A similar experience with my twin sons. I took them on a canoe camping trip in the Sylvania Wilderness while they were still in elementary school. I didn't know much about canoe camping then, so the trip, while still fun for me, was for them just a lot boredom broken up only by extended periods of hard work. They always loved fishing....from power boats.... and staying in cabins on the annual Canadian fishing trips we would take ever since they were 2 years old. They hated this trip. So I waited a few years and with promises of the "potential" to catch some big fish, they came along with me to Quetico and did enjoy the fishing. We have been on a trip together to Quetico almost every year since. They still love the fishing but recently have begun to appreciate the scenery, solitude and adventure.

I'm not sure it was inheritance or influence or maybe something else but both my sons, now 27 years old, are more adventurous than me. One lives and teaches in Beijing, learning the language and traveling throughout Asia over the past 3 years. The other is headed to Panama with the Peace Corps.  The effort I spent trying to convince them to try a canoe camping trip again was well worth it. As comments on the trip reports I post here on QJ have said, those trips to Quetico with my sons have become cherished memories.