A Lucky Me

If you were looking for my journal entry last week and wondering why I didn't write, well we were canoeing in Ontario in the Algonquin wilderness and I didn't have access to the Internet and so I didn't get it done. We wanted to get in a family vacation and last week seemed to be about the only week that would work for all of us. Almost anytime can make for a great family vacation, but when you are canoeing you want to be precise in timing your trip, getting out there when the bugs aren't. Early spring is best when there are no bugs at all. Then comes the black flies which last a couple of weeks. Then there's a little break followed by mosquitos and then gnats. Then, later in the summer things die down a bit and things get back to being more bearable.

We hoped that last week would be ok with just the beginnings of mosquito season. Our hope was in vain. The mosquitoes and biting gnats were out in full force. We probably should have taken a cue from an outfitter that owned over three hundred canoes and only had four rented out that week. He said it would be truly a wilderness experience as we wouldn't see many people. 

And we didn't. Only three other people all week. We paddled and portaged in approximately a  fifty kilometer circle. After day one we were pretty much committed to doing the whole thing, biting bugs or not.

And we did it! Thankfully the kids kept each other in good spirits the whole time. We spent lots of time in the tent playing “Up and Down the River” and other card games each evening. It stayed daylight until well after 10:00 PM, but the mosquitoes came out in force around 8:00, and so instead of fishing we played cards. We saw beavers, loons, mergansers and other ducks, but no moose, although their tracks were everywhere. Everything was absolutely beautiful with spring flowers everywhere and beautiful lakes surrounded with spruce and paper birch, the sound of the dip of the paddle interrupted by loons laughing. On one occasion paddling in the rain made the beauty stand out even more. But the bugs! When we stopped for a minute they would be swarming around us. The DEET and  head nets helped but not enough. The mosquitoes and gnats still buzzed and swarmed around us. 

I really wanted to grumble and curse at our bad luck. It was just too easy to focus on the bad things with the ever present mosquitoes buzzing around. My feet looked like I had chicken pox and the rest of the family seemed to have it even worse than me.

On the way home from Canada we listened to a story on Bear Grease.

It was about Pablo, a guy from Costa Rica that was able to move to America when he was twenty-one. For him it was like winning the lottery. It was an unreal dream come true. Hunting is illegal in Costa Rica, but he and his friends loved hunting with blowguns and slingshots. When he came to Alabama he was introduced to bowhunting and really got into it. He talks about the struggles, how clueless about everything he was. Now at the age of thirty-six, he has become quite proficient at taking whitails. A lot of it was really funny but towards the end he talks a little bit about the deep stuff, how we Americans take too much for granted. We don't even realize that we live in such a great country. We don't realize that our worst days are better than most people's best days. That people would do almost anything to be in our shoes. We complain about our jobs when there are people in other countries who can't get a paying job. We are unhappy because we don't have a new truck. We don't realize it but most of us are living someone else's dream. 

After the story was over, I drove in silence for a while. It really made me think. So many people would have just loved to have the opportunity to do what we just did as a family! Bugs or not! To be canoeing in such a beautiful place, making pancakes and pizzas and lots of other good food by the lake, the laughter that comes from the card games and the Indian poker, those aren't things to take for granted. Even just having the means to do a trip like that is a blessing!

The bug bites will hopefully soon be gone. But the memories will last a lifetime. Sure, the trip could have been better, but I'm going to be thankful for what it was. And if I get the opportunity to do it again, will I? 

Probably. But if it's at the end of June it won't be in Algonquin. And if it's in Algonquin, well, it probably won't be at the end of June.

For those of you that have the time and need a fresh perspective, check out the Bear Grease podcast and listen to episode 323 or click on the link below. https://www.themeateater.com/listen/bear-grease/ep-323-costa-rica-to-alabama-the-interesting-life-of-pablo-esquivel