Treacherous And Deadly

It was a dark and stormy night.  In the distance, a dog barked.  And then a really loud pickup truck drove through the campground.  No, a really loud truck.  One of those huge "I have to prove something" trucks.  Just before we set up the tent the night before, the ranger stopped by to tell us the weather service issued a high wind warning.  Just to let us know.

I slept through most of it, but there was little or no rain.  Jill felt the tent rise up from the bottom once but we had used every stake we had and it held quite nicely.  I've decided I like our tent.  No rain leaks, held up to the wind, and now that we know what we're doing, it's a pretty quick set-up.

When morning came it was drizzling.  And I really didn't want to get up into the cold morning air, pack up a wet tent and all of our gear, and get moving.  I just wanted to stay curled up in my sleeping bag for a few days.  We all overcame our issues (the kids take to bribery quite well, BTW, and I will move for a cup of coffee) and we ended up getting out of there at a decent hour.

The whole time we were at the campground these kids were riding their bikes in circles, seemingly everywhere.  If you wanted to go to the bathroom, you had to weave through the circuit.  Which would have been ok (never) if they didn't have a sign up that said "no bicycles" right there.  Also, the kid picking his zits in the bathroom mirror.  Grumpy me.

On our way out of the campground the kids were on their bikes in the road.  And by kids I mean the range is from age 3 to age 7.  Little kids.   I had to stop and wait for them to get out of the road.  And they didn't.  They kinda sat there like "what?" while I had to wave to get them to move.  I finally went around them.  I wanted to run them over but Jill told me that wasn't the right thing to do.  Their lucky day.

Our next stop was the falls.  Taquamenon falls, upper and lower.   Leading us into the parking lot was a Mercedes SUV.  I went through the list of reasons one would have for getting a Mercedes SUV and came up with nobody I would want to hang out with.  Plus, they were driving like mad folk.  As we wheeled into the lot in our Obnoxious Chevy SUV I saw two guys get out of the Mercedes.  Odd.  Then I saw the bumped sticks.  I was immediately aware of the fact that I was a middle aged, wide middled guy with two crazy kids and a wife.  I was wearing a pith helmet and plaid shorts.  I was the anti-cool.  And I was totally fine with it until the gay guys showed up and I remembered that there was a world out there that didn't consist of old RV driving couples, Italian (or Illinois) tourists and college kids working summer jobs.  I was the cliche that they laugh about later in the comfort of their hotel rooms while I'm arguing with a 9 year old girl about why exactly she can't get that t-shirt at a gift shop.  It's a personal problem, I'll get over it.  But it made me self conscious for the rest of the day.

The falls were pretty cool.  There were multiple falls and an island in the middle.  You could walk around the whole deal on a path and look at everything from the shore, or you could rent a rowboat and row to the island.  There's a sign before the waterfalls that tells you not to row over them.  So for $15 or so you can put your family in a boat just above a waterfall and row them across a river to an island.  Apparently this goes much smoother than I would assume, as they're still in business.  Remember the list of tourist-types from the last paragraph?  I can't imaging any of them (including some in my class) making it across a river in a rowboat.  But row they did, and all is well.  I was elected the rower, which surprised me since I assumed Lily would want to try and row us over the falls, but whatever.  I felt a bit like Charon on the river styx.  Eli goggled that I knew something about mythology, but I told him if it has to do with hell or death, I was all over it.  That boat was made out of steel, the oars welded and screwed and tied into place.  There was no way the oars were coming loose, and I think if the boat went over the falls it might have just stuck to the upper lip and sat there.

Upon arrival on the island I was feeling a bit spent.  I was looking for a water fountain but really wanted a gatorade fountain.  We were greeted by this sign:

I wish this sign had been on the other side of the river.  But that would have affected row boat rental income.  I particularly enjoy a sign that uses the phrase "treacherous and deadly" and it became my catchphrase for the day.  I liked saying it in a "Richard Nixon as a Pirate" voice.  Eli liked it too.  He was still trying for an English accent but missing it by an Australia or so.  Ironically, this was the week we could have sent him to acting camp with a focus on accents.  Go figure.

The island had a nice path running around the perimeter, with a good view of the falls on either side.  There were railings, as well.  Signs every few feet said to stay on the path, as they were trying to repair the damage done by countless humans traipsing around in the underbrush.  (My phrasing)

So we round the corner and find the iPad family.  Mom was helping the two boys through the fence, dad in the background taking a picture with his iPad.  So much for staying on the path.  And who takes pictures with an iPad?

