Cindy got a chance to try out a backhoe today.  Took a little time to get the hang of it, but she did great!  Safety first with the helmet of course.

Posing with some heavy machinery and guns (Cindy’s biceps)

Lush garden at the yard with all sorts of veggies

On our way back from the kayak trip we stopped in Oshkosh, WI to join up with Michael, Vicki and Hera.  They had spent the week at the event, staying a rental travel trailer.  They were nice enough to let us stay in it as well, which was a nice change from our tent camping the last week.  I’ve never seen so many planes, RVs and spectators in one place!  Seems like everyone in the country who is interested in flying is at this annual event.

Some cool home-built planes

Oracle planes were in attendance. Same one that I got to see in Jacksonville a few years ago.

A shiny nose cone shot

An amazing air show in the afternoon, with skydivers shown here

Finale to the Tora Tora Tora re-enactment of the end of WWII, bombs away!

Eyes in the sky for the evening air show

Best fireworks show we’ve ever seen along the main runway in Oshkosh. It was timed well to some rockin music

Cindy and I had a great excursion on a 5-day kayak and camping trip in the Apostle Islands.  They are a spectacular set of islands in Lake Superior (the largest freshwater lake in the world, more fun facts here:  http://www.lakesuperiordrive.com/lakesuperior/index.htm)

This was a first adventure trip on our career break and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.  Everything was excellent from the tour company and guide, a great set of friendly travel companions, excellent weather and warm water.  Highly recommend a trip with Living Adventures Inc (LAI) if anyone plans on making a trip to this area of the USA.

Crossing the border into Wisconsin during our 8-hour drive from Chicago to Ashland, WI

Found a well-reviewed motel in Ashland, WI to spend Sunday night before our trip began on Monday morning.

A nicely decorated room in a classic 1950s-style motel.

After a nice dinner at Southside Brewery, we took an evening stroll on the lakeside trail in Ashland, WI

An interesting method of keeping trespassers out. Guess they think someone wouldn’t drive on the grass around the fence??

Day 1

We drove from Ashland, WI just past Bayfield, WI to Living Adventures Inc.  Friendly people abound here.  Met our guide Jose who seems great.  Reminder to myself to talk to him about a possible trip to Baja in early 2013.  Met our 4 other travelers who seem very nice as well.  They were a couple named Tim and Karen from Madison, WI and a second couple named Troy and Jessica from Indianapolis, IN.  We started off with a classroom-type session for general and safety info, then off into the water for rescue practice.  It was much easier to flip these kayaks than our sit-on-top Hobies.  Found the water to be quite refreshing, but were told it’s normally about 50 degrees this time of year!

We’re sexy and we know it, especially in form-fitting wetsuits.

Next we started packing our personal gear, group gear and food into the kayaks.  We made quick work of that effort across our 5 single kayaks and 1 tandem.  Jose then made us a great veggie wrap (still keeping up with our flexitarian diet of mostly veggies and seafood.  The tour company was more than supportive with their menu selection for the entire trip).  We headed to Oak Island, camping spot #3 which was about 6 miles away.  Had a nice, gentle paddle for our first day with light winds and light boat traffic.  We stopped along the way to check out a 200 ft. shipwreck in shallow water.  The water is greener than usual due to higher water temps and a recent downpour of 12″ of rain in Duluth, MN.  Normally you can see 40-50 ft in the clear waters of this lake.

Our first day of paddling, getting to used to very narrow sea kayaks which are quite different from our Hobie kayaks.

We setup camp right along the bay with ours right on the waterfront due to the limited space.  It was a bit slanted but the view more than outweighed that minor issue.  Kitchen staff forgot to pack our fish for dinner and our bread bag for the entire trip.  Ended up doing a vegetarian meal due to the missing fish.  Boat will head out in the morning to delver our bread.  Can already tell that Jose is a great chef as well as a guide.  The clouds cleared off for a spectacular sunset then we laid down to bed.  Woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (aka facilitree while camping in the woods without actual bathrooms).  Got to see an immense amount of stars in the clear sky with no moon or other ambient light.  Woke up the following morning to lapping waves on the beach 15 feet from our tent! 🙂

Day 2

Started the day off with a great breakfast from Jose.  Packed up everything and headed towards Raspberry Island.  Made good time with an aft wind helping us along.  Had a great lighthouse tour from Ranger Jim, though he didn’t sing the “Lighthouse Keeper’s Blues” which Jose mentioned he may do.  Jim did mention an interesting quote at the end of the tour about getting joy of your daily job.  It was related to the lighthouse restoration project and a roofer who found a man’s signature on a roof tile which was about 100 years old.  Something to think about for our next job, what type of work gives you that type of satisfaction of lasting for 100+ years where someone will find your name on a piece of your work…

Raspberry Island lighthouse and related buildings. The ranger stays on the island for 5 days, then a 2-day break on the mainland with a rotation to another ranger.

