoes with Dan and Tracy and Dave in the horseshoe pit just barely carved out of the forest behind the cabins. For a long time we couldn't find the fourth horseshoe, and we finally gave up and played with three. On the first turn, though, Dave threw such a sucky two shoes right into a bunch of fallen trees and when we went to get his we found the other one too. We were down 4 to 8 when Dave quit because he sucked so much, and when I went back to recruit Dad to take his place I found out dinner was ready. Chili and wild rice soup. I just had chili, lots and lots of it. Chili is one of my favorite foods. Afterwards I replaced Dave with Uncle Joe and still lost, pretty badly too.
-The lake is up really high this year. Everyone working here says it's the highest they've ever seen it. It's so high the docks have been overflowed and they had to put down some more boards. It's because there's been a lot of rain (to put it mildly). This may mean good fishing (but I don't know), but it's also lots of mosquitoes. OFF! is required at all times, indoors and out.
-I was sitting there messing with a fishing rod and someone came by, I think Tracy, and said there were some foxes playing at the beach. Everyone went to the docks to watch them from across a little bit of the lake (so as not to scare them). The foxes were really frisky and looked to be having a lot of fun. I took three pictures, but they weren't zoomed in far enough because my camera doesn't have that much zoom. I used some binoculars, though, and saw them up close. Orange and white with those black paws. I have only seen one fox before that, and that was a pretty sick-looking one today on the road. (Zoos don't count.)
-When we played poker I won the first hand. Then I won absolutely nothing after that. I took out five dollars and slowly lost it all, because I kept getting mediocre hands. I took out another dollar to play In-Between later, but every time it looked promising I would hit post and have to pay double what I bet, or I would completely miss it. In short, I had a bad day at poker and lost a lot of money. I'll try again tomorrow, but once I'm down ten bucks I'm going to be a spectator. I was for the last 75% of In-Between. I watched while the last pot would not die, and it was too bad for Grandma because she wanted to sleep on the porch where we were playing. Finally, of all the undeserving people, Micah took it all. I hate poker tonight.
-It felt like a lot later than it was when we quit. It wasn't even midnight. Generally my night would be just beginning if I were at home. But tonight I'm going to fall asleep out here on the porch.
-First I got up at 0800 when Dan and Tracy knocked on the door. I think they wanted me to get Mom up so she could go shopping with them, but I'm not sure, because I was half-asleep. Next I woke up at about 1000, and I think they were trying to get her up again. Every year we go shopping just before the trip, but this year to save energy just Mom, Tracy, and Grandma were going. Usually we go at 8 but this year it fell on Canada Day, so the stores were closed until 10.
-While they were shopping I hung around in Dave & Co.'s room. Erin made me some tea. She and I and the two small ones were the only ones in the room at the time. She says tea is good so I had her make me some. I guess I didn't top it right. She says topping is everything. Later I frankly got worried at 1100, checkout time, because they weren't checking their room out, but I found out they had gotten an hour's swing time somehow. Mom and the shopping women came back and we loaded stuff and then we finally left.
-The sun was out this morning. The scenery was expansive and piny. I liked that two-hour drive. The lakes and everything are very pretty. When we got to our drop-off point we could tell because the highway ended by pouring into the Big Whiteshell Lake. I love that. It's just so different. Half the rest of the people were there already, and Dan said Bill had seen us as he was just leaving on a boat across the lake, so he was coming back in a few. Meanwhile we unloaded the cars. Man, did we ever have a lot of stuff. I think we packed way too much this year. We pack too much every year, that's a given, but this year way too much. We all got nice and tired loading stuff onto the boat that came and then sat down for the ten-minute ride across Big Whiteshell. We were going fast, but the scenery was still great. Then we hit the far dock and started unloading and loading all over again. Everyone got to do their part. Right as we got it all out of the big boat, we realized Mom wasn't there. So a boat went back to get her. We pushed on, though. I sat in the back of a pickup with Erin and Sierra and Dave and Micah and I took pictures. In fact I took a lot of pictures today. I especially liked the one where we saw the lake over some trees. Right after that we pulled into camp. And so the unloading began again. We also had to sort stuff by cabins this time. First we determined who has what cabin. As far as I can tell our family has Cabin 4, the older generation has 6, and everyone else is in 5. Maybe Dan and Tracy are in 6. But we have the best one. Bill remodeled Number 4 last winter, so now it's really posh and swanky, as such terms apply ten miles from everyone else in the deep woods of Canada, and it has a marble fireplace and brand new sinkwork and real pretty walls. As soon as we were done unloading I took a look at the lake. It was beautiful. It stretched out dark blue everywhere in front of me. The banks were carpeted with a green, wild forest full of bears and moose and deer. A little wind whipped up the surface. I loved it. I really love this place.
