Let's just be clear about this from the start: I am not sorry that nothing has been posted since June. In fact, many of you might not read this until September or January or some time in the distant future when you are scraping the bottom of your bookmarked pages for something to put between you and some horrible project, right after you check out catsincups.com and just before you decide now is the perfect time for the internet to teach you how to crochet fine lace.
Some things have happened since I last posted.
I got married! You might have been there. It was a really amazing weekend. The planning was kind of hard, even though we stuck to our original plan of a small, simple celebration. I haven't seen any pictures from that weekend yet, so I can't post any here, and I think I'll wait until I have some to share to write about that part of things. If you took pictures, please PLEASE send them to us. Digitally, if at all possible. Thanks!
Rob and I left Nebraska as quickly as possible after the festivities, dropped the dogs off at home, switched our fancy stuff for our woodsy stuff, and went on a honeymoon. We drove up to Ely, where we checked in with our outfitter and ate one of the top ten steaks I've ever had, then went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a week. I love the BWCA, and it was wonderful to be able to share it. Of course, I've never been there this time of year before - some things were different, like the bugs and the temperatures and the number of visitors. I've also never had an outfitter pack us so much food before. Better not to starve, but good lord, desserts with every lunch and dinner is a lot of powdered pudding to haul around.
Chivalry persists: Rob tried to do most of the hauling, and also most of the eating. The infamous Jorgensen Circle of Death started on a camping trip, but it's hard to make a circle with only two people, one of whom is threatening to puke if she has to eat another bite. (Is packing out vomit a part of Leave No Trace?) The weather was so good that the hot food sometimes didn't even seem necessary, and I only put my thermal socks on once.
We also got lucky with campsites. Even though we spent about half of our time there in relatively busy lakes (entry and exit point areas), we didn't have any trouble finding open sites. Most of them were great, with views and flat spots for the tent and easy access to the water. Some of them were left kind of dirty by previous campers, which was disappointing, and at one of them (on Lake Agnes, I think) people had obviously been feeding the animals.
This especially bothered Rob, who was nearly attacked by a vicious chipmunk as he was cleaning up lunch. Following some verbal arguments, Rob managed to chase the little monster under our canoe (see above), but it turned out that there were several more of them nearby. Rob didn't get to relax much that day.
Here, you can see one of them making a bold move toward my magazine. While Rob chased them around, yelled, called them names, and insulted their mothers, I opted for the more passive agressive approach.
We did see quite a bit of other wildlife. The first or second day, we spotted a moose with her calf in one of the weedy rivers we had to get through. There were also lots of loons, ducks, a few bluejays, a couple of herons, some eagles, three turtles, a swimming deer, two wild swans, and more beavers than you could shake a stick at (sorry).
Just after I took this picture, a beaver swam by in the fog. It was spooky, partly because everything was so still and quiet, including the beaver, partly because of the howling wolf pack we had heard in the night, and because this was a huge animal that we didn't see until it was right there in front of us. Possibly a stealth attack beaver. I saw it a couple more times that morning, once treading water (I swear) thirty feet from shore while it watched me pumping water.
Beavers were a problem for us the whole time we were out. I don't know if it's the time of year or the route we took or what, but we had what felt like 45 surprise portages thanks to their stupid dams. These portages were a special pain in the second half of the trip because Rob's shoes started to give him blisters so we were trying to keep his feet dry by having me hop out into the mud. The mud in the BWCA is uniquely stinky, and works like quicksand, so that was always unpleasant, especially at the portage we had right before the picture above, which was half flooded and full of enormous spiders.
I can forgive the spiders, though, and even the beavers, because once we got that last terrible portage out of the way (we were still headed north at that point), we landed at one gorgeous campsite after another. This one (above) is on Thumb Lake. It's the only site on the entire lake, so we had lots of space to ourselves, and the cliffs across from it make everything echo, which made it seem even more isolated.
I find that kind of isolation sort of cozy, don't you?
By the end of our week in the woods, we were both ready for a shower and some fresh food. But we were still married. I swear this was not the reason we chose camping for the honeymoon, BUT if you can still be in love after some of those hard portages, after eating freeze dried eggs with a smile even though there are pine needles in them and it's dawn and you were up all night thinking about whether the Discovery channel will do a show about you after some boy scouts discover your remains in three weeks (When Beavers Attack!), when you smell like we smelled by the end of the week, everything else is probably going to be a piece of cake. Right?
Rob bragged a little about how tough and strong he had gotten while we were camping, and I have to agree that a little stubble and a film of deet over your entire body will increase your lifting power exponentially.
We got a ride back to Ely, and didn't even stop for showers before we headed to our resort. We stayed at a place near the Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, and it was better than either of us had imagined. There was hot running water and soap, for one thing, and a bottle of champagne with check in. The view from the room rivaled even our most gorgeous campsites, not that you can really tell from the picture.
All things considered, it's really a wonder we ever left the room.
But at some point, everyone needs lunch, so we got some broasted chicken at a diner in the next town over and had a picnick at the local marina. Obviously the picture doesn't do it justice at all, but it was stunning.
So there you are. Now we're back and semi-regular posting will resume (with wedding pics as soon as I get some). Coming soon: The Exterior Remodel, Our First Harvest, Lindsay Learns To Can, and Struggles with Bureaucracy.
