A Truly Canadian Holiday: the photos

We're back, the bruises and bug bites are fading, and wow, what a trip! We canoed and portaged between 90 and 100 kilometres (60 miles) in 7 days. The weather was good, Lily was a great tripping buddy, and it was a treat to be with beloved friends.

Waiting for the Budd Car train at the Sudbury train station

The baggage car fills up with canoes, gear, dogs and their people. On this trip there were 4 Golden Retrievers, 1 Chocolate Lab, and a little Shitzu crossed with something else cute. The dogs have to ride in the baggage car, so their owners get to hang out there as well. The whole thing is very relaxed and informal - a great start to the trip!

Here we are in our new Souris River 16' Prospector canoe - me, my dog, and my Hon.

Allie has a new hammock, which was set up as soon as we made camp the first night. We crawled in with our glasses of wine and got caught up from the past year of kids, aging parents, work, and the beauty of escaping from it all for a whole week.

The guys drink cold Heineken while I start the camp fire. We freeze little cans of beer and keep our steaks on them in a lunch cooler for the first night's dinner. By the time we reach our campsite, the beer has mostly thawed and the steaks are ready. I also had new potatoes and sugar snap peas wrapped in tin foil to put on the grill. First night's dinner is always my responsibility, and after that my Hon takes over the food stuff.

It's good to be me.

The guys do some catching up. Lily does too.

A Northern Ontario sunset, and more photos tomorrow.