WEDNESDAY'S WORD 4-5-06

Today's word is "canoe." As in, "I'd like to canoe the Boundry Waters again some day."

I'm an Eagle Scout, and back when I was in Boy Scouts we would take these "High Adventure" trips. No, we wouldn't go off to fight the Spanish Armada off the Cape of Good Hope, but we'd pack up our things and go out into the woods for a week or so. Most of the time we went hiking. I hiked the Ice Age Trail across the middle of the state, which is where the glaciers during the Ice Age finally stopped advancing, and I hiked along the shore of Lake Superior, which was quite the thing because, believe me, hiking in sand is a PAIN. The third and final trip I took was canoeing in the Boundry Waters. The Boundry Waters are a giant mish-mash of lakes between the U.S. and Canada. They keep tight regulations on how many people can be in a group and even tighter restrictions on what you can bring in and what you must take out, so the area is pristine. Entire lakes where it's just you and your group. We were out there for 9 days and I think we saw maybe 3 other parties the entire time. It was amazing and I'd love to go back someday.

I like the outdoors. I don't want to move out into the boonies and share a cottage with a swarm of insects and a gaggle of spiders, but I enjoy camping and hiking and the like. There's a rumor already amongst people that I know that next summer we might head up to the Boundry Waters. I'm going to have to see what I can do to help make that happen.