I was looking forward to the first real summer trip on the Bay on the July long weekend for a long time, ever since I'd asked Sam if I could come on the Opeongo trip in May. He couldn't think of a reason why not fast enough, so I put it in my calendar. Then, on Rendezvous weekend, I asked him if I could crash at his house the night before, because I wanted to avoid the getting up in the middle of the night for a 9 a.m. put-in routine. This time his wife said yes before he could think of an excuse. So he had no choice but to hand me a beer and put up with my chatter while he packed for this trip. And in my chatter, I told him that we couldn't carpool after all because I'd talked to Kevin and we were planning to stay out an extra night.
Sam's response? "I shtay too" (to me) and "I need another pack of meat" (to Sonja). Score! Now I could snooze in the car on the way up too... Too bad for Sarka, John and May, who were all heading back to their respective towns on Monday night, but I had a great weekend lined up!
We went to the Western Islands, which require a 14 km open crossing from O'Donnell Point. Sam had some contingency for rough conditions, but we didn't need. First we navigated ourselves into a not passable at low water channel, but by lunchtime we were sitting in the Westerns. The crossing was bumpy to say the least, and 14 km gets awfully boring. John and Sam were out front, I was in the middle somewhere on my own, and Kevin, Sarka and May paddled together. I was kind of glad of the big water, since I find crossings so boring... but I was even gladder to get to the Westerns, and land my boat, and ... well, sadly, sit some more.
Not just sitting, mind you. After lunch (sitting) I set up my tent by a patch of irises (briefly not sitting) and then I helped put up Sarka's tarp (also not sitting). My next task was to set up the Georgian Bay beer cooler, aka a mesh bag with beer and rocks tied to a shtring by Sam. Sam and Sarka had their beer in one bag, Kevin and I had ours in another (and John and May were apparently not in need of the beer cooler). I punctured one of my beers while loading the bag, so I had to sit and drink it! Thus I sat while Sam, Sarka, May and John hiked around the island. During that sitting, Kevin wandered by and briefly sat too, and said he had too much dinner for one. I had a solution! I would eat half his dinner! Like Sam, Kevin is not so good at thinking of reasons why not when presented with my bright ideas, so I ensured myself some more sitting time while someone else made my dinner!
And then we were glad we put the tarp up, and the sitting was relocated to there for a while. We got lucky, in that there was enough of a break in the rain for Kevin to cook dinner and me to eat it (I contributed! I did the dishes, ok?) And then there was more tarp sitting (I have spent far too many hours huddled under various tarps with several of these people. No wonder they cast around for excuses when I brightly propose they hang out with me!) And then there was sleeping, with a plan to go to Double Top Island, which is where the lighthouse is in the Westerns and which requires another open crossing, the next day.
Except the next day it was super windy. I followed Kevin up to the top of our island and played with his portable weather station while he called up the forecast - I measured sustained winds of over 20 knots. Launching looked nasty. So I decided not to! I had a book! I had beers in the beer fridge! I am a wimp! Sarka was also in the mood for downtime, but the rest of these people braved the roaring surf. John helped May launch, Sam carried his boat to the calmest bit of water (which was not calm at all) and did a wet launch, John did the same, 
Kevin had to work awfully fast to get his new boat off the rocks. All things considered I was glad to sit. When John came back, Sarka and I went into the water to help him land - the surf was even bigger. Kevin, May and Sam landed at a more protected shore near our campsite. And then Sam marched to the beer cooler. And pulled up a mesh bag with a hole in it... the turbulence had ground the rocks against the mesh, and rocks and beers went swimming. They were not located using binoculars. Sadness.
And then, because I am brilliantly lazy, I once again watched Kevin cook dinner and helped him eat it (if you're lucky enough to be on a trip with Kevin and even luckier in that you can convince him to cook, eat it before anyone else gets any bright ideas. Actually, you don't even need to be on a trip. If Kevin volunteers to feed you, say yes. Best kayak cook I've ever met.) We climbed back up to the top of the island (in between bouts of sitting, I circled the island once and climbed to the top about eight times that day) and watched the sunset. 
I fell in love with Georgian Bay for the 100th time. I was happy it wasn't my last night.
Our crossing the next morning was easy - flat. A bit boring, even. We didn't leave til fairly late, and Sam and Sarka demonstrated excellent form in the Georgian Bay workout show (which turned into a push-ups challenge that May took up. Not me! Sitting!) Sam and John were waaaaaaay ahead on the crossing. May was paddling with a two by four greenland paddle, and Sam made fun of her shtick. That is, until he disappeared in the haze. May determinedly paddled all 14 km with the greenland shtick (she made it herself), and Sarka and Kevin again paddled with her. I was on my own. 
At one point, Sam and John waited for me, and we finished the crossing together - but couldn't see the rest of them. This suited me fine. I had to pee. I followed this up with a swim and sunscreen re-applying, and then I found the crew again.
We had lunch at O'Donnell Point, where it was smokin' hot. Soon after, Sarka, May and John disappeared. Sam went for an exploratory paddle. Kevin practiced re-entry and roll. I put on my paddle float and played with the high brace and some other stuff. I got bored with being in the boat. I swam. I swam again. And then some more. Kevin and I split one of my two remaining beers and ate potato chips and... well, sat... and then Sam came back, and he drank the other beer while 
Kevin and I made inroads into his wine and we all threw out snacks for standard paddling trip horse dovers. The appetizers combined with the alcohol, a day of sun and sitting on hot rocks meant we were disinterested in dinner. There was more swimming. There was sitting high up on the point and watching the sunset. There was early crashing.
And the next morning there was some rain. Which made me conclude not to bother taking out my stove and eat cold cereal instead. This was a good plan, because Kevin - perhaps afraid of my mood if I went without coffee? - then made me the world's biggest espresson in his fancypants espresso maker, and I restrained myself from begging him to come on every trip I ever do from now on. Mostly because I suspected he had been working on his reasons why not...
Sigh. Then it was over. And now it's two weeks ago that this fun was had already, and I finally show you the pictures. Why do they just shift the clock by an hour, not give us an extra hour (or better yet, an extra day every week) in the summer? I need that.
