Even though my first trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is months away (I’ll be heading north in mid-June), I’m starting to get my supplies in order. I’m hoping to take advantage of sales and pre-summer season bargains while I still can.

With that in mind, I jumped on the chance to order a few tall-size fleece pullovers last week. My friend and guide said fleece clothes are some of the best things you can wear in the boundary waters, so long as they’re water repellant or at least mostly cotton-free.

After living in Minnesota for almost three years, I’m finally getting around to some of the things on my “Becoming a Minnesotan” to do list. I’ve already checked off a visit to the Spam Museum, so now I’m making an effort to understand baseball and pretty much crossing off or trying to understand everything on this list: http://www.commonplacebook.com/jokes/you_know_youre_a/you_might_be_a_2.s....

But this summer I’ll be doing something that I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school, and something that is distinctly Minnesotan.

I’m going camping this weekend, and I can’t wait – almost literally. I really am having a hard time concentrating on work today because I am so excited for the camping trip.

I’m going to be going on vacation next week, and I’ll be doing a lot of hiking. Last time I went hiking with my camera, I carried a regular backpack and my camera pack over my shoulder.

Camping this weekend went very well. It was a bit cold Friday and Saturday night, but we survived. Can you believe that there was no rain?

This weekend, I spent about 15 minutes talking to a friend of mine about how best to make it seem like his roommate lost an eye in a tragic ultimate Frisbee accident. Then I spent the next three hours getting schooled in multiple games of croquet.