Voyageurs National Park

Now that the children are old enough not to get lost or destroy things in the blink of an eye, we've decided to start taking real family vacations. So, I hoarded together a chunk of change and then on one of our dates last spring, John and I stumbled across the representative of a houseboat company in northern Minnesota. They rent houseboats to tour through Voyageurs National Park - part of the boundry waters between Minnesota and Canada.  It sounded like a lot of fun so after thinking it through we booked a week's vacation with them.

I didn't realize it was a national park until a month before we left when I started to research things to do in the area. Then I got excited. I saw a picture of wilderness like this...

The real thing was even more marvelous.  Voyageurs National Park is accessible by and consists mostly of water.  Early French trappers used to cross this chain of huge lakes in 2-4 days by paddling about 16 hours a day.  It was also home to the Ojibwa nation.  We were told to watch out for deer, black bear, eagles, loons, beavers, and wolves. 

We didn't see any bears - I was really hoping to see one from a distance as we sailed by, but no.  We didn't see any wolves - but we could sure hear them in the distance every night.  We saw loan loons in the water every half mile or so.  Their call is SO beautiful, but one orinthologist translated their cry as "I'm going to rip every feather off your body if you get any closer."  Loons are, evidently, the thugs of the bird world. 

We also saw quite a few eagles who watched us disdainfully out of the corners of their eyes as we sailed by snapping photographs like crazy.  Eagles can't give into curiousity, they have a reputation to protect.

Beavers, however, have no pretentions to grandure and give in to their curiosity quite easily.  They really aren't much afraid of humans. One mother chose to share our cove one evening for a lesson to her kit on finding his own darn food.  She made a great show of crossing the cove and dragging back a huge newly cut bunch of branches which she then proceeded to eat.  Having shown her offspring right where the best food was, she then felt free to snarl at him every time he got close enough to make a grab for one of her branchs.  It was quite a production and was much more entertaining than the episode of Doctor Who which we'd brought along to entertain ourselves at nightfall.  (And knowing how much we love Doctor Who, that's saying something.)  The kit never did go get his own food.  He kept trying different ways of sneaking past his mother's radar, and it never worked. 

We also got to watch an otter diving for crayfish in another cove another evening. 

Every morning we'd shove off and John would pilot the boat to another section of the lake.  The children loved to help. 

When we found what we thought was a nice place to stay, we'd moor up in the afternoon and let the children off the boat to swim in the cove and explore the island. 

The children really enjoyed scrambling about on the rocky islands where we moored.  It took about 24 hours to free their imaginations and then I was treated to a variety of tableaus, water ballets and epic 'battle' choreographies. Beaver smoothed sticks were PERFECT quarterstaffs.  And, they always found subtle ways of letting me know when they were tired of photo shoots. 

Big rocks always seemed to bring out one's inner superhero. 

From our coves, we'd take a little boat to visit other sites in the park inaccessible by houseboat.  The visitors centers were a lot of fun - their exhibits were really interesting.  There was a huge rock garden to climb about in, and we climbed up beside a small waterfall.  Because of all the rain last spring, the water levels were up and the waterfall was MUCH swifter than usual or we'd have spent more time exploring there. 

Ian and Kay were always given strict instructions to keep their little butts firmly on the seat in the motorboat.  Kay took extra special care to make sure Ian didn't suddenly decide to jump over the side.  The island we're approaching is where the houseboat was moored. 

John gave the children turns helping him drive and navigate.  He kept eyeing the passing speedboats enviously.  Out boat only went about 8 knots.  Super slow, but faster than a canoe!

The water slide on the back of the boat was especially fun and toward the end of the week, we made a special point to find lovely sandy coves to stay in.  I'm now in the process of hoarding money for a cool trip for next year.  This was so relaxing, and rejuvinating - despite the fact that I cooked every meal and washed in the lake and had to prod the children to get them to help keep the living space clean. 

Any suggestions for next year?