-Reluctantly I headed back up the hill to the cabins, but not without a picture, and fooled around. That's the beauty of the first day: there's absolutely nothing you have to do, so you can walk around, or you can talk to people, or you can sit down, or anything. I talked aimlessly with Erin. That's the best way to talk. We walked down to The Point [little granite peninsula] and then back up the sand road. After we were done I had some chips and salsa. Then I played horseshoes with Dan and Tracy and Dave in the horseshoe pit just barely carved out of the forest behind the cabins. For a long time we couldn't find the fourth horseshoe, and we finally gave up and played with three. On the first turn, though, Dave threw such a sucky two shoes right into a bunch of fallen trees and when we went to get his we found the other one too. We were down 4 to 8 when Dave quit because he sucked so much, and when I went back to recruit Dad to take his place I found out dinner was ready. Chili and wild rice soup. I just had chili, lots and lots of it. Chili is one of my favorite foods. Afterwards I replaced Dave with Uncle Joe and still lost, pretty badly too.
-The lake is up really high this year. Everyone working here says it's the highest they've ever seen it. It's so high the docks have been overflowed and they had to put down some more boards. It's because there's been a lot of rain (to put it mildly). This may mean good fishing (but I don't know), but it's also lots of mosquitoes. OFF! is required at all times, indoors and out.
-I was sitting there messing with a fishing rod and someone came by, I think Tracy, and said there were some foxes playing at the beach. Everyone went to the docks to watch them from across a little bit of the lake (so as not to scare them). The foxes were really frisky and looked to be having a lot of fun. I took three pictures, but they weren't zoomed in far enough because my camera doesn't have that much zoom. I used some binoculars, though, and saw them up close. Orange and white with those black paws. I have only seen one fox before that, and that was a pretty sick-looking one today on the road. (Zoos don't count.)
-When we played poker I won the first hand. Then I won absolutely nothing after that. I took out five dollars and slowly lost it all, because I kept getting mediocre hands. I took out another dollar to play In-Between later, but every time it looked promising I would hit post and have to pay double what I bet, or I would completely miss it. In short, I had a bad day at poker and lost a lot of money. I'll try again tomorrow, but once I'm down ten bucks I'm going to be a spectator. I was for the last 75% of In-Between. I watched while the last pot would not die, and it was too bad for Grandma because she wanted to sleep on the porch where we were playing. Finally, of all the undeserving people, Micah took it all. I hate poker tonight.
-It felt like a lot later than it was when we quit. It wasn't even midnight. Generally my night would be just beginning if I were at home. But tonight I'm going to fall asleep out here on the porch.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
3 Travel
By the time I got to put on the flannel, it was too warm to be practical, but I still kept it on, just because I liked it. It was still dull gray in Duluth. I had some Froot Loops for breakfast and we walked out into the quick wind and drove off. Now Micah was in the back seat with me, so I didn't have the freedom to spread out like I did before. While we were driving across Minnesota, which is almost Canada, I realized what it was that made Canadian scenery look different from American scenery: most of the trees are pine trees. It was also still dull gray, like it has been a lot of times I've gone through Canada. Dad kept driving.
