Adventure on the Mighty Mississippi

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a young lady who graduated from High School as valedictorian. (1st in her class) After arriving home once the ceremonies were over, her Father made an announcement that he was going to reward his first-born daughter with a gift. This gift could be ANYTHING in the world that she wanted, for he happened to be extremely proud of his daughters achievements in High School.

Now, he figured that she would ask for a brand new car, or fancy luggage, or maybe even an airplane (not that she knew how to fly one), but the answer she gave came as a huge shock to him.

"I would like a canoe please, and a fishing pole so that I can catch my supper," the daughter said. "I have always wanted to canoe down the Mississippi River."

Now you can imagine the suprise of the father who had seriously expected something different. His eyes got very wide, but he went along with her decision and promptly went out and bought a nice canoe and fishing pole for his darling daughter that very day.

Upon receiving her gift the daughter decided to name her canoe and get it ready to go on her Mississippi River expedition immediately. She carefully named it the A.R. Moses. It was a fine name she figured. She decided that since Moses walked on the water, and their family dog was named Moses that her boat would wear the name well!! She was soon dropped off at Lake Bemidji to begin her journey. (She decided not to actually start at Itasca since Bemidji is the 1st city on the river.)

Well she got going and paddled out across Lake Bemidji, enjoying every moment in her new canoe. She is a person who is thrilled over even the smallest joy, this tends to be a trait that runs in our family!

Night came and the daughter decided to find her first camping site. She got all set up for a fun evening of nature watching, and of course fishing with her new fishing pole. Supper that night was an exciting time, she knew now that she was really "roughing" it by providing her own food each day!

Morning arose with the twittering of birds and chipmunks along the rivers edge. As she continued to paddle down the Mississippi River she found that she was coming to the very next lake in the chain. Hmmm... There seemed to be an area that looked as though she may have to portage over.

"No problem," the daughter thought to herself. "People have done this for years!" She got to the point where she needed to portage the canoe and found herself barely able to pull it! What a shock to the daughter. This isn't good! There was NO WAY that she was going to be able to portage it ANYWHERE! What a let-down!

As my story turns out, the daughter ended up having to call her Father to come and get her. Thus, her Mississippi River expedition ended just as it was really beginning!

Isn't this a great story?! I didn't make it up! The daughter in this story is my Mother, Amy. She is such a fun person to know!


I guess I should now tell you the point of this story, and why I felt the need to share it. Craig & I have been wishing lately that we had a canoe to putter around in. We have a "gladed area" aka swamp in our backyard that fills up with water every spring. Craig thought it would be fun to float around in it and enjoy the water while it's there. As a small boy he always wished for this very thing and thought our girls would also enjoy it.

We remembered that my Mother has a canoe that hasn't been used for years, and decided to ask her about it. She was VERY excited to hear that we wanted to try it out, and has mentioned that if we (Craig) ever wants to resume her expedition down the mighty Mississippi, that she would still LOVE to go. Isn't that funny?

Here are some pictures of our canoe and the fun we are having in it!

Craig is teaching the girls canoe safety. He lets them paddle around, and around, and around! It is good for them to learn the boundaries of what a canoe will handle in the safety of 18 inches of water and a Daddy nearby to rescue them if they should tip over! They have REALLY enjoyed their new-found toy!

Wouldn't you know that after a couple of fun days in the canoe in nice weather, it decided to snow and freeze up again. Valerie is praying HARD for nice weather again!!

By the way, we won't be confined to our "swamp" forever! We plan on taking it around to some of the smaller lakes in the area! I can't wait! Now, if only spring would progress faster....

The End.