When Pat O'Hara was undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer 12 years ago, he decided to take up kayaking.
"I said to myself, 'I'm not going to sit around the house and watch TV,' " said O'Hara, now 76. "I bought a kayak and went kayaking, on Lake Superior mostly."
The kayaking bug bit the whole family.
"Now there are 19," he said.
His wife, Barbara, has one. All four kids and their spouses and most of their kids have kayaks, too.
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And Saturday, nearly 20 of O'Hara's kids, grandkids and extended family joined him for their annual kayak trip down the Cloquet River. This was their fifth consecutive year to make the trip.
O'Hara's three daughters and a son and their families, all from Duluth, make the trip. So does a sister and her husband from Indianapolis, and a few others.
This year, the theme is orange bandanas. Every year, it's a bandana or a visor or something to give the group a unified look.
"It's whatever you can buy 25 of," O'Hara said.
Traveling by kayak is ideal for O'Hara. His cancer is gone but, because of diabetes and nerve damage, his legs don't work as well as he'd like them to. He walks short distances with two crutches.
"But put me on the water, and I can go with the rest of them," he said.
The flotilla started at daughter Nancy Wag-ner's place on Bowman Lake, which connects to the river. The kayakers paddled downstream about 2½ miles to daughter Kim Enos' place for snacks. Then they paddled back to Wagner's again.
"I like to ride in the back of the pack, so I can see 'em all ... the whole gang at one time," O'Hara said. "It means an awful lot."
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