It is interesting to hear of others' experiences, and to contrast those with ours.  My husband had gone on one trip with a group of guys (camp counselors at the end of camp session) the summer before we were married.  He kept urging me to go with him and I was very reluctant.

On our first trip (6 days) I was green as grass.  When we headed out onto Lac La Croix in what was moderate chop, it looked like high surf to me.  I was scared to death!  I refused to wear a hat, had had my hair cut short for the trip, and totally cooked the tops of my ears on day 2!  That was a long, hard day and by the time we camped I was tired, sunburned (this being in 1971, the days before sunscreen) and very angry when we camped on a sandy beach and I had sand in my food.  I still remember sitting on the beach crying and saying "Why did I ever let you talk me into this?"

34 years and 24 trips later, I am often the one who first starts making plans for a trip, and I love it as much as he does.  We also have different energy levels and styles, although I will say as we have aged we have both slowed down considerably.  We used to break camp every day and paddle most of the day, now we often make camp at noon or 1 PM and do occasional layover days, perhaps 2-3 on a 10-12 day trip.  He has type 1 diabetes and diabetic kidney disease with resulting anemia, and I have tender knees.  At 60, we are just glad to still be going to the BW and each year that we can still go is a precious gift.

Instead of traveling with another couple, we just give each other a lot of extra space and alone time.  We don't fish, but I go off into the woods for hours with a camera, or we will sit alone and read our paperback books.  I am "type A" myself, and would agree that the wilderness experience needs to be relaxing for me, but that doesn't mean I won't do a long day or a long portage when needed.  It is really the peace and quiet that keeps me needing to return.

At the end of the 22-day trip in 1992 we made our last portage and I still didn't want the trip to end, so we paddled half the length of Poplar lake just as "extra", pulled in at Trail Center and had lunch, and just paddled around some more before heading back to Rockwood for our car.

My husband takes great pride in sharing my trip journals with narrative and photographs to the people at work.  They think we are quite daring and probably more than a little bit crazy.

The time will come (dialysis) when we can no longer do this.  We don't like to think about it.

I am glad to know that some of you are paddling with your spouses.  Thanks for all the responses.