After a brisk rowing back to shore from the island we headed up to the gift shop.  Eli needed a sweatshirt, as his only sweatshirt had been soaked the night before.  And it was a gift shop.  I didn't get anything, but got a few ideas of things I could make at home out of wood.  Eli found an awesome wooden sword in a wooden sheath.  Very nice work for $6.

The second stop of the morning was at the Upper falls.  Now THESE were waterfalls.  Large, wide, and well paved.  The path, that is.  It reminded me of the headwaters of the Mississippi.  Lily was exhausted, so we parked ourselves on a bench and had a lovely father daughter chat about nothing and everything.  She was so tired she felt like a sleeping baby, completely limp.  I convinced her to make the final stretch to the car and everything was okay from there on out.

Let me just say something about waterfalls.  They are imperfections in a perfectly good river.  The bigger, wider the waterfall, the more obvious the imperfection.  I don't think anybody shares my view here.  But I found it interesting once I came up with that perspective.

From the last falls we were on Moose Watch.  I've never seen a moose in the wild before, and the campground actually had a FAQ on the bulletin board by the bathroom.  One of the questions was "where can I see a moose?" -- it actually gave a location where you can occasionally spot one.  I'm not sure if that was a valid answer just to shut people up, or you could actually see one there.  We didn't.  Nor did we see one for the rest of the Upper Peninsula.  Ok, there are 150-200 moose in the whole state, and the odds of seeing one are pretty slim.  But I really wanted to see one.  I've had a longstanding bounty of $100 for a moose sighting.  Lots of rules, of course, given my kids:

• I can't have seen it first
• I must see it once it's pointed out
• Must be live
• Must be wild
• Must be real
• Pictures aren't required but desired
• False positives cost $10 each instance

I have the same rules for a Capybara in MN/WI, but that's worth $1000.  It could happen.  The idea behind the bounty is twofold.  First, it gets the kids looking out the car windows.  It's hard to pull them from their glowing screens sometimes.   Second, it employs more eyes to look for my elusive moose.

Long drive later, no moose, we end up in Munising at a Hardees.  I liked my Mushroom Cheeseburger but was burping that smell for two days.  A short drive found us at the Pictured Rocks.  We chose one of the many viewing areas and headed up the paved path to a platform overlooking one of the most amazing views of Superior I've ever had.  It wasn't the rocks so much as the weather.  The wind was up quite a bit and the lake was a cobalt blue with many whitecaps.  It looked like the ocean.  It even sounded like the ocean.  The waves were crashing on the rocks and blowing spray up the rocks.  Tremendous!

We went to a less obvious platform and got to see the rocks from a different angle.  Again, pretty rocks, but cooler lake.  If you looked down at a certain spot of the shore and waited for the right size wave to crash in, you could see a rainbow appear in the mist.  Beautiful.

In tyhe parking lot we saw a real jeep.  Dirty, muddy, not jacked up.  Like an army jeep almost.   And it had a similarly grungy trailer.  It looked like it had been to war and back.  Two little boys and their father sat by it.  The dad was smoking.  I think he was the Marlboro man.  We don't approve, of course, but I'll bet those kids and that dad had some stories to tell.

A short drive took us down below those rocks to the beach.  It was a lovely, wide, sandy beach.  The waves crashed on the shore like real oceanic waves.  They even had that sudden silence every few minutes.  The kids wanted to put their feet in the water -- just like Jill always done.  Jill did, but the kids had their own version.  Lily ran up and down trying to catch up to and then run away from the waves.  It was pretty cute.  Eli, on the other hand, went to war.  He stood in water to his knees and when a wave approached he would swing both hands together smashing into the wave.  He would do that for hours if allowed.

The day was getting long, so our next stretch took us to Baraga, where our campsite for the next two days waited for us.  Driving into the campground it looked for a moment like it was a KOA style open lawn with as many campers crammed into one space as possible.  Happily, it was a bit more spread out.  Our site was wide and open with enough trees to make you feel like you weren't on top of one another.  We were thrilled.  And it was clear weather.  It was so nice there were a few bugs here and there.  But we welcomed them with open, dry arms.

We made pizza pies with our campfire sandwich cookers, and the kids set up the tent all by themselves.  I think they were going for shock and awe, so it's not something I'm expecting every time we camp.  But you never know.

Sleep came early, but not before Jill and I spent some time by the fire reading and writing after the kids had gone to bed.  We looked up and saw so many stars, the Milky Way galaxy, a floating satelllite or two and a single falling star.  Awesome.  A chilly but dry bedtime ended a long but fruitful day.

