Into the sunrise

I cannot get over the final broadcast of The Current's Morning Show w/ Dale Connelly and "Jim Ed Poole" (Tom Keith). (Tom/"Jim Ed" is retiring)

For you out of state-ers, these two have been doing a Garrison Keillor-esque variety show for the past 25 years. Since we moved to these Twin-towns, we've been enjoying some solid radio play on The Current (much more enjoyable than KEXP...but that's another post). However, the morning show was a disconnected, zany show that was hard to stomach at first. With its birthday songs for loyal listeners, kid friendly folk sing along songs, and the last second prepared sounding skits about nothing it is different from the radio my generation knows.

Maybe it was the move to the elder St. Paul, or turning 27, but I've been loving this show for the past 3 months. A complete change of appreciation. And now it's gone. I'm sad that I wasn't in to it earlier on.

But today I'm sad that I was in the audience at the Fitz or having pancakes at the church next door. What a beautiful way to go. I hope my retirement party is half of this. From the packed house, to the bands that showed up at 6am to make the show completely live, to sad tribute songs, to the all the we wishers on the live blog burning their eggs at home while crying over the end of this era, it was a bittersweet tribute. I choked up...after just 3 months.

There's no way I can do this show justice. I'd encourage you to listen to it. Read the live blog transcript. Check out the photos.

And get into the next wave. Dale is starting a show on HD radio, but you can get the live feed online. Or check out the new Current Morning Show, starting tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Top Albums of 2008...oh how i love the current

(this list was heavily influenced by this weekend of studying with The Current cranked...)

Here's your completed ballot.

Your albums:

The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Passion Pit - Chunk Of Change
Calexico - Carried To Dust
Maps Of Norway - Die Off Birdsong
Terry Lynn - Kingstonlogic 2.0
Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty
Nada Surf - Lucky
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Mates Of State - Re-Arrange Us
Santogold - Santogold
Caesars - Strawberry Weed
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
Animal Collective - Water Curses
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons…
Ben Folds - Way To Normal
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
I'm From Barcelona - Who Killed Harry Houdini

Your Write-in Selections:

Stars - Sad Robots
+/- - Xs on Your Eyes
School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

Get Excited for Christmas Music

Gotta love Sufjan's contributions to Christmas music...

Thanksgiving Pix

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving in Willmar. http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/Turkey08#

Tory and Jill's Wedding Pix

Here are some pix from our 25 hours of bliss in Orange County

http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/TKJBOCWedding11808#

Depressing

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1148237/1/index.htm

AS YOU may know, the Oklahoma City Thunder held its first-ever home opener last week, against the Milwaukee Bucks. Me, I headed to the only place to be on such a historic night: Floyd's Place bar in Seattle.

Strange thing, though. When I showed up just in time for the 5 p.m. tip-off, ready to watch the Sonics—oops, I mean the Thunder—Floyd's was cold and empty; it was like walking into a Kafka novel. The walls of the venerable Sonics hangout were still painted yellow and a green foam finger made its pointless boast behind the bar, but there was no game on the TV and not a fan at the rail. The only patron was a white-haired gentleman mumbling incoherently into his beer, and he didn't look much like a sports fan. Though, on second thought, maybe he was. That's how bad it is in Seattle these days.

Think your city's suffering? Imagine if your favorite team bolted town after 41 seasons, not for some cosmopolitan burg but a dusty outpost where oil derricks qualify as urban skyline. Now imagine turning to your city's other teams for solace only to find each to be avert-your-eyes abysmal. Welcome to Seattle, home of the Sportspocalypse.

Don't take it from me, though. Here's Sherman Alexie, the brilliant Seattle writer and National Book Award winner, summoning all his powers of eloquence. "It is," he proclaims, "the worst f------ year ever."

To recap: Last season, the Mariners lost 101 games despite a $118 million payroll, which is sort of like splurging for gastric bypass surgery only to get fatter. They had a designated hitter who couldn't hit (Jose Vidro), a high-priced pitcher who couldn't pitch (Carlos Silva) and a general manager (Bill Bavasi) who, judging by his record, seemed better suited to philanthropy. "A terribly misevaluated roster," says David Cameron of the blog ussmariner.com. "Probably one of the worst baseball teams of the last 40 years." And Cameron is an M's fan.

