The Events of Tuesday, August 10, 2010

          Today we drove north after saying goodbye to the Bjorlos (well, half of the Bjorlos, anyway). Tired from an early awakening, most of us slept while one lucky parent drove. When we arrived at Rainy Lake Visitor Center in Voyageurs National Park, we had a quick lunch and then went for a fun but short ranger-led canoe ride in Rainy Lake. Ranger Jon led us through a bit of the history of the area and also some of the vegetation. Daddy saw a wolf spider in the box where the life jackets and paddles were kept. After arranging three metal canoes, seven paddles, seven life jackets and seven canoers, we were ready to go. Lindsey and Abby accompanied Ranger Jon, Ben and Daddy took another canoe, and Mom and I took the third canoe. I noisily battled with the insect inhabitants in the front of my canoe.

          We paddled out into a little bay between two small rocky islands--one inhabited by seagulls, the other uninhabited--to a marshy area where wild rice grew. There we took a break and learned about the history of the place, about how the Ojibwe were sent west and told to stop where the wild rice grew, which was in Voyageurs National Park, where the Sioux or Lakota Indians were living at the time. They fought for the land, and the Ojibwe won the war and sent the Lakota on their way. Then when the French fur traders, or voyageurs, came, the Ojibwe were quite established and ready to trade with the newcomers. It was fun to see the very plants which had been a part of the history of the human inhabitants of Rainy Lake and the surrounding area. While we sat there, a group of mallards swam slowly past us. Then Ranger Jon looked at the sky and forecasted a yucky turn in the weather, so we turned ‘round our aluminum canoes and paddled back.

          As we put everything back in its place, we listened to the weirdest birdcall I have ever heard. Ranger Jon shared with us that we were listening to a loon, Minnesota’s state bird. “I thought Minnesota’s state bird was the mosquito,” I replied, and Ranger Jon thought that was very clever. Then we went back inside the visitors’ center, explored the exhibits and the gift shop, and watched the park film. I learned that the voyageurs’ path was so influential that it helped decide the United States/Canada border. After we’d squeezed every little drop of education out of the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, we continued on our merry way to an RV park in International Falls.

          We were all still very tired, and I proposed the wonderful idea of watching a movie instead of trying to do something more active. Mom chose three movies, of which the rest of us voted and selected “My Fair Lady.” Then the three of us girls went to shower, and had a grand time doing it because the shower was so horrible that we had a very hard, but very fun time showering. See my shower blog for details. When we returned, sort of clean, but really sweaty all over from the humidity, we all pitched in and prepared our delicious dinner of spaghetti, sausages, salad, and brownies for dessert to give Mom a break. However, we had a very hard time doing it because the kitchen was so small, and we were all very tired, so we bickered a lot too. And an egg broke in the process, but we cleaned up the mess rather quickly. If there is really a saying that says something along the lines of “the fruits of your own labor taste better” we knew what that meant. That was the best spaghetti I have ever had, because I helped make it; I cooked up the sausages and poured in the spaghetti sauce. And the brownies (even though they forgot the butterscotch chips—a forbidden sin in our family) were just as yummy as ever. After Daddy did the dishes and we were ready for bed, we enjoyed half of “My Fair Lady”. Then we went to bed singing “I Could Have Danced All Night,” the song Eliza sings after her speech magically becomes perfect and Henry Higgins dances one dance with her and she falls in love with him – a lovely ending to a lovely day.