Finally Used that Gift Card

Remember that Cabela's gift card from Christmas? I finally carted the family off to Cabela's today to use it. Before we could savor the wonders of Cabela's, we had to stop in Ann Arbor to have lunch at one of my favorite places, the Maize and Blue Deli. Mmmm, delicious!
The girls loved walking around Cabela's, but they made it difficult to do any actual shopping. They kept pulling me to the next taxidermy display to ask a hundred questions about each animal. We decided to get a "pop" gun for the girls, since they enjoyed trying them out so much. At one point, Greta pointed her gun at a snowshoe hare and said, "I'm going to shoot that rabbit!" Definitely my daughter!

We didn't see the whole store, but I arrived with a few ideas in mind (thanks to the responses from an earlier post). I scoured the camping and footwear sections, but didn't find anything I really needed soon. I ended up using the gift card to get a pfd and some rain pants, two items I know I'll use this season. The pfd has a mesh upper for more freedom of movement than the standard rental vests, and the rain pants replace the pair that tore along a seam during a downpour last summer. Those who accompanied me last August can rest assured that I tried them on, bending and crouching to make sure they would not expose my backside at an inopportune moment!

Lastly, I checked out the half-dozen canoes on display outside of the store. Two were Old Town Pack canoes, nice and light. The others were heavy clunkers, mostly Old Town tandems. The yokes on some of them were ridiculous; no contour at all vertically, I can only imagine how painful it would be to portage a km under one of those beasts. My wife did not share my enthusiasm over a solo canoe. She would prefer something with two seats, with room for the family. Hmmm, I could solo paddle a tandem if I had to, now if I could only find a canoe in my price range---anybody willing to pay me to take a canoe off their hands? ;)

Now I'm itching to hit the water, and still hoping Saturday the 24th is as nice as today was.

Birthday Plans Set

Just under 3 weeks away, a trip is in the final planning stages. My brother and I will drive to Ft. Wayne, tent camp at my uncle's farm, and paddle the St. Joseph River with cousins and some of their kids. I believe this will be the earliest I have ever paddled. Hopefully a new trend. Previously, the earliest was Memorial Day weekend. I'm hoping for another warm front to pass through Indiana that weekend! This weekend was amazing!

Birthday Plans

I want to be in a canoe on my birthday, paddling on a lake or river somewhere. That's all I really want right now. All this warm weather has me thinking that the end of April will be fine for hitting the water, or at least floating on the surface in a canoe.

I have a few options, and I don't yet know which one I'll choose. I can go to the Huron River, less than an hour's drive away, and paddle for a few hours. I could go to the Au Sable or Rifle Rivers, 3 hours' drive away, and be a little more remote. Or I could go all the way to Algonquin Park, meet a bunch of AlgonquinAdventures people, and drive 8 hours each way. What to do? What to do? What to do, as long as it's in a canoe!

Farewell, Bucephalus

I haven't posted in a while. There were no interesting outdoor adventures to write about, and I needed time to deal with the loss of my jeep. I hit some "black ice" on the way to work March 24th, and collided with two other vehicles. The jeep sustained too much damage to be repaired and driven again, so it was sold to a junkyard. That trusty carriage transported my wife and I to many adventures and back, both in Michigan and Canada. While my Dad has generously passed along his car for my use, I do hope to someday replace the departed Jeep Cherokee with a fitting replacement.

Enough lamenting. There are still a few weeks of rabbit season left around here, and I plan on getting out at least one more time. I'll be sure to post details when that all comes together.

Anna's Rabbit Hunt

Today, I took Anna to the Port Huron state game area. Our purpose was to hunt rabbits. We brought along Chloe, our beagle. It did not go well. Anna started complaining about her feet almost right away, and I could not find a single rabbit track. By the time Chloe actually looked like she had a possible line on a rabbit, Anna was crying and demanding to go home. Total time driving to the game area: one hour. Total time in the game area: 45 minutes. It was a beautiful day, and I was sure she would enjoy the warmer temperatures and the vast wooded area.

Here was the problem: My wife convinced me to have Anna wear her rubber boots instead of snow boots, since snow was melting and her snow boots might get "messy". Well, there was still plenty of snow (but not too much) in the game area, and the rubber boots were a little small for Anna. Her feet were getting pinched, ruining the experience. On the bright side, Anna said she still had fun, so I think she'll go again. As long as she has comfortable footwear!

Snow Cave

Last week, we had enough snow fall in my area to close the schools for a day. I spent a few hours shoveling the snow off of the sidewalk and driveway. I use snow shoveling as a form of winter exercise, despite the inevitable chiding I get from my neighbor. I decided to pile all of the snow from the back of the driveway and the patio into one big pile. Once the snow was all piled high, I dug out a tunnel through the middle of the snow hill. Anna had a blast crawling through it. My inspiration came from a bigger snow cave the older kids at Anna's school had made after the previous big snowfall, and from an old Boy Scout wilderness survival manual. It wouldn't be too much more work to make the necessary modifications for a proper overnight snow cave. Wouldn't want to find out if it's overnight capable except in an emergency! But this is the closest I've come to fulfilling my wish to winter camp. It's snowing again today, so if there's enough to add another "wing" to the snow cave, I'll post a pic.

Yesterday, Anna and I were supposed to go rabbit hunting with my buddy and his son. Anna's asthma acted up on Sunday and she wasn't quite ready for outdoor exertion on Monday morning. She was very disappointed, as was I, and I have promised her we'll go later this week.

Tentative 2010 Tripping Plans

I haven't posted in almost two weeks because I haven't done anything fun outdoors. Last weekend I stayed home and did very little. I even resorted to playing video games for a few hours (gasp!). But one thing I did do was email my tripping buddies and start a conversation about next summer's trip. I have been thinking about canoe tripping a lot lately, probably because I can't do it for several months, and I don't have any hunting plans in the very near future (look for a hunting report in 1-1/2 weeks). So I have decided to list the tentative canoe trip plans I have bouncing around my head.

*I would love to join the Algonquin Adventures crew on their annual ice-out gathering, since it looks to be on my birthday (April 24), but it is unlikely that I will get out there that early in the year.

*I hope to repeat the day trip done last year with my wife and kids plus my cousin, his wife, and their kids. We're still hashing out the details, as some members of the group don't love canoeing as much as I do. I am hoping for an overnight, which would be a big step for my daughters. This could turn into two events, a campground overnight with optional canoeing and a short canoe trip with just my nuclear family.

*This June will be my 10th anniversary, and I'd like to take my wife back to Algonquin. She hasn't been there since 2002, and has expressed a desire to return. I'm shooting for a long weekend in July to do the Rock-Pen-etc.-Louisa loop.

*The boys and I have been talking of a 3-night loop in Algonquin to Big Trout and back. We plan on taking the Tim River to Big Trout, and stopping on Misty on the way back. The goal is to pack light to make the portages less painful. We're in the process of locating a fourth participant, as we prefer even numbers.

*I'd like to take a friend of mine up on an offer to try kayaking on the Huron River. I've never paddled a kayak, and he is able to borrow some from a friend. That's the kind of day trip I could fit in anywhere.

*Last year I became really keen on the idea of trying my first solo trip. I'd still like to do that, but it seems just barely more likely than the ice-out trip. Oh well, I can't do it all in one summer. I will be pleased if I can do even a few of these trips. It sure would give me plenty to post about!