Canoeing on the Southwest Miramichi

On Sunday, 9 of us travelled to Blackville, NB, and spent the night in a lodge on the Southwest Miramichi river. We had won this evening and ensueing canoe trip with our success in fundraising for the Rona M-S bike tour, back in '07, '08, and '09. The Country Haven Lodge was kind to put up with our repeated bookings and cancellations and honour their donated prize with a smile. Byron stated that he knew Tanya better than most of his regular guests, due to all the emails and phone calls they had exchanged. The lodge was spendid.

Tanya, Emma, and Carrie by the river.

 Carrie and Emma on the swing before they broke it.

Carrie and Lexie with their new friends.

Jesse and Marty.

Sarah.

Chris and I.

 Special thanks to Chris for the spectacular cooking!

Tanya on time out.

Jesse, Marty, and Chris...Thoughts on this picture can be shared in the the comments at the end.

We enjoyed a great country breakfast Monday morning.

And then it was time to hit the river.

Carrie and Lexie wore ponchos, so they wouldn't get wet in the rain that quit as soon as we started canoeing.

I do think it makes Carrie look a tad large?

So much for the ponchos...

Emma wasn't so impressed...

Waiting for Jesse and the girls...

And a quick beer break before the home stretch. We also took this opportunity to leave on shore all valuables and extra stuff, as the young ones vowed to tip Sarah and I. They set up quite the gauntlet, but we managed to beat them through it, and dragged the canoe on to shore as all the other canoes floated upside down.

And supper in Doaktown on the way home, and a visit with Bruce the Moose.(no relation)

I think we all had a great time, and I now know why everyone speaks so highly of the Miramichi!