-We had built up a lot of anticipation by the time We got to International Falls to cross into Canada, and it turned out not to be as great as I remembered, probably because we didn't go to the places I like to go to. Instead of the Canada Welcome Centre or whatever, which is friendly and does currency exchange, we went to a clothes store full of MINNESOTA merchandise; Mom bought me some underwear; and then to a lousy restaurant called Giovanni's, and I wasn't even hungry. I didn't get my currency exchanged at all. Then we courageously approached the crossing, which I was happy to see was just as insane as I remembered. The smell of paper pulp from that paper factory sets the mood. Then there are the various parts of the factory that intrude into the crossing--those big pipes, sprouting up out of the ground like trees from a wasteland planet, and those trains that have two or three cars if they have any. I especially like the part where the railroad runs right up the middle of the road and then out the left side, then curves around and intersects the road again twenty feet farther on. We made it through all that. Then we pulled up to the window and a fat guy with a florid goatee asked us for our IDs and where we were going and what kind of odd stuff we were taking into the country with us. Then he let us go. And that was that.
-Canada was just like Minnesota. We drove kilometre after kilometre. There were a lot of nice lakes off to our side, and they all had a dark, deep bluish-gray to them. The sky still spat rain on us. I did my part to relieve boredom by reading aloud the Bill Bryson book I got yesterday. Everyone laughed out loud when the Irish guy came drunk down the street and cussed out Denmark. You have to read it. We didn't stop much, but one time when we did, at a grocery store next to a bait shop, I got my currency exchanged at the grocery store's checkout. I thought that was neat.
-Kenora kind of snuck up on us. It's a quiet town and it's almost like it's not there when you're driving by it. There's a big lake you can see from everywhere in town. I think it's the Lake of the Woods. Before we knew it we were at our Super 8. I really like this motel, because I was hungry when I came in and they had a big crock of soup right there. It was such great soup. It came from a restaurant next door, and it was hot and really delicious. I checked out our room--also nice--and then donned my flannel, because it was chilly again now we were farther north. Dan, Tracy, Dave, Erin, Sierra, and Hayden arrived. I exchanged hellos and went out and sat on a hill and watched the traffic. I even took a picture of it. The lake is just on the other side of the road. It's beautiful, really. A little while later I watched the traffic from the other side of the street at a different spot where I could see every car for maybe a quarter mile. I was waiting for Grandma and Grandpa's big van, but it didn't come, so I went back in at 2010, to Dave's room. There were a lot of people there, all the ones I mentioned earlier. Hayden was literally climbing up the walls, or window at least. Uncle Dan was tickling Sierra and she was shrieking happily. Everyone else just watched. I played with the two little kids some too-- giving them piggyback rides and that kind of stuff. We waited for Grandma and Grandpa, but they still didn't come, so we had fun without them. I even took Sierra out to see the lake, but she got cold, so we went back in. Around then Hayden fell asleep. Dave also called Grandma and Grandpa and found out why they were delayed. Here it is. Aunt Irene's luggage never came in at the airport where they were picking her up, and then she got really sick because (we think) of some food. And she had to buy some more clothes to replace her luggage. The airport's going to get it to her when she goes back into the US, probably, but that does her zero good now. I felt sorry for all of them and told Dan and Tracy and Micah about it and went back to my room. Everyone talked until about 2300. Then they went to bed. Wimps.
-Micah watched the window, and at 2330 or so he spotted them. They came in and explained to us what had happened, and that Irene was still vividly sick, and how today had been for them a total nightmare. I felt sorry again, but also glad that it wasn't me. They went to sleep pretty quickly, and left me in my room. But everyone there is asleep. They told me not to do my journal entry in there so they wouldn't have to have the lights on. Actually they suggested the bathroom, but I came out to the hallway instead. There's a someone down the hall reading something. They let out a burp earlier, so it might be Erin. I'm going to go check it out.
-[The next day I found out the airport had Aunt Irene's luggage delivered overnight on a cargo plane of some sort. That was very cordial of them.]