Wet and Wild at Whitefish Bay

Waking on the island for the last time, perhaps for a year, I ran through all of my options.  Coming up with no reasonable way to just stay there forever, I got up.  After ferryinig back to Mackinaw City, we headed to Mill Creek for their Adventure Tour.  Along with the real working sawmill they have an :adrenaline course” that includes a climbing tower, rope bridge, and most importantly a zipline.   The last time we were there Lily was just a smidge too little to do it, so for the last two years it’s all she could talk about.  The weather wasn’t exactly cooperating, so they did the course backwards in order to get the zipline in case it rained.  It did, but not much.  Lisa and I waited on deck to wait for the folks to come down the zipline and had a nice little brother and sister chat.  I caught video and pictures, love my phone!

At one point Lisa thought she heard the kids on the climbing tower, and we were worried we were going to miss them.  So I did “the call” and a few moments later got the return call from the other direction -- over by the zip line.  We both laughed, and I said that was the most effective and practical use of “the call” we’ve ever experienced.

What’s the call?  I don’t exactly remember how it started.  We think it began when the new neighbors moved in with two kids just about the same ages as ours.  There is a creature in Episode I of Star Wars (Boga) that makes this whoooop whooooooop screeching noise.  So Eli’s imitation of that noise has become the family “call.”  When he or the neighbor kids want to play they just go outside and whoop.  Sometimes when we’re in a crowd and I need to get their attention, I whoop.  It’s one of the best ideas our family has had.  Every family should have a call -- just make sure it’s not ours or we’ll get confused.

After a successful Adventure Tour we got to watch the sawmill demonstration.  I’ve seen it before but it’s aways cool.  So much wood and water working hard and making so much noise and action -- and then more wood.  I said something about maybe building a miniature version of a sawmill at home and when Jill said it was a good idea I mentioned I meant a life sized one and thank you very much for the permission.  I was kidding of course, but now Lily wants me to do it.  Jill talked us down to simply a zipline in the backyard.  I’ll help, but that’s all her problem.  I mean idea.

I checked out the gift shop and once again found nothing of interest.  Sometimes I find something cool though, so I keep looking.  I really enjoy gift shops and most of the time I don’t even buy anything.  Some of the requirements of a cool item are:

• Unique to that location
• Not something I can get online (have to waive that rule a lot, as most things are)
• Not too expensive
• Must cause someone else to go “oh that’s cool!”
• Must be something I can live with.

For the most part I fail at gift shops, but sometimes I win.  Like the time I got a flint and steel kit.  That was (and still is) awesome.  I even started this evening’s fire with it.  Ok, I used a few lighters also, but it began the embers quite nicely.  Another great gift shop purchase was the sunglasses holder that didn’t end up working on my glasses, so Eli got to use it.  It’s a simple strap but it has a huge fishing bobber in the middle, so it looks like you’re walking around with a bobber on your back.  I guess you have to see it to really understand.

As we’re making our purchases Jill throws something on the counter and tells me I can’t look.  So I’m not sure what she’s getting -- there was nothing cool.  I checked!  When we get out to the car she says “Happy late father’s day!” and gives me a twelve page set of instructions for building your own saw mill.  Seriously!  So now all I have to do is translate feet to inches and build me a mill!  She rocks.

Lunch in Mackinaw City at Darrow’s with the cousins before a sad farewell was successful.  Super good Mushroom burger.  Hit the road and made it to Whitefish Bay by late afternoon.

The shipwreck museum was great.  I was holding my expectations down, and it was better than I could have guessed.  We got to climb the lighthouse, I saw the rescue exhibit in the boathouse, and we saw a little film about the Edmund Fitzgerald.  The gift shop had me all aflutter, but I think they figured out that boat nerds tend to be old men with lots of money, as the prices of some of the prints (come on, they’re posters!) were astronomical.  But I got a “make your own Fitz” kit and a map of the great lakes and a book about crime on the lakes.  You can’t pass up a book that has “booze” and “broads” in the subtitle.  I’ll let you know how that turns out.

The rain started on the way up to Whitefish bay and really never stopped until dinnertime.  Setting up camp in the aftermath of drizzle was fun.  When you hear the wind come up, hide under something, as the trees are about to dump water on you.  But the sun came out a bit and we had a lovely evening.  The park ranger came by to tell us the weather service was warning of high winds and rain later.  We just decided to use all the tent stakes and hope for the best.

