Fishun'

Howdy all! We are back from our fishing trip in the Boundary Waters (Northern Minnesota for those unfamiliar). We had a pretty good time--we basically go to an outfitter in Ely, MN, and buy a permit, rent a boat and chart a course through the lakes for fishing and camping. It was kind of cool driving the boat back through the lakes--one side of the land was Canada, and the other was the US.

This year we did it right--we rented a motor boat and didn't have to portage it ourselves. To portage means to carry the boat over land. (Last year we had to portage with a motor boat. We had it propped up on two wheels, but that didn't necessarily help. It was unbelievably difficult, and at one point I thought for sure Cael was going to get seriously injured by our runaway boat. But miraculously, the boat steered itself right into the lake and about all we had to do was jump in and take off.) Anyhoo, there was one portage this trip, but for $12 each way, a lady would prop the boat up on a trailer and haul it across the trail for you. It was awesome!

In the boundary waters, camping is actually pretty cool--there are designated campgrounds set up in different places--they have an area for building fires and a bathroom area, complete with toilet seat and privacy. We picked a pretty big campground, with lots of flat area and lots of places for Bonnie to explore.

Unfortunately, we did not have the best luck fishing. The last few years have been that way, and Cael and I have come to the conclusion that the best way to do it is to cross the border into Canada and fly out on a float plane, which is what we've done a few times.

However, Cael did catch a few fish the first day so all hope was not lost. When I caught a Northern the next day, I was pretty much satisfied and considered it a successful trip.....then a day or so later, as Cael was baiting my hook, I kind of told him I didn't care to fish anymore that day (I always bring a book and I was totally absorbed--I will sit on the boat all day and read), and he told me just to cast my line. So I cast it behind me, without even looking or paying attention, and I landed the biggest stinking fish of my life!!! (With the exception of the Alaskan halibut, but come on.) I caught a monster Northern that felt like a rock!! He fought me for a few minutes but eventually gave up and I got a few pictures of Cael with it. A little while after that, I caught a pretty big Smallmouth Bass. That was awesome! The Smallmouth fought harder than the Northern! By that time Cael was ready to fish all night to get one bigger than me!! I did actually feel kinda bad because I could care less if I catch big fish--I just go on the trip to chill and read. But Cael said he is glad when I catch fish--he feels like he catches it because he does 75% of the work--he sets up my pole, baits the hook, gets the fish off, etc...ok ok, maybe he does 90%--love him for it!!

Anyway, a few interesting things...we had to get up and move our tent at 3:30 am one night. The wind was blowing so hard that one of the tent walls was touching us as we lay there. And it was incredibly loud.

Tate ended up getting sick and we decided to go home on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Well, it started raining on Tuesday, but we still packed up and got ready to go...and as we started back, it really started to come down. We got to a point where we could see the rain ahead of us and we toyed with the idea of just sitting tight until the rain passed. But we went forward, and it was crazy! In the words of my little sister, we were stuck in a "torrential downpour." It was insane! And just as we got to the portage, we saw lightning. The lady told us it would be in our best interest to get our boat across and keep moving because it was only supposed to get worse, so we did, in our little metal boat. The rain on the last part wasn't coming down as hard but it was pelting us--we thought maybe it was hailing. All the while, Cael is not wearing his rain gear and is soaked to the bone, yet he is still laughing and hootin' and hollerin' from the back of the boat. It was pretty funny. :)

And when we finally got all the way home, poor Tater was not doing great. :( His ear infection returned while we were gone and just totally wiped him out. My mom said all he did the whole time was lay on her lap, which is totally out of character for him. Even when he has been sick at home, I can never get him to just sit in my lap and relax. He stopped eating almost altogether and was just drinking tons of milk. We changed his antibiotic, but then he developed bad side effects which included a rash from head to toe. Unreal. He finally ate a real meal today--I gave him about 30 choices and he ate!! Mac and cheese, a crumbled granola bar, cocoa pebbles, and cinnamon bread! Hallelujah! Hopefully he will continue to get better, but we have an appointment to see and ENT next week to talk about tubes in his ears. I have never seen him so wiped out so if tubes will help, I am all for it! Wish us luck!