Down the river instead of up a creek

Update

We made it 10 miles down the Mississippi River. We started just on the edge of the lake and paddled to a landing quite close to our house. It was cold, it drizzled, it was windy... and it was fun. It was relaxing. There was good conversation. There was a ton of wild life. There was no one else out there. (perfect)

Dearest steering. Cousins in canoe behind.
Click to enlarge

RxBambi said it best (in her comment) - Minnesotans are hardy. Plus, we are stubborn. Any one of the four of us could have called it off. But, we all just kept the idea of going. Thowing one more sweatshirt on before we left. (wishing for gloves when we got there)

We were the only people out there as I said. Which left us with plenty of opportunities to see a variety of wildlife, mostly birds. We did also see a beaver and one doe. Blue Herons, bald eagles, ducks, and loons were plenty.
This is an untouched picture of a loon. That is how close she let us get to her. We realized later we were between her and her baby. She was not happy about that. The loon is Minnesota's State Bird.

1/2 way through the trip we needed to "portage" (carry) our canoes around a power dam. We being the guys.

click to enlarge

Leaving me to carry the contents of the canoe.Don't I look so warm and toasty? Nothing like a nice canoe ride in the middle of the summer (July - the hottest month of the year!!!!! haha)

Regardless - we had fun. We even talked about us two couples taking a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area together. Now THAT would be fun. Anyone volunteer to watch four kids for about four days?
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This mornings post:
Down a river... not up a creek. We will have paddles too.

We are going canoeing today. Down the Mississippi. However.... the (friggin, gosh darn, fruit loopin, sending me over the edge of depression, unbearable) weather is not cooperating (again).

Sigh....

I will be back later with pics down the river. We will be taking "Buller" with us too.