Final Days in Canada

Thursday was a rainy day, so we slept in, made scrambled eggs for breakfast, and didn't head out to fish until about 11:30 when it started to clear up. It was dry when we hit the water, but we ran into a bit of a squall as we crossed the main basin of the lake north of the lodge. It didn't rain a lot while we fished, but the wind never let up.

We didn't have a fantastic day of fishing, but we caught all we needed to meet our limit, and our walleyes were decent sized. Barry caught a 35 inch Northern to capture the prize for the week.

We went in fairly early again to clean the fish and eat, then hit the water again in the evening to fish for Northerns. The weather was better, but Dad and I didn't catch much. I think Barry and Larry had a little better luck.

Friday morning we headed out around 9:30 for some catch and release, and didn't catch much worth reporting. Dad hooked a big northern and it fought pretty well. He hadn't had a lot of success in the past couple of days, so it was exciting that he was about to get a good fish. I got the net under it and lifted it from the lake - but it was longer than the rubber net we had and with one good flop it bounced out of the net and came loose from the jig. It was on the surface for a second, when I thought maybe it was still on the line, but before we knew it, it was gone. It was a big disappointment. The fish was at least 28 inches long, and likely over 30. But we will never know for sure.

We went back in to camp around 11:30, prepared lunch, and finished packing up. We hit the road at 1:38 pm, with me beginning the 5-hour drive to Kakabeka Falls. About an hour into the drive, we saw a bear in the brush by the side of the road. I stopped and backed up, and we were thrilled to find she had two cubs with her - a black phase cub and a brown phase one. They were very curious and came onto the road to see us, with the black cub coming right to Dad's door, standing up on its hind legs, and even putting it's paw on the door. The momma stayed fairly still watching us as the cubs moved around to see what we were all about. It was amazing to see them, but I drove off before we got into any trouble.

After four hours of driving through the scenic woods, we stopped for fuel and Dad took over for the final hour. At Kakabeka Falls we stopped at a motel and had dinner in the restaurant. The food was fine, and filling (I had poutine). The young server, who also checked us into our room, was friendly but didn't know much. She hadn't seen the rooms, hadn't tasted the food, and obviously couldn't tell us about the beer selection. After dinner we retired to our room - a classic 1970's themed space with brown paneling, glitter on the ceiling, yellow-gold fixtures in the bathroom, linoleum flooring, and the most hideous yellow and brown formica counter. We went to bed right way and did our best to sleep on the world's worst pillows. All of the snoring and coughing kept me awake for quite a while, but I got a little rest. Dad didn't.

We were on the road by 5:30 Central time, with Dad driving about an hour to the border. I drove from there to the Minneapolis airport, stopping briefly for fuel and at a beautiful rest area in Duluth. While the first part of my drive was through steady rain, it ended up being a beautiful drive along Lake Superior and an uneventful drive down I-35 to St. Paul. There, however, we ran into an interstate closure and had to take surface streets the last few miles to the airport.

We arrived at the airport at Noon, for a 4:40 flight. The reason we were so early is so Dad and Larry could get back to Iowa and return the rental car more-or-less on-time. We made good use of our time at the airport: each of us enjoyed a 45-minute massage, then we had a nice meal at Rock Bottom. Now we're boarding our flight to O'Hare. We should be home by 11, the end of another wonderful international trip together.