There are no notes or photos about this vacation until the start of the canoe trip. I can only assume that we traveled from our home in Grand Haven, Michigan (we had just moved in that summer and the boxes weren't even unpacked!) and stopped in Minneapolis. The children would have been staying with our friends Merodie and Paul and their four children: Heidi, Scott, Heather, and Ryan.

During those years Merodie and Paul took the small sum that we paid them and used it to do some fun activities with all of the children. Big-city things like Shakespeare in the Park, the Guthrie Theater, a Minnesota Twins baseball game, and time at some of the beaches in the area. Heidi and Scott were allowed to ride the city buses and that was a big thrill for our children, too. They also loved to walk to the overpass on I-94, which was nearby, and to make the gesture to request a honk from the semi trucks. Many truckers cooperated. Said "honk" was followed by uproarious laughter!

In 1980 Edwin was eight years old and Mary Helen was nearing eleven. It was fun to make the trip to MInnesota as a family, and to see our friends before we left the kids and traveled to the canoe country. I never felt any trepidation as we started off on our journey north. I knew our children were in a good place, and that they would have fun.

This year we were starting our canoe trip from Crane Lake, so after spending a little time in Ely, we got on the Echo Trail and headed north. We spent the night of June 18th at the Lakeview Motel so that we could get an early start in the morning. The adventure was about to begin!