Pretty and unstable

I was going to write an entry about my adventures on the river today, but I see that--against all expectations--my brother has managed to scoop me. But I was making a mental list of things to remember for next time so I might as well share that:

1. Insect repellent. Holy God, what a nightmare! You'd think I'd make the association with water and skeeters, but I'd been lulled by a lack of biting insects around the lakefront. (Instead, I brought sunscreen--for a trip that was 90% in the shade. Go me!)
2. Sunglasses. Of course, the 10% of the trip not in the shade was mostly directly into the late afternoon sun. I guess I also thought that our route would be predominately north-south, but actually it was east-southeast on the way out.
3. Seat cushions. Is my ass sore! Also, a little height might mitigate the problems of being scrunched up in the bow.
4. River shoes. Oh, well; I needed new boots anyway. At least these gave me much-needed traction on the sludgy banks.
5. Soft cooler. I had the idea of putting anything we didn't want to get wet--wallets, key cases, etc.--into a plastic bag we had with us, then lashing it to the crossbar so we wouldn't lose our valuables. Unfortunately, the water ended up here, too, so we didn't have anything to drink until after two hours on the river. Not my brightest move. (We probably couldn't have pulled it out during the ride without destablising the boat, but we had plenty of time before, during, and after our portage over the railroad embankment.)

Too tired to recall anything else. Oh, she needs a name. (When I mentioned this earlier, monshu remarked that he'd never heard of anyone naming a canoe. But you can name anything.) See bunj's post for the relevant criteria.