This summer I went on many boat rides, either to pick berries, go rod and reeling, or just to get away from the chaos of my family and friends.

During one of the many fishing trips I went on with my uncle Roy, Gail, Aaron, Scott, and Baby Art, we ran into two unexpected visitors right above Marshall.

One nice evening I got a call from my Uncle Roy telling me they were getting ready to go up the river to Kuik to fish. So, as usual, I hurriedly and gladly got ready and then met them at the boat.

After Gail and the boys settled themselves in the boat and Roy got the engine running, I pushed out the boat, thinking this would be another one of the same old trips where we would see nothing but birds. I hoped though we would see something more.

After heading up the river a little ways past the airport and Wilson Slough, I got what I was hoping for. Across from the island that is above Wilson Slough, we spotted two moose, a cow and her young bull calf.

Boy, was I ever excited! That was the first time ever that I saw moose that close. I mean I've seen moose from far away and dead moose, but never that close. WOW!

Oh, of course, mischief little Baby Art was scared. He kept telling me he thought the moose was going to eat him. And I must admit, I was a little afraid too when we went closer to the animal, but I was also very excited.

When we first saw them, they were running along the edge of the beach. Then they ran into the water. It was so cool to see them swimming. Then the cow ran up the beach and into the trees. The bull kept swimming upriver then it turned around and swam downriver. We went right up to the moose and I felt as if I could just reach out and touch it but, of course, I was scared, and it really wasn't as close as it seemed.

Finally the young bull swam to shore, quickly got out of the water and ran up the beach and into the trees in search of his mother.

When the excitement wore off we continued our trip upriver to Kuik. After an evening of catching some pike we decided to come back home. We had a very rough ride home because the wind picked up and the waves were very big, but it was also a lot of fun.