Well its not quite morning anymore – but for some reason when I made this button I put “morning meanderings” on it so I am just going with it.
As of this post I have been off the blog for 9 days. Let me start with, if you follow me, you know I was out on the Boundary Waters on the North Shore which is about as crazy uncivilized as it gets as there is no electricity, no cell phone coverage – no communications to the outside world at all.
And I loved it.
😛
I heard a little grumbling about the “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading” post not being up and I can not explain that as I prepped it and scheduled it and it did not go live. That should not happen again as I have a new plan in place, more on that later.
Anyhoo – back to the wilderness, which was what I really wanted to talk about this morning… errr…. afternoon. We arrived in Ely Minnesota at a friend of a friends cabin last Saturday for a nice stay over before we hit the lakes. On Sunday morning we packed up our gear and we were off.
We rowed and portaged that first day for around 7 hours. My friend Belinda has this super cool Garmin watch (I want one I want one!) that tracked our progress and then she was able to put it on line so we could all see it. I am so impressed! Did I mention I want one? 😛
In case you are wondering what portaging is or what it looks like, let this newbie share with you. Portaging is taking the canoes (on our head and shoulders) across a sometimes hilly, rocky, bushy trail from one lake to reach another. This could not be done in one trip so we would take the canoes and a few packs over, sharing in the canoe carrying duties as it is a one person job, and then go back for the rest of the packs. The one portage was 1.5 miles long… so we would head over with the canoes and bags, then walk back and get the rest – all in all for us it was a 4.5 mile portage.
We arrived deep into the boundary waters on a lake called Cummings where we set up camp.
By the time we arrived that first day we were losing daylight fast so we quickly set up camp, gathered fire wood, and prepped our dinner of yummy small potatoes in olive oil and salt and pepper, green beans and brats.
The next couple of days we stayed in this spot – reading and relaxing, sunning and playing games.
After a couple of days we decided to switch it up and try another camp site. I was sorry to see my favorite rock go, where I would sit and read and journal in the mornings… to Crab Lake we went.
And then all to quickly, it was time to head back in to civilization. I found it hard to believe that I had been away from home for almost a week. It all went so quickly. We really had a blast. I learned that it is really ok to get away from all the noise, the “to do’s” and just BE. To hang out and read a book was beyond awesome. I napped in the sun… I read, I played games, and I enjoyed canoeing very much.
So, now life is quiet for a couple weeks. I have reviews to write and things to catch up on – as for this blog, you should be seeing me more frequently. For more pictures of the trip, check out my Facebook page at Sheila DeChantal.
Book Journey 
Great photos…looks like you had a great time. And relaxed.
Welcome Back.
Looks like a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing yuor great adventure with us!
I like the look of those campsites and the gorgeous views! I’ll bet it smells really good there, too. Thanks for sharing.
Wow – looks like you had an amazing time!!! I love reading about all your adventures 🙂
so glad you enjoyed your trip! Definitely looks like a memorable time!
Oh man your trip looks fabulous! I’ve spent the majority of my summer hiking and thanks to the lovely Oregon rain, I was stuck indoors this weekend, so I am slightly jealous of your lovely trip 🙂 Glad you had a good time!
I love wilderness camping with no mod cons but don’t think ‘portaging’ is my thing lol … glad you loved it
What a great way to spend time with friends!! I used to love camping but haven’t been in many years. Looks like you all had an awesome time!
Glad you got away for a few days with friends to relax and have fun. You are braver than I am!
LUV this ! thank you for sharing it 😉
reminds me a LOT of our Canadian Whiteshell [just a bit further N of where you were!] rocky terrain and fab piney lakeshores… gorgeous and good for you to take the getaway.
We’re all still here whenever you get back to the book blogging =)
Cheers!
Was following on Facebook and enjoyed you little snippets there! I so wish I was whole again and able to have fun like this. You rock girl!!
One week away from everything sounds sooo good! The pics are great. They really capture how enjoyable your camping was.
Oooh, I’m jealous. We’ve only gotten out camping one time this year, but we did get in about a 9 mile canoe trip…downriver. Does that even count? We’ll be heading out for our Grand Canyon vacation in 13 days and I hope it’s as relaxing and enjoyable as your trip sounds! I’m glad you had a good time! (And don’t let the grumblers get to you. Life comes first, blogging somewhere much further down the list).
It sounds and looks like it was an awesome fun trip! So glad you enjoyed it! I agree with Jen – life does come first. Keep it all in perspective. 🙂
That looks awesome!! I love those kind of reading places!!
Looks like you had an awesome time!
That was one awesome trip! I used to live in Maine and the scenery looks similar so I’m sure it was beautiful. The portage part of it would be way out of my ability 🙂 but you gals had no problem with it, I see. Thanks for sharing all this.
Nice photos. The trip looks like it was a lot of fun, and relaxing too. I love to canoe and be out in the northwoods, and portaging sure gives you an idea what kind of shape you’re in, thats for sure!
I have Boundary Waters on my list of places to go and things to do! It looks like it was an amazing time. It is great to get back to nature like that. 🙂
That looks SO COMFY!
The reading rock!
I’m glad you were able to enjoy the outdoors! Looks like you had a wonderful time but how can not when you have great people with you and the beautiful outdoors, right?
Looks like a wonderful trip!! We LOVE canoe camping but I have never been to Boundary Waters (and have always wanted to go) – looks just as lovely as I’ve heard. And a trip with just girls – what fun!
So glad you were able to get away from it all – I find camping sooo relaxing. As much as I love my online communities, it is nice to have a break and just enjoy nature for a change…and good friends.
Welcome back – try to keep that vacation feeling alive!
Sue
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