Next up was a long-ass paddle!  About 10 miles to South Twin Island with a stop along the way at Rock Island for a break to stretch our legs.  Ended up peeing in my wetsuit during the journey that day which was a huge mistake as I had to sit in it for about an hour.  A lesson learned for the rest of this trip and all future trips:  “Empty your bladder prior to departure”.  Made it to the  campsite which was a nice bay on the leeward side of the island.  Did some exploring, took a swim, had a great dinner, watched the sunset with the group, then off to bed to rest some really tired bodies.

No sunburn for this man, fully covered with long sleeves and large brim hat

Day 3

Didn’t sleep very well last night due to the thunderstorms that rolled in late and dumped quite a bit of rain.  Once again though, our tent held up well and we didn’t get wet at all.  Lightning didn’t get too close either.  The wind was cranking when we awoke, but Jose had a nice breakfast and coffee ready for us.  By the time we got packed up the wind had shifted and let up so we headed out towards our destination of Stockton Island, camping site #21.  Conditions turned out to be great the rest of the day.  We stopped for lunch at a sand spit on an island.  We were able to visit the sea caves on Stockton as well, which was friction awesome!!  The evening rains held off , had a nice dinner and camaraderie.

Amazing what the power of waves can do over time.

A large gap in the rock which allowed a one-way entrance and exit.

Same gap with a view from the outside.

Day 4

Despite the warnings we had no rain last night.  Jose had coffee and tea ready for us when woke up, followed by  granola with yogurt and fruit for breakfast.  We packed up and headed out to an old fish camp on Manitou Island.  The forecast called for rain, but only got a light sprinkle and it cleared off.  The sun came out and the water calmed down nicely.  Paddled to the fish camp, had a lunch of crackers, cheese, fresh raw veggies, fruit and chocolate for dessert.  Then Denise gave us a tour of the old fish camp and taught us how the fishermen used to place their gill nets in the winter ice.  Then we got back in our kayaks and paddled to our campsite, which was also on Manitou Island.

Another great breakfast from Jose!

Tent camping right near the water, doesn’t get much better!

We unpacked, set up camp and searched for firewood while Jose prepared our last dinner which was a delicious soup with roasted garlic, warm bread and brownies for dessert.  We then built our fire on the beach and enjoyed the overcast evening.  It’s our last day of paddling tomorrow 😦

Last dinner with our group. A great set of new friends!

Beachside campfire with the group, but almost lost it due to the onshore wind and waves

Day 5

Our last day!  Jose had coffee and tea ready for us bright and early at 7am.  We packed up and took down our tents for the last time, then filled up on oatmeal with fruit and honey before our last paddle of the trip.  We paddled about 2 hours to Hermit Island with the wind at our back the whole way, allowing us to catch some sweet waves!  We stopped at Hermit for lunch, which included PB&J, fruit, veggies, cookies and chocolate.

Skirts up, pants down!

The clouds had cleared off and it had become a beautiful, sunny, cool day.  We loaded back into the kayaks for the final stretch, wind still at our back helping to push us along which was a great way to end the trip due to our sore, tired muscles from paddling for 5 days.  Made it back to LAI, cleaned up the kayaks and said our goodbyes to everyone.

A beautiful day on Lake Superior

Next stop:  Oshkosh!

Been having a great time hanging out around Chicago.  Some pics below with some of our activities throughout mid-July.

Checked out the playground near the forest preserve where we went running one day

Was so hot in chicago, we decided to go running at Fort Sheridan park which is right on Lake Michigan. An open-water swim was a great way to cool off after our 5k.

After our exercise, we visited the Fort Sheridan cemetery nearby.

Grabbed some lunch in Highland Park at a raw, vegan and gluten-free restaurant. Quite expensive but tasty!

Skyline panorama from the Willis Tower, aka Sears Tower.

New addition to the Willis Tower allows you to walk out over the edge and look straight down to street-level!

Toured the Chicago cultural center building during our trip downtown

A pleasant day for a boat ride with some nice scenery in the background

A pleasant day for a boat ride with some great background scenery. Never took one of these boat tours during my first 18 years living in Chicago

Evening view of the Chicago River. Had a great time out with some family!

A wine and cheese picnic on the lawn at Ravinia. A perfect evening with really light crowd on a Monday.

A relaxing day for the cats.. Surprisingly they get along quite well!

Been back in Chicago since last Tuesday, which has been a nice change of pace to be able to relax for more than a few days.  We’ve been able to attend a couple BBQs with friends and family, which have been great!  Amazing how fast time has travelled over the years and you lose touch with folks.