Football provides no refuge. The Seahawks were supposed to contend, but through Sunday they were 2--6, and lame-duck coach Mike Holmgren has begun to resemble a walrus with acute acid reflux. Beloved U-Dub is even worse. After an 0--7 start Washington announced it would let coach Tyrone Willingham go at the end of the season; the Huskies are 0--1 since. "It's so bad around here," laments longtime Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Art Thiel, "that people turn from sports to the financial pages to cheer up."

This is epic, once-in-a-lifetime badness. Don't even try to compare your city. Sure, the Bay Area's got it rough, and yeah, Cleveland is going through a dry spell of, oh, two generations or so. But to lose like this, on so many levels, is unprecedented—hey, even Philly is all sunshine and rainbows right now—not to mention bewildering. "We're not the Vanderbilts of losing, like Chicago with the Cubs," says Alexie. "We're like the nouveau riche of losing. We don't know how to react."

Everywhere there are cruel reminders. Instead of a Sonics game, Key Arena is hosting Disney's High School Musical on Ice. (What's worse, it'll probably draw twice as well.) Even the Seattle clichés are in the cellar. Coffee? If Starbucks were an NBA franchise, it would be clearing cap space; the company is closing hundreds of stores in the U.S. Grunge? Grunge got sent to the minors years ago, and only its bastard progeny like Nickelback remain in the Show. And rain? Well I suppose rain never loses—only those who slog through it day after day do. Like, you know, the people in Seattle.

Brent Barry, the former Sonics guard who considers the Emerald City a second home, is so bummed that he wrote a poem called When It Rains, which he recited on Seattle sports radio last week. ("A chapter left unwritten, a generation with a gap/Forty-one years of NBA action, and now no one can clap.") Says Barry, who's now with the Houston Rockets, "I know there are more important things in life, with the economy and the election, but it's like a black hole up there."

Alexie, an actual poet who was involved in the failed Save Our Sonics campaign, admits that he's cried 20 times in the last year. How many men do you know who've cried 20 times in their lives? "The other day I tried to watch [the Thunder]," says Alexie, "and I saw Earl Watson take a stupid jumper, and I missed him so much."

Now that is grief. Still, there has to be somewhere to turn. Cameron, the blogger, considers his options. "I don't know," he says. "Who are we supposed to root for? Go Boeing?"

Not a bad idea, though he shouldn't get too attached. I hear Little Rock is looking to land an airplane manufacturer.

Photo Update

here are some photos from the past few months...a little less picturesque than the BWCA unfortunately.

http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/OctoberUpdate#

October Update...on the 11th

Long, long overdue…

Who: Kirsten, Mosby, and Me
What: An overdue life update
When: the past 7 weeks; since 8/17/08
Where: St. Paul, the 651, 55102
How: via the world wide web; our blog

Okay, cheesy. But how do I capture the past 45 days? To say much has happened, would be a bland understatement.

How about a timeline? If you haven’t noticed, I’m a chronological thinker.

8/17 We packed up the trailer and headed back to the cities to live with our friends, Nick and Shannon, until we found a place.

8/18 I started my clinical practicum at a college counseling center in downtown MPLS. I’m working with a fantastic team of therapists, and seeing college students with all sorts of issues. It was slow starting out but it’s been picking up of late.

8/17-22 Kirsten sifted through craigslist for an apartment until we found John Dillenger’s old place in Ramsey Hill (near the StP. Cathedral) It’s got its quirks, but it’s a nice old building in a fun neighborhood. We’d love to have you stop by.

8/28 Headed south to Caledonia for the first (annual) Bengtson reunion at Mark and Nora’s place. It was a great way to wrap up the summer: bbq-ing, lawn games, sitting out on the porch, talking about the BWCA, etc.

9/2 Kirsten started her 3rd (believe it) year at the U. It consists of less classes, all on the St. Paul campus, and some busy RA work. As she hits up her last year of course work, and a bit of a lighter load, I’m in the midst of my busiest year…

9/3 We went for a run. Not just any run, but the first training run. We are looking at getting into 5Ks. Hopefully we can finish one before the snow falls (aka Will’s depressed for 5 months).

9/9 My first night of classes at Bethel. It’s the beginning of the end. I’m finishing up my masters (in counseling psych) by May 23 (for those of you tracking). I’ve got less classes, but way more work as I complete the practicum and need to write my thesis. In other words check back on the blog in 9 months.