-We had built up a lot of anticipation by the time We got to International Falls to cross into Canada, and it turned out not to be as great as I remembered, probably because we didn't go to the places I like to go to. Instead of the Canada Welcome Centre or whatever, which is friendly and does currency exchange, we went to a clothes store full of MINNESOTA merchandise; Mom bought me some underwear; and then to a lousy restaurant called Giovanni's, and I wasn't even hungry. I didn't get my currency exchanged at all. Then we courageously approached the crossing, which I was happy to see was just as insane as I remembered. The smell of paper pulp from that paper factory sets the mood. Then there are the various parts of the factory that intrude into the crossing--those big pipes, sprouting up out of the ground like trees from a wasteland planet, and those trains that have two or three cars if they have any. I especially like the part where the railroad runs right up the middle of the road and then out the left side, then curves around and intersects the road again twenty feet farther on. We made it through all that. Then we pulled up to the window and a fat guy with a florid goatee asked us for our IDs and where we were going and what kind of odd stuff we were taking into the country with us. Then he let us go. And that was that.
-Canada was just like Minnesota. We drove kilometre after kilometre. There were a lot of nice lakes off to our side, and they all had a dark, deep bluish-gray to them. The sky still spat rain on us. I did my part to relieve boredom by reading aloud the Bill Bryson book I got yesterday. Everyone laughed out loud when the Irish guy came drunk down the street and cussed out Denmark. You have to read it. We didn't stop much, but one time when we did, at a grocery store next to a bait shop, I got my currency exchanged at the grocery store's checkout. I thought that was neat.
-Kenora kind of snuck up on us. It's a quiet town and it's almost like it's not there when you're driving by it. There's a big lake you can see from everywhere in town. I think it's the Lake of the Woods. Before we knew it we were at our Super 8. I really like this motel, because I was hungry when I came in and they had a big crock of soup right there. It was such great soup. It came from a restaurant next door, and it was hot and really delicious. I checked out our room--also nice--and then donned my flannel, because it was chilly again now we were farther north. Dan, Tracy, Dave, Erin, Sierra, and Hayden arrived. I exchanged hellos and went out and sat on a hill and watched the traffic. I even took a picture of it. The lake is just on the other side of the road. It's beautiful, really. A little while later I watched the traffic from the other side of the street at a different spot where I could see every car for maybe a quarter mile. I was waiting for Grandma and Grandpa's big van, but it didn't come, so I went back in at 2010, to Dave's room. There were a lot of people there, all the ones I mentioned earlier. Hayden was literally climbing up the walls, or window at least. Uncle Dan was tickling Sierra and she was shrieking happily. Everyone else just watched. I played with the two little kids some too-- giving them piggyback rides and that kind of stuff. We waited for Grandma and Grandpa, but they still didn't come, so we had fun without them. I even took Sierra out to see the lake, but she got cold, so we went back in. Around then Hayden fell asleep. Dave also called Grandma and Grandpa and found out why they were delayed. Here it is. Aunt Irene's luggage never came in at the airport where they were picking her up, and then she got really sick because (we think) of some food. And she had to buy some more clothes to replace her luggage. The airport's going to get it to her when she goes back into the US, probably, but that does her zero good now. I felt sorry for all of them and told Dan and Tracy and Micah about it and went back to my room. Everyone talked until about 2300. Then they went to bed. Wimps.
-Micah watched the window, and at 2330 or so he spotted them. They came in and explained to us what had happened, and that Irene was still vividly sick, and how today had been for them a total nightmare. I felt sorry again, but also glad that it wasn't me. They went to sleep pretty quickly, and left me in my room. But everyone there is asleep. They told me not to do my journal entry in there so they wouldn't have to have the lights on. Actually they suggested the bathroom, but I came out to the hallway instead. There's a someone down the hall reading something. They let out a burp earlier, so it might be Erin. I'm going to go check it out.
-[The next day I found out the airport had Aunt Irene's luggage delivered overnight on a cargo plane of some sort. That was very cordial of them.]
Friday, July 15, 2005
2 Travel
What the heck, I'll give you another, since it's only travel.
I didn't wake up until about 0930, and only then because we were getting ready to roll. That bed I slept on didn't turn out to be too bad. I had a nice breakfast of a slice of bacon and two eggs. Then we all started slowly getting ready to leave. I stood around some. I was standing around looking through my wallet, making sure Micah hadn't stolen anything from me during the night, and Aunt Ellen saw me and asked what was up. "Just lookin' to see what's there," I said.
