2025, Family, Travel, Uncategorized

Canoe

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Yesterday Husband declared that after we move to Minnesota we are taking a trip to Alexandria so he can buy a canoe.

Husband has wanted a canoe for decades. He chose the Alexandria shop on the recommendation of someone from the Wenonah Canoe Company. While Luverne isn’t close to any reasonably sized lakes, there are several navigable but smaller rivers nearby that he is excited to explore. The rivers in our current location are either too shallow or too big (The Missouri).

He wants a one person canoe. That is fine with me. I had a truly wonderful and exhilarating experience on a BWCA canoe trip with my church youth group in 1974, and that was all I needed to have a happy life. We canoed in Manitoba during our courtship and early marriage, but my canoeing days are over. He can take his day excursions on the Rock River and Big Sioux River, and I will sit comfortably at home with the dog, drawing on my Dutch roots and practicing niksen.

What are your most interesting canoeing or boating experiences? Does niksen hold any interest for you?

32 thoughts on “Canoe”

  1. When we moved to Minnesota, we too thought we’d be doing more canoeing but, after one fun paddle across a local park, we realized that portaging canoes and Duluth packs wasn’t going to be for us. But your husband could have a lot of fun just paddling around a placid river in a lightweight Wenonah!

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      1. We moved to Minnesota from Southern Oregon for family reasons and also to escape the wildfires (and their smoke) that had threatened us for several years. Imagine our surprise when wildfire smoke (from Canada) reached us here in MN! 🙄

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  2. Had to look up niksen:
    “Doing nothing Niksen is a Dutch verb that translates to ‘doing nothing.’ From the country that brings you the coziness of ‘hygge,’ it encourages you to lounge around, relax, or straight up stare into space. Niksen isn’t a time to do hobbies, like baking or yoga, and it also isn’t a form of meditation.”
    https://www.bustle.com/wellness/niksen-meaning-dutch-tradition-morning-routine#:~:text=Niksen%20is%20a%20Dutch%20verb%20that%20translates%20to,and%20it%20also%20isn%E2%80%99t%20a%20form%20of%20meditation.

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  3. I’ve been in a canoe a few times, but we did some river kayaking with Husband’s company on some weekend outings, eventually bought a lake kayak (more like a canoe, less tippy) which seated two. Eventually traded it for two river kayaks, which were useful around here, but we gave them to a friend a couple of years ago.

    I did love the peacefulness of being in a kayak, coming around a bend in the river to a new, breathtaking view.

    There is a kayak club here in Winona that goes out every Wednesday evening in good weather…

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  4. Too many interesting canoe stories to tell because I’ve canoed most of my life (off and on, but regularly in the BW since 2008). I might have shared some stories previously here. Most interesting–if you haven’t heard it– was probably my trip along part of the Missouri River in the Upper Breaks region of Montana. Went with Dad, Uncle, and Dad’s best friend. Had a good first day, made camp in waist-high grass because there are no maintained campsites on that wild part of the river.

    A storm of all storms blew in that night. Constant thunder, lightning, and extremely high winds from 10 pm to 4 am. Wind collapsed our tent poles. A tree branch fell on my uncle’s tent. He wasn’t hurt but it collapsed his tent. We were in a deep canyon, so the thunder was amplified twice as loud as normal. We got soaked immediately and just held on to bent tent poles and shivered in our rain gear until morning.

    That was the only time in my life I felt certain I was going to die.

    Not much into niksen I guess, other than occasionally vegging out in the living room listening to great music.

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Thanks, Wes. That reminded of this song by the Chad Mitchell Trio which also mentions Tippacanoe (and Nixon, too). I’m struck by how we’re currently rehashing so many of the issues mentioned in Barry’s Boys. Same issues but with a different cast of characters.

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  6. Also want to suggest to Renee’s husband that a Wenonah Prism is an excellent solo canoe. Very stable in the water, easy to handle. That said, I’m not sure of its handling on rivers. I’ve only paddled it on lakes.

    Chris

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      1. Good to hear that. I suggest he checks with the canoe shop staff to see if the Prism is good on rivers or if there’s another small canoe that’s even better. I haven’t done a lot of river canoeing, but I understand certain styles handle better on rivers and others are better suited for lakes.

        Chris

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  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I canoed a lot while living on a lake in Northern MN. I have told the story of the disastrous Boundary Waters canoe trip before–bruised rear end, sun stroke, bear took all our food.
    That is enough of that.

    Meanwhile, Renee, my uncle used to take us to Gavin’s Point Dam (Lewis and Clark Lake on SD/Nebraska border) about 1.5 hours from Luverne or LeMars. That is an option for Chris. Compared to the distance you drive now to anywhere, 1.5 hrs is a piece of cake.

    OT: I made cherry pie yesterday. It was worth the picking and cherry pitting. Yummmmm.

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  8. Wasband number one and I had an inflatable two-person canoe. I don’t remember where we got it. Considering wasband’s “‘frugalness”, I have to believe it was a gift, but can’t imagine who would’ve given it to us. Anyway, we didn’t use it much even after we moved to the Twin Cities because my idea of a fun paddle was to take it down to Lake Harriet and paddle around for a half an hour – 45 minutes. Husband‘s idea of a good time was to drive 12 hours, canoe for 1 million years and then drive back. We weren’t exactly compatible in our outdoorsy-ness.

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  10. Here’s another version of niksen that I was on FB recently:
    “It is very important to go out alone, to sit under a tree—not with a book, not with a companion, but by yourself—and observe the falling of a leaf, hear the lapping of the water, the fishermen’s song, watch the flight of a bird, and of your own thoughts as they chase each other across the space of your mind. If you are able to be alone and watch these things, then you will discover extraordinary riches which no government can tax, no human agency can corrupt, and which can never be destroyed.”

    ~Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Krishnamurti Reader https://amzn.to/45X2WWK

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      4. Seems to me like the sort of vapid advice one would get from a former Theosophist, unmarried, childless professional Indian mystic.
        I say if you have a companion, invite them. If you have a book you want to read, read it. You don’t need a tree or a bird on the wing or a singing fisherman to reflect on the world around you, be it near lapping water or on the bus or sitting in a doctor’s waiting room. Just pay attention to your surroundings and your thoughts, keep your smartphone in your pocket and stay away from Facebook.

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        2. Wow, Bill, that’s quite the mouthful. A tad too dismissive and judgemental in my opinion, but then my mind is totally corrupted by Facebook.

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  12. My past included a bit of a scaryvanoe trip on the Yellowstone Lake in September 1970. The canoe was packed with items and food for camping on an island. Most of the trip was close to the shore except one spot that had big waves. Another canoe with another friend many years later in Minnesota felt the same on another stormy night. No scary canoeing since. I’m glad.

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