9/13 Hit up the Gopher (currently 4 times as many wins as last year) game at the dome. So ready for the new TCF Gopher stadium. While we’re still a year away, both potential and stadium wise, it’s been fun to do the M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A chants again.

9/13 (part II) After the first game, we headed over to the Maplewood Petco to find a four footed friend. And we picked out (formerly named Buster) Mosby. He needed to get neutered so we had a week to get ready for this hyper lab/shepherd mix. He seems a bit more puppy than we expected, but he is a cute trouble maker.

9/15 Stated my new job…as a Manny! I’m working with a family out in Stillwater, so it’s a bit of a commute. But the hours are perfect. It’s a huge find in this busy year. The family is incredibly fun, even at 6:30 in the AM.

9/17 Finally hit the big Two-Seven, after months of talk (ask Kirsten). Not feeling old, but definitely ready to be done with school.

9/27 Headed down to Winona (yes the name sake of Ms. Ryder, the actress) for a wedding of an old school and youth group co-worker friend, Matty V. It ended up being an opportunity for Mosby to meet Scooby at Kirsten’s parent’s house. Scooby is a bit bigger and less friendly, but in 48 hours the two pups became cordial.

Well, so much for timelines. Maybe next time I will bust out a genogram for you. But anyway, I’m sure I forgot some things, maybe even something major, but hopefully I’ll be back to blogging regularly. Well at least regularly for a crazy busy student. Until next time…

Editors note: I actually wrote this on Oct. 1st, but since we don't currently have the net at the apt. I was unable to post it until now. Things are picking up also, but hopefully the blog will also improve with the internet returning. However, while not much of note has happened, 10/11/08 the Gophers became bowl eligible with huge win. Hopefully, more on that later...

Welcome Mosby

All the talk is over; we finally got our dog. Mosby (named after a character in our favorite TV show: HIMYM...which season premiers tomorrow night on CBS!) is:

-a black lab, shepherd, etc. mix

-about 1-1.5 years old

-pretty well behaved and trained by Homeward Bound Rescue

More on Mosby to come...

but until then feel free to ask about what I've omitted.

Buzz Words

Great link from &y, an article from the NY Times.

Goodbye American Dream

As I begin my final year in my master’s program tonight, here’s a section from my reading that I wanted to post. It’s from a reading on family systems for my lifespan development class.

The political and economic system

As John Kenneth Galbriath (1996) has said, the political dialectic in the United Stats used to be between capital and labor, between employer and employee, but now the struggle is between the rich (and those aspiring to be so) and the poor, unemployed and those suffering from racial, age, or gender discrimination. Our democracy has become in large measure, a democracy of the fortunate.

The role of the government is disputed. For the poor, the government can be central to their well-being and even survival. For the rich and comfortable, the government is a burden, expect when it serves their interests as in military expenditure, Social Security, or the bailout of failed financial institutions. The United States has the widest gap between the rich and poor of any industrialized nation in the world. In 1989, the top 1 percent of American households owned nearly 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. The top 20 percent owned more than 90 percent and this gap has continued to grow (Galbraith, 1996).

We believe that this state of affairs-rich versus poor-marks the end of the “American dream,” which promised upward mobility in exchange for education and hard work. Now, the poor are not given access to adequate education, technical training, or any but dead-end jobs. We who have lost the will to make the dream possible pay an unacknowledged price in increased cynicism and despair and a loss of pride in the unstable and violent world we are leaving our children and grandchildren, for which we blame the poor.

Carter, E. A., & McGoldrick, M. (Eds.). (2005). The expanded family life cycle : individual, family, and social perspectives (3rd ed.). New York: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

Gunnel Mania

Just got a response to Kevin and my gunnel pumping videos. Maybe the '12 Olympics might be possible after all; we're picking up speed.

Our Back Yard

The blog has suffered for many reasons lately: apartment hunting, school starting, internship, the job hunt, homework, etc. But this past week, now that we have a TV again, our extracurricular hours have been dominated by the RNC. The best part of the day, or our own moment of Zen if you will, is following up the speeches with a fresh slice of the Daily Show/Colbert Report. Below is one of many fun clips...enjoy:

We're Baaaaack

Yes, we are back, back in MPLS. We packed up the car, and drove down lake Superior last Sunday afternoon. We made a pit stop at Target for some back to work clothes, and arrived at Nick and Shannon's (our temporary home). I (Will) started my internship this week at North Central University. I've already put in my hours for the week, and it's been exciting so far. I've met a lot of new faces, learned about many new forms, interacted a lot with the leadership students, and spent a bit of time watching videos about Dx/Tx, etc. (counseling terms). Kirsten has been searching for an apartment and a doggie. No luck yet, in either of those departments, but I think we are getting warmer. Next up for me is finding a new job. The school I worked at last year cut back it's hours so I'm back in job hunt mode. So if you got any leads, send 'em my way...

