After a challenging week of Grand Voyage, we’ve said au revoir to both our two and four week villagers!

Two-weekers headed out Saturday afternoon for their Grand Voyage. We took a different route than first session, so it was full of surprises. Montreal and Grand Portage split up on day one with Montreal leaving from our own Turtle River Lake and to paddle a few hours on Turtle River among the wild rice and cattails. We were greeted by loons and beaver huts and finally mosquitos when we arrived at our site for the first night. Grand Portage had a short paddle across our lake to Gruenne Welle, the German ‘rustic’ camping site for the night before heading out on Turtle River the next morning.

Sunday was an immense day for Montreal, leaving at 10am and paddling (with breaks for snack and lunch) all the rest of Turtle River, through Big Rice Lake, to finally arrive at Kitchi Lake around 7pm. We were very impressed with their continued efforts and good humour after such a long day! Grand Portage had a slightly shorter day, paddling about half of Turtle River.

Monday had Grand Portage completing Turtle River and taking their turn at the Kitchi Lake site, while Montreal pushed on to huge Cass Lake and Star Island, where we found, as Laurent aptly named it, Malibu au Minnesota. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach before enjoying a campfire, long-awaited S’mores, and a clear starry night.

Tuesday the Montrealais had a journee de repos, rest day, so we did a grasse matinee, sleep in! Then we hiked in to Lake Windigo, Star Island’s interior lake, for lunch. There, as we waded among fish, Grand Portage came paddling up after a petit portage from the other side of the island. After our saying our hellos and exchanging a few stories, Montreal headed back to our site to enjoy our plage in the sunshine. After dinner we hiked back again to Lake Windigo to share a feu de camp with Grand Portage and another group of adventurers, an overnight group from the Chinese Village of Sen Lin Hu. We exchanged some food, songs, and stories before receiving an armband as a gift from the Chinese campers and singing a final Bonsoir les loups. Montreal headed back again to our site and spent a night sous les etoiles sleeping on the beach.

Next morning Montreal headed out early to finish crossing Cass Lake into Allens Bay, where we waited (and waited, and waited) for Grand Portage to show up. Grand Portage and Sen Lin Hu left their site in the early afternoon, so Montreal had plenty of rest at the mouth of the Mississippi. When we finally spotted canoes glinting on the bay we headed up the river into Lake Andrusia for our final paddle. We even tried setting up some sails when the wind picked up.

In the end, both brigades arrived at the beach of Sen Lin Hu in time to share dinner with all of the Chinese campers. We set up camp on the soccer field (where members of both brigades were happy to kick the ball around) and shared a campfire with the entire Chinese camp. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people after so long in our little groups, but it was a good preparation for what was to come Friday.

After a smaller feu de camp Voyageur (complete with S’mores and mais souffle, popcorn) we trickled off to bed. We were offered use of the sauna in the morning, as well as, much to the joy of all, showers. We headed back chez nous for lunch and, after cleaning and putting away our gear from the Grand Voyage, we met our Odysees, who had just returned from their two-week Immense Voyage into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Canada. Post to follow sharing some of their adventures. Following this grand rendezvous we launched into preparation for International Day!

I-Day was Friday, and with nearly 2000 people present, it was a much bigger party than we were used to! Villagers experienced foods, songs, and dances from all the other Villages as well as the chance to buy and eat as many bonbons as their pocket money permitted. After a long day in the sun at Waldsee we headed home to the peace of our site and passed some time swimming away the heat of the day.

After a final feu de camp Friday night, where the Odysees shared some songs and folktales they worked on during their voyage, we said goodnight. Next morning we said goodbye to our Voyageurs one last time with the hope that they will take the lessons they learned here and profit from them in their everyday lives. We also hope to welcome them back next year, ready to take on the challenges of Voyageurs once again.

Isabelle, Helen, Julie, Luciole, Angele, Melodie, Louis, Laurent, Eric, Marine, Ballerine, Cecile, L’Interprete, Baptiste, Riviere et Ophelie, merci d’avoir passe deux semaines chez nous, et a la prochaine!

Isa, Etienne, Marieanne et Amiik, merci d’avoir partager vos quatre semaines, et a la prochaine!

To our new one-week Voyageurs arriving today, we can’t wait to wish you bienvenue!