Dinner was Dinty Moore stew and buttery biscuits.  The kids mostly ate biscuits, but Jill and I made obscene noises while eating ours.  They were that good.  Being out of the rain, tent set up and some beverages with Jameson in them might have had something to do with that.  But they were indeed good.  I chose it as one of our meals as it was my Dad’s secondary meal.  His primary of course being beans and weenies.  I think we did him proud.

So here I sit blogging by the fire as Lily roasts mashmallows and Eli reads.  Jill’s puttering around and all is well.  If this is the last blog entry, it likely that storm came in stronger than we thought.  Or we didn’t cook the biscuits long enough.   Hopefully we’ll let you know.

Cycles and Swimming

Our last full day on the island before moving on to the Upper Peninsula was full of simple fun.  We rented a couple tandem bicycles for a ride around the island.  Not "riding around the island" but actually riding AROUND the island.  It's really easy, because all you have to do is "keep right" and "stay out of the water."

A halfway stop at British Landing for ice cream was a welcome break.  Not from the strenuous riding, but from the weaving and dodging slow bikes, people standing in the road, bikes parked across the road.  It was an encyclopedia of bad bike etiquette and poor bike safety.  But that's to be expected.   It's a lovely ride, however, and the lake views are unparalleled.

Near the halfway point of the ride you pass by the docks.  They are a simple concrete and steel pier that is used by delivery boats and some other utility craft.  We passed a lot of people stopped there, relaxing, taking pictures, and having a grand time.  I'm pretty sure most of them thought they were at British Landing.  And in some of those groups were an annoying person saying "but I don't think the British build a pier and then invaded.."

When the groups get back on their bikes and head down the road, they will find the real British Landing, complete with restrooms, ice cream shop, parking areas, picnic tables, and most importantly, signs.  And that annoying person in their group would have their proud "told you so" moment.

I told Eli he was not permitted to use any kind of accent while we were at British Landing, but I have to say it was hard not to say it internally as "Bri 'ish Landing."

A picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was capped off with ice cream from the stand.  It was soft serve, and I really enjoyed my "twist," as I hadn't had one in many years.  But I think Jill may have been thinking it was going to be a gourmet ice cream stop, with many flavors and decisions to make.  Of course, that would have made the order more complicated, etc.  On a hot day, any ice cream is a win.

After the ride we returned the rented bikes and headed off to the Grand Hotel to go swimming.  For a small fee non-registered guests can enjoy their pool.  It's a classic, and it felt like a scene from "Dirty Dancing" with the resorts in the 50's.  Shower before you go in?  We don't have showers, sorry.  Lifeguards every ten feet watching you every move?  We have a guy who wanders around occasionally yelling at kids not to jump off the large pool toy anchored in the shallow end.  It was awesome.  The water was warm, the Styrofoam noodles plenty, and we had a lot of fun jumping in the deep deep end (9 feet!) over and over.

Jill and began our pool experience by sitting down comfortably in the shade.  She passed out and I sat there in a stupor trying to decide on a nap or not.  I made a joke about finding a cabana boy to bring me a Pina Colada.  The deal we worked out was that if I went in first she would get me my Pina Colada.  So I went in. It was warm water, crazy kids, and a great pool.  After having a few boot camp flashbacks while trying to get from deep water to shallow water, I fell into a nice rhythm of crazy fun with Eli and then a little more deliberate fun with Lily.  She always has some sort of mission or plan she's working on.  Eli just wants to make big waves or stay underwater longer or some sort of mischief.

When Jill and I traded places and I had my trusty Pina Colada, all was right with the world.  For a while.  Until Lily decided to walk across the bottom of the hot tub.  She ended up going in over her head in boiling hot spa water.  She was not pleased.  Eventually she was ok, but it took quite a bit of love and a new sno-cone to fix her.  Did I mention the pool had all you can eat sno-cones?  Nice.  Overall the kids loved the pool.  I enjoyed it as well.

We went back to the house for a good old fashioned Craig Happy Hour.  Lots of good eats, as many family members as we could find within a state's borders, and lots of laughter.  We had so much to eat we decided to skip dinner an just pig out.  The dog, Bentley, even got in on the fun.  At least most of the family got to try Jill's famous devilled eggs before he got to them.  I hope he liked them!

Speaking of Bentley, I found out early on that if I did a particular goofy voice and narrated the dogs actions, Emma would be put into fits of silent laughter that only revealed themselves by her choking noises trying to gasp for air.  It was awesome.  So I did it a lot.  It didn't help that the dog has these expressive eyes that look human.  I think it's the spacing.  But when he looks at you he judges your soul.  And with my narration.. well, it gets kinda goofy.  So we did that a lot and it was good fun.

