Author: Sue Ahrendt

To the Dads from the Tusc crew-

We had such a gorgeous weekend and watched so many people paddle happily away, the kids and I decided to take our turn.

The weather held so we headed into Ham Lake on Monday afternoon—for a little hiatus. Perfect.

I woke early Tuesday morning because the birds were singing like maniacs. I lounged while the kids slept (partly because they still look like toddlers when they’re sleeping), then I started observing the multitudes of mosquitoes waiting on the screen of the tent. So many, packed so tightly that their wings were interfering with each other. We have such long winters here, and the world is so very cold and apparently dead under all that iciness. The birds—the mosquitoes—all the spring babies….re-remind me what a miracle it is that life returns anew, and that we get to tap into that.

When I was a kid I sang in choirs (years of memorizing sacred music). All those lyrics are stuck in my brain, which is lucky for me when the words match the current events of the day. Sometimes my children think it is unlucky when I’m humming the same song all day long. But this trip—it was a perfect fit.

For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies……………..

For the beauty of each hour

of the day and of the night,

hill and vale, and tree and flower,

sun and moon, and stars of light……..;

For the joy of human love,

brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth and friends above,

for all gentle thoughts and mild;

Lord of all, to thee we raise

this our joyful hymn of praise.

A summer doesn’t really start until school ends—officially last Thursday.
Daniel graciously assisted with one more lesson: a key, a primer , for reading the subtle facial cues of a 12 year old boy. Cabin 3 guest (on a STAYCATION from Grand Marais) Kelly helped us out.

Excited

Angry,

Happy,

Amazed,

Bored,

Surprised,

Cantankerous,

Perplexed,

Flabbergasted,

Confused,

Doubtful,

Oops (Please don’t tell Daniel that I snuck this in. Not supposed to let on that he really is a sweet boy).

As staffers here at Tuscarora, we get one day off every week, and that provides us with the opportunity to take mini Boundary Waters trips. This past Wednesday was my day off along with 3 other staffers (Justin, Caitlin and Andrew). We were planning on heading out to Long IslandLake after work on Tuesday, but the weather continued to be quite indecisive right up to Tuesday lunch. The four of us were a bit hesitant to head out into uncertain weather—just what we wanted: to come back from our day off sick, tired, cold and wet! However, at about 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday our canoes hit the water at the CrossBay landing. We were off.

We enjoyed a nice paddle out to Long Island and were surprised that we were not wet or (very) cold upon our arrival to camp. (Though, I was a bit worried we were not going to find a campsite, as the first few were already occupied.) We set up camp as the sun was preparing to set for the evening, and then started brewing up a nice campfire. A long lasting, hot fire would be essential for the evening because in our packs we had stowed away a special Boundary Waters experiment of sorts.

Before coming up here this summer, my Dad made me a collapsible, lightweight, reflector oven to use on trips. Our experiment for the night was to see if the reflector over actually worked (Dad—I know you’re reading this…I never doubted your design!). Also in our arsenal for the evening was some of Chef Justin’s sourdough artisan bread dough. We were attempting to bake real, FRESH, artisan bread in the Boundary Waters.

Well, the experiment took a good dose of team work and patience as well. We had to collect new fire wood three times over to keep the fire going, and while Justin tended to the bread and Caitlin worked on the firewood, Andrew and I got the rest of dinner going.

I guess I had a few doubts running through my head at this point: either the fire would die out or not be hot enough, or the bread would take an exorbitant amount of time to cook, or it would cook unevenly, or burn, etc.

To my surprise and delight, though, about 45 minutes after we set the oven in front of the fire, we had bread. And this bread was not just any old slice of Wonderbread. This bread had a perfect golden brown hue and the unmistakable crunch of the fresh baked bread (you know, the good stuff). It also had a slightly smoky flavor that went well with the turkey and rice dish we had prepared.

We baked bread. That’s a feat in and of itself, but we baked bread IN THE WOODS!

The four of us lingered around the campfire breaking the warm bread and enjoying the heat of the fire at our toes. We enjoyed our dinner, to say the least, and the trip in its entirety. On our paddle out on Wednesday, we took our time. There was a little river off of Lower George and we went exploring. We sailed underneath downed trees and enjoyed the SUNSHINE. Another pit stop on our return included a climb up some waterfalls on Cross as well as a slide back down the falls. We sang songs from Pocahontas, picked off dozens of little leeches, caught a fish, laughed, smiled and took it all in. Trips like this one remind me of how fortunate I am to “work” here in the summer. This place is our home in the summertime, and I’m glad we decided to take our little trip this week—it’s one I won’t soon forget.

Did I mention that we made bread?

Charlie Jones and Tim Ivey traveled from their homes in Georgia/North Carolina to spend the week with us.

When they first arrived, I knew they were fishing, and I asked if they needed a boat. Nope, they showed me their own boats. And I was thinking…hmmmm, hope you guys are happy here. Because…this isn’t how it usually works on Round Lake.

Tim is a fly tying guy. He’s holding his card of flies to try in the BWCA. He already knows what works down South.

My friend Ingrid fly fishes for bass up here; it is becoming increasingly popular, I just don’t know how myself. I wasn’t thinking they’d have a lot of luck in their little rigs.

As the week progressed, we grew pretty fond of Charlie and Tim. They were good sports about the cool weather (although Tim said he was looking forward to returning to 94 degrees AND 94% humidity. I say—I’m glad somebody likes that climate…!)

Charlie had a really nice camera with a telephoto lens, and didn’t disturb the loon on her nest in his quiet boat.

And they had wild success with their flies. A great time….I believe they were on to something with their rigs!

And the word is–the Woolly Booger that Tim ties is the magic fly up here. He left some for the Tuscarora Trading Post, and he left his luckiest Woolly Booger for staff member Maggie to use with her fly rod.
We were sorry to see them go–