I've been meaning to see Toronto for so long, and had hoped to do so a couple of years ago on our way to camping and canoeing in Ontario's largest provincial park, Algonquin. We didn't see anything of the city except for neverending traffic near Mississauga, but the natural beauty of Canada was more than enough to make me forget about that. It was a very humbling experience.

From the incredibly stupid idea of leaving New Jersey at midnight and canoeing for the first time ever as soon as we got there at 5 p.m., the trip was full of mistakes on our part. There seems to be a lot of friends with stories crossing the northern border without any sleep. Anyway, although we had to pitch our tents in the dark, the first night ended up being perfect because we found a nice little island that we had to ourselves. The second day we rowed forever in search of a new site. I was getting the hang of it until I think we all quietly swore our own epithets when we realized it was beginning to rain on the other side of the lake. I can't remember ever actually seeing a storm approach, let alone try to actively race ahead of it, but that is exactly what we tried to do. When that unsurprisingly didn't work out, we finally found a spot on the mainland that we had to settle for after becoming exhausted and soaked.

It was that night that I realized how glad I was that I had asked two camping veterans about things to watch out for before going on such an escapade in the Canadian wilderness. Apparently no one else bothered. But when we were freezing and barely conscious at night, the wolf we heard outside our tents thankfully left us alone. I like to think it was at least in part because I had tied up our food and blood-stained bandages from a previous accident up in the tree. Before we did sleep, though, I did get to witness the most beautiful night sky I've ever seen. So many stars. It sounded cheesy before but I know why they call it a big sky. It is such a shame not to get that effect living in the city. I may not have seen an aurora, which is on my list of things to do before I die, but it was still awe-inspiring.