Jill and I went out on a double date with Lisa and Steve.  It was great fun.  We were adults going out on the town.  Well, as long as there wasn't live music, because that's a little annoying.  And we wanted to sit down. And a patio would be nice.  Oh and appetizers.  But they have to have good beer.  Ok, it was a couple of old couples looking for the least annoying nightlife ever.  But we did find the right spot and it was great.  We got to try good drinks, made quiet judging comments about the young family that didn't seem to understand that a baby in a bar was a bad idea, and we got to see how close the bat would fly before hitting Lisa.  Sadly, the bat never got her.

We did, however, move on to the Best Bar Ever.  Of course I don't remember the name, but that usually comes with finding a good bar -- fuzzy details.  I know our server was Luke Perry researching a new role.  And that he knew beer better than I did.  Which isn't hard, but it's still impressive.  Jill ordered (and enjoyed) something called Grog.  Kelsey came to join us and might have made Steve tear up.  Which isn't easy.  Kelsey left for his ferry and ended up missing it.  When we asked why the responding text was "it's complicated" and it truly was.  Rather than tell the story, I'll let it be mysterious and thus ten times more interesting than it was.

We also got to meet the girl Kelsey had been on a date with earlier that evening.  She was a really nice, really pretty and really interesting girl.  We were almost polite to her, but Lisa knew her and that allowed us (me) to be as obnoxious as we (I) pleased.  Pretty sure I didn't say anything horrible.  The evening eventually ended and we passed out happily in our wonderful guest room in an awesome house build in 1848.  Never did get to see a ghost, though.

A day on Mackinac Island

Our day started leisurely enough.  It was nice not to have to get up, get to ferry, get on Island, and then begin our day.  Instead, we just got up and had a nice breakfast and headed out.  The house we're staying in is almost visible in the image below, but you can see a large fenced yard in the middle right of the image.  That's their back yard.  If you know the island and the town, you'll notice that it's just on the edge of, well, everything.

 For every wonderful thing there is a price, albeit small.  Living one block off the main drag, surrounded by history, you end up on tour routes.  It was a bit unsettling the first few times they passed by, and they pass by regularly.  But eventually you ignore it and it becomes just another set of clomping horse hooves.  I'm not saying I timed my leaving the house with the tours passing.  That would be tacky.  But I wish I had better timing.  :)

By late morning we had our act together and rented some horses.  If you're on the island and you don't have the opportunity to stay in a "private residence" just rent some horses.  People would poke each other and look with amazement -- "oh, look, horses!" -- on an island filled with horses, somehow those riding horses are more interesting.  What these people don't realize is that we're not riding horses.  We're renting a small space on top of a large animal that has been programmed to walk the same route over and over again.  Our skill level had more to do with the level of docility of the animal, nothing more.  I could have told them I was a rodeo clown and that I owned a herd of horses, I would still have gotten the same horse.

The kids had a great time, and the adults enjoyed it.  But we were certainly hurting by the time we got off the horses.  Old bones and such.  But it was a wonderful opportunity and I had a lot of fun.  Lily would go riding every day if she could.  Jill and I are on the "once a decade" plan.

After a simple and excellent lunch back at the homestead we recharged our batteries a bit and headed up to the fort.   We have all been to the fort a number of times, but for the first time we set the kids off by themselves.  Lily and Emma took the camera and went off and had lots of fun taking pictures.  Lily took a LOT of pictures.  But they had fun:

The boys went off and toured the fort, seeing more than I thought they would.  Jill and I took up the role of an older couple who move slowly through boring (to others) exhibits.  At one point I sat patiently waiting for Jill to read all about the war of 1812.  But I was sitting in front of a maritime display that had a cool model boat and a song being played by a concertina.  Heard that song about 15 times.  It was awesome.  And nobody complained that they were hungry, bored, or tired.

A stop at the tea room for Lemonade and Pecan ball, a stop at the gift shop (no joy this trip, I have all the cool toys) and we rolled down the hill back to the house.  Again, so nice to walk in the door, lose the shoes and sit down for a while.  Bliss.

I took an evening stroll to check out the touristy shops down the lane, checking my options for a power-shopping trip tomorrow.  I'll be able to take the kids to two or three places, let them pick their trinkets, and get out with nary a tantrum in front of hot pink t-shirts with offensive sayings on them.

The island is a magical place.  If I ever won the lottery I would buy a cottage as close to downtown as possible, sit on the porch and complain about all the damn tourists.  It would be heaven.

