Kayak Trip Seven
August 9, 2003 – Lake Nokomis and Lake Minnetonka
Unlike many other places in the world, where we are here in the midwest of America, a lot of the original place names remain. Original, as in American Indian names. The state is named after the Minnesota river, so named by the Dakotah people – “minne” means water and “sota” means ‘that refelcts the sky’. So Minnesota is the water that reflects the sky.
I am sure they never dreamed how true this would one day be of this state when you fly in on an aeroplane – the almost 15,000 lakes all reflect the sunlight and sky.
Another Dakotah word, “tonka”, means great. You all know Tonak Toys! Great toys – made right here in Minnesota in the city of Minnetonka (Great Water) – have a look at their website at http://www.hasbropreschool.com/tonka/
Well, that is where Troy and myself (or I and Troy or Troy and I or myself and Troy – whatever grabs your fancy) went kayaking today. We went out very early and first hugged the shore of Lake Nokomis – a bit disappointing – the water was smelly and there was nothing really to the lake – I’ll put a few photos here when I get them from Troy.
We were done with that at nine, and so we decided to go to Lake Minnetonka and explore there.
We spent three and a half hours on this huge lake and only saw a tiny bit of it – it is Minnesota’s tenth largest lake – worthy of its name.
At last the kayak is back on the roof of the car and we are ready to head back home – with tired arms and a nice kayak sunburn: face and neck, shoulders and arms and then the part of your legs that are open to the sun!
