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.

First outing of the year on the After You

The "gear locker" with new hanging straps -- possibly the most useful additions to the boat.

I also got a new battery box. Exciting, huh?

We went to Calhoun, Isles, and Cedar lake. Didn't quite make Brownie, as I wasn't confident the battery would get us there and back. It had a long year last year.
The first mate checks the camera. It's temporary henna tattoos on her arms -- we're not horrible parents. :)

Amon Tobin

Listened to "Out from out where" by Amon Tobin on my walk home today and was constantly struck by how comfortable I am with his combination of noises. A couple times

I was thinking about how discordant and chaotic his music is, but it felt really right. I've

only seem him live once, but it was a really great show. It's fun to find an electronic

artist who can recreate and improve on their music live. He definitely can.

So here are a few of his tunes that really strike me.

Verbal - There are times in my life when I have what I call a "mental virus" -- it's like

being sick with a simple virus, but it's mental. I know, hard to explain, but this video

sounds like it feels on the more manic side:

The videos are quite good, as well. Enjoy this, and welcome to my brain:

Finally, if ever there was a soundtrack to my life, I think this would be a good example of how well Amon Tobin matches:

Charizard Pokemon Pillow

This pillow is for Eli.  Finally got it stuffed!