So we might be a bit busy for the next few weeks getting settled, just in time for....the craziness of the school year. Good thing we had a relaxing summer. Oh well. Anyway, if we don't have a chance to catch up with you soon it's because, well, we are living out of our car :) Hopefully soon.

And I was serious about the job leads...

Brule

Big, bad Brule lived up to the hype. Brule is a large lake that is south of us, and it has many permits due its size. Since we are one of the closer outfitters to town, a lot of people heading to Brule go through us. While Brule isn’t any closer to town than our lodge, geographically, it is hard to get to from the Trail. We had to drive most of the way back to town before heading west again. Birds find it much more accessible from Clearwater.

Anyway, due to the distance we threw the canoe on the car, a royalex this time (heavier, but not as bad as a ‘lightweight’ aluminum). Once we got to Brule we loaded up the canoe quickly as it was already getting into early evening. Of course I navigated us the wrong way off of the boat ramp but we quickly recovered to find a good site near the portage on the northern side of the lake. Since it has many campsites easily within range of the public access it can make for a very leisurely trip. The campsite next to us decided that a boom box was a good idea for this short paddle. Not really no (noise) trace camping.

Our site provided excellent sunsets, since there was a just enough cloud cover (and no rain!). On the second night, as we climbed down to the lakeside rocks for a better view, we saw to swimmers in the water: beavers. While our last encounter with beavers was frustrating to say the least, these two were trying to get across the lake unnoticed. The first beaver encounter of the summer, way back in early June, was an audio experience only as it smacked its tail on the water just beyond our sight. This time we made a bunch of noise so that the beavers would hear us. As the younger one continued on to the island of our shore, the mom circled back for a show. It swam back and forth smacking its tail until the little one called its mom back to its side.

Beavers weren’t our only wildlife treats for the weekend. As we were making breakfast in the morning a family of ducks quacked their way past our site. Then as we set out on our day trip around Cone bay we circled the islands and say two bald eagles fishing. As we got close they just stared back before flying off just over our heads. We also saw a nearly all black loon. It was fishing just in front of us and it popped up just in front of us.

Brule is also a lake of many islands (rumor has it 64 in all). It is also close to Eagle Mountain, the highest point in MN, at a whopping 701 meters above sea level (you do the conversion). This means that the islands on the lake jut out of the water quickly, making them taller than most of the other flat islands on other BWCA lakes. As we left Cone bay, we made our way through the middle of the lake and weaved our way through the many rocky islands. Brule, being a larger lake, regularly has choppy waters, which are not ideal for canoeing. But we’ve formed quite the tandem as canoers this summer. So white caps don’t phase us as they would have earlier in the year. The gusts of wind pushed us back home for another lovely sunset.

Fish Pic

Kirsten and I are dabblers. That is, we don’t focus all of our time on one type of activity. This summer, while we are in the heart of the BWCA, we haven’t solely done canoe trips this summer. We’ve been more on the every other week plan. Why shun the gorgeous BWCA? For the north shore (of Lake Superior) of course!

Last Wednesday we were able to combine our love of the north shore with our love of small town summer fests. The Fisherman’s Picnic is the biggest shindig in Cook County, and it’s on the lovely waterfront of Grand Marais. How could we pass it up? We grabbed a tent site in the municipal camp grounds, and watched the town transform. Since we showed up a night before the festivities began, we saw all the merchants setting up shop beforehand. Most impressive was the log rolling pool, with world champion and local resident Jenny. But the real show that night came from the top of the Gunflint Tavern. They have a sorely underused rooftop that overlooks the harbor. Shortly after we headed up on another clear night, a tall ship passed the lighthouse (btw, great use of adjectives to whomever named those vessels). It was headed to Duluth for its weekend festival, and suddenly we had the best seats in the house/town/county/state (I’d argue).

