Thursday, March 22, 2007
Rainbows
Clarrisa asked, "Is there really gold at the end of the rainbow, and if so, how does one get there?"
Well, I can honestly and truthfully answer this question, as I have been to the end of a rainbow.
When I was young I was a boyscout, son of a boyscout. Camping was what my family did for holidays. By camping I don't mean this namby pamby English variety where you show up at a camp in France to find a two room tent already set up, with flush toilets and showers. I mean camping by carrying what you need with you. Laying your own fires to cook the fish you just caught. Real camping in wilderness where you won't see anyone else for days.
One of my favourite trips, I was about 12, was to a chain of lakes in Northern British Columbia. The lakes are in a rough square, so you can canoe around them in about a week. Its real wilderness, no buildings, no planes flying overhead, and you can not see another soul for days. Mostly its easy canoeing, but there are parts where you have to unload everything and portage your kit and canoe a mile or two to the next lake.
I was in one canoe with my sister, my parents in another. Mostly the weather was fine, but we had sporadic light showers over the week. One particular day we were canoeing along in a light misty sprinkle. I was in the back of the boat and as the rain slowed the most amazing thing happened.
Right beside us, not three feet away, a rainbow appeared. Not a big one, it was all of 2 feet across, but it was right there. Both my sister and I could see it, as could my parents, all in the same location. A veritable freak of nature. It was so close I could put my paddle through it, and did.
We where in shallow water, no more than six feet. We both looking down, laughing in delight. All there was in the bottom was lake mud. My sis joked I should dive in to check for a pot of gold, but I wasn't in the digging mood. Plus, the water was so perfectly clear there wasn't much doubt about what was down there.
So, I can tell you exactly where to go to find the end of a rainbow, though you have to do it at just the right time and its a long way away. However, I am 99.9% positive there was no real pot of leprechaun's money at its end. The memory though, that's pure pristine gold.
Well, I can honestly and truthfully answer this question, as I have been to the end of a rainbow.
When I was young I was a boyscout, son of a boyscout. Camping was what my family did for holidays. By camping I don't mean this namby pamby English variety where you show up at a camp in France to find a two room tent already set up, with flush toilets and showers. I mean camping by carrying what you need with you. Laying your own fires to cook the fish you just caught. Real camping in wilderness where you won't see anyone else for days.
One of my favourite trips, I was about 12, was to a chain of lakes in Northern British Columbia. The lakes are in a rough square, so you can canoe around them in about a week. Its real wilderness, no buildings, no planes flying overhead, and you can not see another soul for days. Mostly its easy canoeing, but there are parts where you have to unload everything and portage your kit and canoe a mile or two to the next lake.
I was in one canoe with my sister, my parents in another. Mostly the weather was fine, but we had sporadic light showers over the week. One particular day we were canoeing along in a light misty sprinkle. I was in the back of the boat and as the rain slowed the most amazing thing happened.
Right beside us, not three feet away, a rainbow appeared. Not a big one, it was all of 2 feet across, but it was right there. Both my sister and I could see it, as could my parents, all in the same location. A veritable freak of nature. It was so close I could put my paddle through it, and did.
We where in shallow water, no more than six feet. We both looking down, laughing in delight. All there was in the bottom was lake mud. My sis joked I should dive in to check for a pot of gold, but I wasn't in the digging mood. Plus, the water was so perfectly clear there wasn't much doubt about what was down there.
So, I can tell you exactly where to go to find the end of a rainbow, though you have to do it at just the right time and its a long way away. However, I am 99.9% positive there was no real pot of leprechaun's money at its end. The memory though, that's pure pristine gold.
