Much priceless off-topic advice gets passed on this board, but one gem that long stuck with me (and forgive me, I forgot who posted it) was, "if your teenager says they want to do something with you, better do it."

A couple of weeks ago my often-sullen 14-year-old son suggested he and I go kayak camping sometime. Now, this is something I hadn't done myself, and being a novice kayaker I was not confident my limited canoeing experience would be helpful. But with the above mantra in my head, I put trepidation aside and off we went, to a place neither of us had ever been before, to learn new skills together.

This is not a trip report--just another story following up on sage advice found on this board, and it belongs here.

We decided to embark on a 3-day paddle in the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness on the east shore of Lake Michigan. We had to pick a weekend that fit his (!) schedule, leaving us little time to plan, outfit, pack, etc. I just haphazardly bought a few waterproof bags in different sizes. We discovered in the garage only the night before leaving that they just held our gear, and only the next day at the put-in that they just fit our boats, a tiny tuppercraft and my Pygmy. What dumb luck!

Weather reports were daunting. I asked my son if he was sure he wanted to go ahead, and he said yes. He suggested we could pull out a day early if needed.

I promised this would not be a trip report, so let me just say it turned out to be exhausting, exhilarating, beautiful, fun, and...dry. We watched storm after storm build and lumber across the lake at us, only to veer off and miss us north and south. We paddled to the Big Point Sable lighthouse (1867) and climbed it; we swam; we cooked; we night-paddled; we played backgammon in our tent.

This board and all of you have helped many people build things of lasting value, as my son and I did last weekend. Thanks Nick and everyone.