-"Do you need some money?" She asked. I had $70. "Not... really," I said. "...Why, were you going to give me some?"
-It turned out she was. She gave me $2o for no particular reason, just as a parting gift, and another $20 to give to Micah (he was traveling in Grandma and Grandpa's van, not in the car with us), and I thanked her. Around then we said goodbye and piled into the car.
-Dad drove us into Wisconsin. It was a nice green day in the Dairy State. The trees were green and so were the farms. And that's what we passed through for most of the day. Just outside of Pittsville or something I drove for about an hour; then Dad took over again at a Cenex station and we kept going.
-Around 1920 we started coming up on Duluth, where we were going to meet Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Joe. As we approached the town, a creeping fog settled over the road. Once we got in view of Lake Superior, we could see a stiff wind blowing in off the dark blue water. It really got to buffeting the car around, and we could tell it was going to be cold when we got out of the car.
-We were scheduled to meet them at an Applebee's. It was in a big mall. We parked and, preparatorily, looked out at the rolling sky, the same color as Lake Superior. Then we got out. And yes, it was cold, boy was it ever. It felt like a brisk February day, not like June 29th. I stuck my hands in my pockets and hurried on across the parking lot into the Applebee's. I was just about to ask where the Troxel party was sitting when Micah yelled to me from a table right next to the door. Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Joe were there sitting with him, and the table looked full, but of course I made room. In a minute Mom and Dad joined--Dad had to sit at the end of the table on a chair--and we were served by a perky waitress with an accent that reminded us we were in Minnesota now. I had a great steak and made light chit-chat, but then I peeled off to a Barnes & Noble next door.
-Looking around I found another Bill Bryson book. Might as well, I figured. This one's called Neither Here Nor There and it's about him traveling in Europe. So far it's really funny. I especially like the part where he said,
"We were awakened early for another rest stop, this one in Where the F-ck, Finland."
I shelled out $14 for it and joined up with everyone else. I showed Micah a big moth I found at a restaurant in Wisconsin, and then we drove a little ways to our EconoLodge motel.
-I was going to sit and read my new book, but Dad commandeered it so I went off to the pool. It was a lot like the Y's pool, which sucks, but for some reason it didn't suck. Same chlorinated, soggy air, same chemically stinging water, but it didn't suck. As much. I think it still did to a certain extent. While we were there, strangely enough, we found out that the other kids there with us (three boys who liked to do cannonballs) were also from Cincinnati. Small world.
-I came back, did read some of my book, and then washed the chlorine off in a shower and got to writing. It's still foggy and damp out, and I kinda like it. I'm going to wear my flannel tomorrow.
I didn't wake up until about 0930, and only then because we were getting ready to roll. That bed I slept on didn't turn out to be too bad. I had a nice breakfast of a slice of bacon and two eggs. Then we all started slowly getting ready to leave. I stood around some. I was standing around looking through my wallet, making sure Micah hadn't stolen anything from me during the night, and Aunt Ellen saw me and asked what was up. "Just lookin' to see what's there," I said.
-"Do you need some money?" She asked. I had $70. "Not... really," I said. "...Why, were you going to give me some?"
-It turned out she was. She gave me $2o for no particular reason, just as a parting gift, and another $20 to give to Micah (he was traveling in Grandma and Grandpa's van, not in the car with us), and I thanked her. Around then we said goodbye and piled into the car.
-Dad drove us into Wisconsin. It was a nice green day in the Dairy State. The trees were green and so were the farms. And that's what we passed through for most of the day. Just outside of Pittsville or something I drove for about an hour; then Dad took over again at a Cenex station and we kept going.
-Around 1920 we started coming up on Duluth, where we were going to meet Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Joe. As we approached the town, a creeping fog settled over the road. Once we got in view of Lake Superior, we could see a stiff wind blowing in off the dark blue water. It really got to buffeting the car around, and we could tell it was going to be cold when we got out of the car.