The next day by the time we got going the Fish Pic (as the locals call it) was in full swing. Kids swarming the log rolling pool, fish burgers on the grill, terrible 80s rock band tee-shirts being hawked, the smells of mini doughnuts and cheese curds ever present, local musicians strumming on stage, and of course, Kirsten’s favorite, sidewalk sales! The weather these last few weeks has been perfect (especially on our days off!), and the sun and tourists were out. We ended up spending most of the day munching and people watching (another O’Brien favorite, right behind Loon stalking).

That night we found a good fish spot, the Dockside Fish Market. Great spot. Better prices than the Angry Trout next door, nice deck seating with a view, excellent fare, and of course their wine with a Salmon on the label is from the WA. After sampling some of local fish, we headed up the hill to do some more Minnesotan culture sampling at the local musical production, How to Talk Minnesotan. While cute and definitely capturing the state’s cliché stereotypes, the accents were off and many lines were flubbed. I’d recommend the book instead. We cut out at intermission for our next stop of Grand Marais Idol on the waterfront. Basically a karaoke contest of cute kids, though there were some impressive a capella performances and one funny Timon and Pumba Hakuna Matata sing along.

The next morning we rolled out of the tent to grab another tasty breakfast at Blue Water with Kirsten’s Dad’s seminary buddy Terry, and his son Patrick before they headed out for a BWCA trip. Since we got an early start we got to see that Superior was calm on another lovely day. Thus we headed up to Bear Track Outfitters for a tandem kayak to check off another summer goal, kayaking on the big lake. Thankfully it was flat most of the day, and we got to cruise the shoreline before it got too choppy for our small craft.

We ended our Fish Pic trip on a high note, Sydney’s Custard (and Gyros) stand. One of two roof top seating venues in town, and it’s custard Sydnamis are top notch. Hands down beats the sad DQ in town. Hope you can end one of your Northshore/BWCA trips at Syd’s too.

Big ol' Brule

Here is the link to our latest trip photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/Brule

Fish Pic Pix

Here are some pix from our latest weekend in Cook County. Commentary to follow.

http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/FishPic

A new sporting dilemma

Just got back in from a trip, and now have a new (sporting/moral) dilemma.

Let me back up. I've always rooted for two cities, and a third sometimes. Minnesota teams, mainly the Twins, were my first love. My mom's love of her home state teams rubbed off. Then as the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sonics (R.I.P.) became relevant I grew into a hometown, Seattle Sports lover. Dad was a bit of a Phoenix fan deep down, so there was a third, occasional love.

Now that I live in MN, it's much easier to follow the Twinkies and Vikes, but I still have a lot of Mariner Memories. So when I found out that Griffey got traded to a central division rival of my new home, I was torn. Would I love to see Griffey get a ring before his career ends? Or should I be rooting on my transplanted home-town team?

Or maybe the biggest question is.... 17? Griffey what gives?

Oh the adventures never cease…

Another short week (a 4 day-er) meant that we were back on the water in no time. But with one short delay (which was a sign of things to come).

But let me back up. This trip came on the heels of the most relaxing and spectacular trip (due to birds, fish, and rain; see blog below). Thus, one expects that the next trip ought to be of similar enjoyment and fulfillment. Well, you could say this trip didn’t have much chance of living up to my expectations from the beginning.

Carrying on…Usually what happens on our ‘Fridays’ (this case it was last Monday) is we pack up around 3ish and hit the lake as soon as we clock out. However, as we were in our trailer finishing packing the food we heard a common sound (at least this summer, up here): thunder. It had stormed the day before, and was sunny in the morning, but the storm still dumped on our plans. So we waited, and watched some episodes.

Let me back up one more time. From back in my Wildhorse Canyon days, it seemed that once or twice a summer I would lay down for my customary post-landscaping nap and then wake up at about 2am. It just so happens that I was reminiscing about this at lunch. So our waiting out the storm turned into a nap, that turned out to me being in bed for a combined 17 hours.

In short, we didn’t leave until the next morning. Which was perfect because it turned out to be the best weather day of the summer. I say weather because a few things didn’t go as planned. We had gotten our third choice of permits off of Poplar lake. The Skipper/Portage lake’s entry point (#49) is the red headed step child to the prom queen Lizz/Swamp lake, and sufficient, though not preferable Meeds lake entry points. And we definitely found out why. After a few minutes on Poplar we undertook our longest portage of the summer to Skipper, 320 rods (remember 1 rod = 1 canoe length = 16.5 ft, thus, 320 rods = 5280 ft or 1 mile). It was hard, but that was to be expected. At the end of the trail we ran into an old-timer who told us that we could skip the next portage because a beaver dam had made the creek from Skipper to Little Rush lake paddle-able. Thank you beaver!

