2009.5

July 12 (Sun). Pickup Betty, Shirley, Mark, Janet and Jason at Airport. All luggage on top of Suburban. Leave airport at 3:45PM. Over night at Waterbase Inn at LaRonge. Breakfast in LaRonge and arrive at landing at 12:30 PM and leave at 3:05. Arrive at island at 5:30PM.

July 24 (Friday). Leave island at 7AM, smooth trip and overnight in Saskatoon at the Sandman Hotel.

July 25 (Sat). Drop off Betty, David, Shirley, Mark, Janet and Jason at airport and start week of exploring historical sites. Visit Batoche and overnight in Prince Albert.

July 26 (Sun) In Prince Albert plus overnight at Prince Albert.

July 26 (Mon). Drive to Nipawin, visit taxidermist. Overnight with Ray and Darlene Miller through night of July 30.

July 31 (Fri). Visit Montreal Lake and overnight at Prince Albert.

Click on large photo to view first photo of 2009.5 which allows you to then click through all the photos or scroll through Thumbnails and click on small Thumbnail to go directly to the full sized version of that photo.

Mark and Jason tie down gear on top of the Suburban as Don and David watch. We were preparing to continue our trip north of LaRonge after staying there for the night.
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Don, David and Mark finalize tying down the tarp that we hope will keep things dry if we run into rain.
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Janet reads while Jason and David play cribbage.
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Mark works with his fishing gear while Don reads.
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Janet reads while Jason and David play cribbage.
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Janet writes in her journal, no doubt describing the horde of mosquitoes that are in the area.
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Janet does seem relaxed.
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Mark managed to catch a rare Whitefish. These fish were the favorite fish for native Indians, back in the day, but we find them not as tasty as Walleye. They are a lot of fun to catch because they are tenacious fighters.
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David with one of his famous Dutch-Oven peach crisp.
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Jason, Don, Betty, David and Mark are enjoying David’s great dessert.
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Don and his nice big Walleye caught at the “Honey Hole”.
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Betty, Janet and David in the canoe.
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Campbell River where it flows into the slow moving lower stretch that enters Spalding Lake.
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Jason on shore near where the Campbell River enters Spalding Lake.
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Jason playing cribbage with his Mom while David looks on.
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Shirley works on a salad in the kitchen.
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Mark is grilling on the back deck. The propane grill has been a nice addition to the cabin.
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Shirley, Janet, Mark, Jason, Betty and David enjoyed another great supper “in the wilderness”.
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Don, Shirley, Janet, Mark, Jason and Betty after supper.
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Shirley with a Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
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Deon and Betty very serious about trying to catch the next Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
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Shirley back at Dancing Loon Island with a nice stringer of Walleyes for supper.
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Betty, Janet, Jason and David play cards.
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Don is making a fire in the stove.
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The drying rack is getting a lot of use this trip.
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Mark works on breakfast. Note the skillet full of thick slice bacon. Yum!!, Yum!!
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Janet writes in her journal while inside the mosquito net on her cot.
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Shirley has her toothbrush at the ready.
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Mark is getting out a package of bacon and he seems to be relishing it.
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Janet has a nasty bug bite.
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David and Jason playing cribbage.
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David and Jason who is holding his wet suit.
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Don and Mark play cribbage while Betty fiddles with electronics.
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Jason works on the lap top.
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Janet fries fish while David helps.
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Mark and Don play cribbage.
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David waits on his famous Dutch-Oven crisp.
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David learned this way of cooking while in the Boy Scouts.
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Shirley and Betty on a leisurely canoe trip around the island.
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Jason prefers to use oars. Having oar locks on a canoe is very unique but actually quite handy at times.
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Janet and David fishing in Northern Bay.
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Janet has these Northern figured out.
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David is still trying to figure them out. Great job David!
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Jason, David, Don, Mark and Janet at the “Welcome” sign.
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Mark, Jason and Janet at the “Welcome” sign.
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Mark, Shirley, Janet and Janet at the “Welcome” sign.
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David, Don and Betty at the “Welcome” sign.
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Shirley and Betty at the “Welcome” sign. These sisters really enjoy the times they have together.
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Janet seems to be swatting bugs.
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Pretty sunset from the beach.
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Only 25 miles of lake left to travel to get back to the landing, well out of sight over the far horizon.
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David runs the 10 HP motor from the “middle” boat of the “Train of boats” attached by tow ropes. This technique allows all the boats to stay together and assures maximum speed across the water.
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Don and Betty unload gear at the landing.
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Jason and Janet survey the typical pile of gear for such a party of people visiting the island. And it all needs to be portaged up the trail and loaded into the waiting truck. Don dropped everyone off at the Saskatoon Airport and then spent 6 days in the Prince Albert area waiting for the Urys to arrive as the next guest.
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Roadside sign.
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Wathaman River downstream from the bridge. The white item on the far right shore is a camper parked at the abandoned site of a ferry that preceded the series of bridges that superseded the ferry. That landing is used to launch the jet boat as of the 2013 season.
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From the bridge, looking at Wathaman Lake.
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Janet in front of the iconic Robertson Trading Company now run by Scott Robertson and family.
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Mark and Jason unloading the limousine they engaged to get home from the Chicago airport.
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Mark and limo at their home.
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