-We were scheduled to meet them at an Applebee's. It was in a big mall. We parked and, preparatorily, looked out at the rolling sky, the same color as Lake Superior. Then we got out. And yes, it was cold, boy was it ever. It felt like a brisk February day, not like June 29th. I stuck my hands in my pockets and hurried on across the parking lot into the Applebee's. I was just about to ask where the Troxel party was sitting when Micah yelled to me from a table right next to the door. Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Joe were there sitting with him, and the table looked full, but of course I made room. In a minute Mom and Dad joined--Dad had to sit at the end of the table on a chair--and we were served by a perky waitress with an accent that reminded us we were in Minnesota now. I had a great steak and made light chit-chat, but then I peeled off to a Barnes & Noble next door.
-Looking around I found another Bill Bryson book. Might as well, I figured. This one's called Neither Here Nor There and it's about him traveling in Europe. So far it's really funny. I especially like the part where he said,
"We were awakened early for another rest stop, this one in Where the F-ck, Finland."
I shelled out $14 for it and joined up with everyone else. I showed Micah a big moth I found at a restaurant in Wisconsin, and then we drove a little ways to our EconoLodge motel.
-I was going to sit and read my new book, but Dad commandeered it so I went off to the pool. It was a lot like the Y's pool, which sucks, but for some reason it didn't suck. Same chlorinated, soggy air, same chemically stinging water, but it didn't suck. As much. I think it still did to a certain extent. While we were there, strangely enough, we found out that the other kids there with us (three boys who liked to do cannonballs) were also from Cincinnati. Small world.
-I came back, did read some of my book, and then washed the chlorine off in a shower and got to writing. It's still foggy and damp out, and I kinda like it. I'm going to wear my flannel tomorrow.
1 Travel
But I did [have to get up early]. In fact, Dad got me up at 0830. We battened down the house and left at 1000.
-Mom and Dad drove today. It was an uneventful drive. We went nonstop through Indianapolis and I sat in the back and designed a floor plan for a house I want to build. I have all three floors mostly done, but it needs refining.
-I had plenty of time to work on them. It took many hours of just sitting in the car twiddling thumbs, hours and hours, to get to and through Chicago. Then we passed through some suburbs. After a few, we were finally in Cary, and we eventually found Ellen & Chuck's house, which if I forgot to tell you is where we're staying.
-When I got out of the car Mom asked me if I remembered the place. I went here last when I was four. No, of course I don't remember it, dweeb. Aunt Ellen opened the door and there was an awkward moment where everyone hugged each other. Then we all came inside. Mom immediately took me upstairs to see if I remembered a certain room with an airplane motif that I supposedly slept in last time I was here. I didn't. It was twelve years ago, dweeb! It was a small room, but that's still where I get to sleep tonight, in a micro-sized bed, with Micah snoring nearby.
-Aunt Ellen and Uncle Chuck ordered pizza, so ate and got really full. Then I lounged reading the Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book, which it turns out they have. We socialized a little... in a way... and then more and then it was time for bed.
-Mom and Dad drove today. It was an uneventful drive. We went nonstop through Indianapolis and I sat in the back and designed a floor plan for a house I want to build. I have all three floors mostly done, but it needs refining.
-I had plenty of time to work on them. It took many hours of just sitting in the car twiddling thumbs, hours and hours, to get to and through Chicago. Then we passed through some suburbs. After a few, we were finally in Cary, and we eventually found Ellen & Chuck's house, which if I forgot to tell you is where we're staying.
-When I got out of the car Mom asked me if I remembered the place. I went here last when I was four. No, of course I don't remember it, dweeb. Aunt Ellen opened the door and there was an awkward moment where everyone hugged each other. Then we all came inside. Mom immediately took me upstairs to see if I remembered a certain room with an airplane motif that I supposedly slept in last time I was here. I didn't. It was twelve years ago, dweeb! It was a small room, but that's still where I get to sleep tonight, in a micro-sized bed, with Micah snoring nearby.
-Aunt Ellen and Uncle Chuck ordered pizza, so ate and got really full. Then I lounged reading the Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book, which it turns out they have. We socialized a little... in a way... and then more and then it was time for bed.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Dramatis Personae
Hi, Everybody!