Off to Michigan

After a nice, not too long drive to Rhinelander to see Great Aunt Lil, we enjoyed the evening wandering through the local quarry sliding down sand hills and collecting rocks.  The kids posed for pictures and finally washed their feet off again at the  

This morning, we had a medium sized drive from Rhinelander to Mackinaw City.  A picnic at Escanaba (in da sunlight) and a quick stop at the Most Awesome Rest Area in Naubinway proved a wonderful afternoon's frolic in the waves.  The water was warm, the sun high, and the kids excited.  Totally out of character, I even took my shoes off and wandered out.  The water was low -- or the sand was high -- so we got to walk way out and the kids ended up getting completely wet.  But that's expected.  Jill's tradition is to stop and put your feet in every Great Lake you see.  It's a wonderful tradition but makes going to see the fall colors an intimidating affair sometimes.

 We made it to the ferry before any rain, but as it was getting choppier and windier the breeze was up.  We watched the other ferry pass by, it was quite exciting.  It was even more exciting when we hit the wake and the spray hit us.  Eli and Lily were drenched.  It was awesome!

We finally made it to Mackinac Island and were met by my sister and her clan at the dock.  After a lovely pizza dinner downtown on the island, we walked both blocks back up to her summer house.  It's amazing to be so close to the heart of the island.   It's even cooler to come out the front door and have the tourists look at you in awe -- someone in a house so deep in town and not a B&B.  We're island rock stars for the week!

And the views are great!

Reflections on Ice

Dancin' Blades ice show, 2012.  The Figure Skating Club of Minneapolis at Augsburg presents a star studded musical variety show -- ok maybe no stars, but it's musical!

Figure Skating

I've been training at FSC for a couple years.  It started with my daughter Lily taking lessons.  While we sat and watched her toddle along on the ice the thought of taking lessons ourselves just made sense.  Jill took them, I took them, we even got Eli into academy for a bit.  But all he wanted to do was go fast.  And then Jill had her knee renovated, so she took some time off.  Finally, it was just Lily and I.  I took classes in academy (the groups of kids just learning how to skate) and eventually joined Lily in the club taking private lessons with her and her coach.  I even have a locker!

These days when Lily and I go for a session with the coach it's a matter of keeping Lily on the ice while I get some more training.  I'm a really good student: I learn all the same tricks every week!  It's hard to remember what a half flip is vs a toe loop vs any kind of lutz.  But oh so long ago I thought I'd never get a backward one foot glide, or any kind of crossover.  But I did, and those are fun now.  The goal was to be able to do something on purpose that put me off both feet and back down on the ice without breaking anything.  I guess I've made that goal, but we can modify it to "jump with a spin" -- that will take a long while yet!

I'm an old dog, and these new tricks don't come cheap.  I've been sore in all joints, sprained wrists, bruised my butt a million times, smacked myself into a concussion once, and broken a rib.  I've been the only middle aged man in classes of little girls, and I've fallen enough times in front of enough people that I really don't have a lot of shame left.  I decided that falling means I'm trying really hard, and for the most part it pays off.  I'll never be as good as the older guys in the club who compete, but I have fun, pay my dues, and every once in a while when all of the stars align and I get two or three moves in a row that just flow together I feel like a pretty, pretty ballerina.  But in a manly way.  :)

I don't really have any "plans" for my skating career, but as long as Lily skates, I'll skate.  It's a wonderful father-daughter sport, and it's a lot of fun.  If she told me I was embarrassing her I'd quit in a moment -- but I would probably look for a new club. :)

The Ice Show

Lily has been in the show three years now, and last year I wistfully thought it would be kind of fun.  This year I pushed it a bit and made it known I was interested.  There weren't enough adults for an adult number, so they came up with an idea for my contribution:  Cuteness Wrangler.  Every year the youngest of the young in the academy have a number in the show.  It's mostly a matter of cuter than cute tinier than tiny little girls in button perfect outfits toddle across the ice.  Often they fall right on their butts.  It's not planned, but it's part of the ultra-cute.

I'm essentially Simon in a Simon-says game on the ice.  I corral them in the right general direction, and when the two year old wanders into the middle of the ice looking for mommy and daddy, I zoom in and gently redirect her back to the group.  I spend a lot of time doing that.  And yeah, I said two.  Ages in our group of ten (!) range from 2 to 7, and you'd be surprised where the skill levels hash out -- you can't tell who'll be good until they zoom past you on the ice.  But it's a lot of fun and I get to help these kids have some fun and be in a show.  And I get to drop a crossover in there once in a while.  Jill says I need to throw more tricks in there, but I'll play it by ear.  It's nice not to have a waltz jump to worry about.

