It's Our Turn

If you've been around this blog long enough, you know that every other year we take a girls-only canoe trip.  We didn't go last year, so that means this year is our turn.

Why a girls-only trip, you might ask?  Well, that's a tradition started by my mom many years ago. She began going on girls-only trips when she was about my age, and continued doing that for about 20 years (I think she was 72 years old the last time she went in...and truth be told, if her hips/knees were in better condition, she'd still be going in).  She brought me along a couple times, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyway, there are a few advantages to not having any guys with.

In answer to the question, first, lots of girl time!  Second, if we brought guys along they would do a lot of the hard work (think portaging canoes and the food pack). Now, I enjoy being pampered as well as the next girl, but sometimes you just want to prove to yourself that "you can do it."  On our trips, ain't nobody going to carry that canoe for you!  If the wind is blowing whitecaps on a lake, you're the only ones who are going to get the canoe across it and make camp. Oh, the aching muscles and that satisfied feeling of "I did that!"

The past two trips (2010 & 2012) we stayed on the Minnesota side of things, but this year we are going into the Quetico which is in Canada.

You might ask, what's the difference?  Well, there is really only one that matters - bathrooms.....there are none.  Not an outhouse, not a box in the woods, nada.  A small shovel is highly recommended for this trip!

Aside from the minor inconvenience of no biffy, the benefits of the Quetico are: 1) You can camp ANYWHERE. You don't need to stay at a campsite, unlike on the Minnesota side, provided you can find a flat area large enough to pitch a couple tents, 2) While the Boundary Waters is remote wilderness camping, the Quetico is even more remote and more wilderness, 3) Fewer people, as in you may go days without seeing another human being, aside from your camping group who may or may not resemble human beings by the end of the trip.

I am so excited to go!

Here's a taste of our past two trips, put to a most amazing song...