We are looking forward to our next couple adventures.  First up is a 5-day kayak and camping trip in the Apostle Islands (http://www.livingadventure.com/summer/overnighttrips.htm) then headed back down to Osh Kosh, WI for a couple days at AirVenture.

Also starting our initial discussion about the path to get back to Florida in early August, which might include a route up thru the upper peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Canada, Northeastern US, then down the remaining eastern seaboard.

Outside Wrigley field on our way back to the train station

We made it to the cubs game today with my cousin and his buddy Got some awesome tickets from our neighbor, skybox suite courtesy of pepsico. Worked out great cause as soon as we got to the game, it started raining. The field got covered up and we didn’t get to see it again. Thunderstorms moved in for the next 3 hours, ended up drenching most of the crowd due to the strong winds. Luckily we were in the skybox, comfy and dry with unlimited food and drinks! Ended up leaving the park around 430 to bring the young guys back to park ridge. A fun time, but bummer about not seeing any baseball.

We got motivated around 10am and headed out for a run down to lake michigan.  Ended up being about 3.4 miles each way, but the low humidity and lower temperatures definitely make it easier.  The water was very clear with a comfortable breeze off the lake.  The lake is so huge that it really seems like looking off the coast of Florida.

Stopped down along the end of the inlet to watch some fishermen who had already caught 7 fish and reeled in a steelhead while we watched.

Noticed that CSX had a presence in the area and snapped a pic near the shack for the St. Joe river bridge.

Anybody from the TCIS support team got an Asset ID for the gear at this location?? 🙂

Headed back to the house, cleaned up, ate some of the fresh eggs and leftover rice, then got on the road around 1pm.  Got back into Chicago around 4pm, picked up Jalapeño and headed over to my parent’s house.

Jalapeño and Captain Jack meeting for the first time. Jack the bear cat is about 3 times bigger than our tiny Jalapeño but they are buddies so far!

Everyone took off from michigan on sunday or monday morning.  Just cindy and i back at the house, so we headed over to my uncle jimmy’s farm house a few miles away.
Had a great time with my uncle, aunt and two cousins.  Jumped on the golf cart and atv to shoot over to a farmer neighbor to pick up an assortment of fresh fruits, eggs, jars of jam and honey.  Got back to the house, then drove over to a nearby place for lunch.  Great stuff!!
Did spoil my recent non-meat eating by having an excellent grilled cheese with tomato and BACON. (Definitely worth it for the local bacon though)
Met a guy painting my uncle’s barn who was starting soon with CSX and headed to the REDI center in a week or so.  What a small world sometimes…
A neighbor then stopped by with some fresh salmon from lake michigan, caught just a few hours prior.

hanging out on the porch at the farm

We came back to the house, unloaded all of our fresh food, then loaded up the kayaks to launch them a bit upriver in the St. Joe river, based on some input from a guy at lunch.  Decided to paddle upriver to have an easier return trip.

unusable boat ramp since the river is really low due to minimal rain across the midwest

stopped for a break at an island, then headed back downstream

We enjoyed the paddle, but noticeable how much less “life” you see compared to Florida.  Only saw some birds and a couple fish.

Wrapped up the day by stopping at a liquor store for bottle of wine and vodka (gotta restock the house supply from the weekend festivities), then a grocery stored to get some side dishes and dessert to go with our fresh salmon.

Headed over to Michigan on July 6th to spend a few days with aunts, uncles and cousins.

About a 3 hour drive door-to-door from IL to MI

Uncle Terry’s house is a 1949 Frank Lloyd Wright, which should make sense to architecture fans.

Uncle’s FLW estate in St. Joe, Michigan

Had no AC in the house Friday night and very hot, so we ended up spending the night in the 48′ Fairline yacht.

48′ Fairline yacht

Played golf with Lindsay and Jeff on Saturday morning, then headed back to the boat for a day on lake Michigan with a bunch of family. It was a great time and water temp was perfect!

Justin, Terry, Jeff, Joe and I in the “sun allergy” outfit

Everyone was quite hungover on Sunday morning, so we got a late start and headed for breakfast with a group of 11. Afterwards we headed back to the marina to take out the Supra ski boat for some wake boarding and skiing. Amazing to see all my younger cousins growing up and doing maneuvers most adults wouldn’t try.

My wake boarding skills in action

We hit the water today with Jeff, Lindsay and Jeff’s mom. Loaded up the Mikos boat around 10am and headed off for a great day on the water and blazing hot temperatures again…

Can you guess who has the pale skin in this picture?

Listening to a great band at Blarney’s Island

Helicopter arrival at Blarney’s Island

Cindy trying to capture a lobster for lunch

It’s trying to escape!

It got away, guess it’ll be a liquid lunch