jillithian | Verbose day

We went to Canada this weekend. I got off work early on Friday (well, I worked 7-3 instead of 9-5:30) so we could haul ass up there and possibly make it with enough light for me to navigate the lake to the cabin.

I decided to try a different route than normal. Thought that if I took HWY 10 to HWY 71 that it might be faster than taking 10 to 371 to 210 to 6 to 71. We took the second route back. Route A took 5.5 hours; Route B took 5 hours. So, in other words, we got to International Falls at about 9:30pm which was far too dark for me to try to navigate Rainy Lake when I only drive the boat on that lake about 2 times a year.

We pulled into the first hotel we found (Holiday Inn). I think the last time I was there was for my twelfth birthday party which was a month before my birthday because we were moving that weekend to Milwaukee. We took the last room they had. I guess the big Bass Fishing Tournament eats up a few hotel rooms.

Saturday we got up around 10 and headed out to the barn to pick up my boat. It's a big garage that holds my boat, my dad's boat, my dad's friend's boat, and whatever else manages to end up there from my dad's friends. That day we found the snowmobile trailer inbetween my boat and the big garage door. On top of the snowmobile trailer was an old iron gas stove strapped to a dolley.

I unlocked the garage door and pushed it up. It came back down. Tim pushed it up. It came back down. Tim pushed harder. It came back down. "Lift with your legs!" I shouted. Tim pushed and the door flies up so far that the whole top panel falls off the end of the rails. Doh.

So, in this big garage of stoves and trailers and three-wheelers and windows and such, do you think there is a ladder? No. Then next half hour or so involved Tim standing on top of the iron stove on top of the snowmobile trailer trying to pull the door back and Jill jumping up and down with a big 2x4 stick trying push the door up. We finally got one side of the top panel back in the rails but the other side would not stay.

So we pulled the garage door down, Tim climbed up the wall of the garage holding on to the support beams and dismantled the wheel bracket on the stubborn side. Finally, the door was fixed. Then we realized that the door was closed again and my boat was still behind the snowmobile trailer.

We finally got the door to go up and stay up, manually moved the snowmobile trailer out of the garage, and got the boat hooked up to the hitch on my car. Putting the boat in the water wasn't too much of a hassle, considering my spotty experience as a trailer-backer-upper. Unfortunately, the boat didn't want to start up right away. I guess only being run four times a year causes a little hesitation in the motor.

Boat started, stuff packed up in the boat, car parked, we head up river to the lake, *ahem* cross the border and *ahem* forget to check in with customs. The water is pretty smooth and it's absolutely beautiful out. 85 degrees is much easier to handle than the 100 degrees it was at home. There were loons and cormorants and seagulls and pelicans all going about their business as we flew by. We were greeted at the dock by two wriggly dogs and two surprised Canadian cousins.

I spent over an hour and a half just floating in the bay with a styrofoam noodle under my arms. That hour and a half was more than worth the 12 hour total travel time. The four of us munched on cheese and sausage, chips and salsa, and happily got drunk on our drinks of choice while playing Hearts on the deck.

The next day was windy and cloudy. We packed up just as the wind started picking up. The water was pretty rough from the cabin out to the Causeway bridge. Once we went under that bridge and the next lift bridge into Sand Bay, we were soaked. There were times when it felt like someone was under the boat throwing buckets of water at us! HA! We finally made it to the Ranier Lift Bridge and onto the much calmer river. After many struggles trying to back the trailer down the boat launch, Tim finally took over and got it aligned correctly. We filled up the gaas tanks, stored the boat and snowmobile trailer and headed back down home.

The trip home was pretty uneventful other than my newfound love of Judy Garland's hometown of Grand Rapids, MN. They ad this amazing cafe called Brewed Awakenings where I tried my first taste of gelatto (now I know what

gfrancie's been raving about), had some homemade apple cider and a delicious sandwich made on bread baked in Duluth and all organic fixins. You know a place is good when there are middle aged women, techno-savvy fat men, chuck-wearing old guys, Native Americans, twenty-something hippies, and over-bleached, over-tanned, under-fed rich girls all hanging out in the same dining room. And this is a town of only 7,000 people.

We got home and I don't even think the cat noticed we were gone other than she could go outside again. heh

Verbose day

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