It was nice to skip that portage, and Little Rush was, well, Little and we were to the next portage in no time. However, the next portage was somewhat missing. There was the normal landing site, but instead of a path we found a rushing creek. Beavers! We weren’t sure what to do, so I continued on up the creek. When I got to the end, I decided that it was manageable (barely) but I left my back on a mound of sticks so that I wouldn’t have to portage it twice. As I backed away from the mound, I wondered why so many sticks would be piled together. Yup, it was the beaver’s den. And I left it there; why not?! Needless to say it was a difficult portage, and when we finally had the canoe and packs ready to continue on we encountered another road block. Make that lake block; the beaver dam was across the way we needed to paddle. Eventually, Kirsten muscled the logs out of the way just enough to slide the canoe past.

But it was worth it. Rush Lake was perfect for us. On the south side it was still heavily burned, and we camped on the north side with a little rock island off of our campsite. We actually spend more time on that rock then at our site, mostly resting and reading. After heading back to our site to cook dinner, we grabbed all of our sleeping gear (minus the tent) and headed back to our rock for a night under the stars. Good thing I backed mummy bags because the bugs were thick until the moon rose, but the stars were worth the effort.

The next morning we again awoke to loons cruising the lake. After an adventure of trying to cook pancakes without a griddle and with a stove that didn’t want to cooperate, we headed further west to Banadad lake. It is a narrow lake with some islands, and it, like Rush lake, is not often traveled. As we finished circling the first island, we saw more logs across the lake. Beavers! Once we made it to the second island we found another little rock which was perfect for lunch and sun. We relaxed the afternoon away before we headed back to camp to back up for the trek home.

As mentioned earlier, entry point 49 has two entry lakes: Skipper and Portage lake. Since the Skipper lake route was dammed, we thought about trying a different route home. But our car was parked at the public access to Skipper so we found a short cut. Instead of taking on the beavers, we took the north portage to One Island lake, which was also a swampy path due to the beavers mess. Once to one Island lake we were just about out of the Boundary Waters when we heard a rustling on the shore. Maybe it was more of a thudding, followed by a snort. A moose! We stopped paddling, and turned around as quietly as possible. However, the stumping moose never did show its head, and we paddled on.

Our short cut was a forest service road that cut the portage to Portage lake in half and headed back to where our car was parked. Once at the road we dropped our gear and headed out on a 2.5 mile walk to the car. Well it turned out that the road was more of a muddle puddle with a few boulders scattered along our trip. Oh, and the mosquitoes liked to hang out there too. Frustrated and nervous that the vans wouldn’t be able to make it back to pick up our canoe, we finally made it to the safety (from the bugs) of our car and headed back to get some help. Thankfully our boss has a better (off) road vehicle than our sturdy 15 passenger vans. So we sloshed through the puddles and over the boulders to the canoe, fought of the bugs and made it back to Trail Center for a takeout order and some more episodes on the laptop.

Maybe we should have just stayed in bed.

(here's the link to the pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/SkipperBeaverTrip )

Clearwater to Mountain

As for our actual anniversary, we did get a trip in on that day too. Thanks to a four day work week, we got to head out on our actual anniversary, after work. It had been very rainy previously, so we were a bit anxious to head out into impending storms. However, we got a great start which mainly held throughout. Clear skies and clam waters which we hadn’t seen in weeks. It was also our first trip off of our own lake, Clearwater. It’s a pretty popular lake, and this year permits dropped to 3 a day (down from 4 daily).

Once we got to our site, we hurried to set up camp, cut firewood, and cook dinner before the storms. However, things never quite go as planned. We got great firewood, but it was all soaked. But we got everything done before the rain, and had plenty of time to enjoy nature before dark. First, with rain pending, the sky was an incredible range of pinks and purples at sunset. Then the loons and fish entertained us. The loons, which we’ve mainly seen traveling solo, were four to six in number in our bay all weekend. They were playing, calling, cleaning, diving, and flying over head. Just before the rain started, the fish started to feed. Our bay became a sea of splashes, as each surface for a bug bite. Finally, the rain came. It was intermittent and we were prepared so we just sat and enjoyed the third part of our nature show. The lake became a strobe light as the rain splashed down, the lake’s surface became a trippy speedy of splashing. It was all incredible and much too hard to recount.