Initially I was worried this wouldn't be enough for me, but it really is.  And I think if they want me back I'll do it again next year.  I would be fine being the Cuteness Wrangler every year.  They may be cuter than me, but I can out-skate a two year old any day!

Creeper!

That'ssssa a very nicccsssseeee ssssstuffie I made there....

"Creeper" from the video game Minecraft. 

 No pattern, no pins, all freestyle cutting and sewing..

Sunday Night Stuffies

We watched the last Harry Pottery and I finished Walleye the Walrus.  Awesome!

Saturday Night Stuffies

Lily and I made a polar bear tonight.  My first homemade stuffed animal.  His name is Pablo the Polar Bear. His ears are off kilter (thanks to Lily) and his tail is off center as well (thanks to me) -- he's a scruffy little guy, but the kids absolutely love him, and he taught us a lot about how to make a little friend.  Awesome!

(BTW, he goes to Jill, who thought the Polar Bear looked cute in the book we used.  The kids get to fight over who gets the next one..)

Heading Downriver again...

If the weather holds (I don't care about cold, just rain/snow at this time of year), and it looks like it will, I'll be taking another quick trip on the Mississippi.  Going from Minneapolis to Red Wing, roughly 70 miles.  At the pace of my boat and the lesser currents of autumn, I'm banking on 7 miles per hour for a ten hour trip.   Spreading it over two days I'll find a nice slough to drop anchor for the night and have a nice little wavy night's sleep.  Jill and the kids will meet me in Red Wing -- or any other landing before that point if something doesn't work out according to plan.

I had been saying I didn't do as much boat camping as I'd wanted to this year, and Jill was so supportive of a last little jaunt.  She's awesome!

I'll be boating alone, but filing a travel plan as well as reporting in via social networks.  And the GPS will be on the whole time, I'm sure.  Really looking forward to it!  Me and my boat..

The River

Mine is a small boat. Ok, a Tiny Boat. But I feel like this when I'm on any river:

View Larger Map

You can see that the towboat is pushing hard, but sliding a bit to port (left) so that he can overcompensate on the turn.

The science museum of Minnesota has a towboat/barge simulator that looks like a fun video game. I mean, it's just driving a slow boat down a river right? The moment a kid steps up to it they're excited, but by the first river bend they're shoving those barges up on the beach.

So I step up, never having played, and simply apply my "slow boat, takes a long time to respond, think about the *next* bend" logic and I took the barge and boat through downtown and on to the end of the simulation. I was quite proud of myself.

It would be months later that I would apply these rules in the real world with my boat on the river in some more "technical" (read: crazy wind, currents, and waves) waters and I really understood the intensity of the river.

So now when I see this picture in google maps of this tow pushing sideways up a bend, it just makes me really appreciate what's going on so much more. And makes me want to make another voyage...

This.

Don't Ask Don't Tell is over. Now watch what happens. Hard to argue against something if the military has accepted it.

Life As We Knew It (book series)

Jill (in her saintly way) tutors kids at a local school and one of the classes she stops in at was reading this book. So she got to hear the teacher reading snippets and was curious to know what the whole book was like. I found her copy lying around and, thinking it was a book club book, read the back cover to find out what they were reading this month.

Much to my surprise I was pulled in immediately. Apocalypse? The common man? Perfect! In reading some online reviews it was quite positive and most comments said they literally couldn't put it down. Got about a quarter of the way through it one night and the following night I was kept awake finishing it. You can't stop reading. You just can't. I was reading it on my Nook Color, which I love. Initially got it to hack and turn into an Android tablet, but I use it stock as an eReader. Lovely!

The book is actually teen fiction, but it's really quite dark. Told from the perspective of a girl as diary entries, it's pretty tame but the underlying concept just looms over you and makes you feel like you're a part of the story.

By the two thirds point I was sure I wouldn't be reading the next books in the series. It was too stressful and I just wanted it to be over. I was enjoying it in a "it's the end of the world and nobody feels fine" but I connected so much with the family I felt like my world was ending. It's all common stuff. Electricity, gas, water, food. Everything we take for granted in our lives, and they were slowly disappearing from theirs.

Right up to the last five pages I was done. I just couldn't take it. And when I finished the last paragraph I was trying to figure out if I should get the sample of the next one and just read a couple sentences. But I knew that would involve less sleep that night.

Found the next edition at the Library, online! With a few clicks of a mouse I downloaded it, authorized it on my Nook Color, and now I am all ready to lose more sleep.

