What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I have to say--this does feel a bit like a school assignment, even though I assigned it to myself and I really do like writing the blog. But after ten days or so of non-stop playing, it's a little shock to get back to the computer.

I really have been away from cyberspace for most of that time. Nate (younger son) and his partner, Meghan, arrived in Madison on Thursday, August 14. They'd moved out of their Somerville MA apartment a week or two before, and had been visiting various branches of Meghan's family on the east coast before heading west in their rental car. Eventually, after seeing lots of friends and more family and going to weddings east and west, they will head to Bogota, Colombia, where they both have fellowships for the next year to study and work on various aspects of environmental and human rights law. But the day after they got to Madison, we headed north to Duluth, where we met Jed (older son) and his partner, Nazgol, who had just flown into Minneapolis from France, where they were celebrating Nazgol's successful completion of her field exams for a PhD in sociology.

On Saturday 8/15 the five of us continued north, on Highway 61 (yes, the same one Bob Dylan named his second album after) along the shore of Lake Superior to Grand Marais. After a bit more provisioning (we'd already loaded up at coops in Madison and Duluth, as well as the Duluth farmers' market) we turned inland on the Gunflint Trail and drove another 43 miles into the Boundary Waters, where we'd rented a cabin for the week on Gunflint Lake. And what a week it was! Perfect weather, minimal mosquitoes and black flies, endless raspberries and blueberries ripe for picking, two canoes provided with the cabin, a rental motorboat and a fine restaurant at nearby Gunflint Lodge. Lots of swimming for the other four, though I didn't venture in because the water was pretty cold, reading, fishing, canoeing, game playing, conversation, relaxing. And really beautiful scenery, even though the opposite shore (Canada) suffered a devastating forest fire last summer.

One day we all canoed across Gunflint and Magnetic Lakes; then Jed and Nate took the canoes though a rapids and we went a short distance down river, picnicking on shore just above a small waterfall. I thought I'd paddle back, because we'd had a headwind on the way across, and I could benefit from the tailwind on the return. But of course--just like biking!--the wind shifted and intensified as we started home. So I paddled across Magnetic, and then, in the interest of getting back to the cabin before we all starved, turned the paddle over to Jed before we hit Gunflint. But I was pleased with my effort.

And the exercise stood me in good stead a few days later, at the dragon boat race in Superior. We all drove down on Friday, getting to the motel just after the TeamSurvivor bus arrived from Madison. Jed, Nazgol, Nate, and Meghan did me the honor of waking up early on Saturday, in time to watch me race at about 8:15 AM. Although TeamSurvivor raced in two heats, we had more paddlers than seats in the boat, so some of us--by the luck of the draw--had to sit out one race. I was not unhappy to be on the short end: between the stiff and cold headwind, my lingering pneumonia, the difference between practice (easy) and racing (intense--the longest three minutes you can imagine), and the opportunity to spend more time with my kids, it seemed to me good fortune to have only one race! And with luck, I'll have another chance at the Oshkosh dragon boat regatta in September.

Nate and Meghan headed west toward Glacier National Park mid-afternoon Saturday. Jed, Nazgol, and I spent a delightful hour or so at the Amazing Grace Cafe in Duluth's Canal Park with some of my biking friends from Eau Claire and Madison. Angie, Janet, Renee, Rene, and Eleanor (along with six other women) had just finished a loop ride from Duluth into the Mesabi Iron Range west of the Boundary Waters (Dylan's home town of Hibbing was on the loop). We all caught up on our latest adventures, and then Jed, Nazgol, and I drove to Minneapolis, returned the rental car, re-rented it, and drove back to Madison, arriving home about 2 AM on Sunday!

I was absolutely fried on Sunday, even though I slept in to 10:30, probably the latest I've slept in years, and all we did was grocery shop and go to an Obama fundraiser for a short time! But by yesterday (when I should have been writing the blog), I'd recovered enough to do a bunch of errands and then head out to House on the Rock to show Nazgol one of the area's prime tourist attractions. I remembered the place as totally exhausting, but in fact, it was a lot of fun. I think they've reorganized the exhibits so they're not as overwhelming as they used to be. Or I'm older. Or something! Anyway that--and eating out and watching a movie--was what I was doing yesterday instead of blogging.

Vacation continues this week with a short jaunt to Chicago--and next week, it's back to reality, with a CT scan and an appointment with the oncologist and, who knows, maybe even chemo. But I'll post again before that happens!