I've actually been back since last Saturday, but I felt I deserved a little bit of hiatus and sleeping in. But now I'm back in "full force", as they say! Now: what I think I'm going to do over the next week and a half is write down each journal entry I did in my big fat journal (you may remember me showing it to youy once or twice if you're someone I showed it to). But before I do I'm going to keep you from getting confused, by giving you a cast list of everyone I'm going to mention.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mom, Dad, Micah, and me: you already know us.
Grandma and Grandpa: live in Oxford. They're the ones in charge of the trip every year.
Uncle Dan, Aunt Tracy: Dan is my mom's brother. They're both real funny folks.
Uncle Dave: Also my mom's brother. His wife Rachael didn't come this year.
Erin, Sierra, Hayden: Dave's kids. Erin is 17 (well, not anymore--turned 18 on the 12th), Sierra is 4, and Hayden is 2, and autistic. Leah stayed home too. She's 15, I think.
Great Uncle Joe: Grandpa's brother. Lives in Denver. Quieter than Grandpa.
Great Aunt Irene: Grandma's sister. Lives near DC. She writes stuff, like plays for kids. Also a quiet person.
Great Aunt Ellen and Uncle Chuck: live in Chicago and in Arizona. They're both pilots. They didn't come along this year, just let us sleep in their house.
Bill Kolansky: Lean, wiry, black hair, fun guy. Runs the Crowduck Lake Camp. Used to have a float plane, but it sank and they say it's no good anymore.
Nick Kolansky: Bill's dad. Like Bill, but with gray hair. I think he came from the Ukraine, once, long ago, but I can't hear any accent. He was the one who bought the camp originally. I don't know whether he still owns it or if he ceded it to Bill.
Crowduck Lake: Crowduck Lake
(sorry, it wouldn't let me put the full-size map there)
+++++++++++++++++++
That's about it. I'll edit out some of the parts that would be dense and fill space, and I'll also keep tabs on what's happening currently, alongside this play-by-play. First entry comes out tomorrow.
I've actually been back since last Saturday, but I felt I deserved a little bit of hiatus and sleeping in. But now I'm back in "full force", as they say! Now: what I think I'm going to do over the next week and a half is write down each journal entry I did in my big fat journal (you may remember me showing it to youy once or twice if you're someone I showed it to). But before I do I'm going to keep you from getting confused, by giving you a cast list of everyone I'm going to mention.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mom, Dad, Micah, and me: you already know us.
Grandma and Grandpa: live in Oxford. They're the ones in charge of the trip every year.
Uncle Dan, Aunt Tracy: Dan is my mom's brother. They're both real funny folks.
Uncle Dave: Also my mom's brother. His wife Rachael didn't come this year.
Erin, Sierra, Hayden: Dave's kids. Erin is 17 (well, not anymore--turned 18 on the 12th), Sierra is 4, and Hayden is 2, and autistic. Leah stayed home too. She's 15, I think.
Great Uncle Joe: Grandpa's brother. Lives in Denver. Quieter than Grandpa.
Great Aunt Irene: Grandma's sister. Lives near DC. She writes stuff, like plays for kids. Also a quiet person.
Great Aunt Ellen and Uncle Chuck: live in Chicago and in Arizona. They're both pilots. They didn't come along this year, just let us sleep in their house.
Bill Kolansky: Lean, wiry, black hair, fun guy. Runs the Crowduck Lake Camp. Used to have a float plane, but it sank and they say it's no good anymore.
Nick Kolansky: Bill's dad. Like Bill, but with gray hair. I think he came from the Ukraine, once, long ago, but I can't hear any accent. He was the one who bought the camp originally. I don't know whether he still owns it or if he ceded it to Bill.
Crowduck Lake: Crowduck Lake
(sorry, it wouldn't let me put the full-size map there)
+++++++++++++++++++
That's about it. I'll edit out some of the parts that would be dense and fill space, and I'll also keep tabs on what's happening currently, alongside this play-by-play. First entry comes out tomorrow.
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