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Eleven-hour boat trip

...and we found out that is a long ride!!! Friday we took the children on a school field trip. We left at 4 a.m. from home to catch our boat at 8 in the town of Elblag and spent all day riding a boat in the lake region of Poland through canals, over lakes, down rivers, over land (!!!), through locks, and finally docked in the town of Ostroda at 9 pm (a little later than we planned)!!! We saw some awesome scenery, consumed two back-packs full of food, identified birds, talked to other people on the boat, and just relaxed in the sunshine and enjoyed being together as a family.

A boat we met coming up the canal from the same company that we were riding with.


Yes, the canal just suddenly ended. There were five slopes like this on our trip and a little cart carried the boat and us up a total of three hundred feet during a 6 mile distance. Amazing! And interesting.

The little cart like the one we rode up the slope on!



The whole crew ready for adventure

The Captain and First Mate (that's me!)

That's the bird-watcher, Austin. If you're interested in the details, they saw many birds, but only identified these--mallard, mute swan, coot, black-headed sea gulls, gray heron, cormorant, marsh harrier, goldeneye, pochard, great crested grebe, crane, and a cuckoo.
Derek, are you tired of the boat trip already? It was fun for the children to buy food and drinks from the snack bar below deck, but it was hard on the pocket book, so we kept it to a minimum. Allison constantly wanted to buy me tea or coffee or asked if she couldn't buy some candy. The lady was patient with her many trips to the snack bar and eventually struck up a conversation with her.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Go you, Laura! Captain and First Mate!! Well, I say... :) :) Glad you all had fun. Are you finishing school already?! I'm plodding til June 11th--then I totally collapse. Don't let Mom know I said that-she says she'll keep me busy!! But July is just round the corner and we'll, Lord willing, be seeing you... Love to all!
1:39 PM
Anonymous said…
OK, so just to say it was me--Asia--who wrote that last post... :)
1:39 PM
Anonymous said…
That looks like so much fun although I have never heard of a normal field trip leaving that early in the morning. =) You all look sun-kissed and happy. And I think Ashley must be related to Alli. Sounds just like something she would want to do.
Esther
3:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Just occured to me--are ya'll English or what, that you like bird-watching?! =) That's one of the steps in becoming a true Brit--according to my dad, anyway! Alli reminds me so much of my sisters . It's like 2 mths till July... =)
Asia
11:44 AM
Dorcas said…
Oh my, yet one more thing to add to my list of things to do on our next trip to Poland!

Loved the pictures, esp. of the captain and first mate, also the ones on a previous post, of your new place.
6:45 PM
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