Blister Camp, Year Two

This year we headed south to Perrot State Park in Wisconsin. Uriah, Tom Lindsey, Matt, Jared and I headed out at 4ish on Friday and made good time to the park. Set up in the near dark and enjoyed a feast of Hot Dogs and Not Dogs provided by Mrs Uriah, who drove down to secure our site and get firewood.

Today (Saturday) we rode and rode and rode all over southeastern Wisconsin. Lettered roads all around. We stopped in Whitehall for "Beef and Dairy Days" and got to see some real live carnies. Oh and a car show. Did you know that modern cars, when washed and dice hanging from mirrors count as "classic cars" for a car show? Yeah we didn't either.

Dinner after a REALLY LONG WALK was Hammond-esque but pretty good. Except for Uriah, the vegetarian in a rural Wisconsin "nice restaurant" -- they didn't understand. It was all meat, all the time. Except the salad bar with chocolate pudding.

A much quieter fire this evening started later, but Tom made up for it by making the largest fire the massive fire circle could hold. Uriah called it a Sprawling metropolis of fire, I referred to it as a landscape of flame.

Pigs on Bear Lake!

On our way back from a lovely boat ride on the lake we were surprised to find four pigs wandering around the yard.  A few calls later and the Boy Scout camp sent some guys over to wrangle them home.  But it was a fun little diversion.  All I could think of was the high price of ham and how delicious they looked...

After You - Pepin Messabout

Another fun filled day, with lots of boating and talking about boating and even some kite flying.  You wish you were here.  Although the afternoon produced the Lake Pepin that I had imagined, with whitecaps and waves over the transom.  Need an electric pump.. :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouPepinMessabout?feat=directlink

After You - Pepin!

Early to rise, headed downriver in a grind that would involve 12 hours, multiple rainstorms, waves to crash over her bow, two lock passages, and a few hours of beautiful scenery and river.  Met up with the wonderful folks of the messabout and had a great evening sitting around the fire telling lies, er, stories about many things.

https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouPepinBound?feat=directlink

After You - Downriver

Well, that was exciting!  Hidden falls has a boat ramp but today it had a boat parking lot.  It was a bit flooded.  No matter, Jill and the kids helped me launch quite nicely.    Left around five thirty and made good time for a bit.  Have to admit the first hundred yards took some getting used to, as the wind and currents were tossing me around.  By the time I got to downtown Saint Paul, I wanted to top off my gas tank.  Good call, though only half empty, I would end up needing every last drop in the next section.

I took a few minutes at the pier by Navy Island to tape some trash bags over the skylight and then put on the skylight cover. The clouds were graying up a bit and I wanted to be completely sure I kept the cabin dry.  It has not yet rained but I am glad I did it for my overnight, just in case.

Ok, I head into an alley of barges and industrial docks and soon after the wind picks up.  I am heading right into it and spend a couple miles reenacting various scenes from The Deadliest Catch.  Whitecaps, three foot waves, spray coming over the bow completely drenching me, and not a safe harbor in sight.  I soldiered on and eventually decided to stop at the landing at my evening halfway point, which was sure to be nearer the end of the evening rather than half way.  That was the 694 bridge, and the landing ended up being further underwater than Hidden Falls was.  So I skirted behind some islands where the water was calmer and refilled the tank.  It was almost empty, so good timing on that one. 

Took a backwater behind some more islands and noticed there was a protected channel running up through the island.  This is where I dropped anchor for the night as it was twenty minutes to sunset.

Dropped some Pigs Eye Pilsner (felt only appropriate) in the net and dropped it in the river to cool them off.  Had a nice cold sandwich and a juice box and here I sit, having a brew on the river in my gently rocking boat.  The cabin is small but super cozy now that it is organized, and I am rocking my Android tablet writing this post.  Obviously it is easy to type on, as evidenced by the long post.

After the sun set it is quite cool and no bugs to be found.  Awesome.

Now to read some pirate adventures by Michael Crichton as darkness falls and the birds in the trees coo me to sleep.  It is going to be an early morning to make up for lost time.

More photos in my Picasa Albums
https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouDownriver?feat=directlink

After You - Up North

The whole family went out to Mantrap lake and had a wonderful cruise. Even got to see some Pelicans and Terns! The kids spent most of the time reading, but Jill and I had a nice time sightseeing. It was chilly and cloudy, but a lovely trip.

We also tested out the new underwater camera. At full speed it's no fun, but at low trolling speeds it's quite interesting. Next step: hook up something that will record the video..
After a long day of off and on rain I got to take her out for a later evening cruise. Bliss.