Brigade Days

I had the privilege of paddling from Abbotsford to Fort Langley (approx. 20+km) this past Sunday for a re-enactment of the fur traders arriving in the Fort for BC's 150th birthday, along with 3 of my fellow dragon boat team mates, Carrie, Corinne and Christelle. (good thing my name is spelled with a K!) What a great experience! We paddled for 4 hours in the gorgeous sun on the murky Fraser River. Here are a few photos from that day:

A view of the Mission Bridge with a couple of the voyageur canoes we paddled in.

Getting ready to go!
A view from behind our boat of most of the voyageurs
Me! Our lunch break at Crescent Island..we didn't stay long, since every mosquito in the world seemed to make their home there! Our boat is the one to my left, with the otter pelt under the green flag. We stopped at the harbour airport just outside of Fort Langley to get into our costumes..Carrie was trying to find the "right" hat, and found road kill instead! Corinne thought it was hilarious! (as did I!)
Leaving the airport in full costume!

From left to right, Joel (Christelle's husband), Carrie in lead stroke, and Christelle. Matching red "Where's Waldo" hats!

Me! I chose a head band..after all it was about 30 degrees out! Who wants to wear a wool hat?

The "Gov'nah" in his boatGetting into formation as we approach the beachI bought this photo from the newspaper, it made the "archives" section! hehe Well, we thought it was great! We approached to hundreds of onlookers and paparazzi!The "Gov'nah" making his way off the boatSome more of the costumes
Us! From left, Corinne, Carrie, me and Christelle posing in front of the map. Some paddlers actually paddled the voyageurs all the way from Fort St. James, BC (10 day trip) and camped their whole way down. Dedication! No showers, no toilets..NO WAY! Sir Simon Fraser and I!