Canoeing With My Husband
By Febe Van Zanten

I had fun traveling and enjoying the great outdoors before I got married. After marriage, not so much. I like to stop and smell the roses, my husband wants to push the limit.

For example, our Mariner troop saved money throughout high school for a group trip the summer after we graduated. We decided to take a 10 day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters.

We hired a guide and started our from Ely, Minnesota. There were 14 of us, 2 female adult leaders who were happy to leave their husbands at home for a couple of weeks and one seventeen year old male guide.

That alone should have made the trip a nightmare but there were no incidents beyond a little flirting. Also, our leaders said if any of us let our hormones overtake our brains, we would immediately go back home and all our working and saving for four years would be gone.

We had a great time canoeing, observing wildlife, dipping our cup in the water when we wanted a drink. At that time no motorized vehicles were allowed on the lakes unless it was a medical water plane who had to evacuate a sick or injured person. The guide had the only means to communicate with the outside world.

Years later, I told my husband about our great trip and he thought it would be fun if the two of us went on the same trip.

We used the same outfitters and started out from Ely, Minnesota. That is where all similarity to my ideal first trip ended.

We had a map, but no guide. On my trip we had three portages over the course of 10 days. My husband and I had 10 portages over the course of three days.

On my trips we had duffers in most of the canoes so we did not have much trouble carrying our personal pack and the canoes while the duffers took the rest of the packs.

My husband and I had a pack on top of a pack and the canoe to carry. My husband is a lot taller than I so even with two packs he could rest the edges of the canoe on his shoulders. I had to carry my end with my arms fully extended above my head. The mosquitoes were draining my blood and I could not swat them.

The highlight of our trip was visiting the elderly lady who was the only person allowed to live full time in the boundary waters. She made her own root beer and shared it with all visitors.

With the girls our visit was relaxed and chatty. With my husband it was hurried and tense because we missed her going out and had to hurry to get back to the starting point before dark.

After a quick gulp of root beer we continued back. I was exhausted, my body was itching from head to toe and I would have gladly thrown down my paddle and hitch hiked home if that was an option.

Finally we got to the last lake as the sun was going down and a squall was coming up. The lake was so rough there were waves with white caps. It did not help that I knew several years earlier a young man drowned in this lake when a sudden storm came up.

As hard as my husband and I paddled we did not seem to be making any progress. My arms felt ready to fall off at any moment. I told my husband I just could not paddle anymore. For the first (and only) time in our married life he yelled at me to shut up and keep paddling. It was so unexpected I found a reserve of strength and literally paddled for my life.

The biggest reward for our effort was that we made it safely back to civilization. The outfitters were there to take our canoe and packs and the bar was open so my husband could get a beer and I could enjoy the indoor plumbing in the bathroom.

Febe Van Zanten: children and family program director, free-lance writer, food columnist, wife, mother, grandma, traveler and owner of PicnicToday.com selling picnic supplies including baskets, backpacks and totes, picnic, camping and tailgating chairs, grilling tools, and portable grills. Read informative and fun articles for family and romantic outings. Follow my blog; PicnicToday.net and Twitter at Picnic_Today

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