Día de la Independencia

For the Fourth of July, Dad and Jo went canoeing in the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes north of the Twin Cities where highways 35W and 35E join up and become just plain 35 again. Dad attached the canoe to the car more firmly than usual because of the longer trip, and we avoided the freeways on the way there, so we got to see some neighborhoods we usually don't see. It was maybe a half-hour drive. We left around noon and got back to the house around 5.

The weather was beautiful. A slight cool breeze, big puffy clouds. Not too hot. Not many bugs. The lakes in the chain were deserted except for a couple of boats of carp hunters (in pairs, one person paddling and the other standing in the prow with a bow and arrow, going slowly along the reedy shoreline) and later in the afternoon we ran into some noisy kayakers.

The lakes and creek were full of carp. They fed at the surface, their dorsal fin visible above the water, making a nasty snuffling, piggy sound. When they noticed us, they would startle and swish and swim away. Once, we glided up close to a big one, paddles out of the water. The fish didn't notice us until the prow was about six inches away. It stiffened, then jumped, swished, and was gone.

I calculated our route. It came out to eight miles round trip, but we took the long way 'round through the first lake, so I think it was more. There is a dam (not shown on the map we had along) a few yards after you pass under the Main Street bridge, so we turned around before we could get into Lake Peltier.

2008-07-04_Rice_Creek