The next morning, as all of the rain had cleared the skies, we laid out and enjoyed another loon show. Clearwater is also quite clam and clear in this bay (near the portage to mountain) and so we watched fish play in the rocks and take down dragon flies. And thanks to Mark’s binoculars, the wildlife shows were up close throughout the flight patterns.

After lying around, and catching up on our naps, we finally did a portage. Without a pack, it was a breeze. Mountain lake, a border lake, is a larger lake with the Border Route Trail following its rocky south shore. While we tried the trail, it is pretty over grown, and we gave up on our search for vistas. But as we entered Mountain, we were surprised to find two more loons just playing in the entrance inlet. We followed them from about 50 feet for a good while as they were fishing. Once we got too close they started calling to each other, which was breathtaking as their voices echoed off of the surrounding cliffs. After we gave up pursuit we headed to the land to the north. We turned into one large inlet in order to relax and read in the lake. As we did we came across what appeared to be an abandoned campsite. Later we also discovered a Canadian back road that cut the inlet in two. Mountain is a pretty lake and the loop trip off of Clearwater looks to be the perfect week long trip for those interested.

The next morning we woke up early to the sounds of motors; our lake permits motors and our coworkers were towing a group to the portage by our tent. We packed up and headed home on a glassy Clearwater lake. Once back we headed to town to visit our favorite Grand Marais café, Blue Water. It was a fitting end to another wonderful weekend up north.

(more pix: http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/ClearwaterToMtnTrip)

2 years in Duluth

Unless you are family (and have it written down on your calendar), you probably didn’t think much of July 15th (last Tuesday) as it came and went. To be honest, I didn’t think to hard about it either, despite it being our second anniversary. Before you get excited, let me explain. Kirsten and I aren’t too big on actual dates of annual events (e.g. birthdays, etc.). While we did go out on a BWCA on our actual anniversary after work, we celebrated our anniversary the week early….in DULUTH! We weren’t planning it that way, we just were going to get rained on so we decided a crappy weather weekend would be better in town then on the trail.

So we hoped into the car after work on the 9th, and drove for 2.5 hours to our nearest, big, American city/town. Since we made plans last minute, we had to scramble for a hotel. Canal park, which is the tourist joint, had one good find: the Suites. It wasn’t to spendy either, perhaps having no windows in our room helped drive down that figure. The Suites is a converted warehouse on the water, which has condos on the top, and lots of high ceilings, and odd shaped rooms. But it was a fit. And the windows thing helped as we slept a lot later than was planned (definitely needed though).

When we showed up the tourists were walking around in beach attire. Not strange for a town on the water, but Duluth is still cold in the summer so it was a bit of a surprise. After a shower, and a shave! (finally...6 weeks later) we hit up a Midwestern fave in Famous Dave’s. The ribs must have been laced with tryptophan because we passed out (or maybe it’s just the work load here). The next morning we hit up Little Annie’s Cantina for lunch, great Mexican. Then we preceded to one of our favorite summer activities…a street fair. I’d never been to the downtown part of Duluth, so it was a pleasant surprise. My personal favorite was lanky high schooler on stage performing kids songs about sharks in a N. Dynamite-esque shark polo with an electrical tape shark mural on his acoustic guitar. After the fair, we hit the water front where the Duluth dog show was just warming up. I’m not sure who was more excited, Kirsten or the dogs that she was petting. As mentioned in the rambling post below, we hit up the Great Colorado Adventure about the Colorado River. It was a lot of fun, especially since I didn’t need any Dramamine to avoid motion sickness. Finally to top off our day of craziness…we went to TARGET!!! It’s been awhile since we’ve enjoyed the big box, anti-wal-mart. Unfortunately they were (badminton) birdie-less. When we got back to the hotel we waited over an hour for Green Mill delivery, which has always disappointed, and again were let down.

On Friday we milked the noon check out time, since it has been awhile since we’ve had a room bigger than a double-wide. But when we finally got moving, we headed to Amazing Grace bakery, a bustling but quaint little coffee house/bakery in the basement of the canal park shopping center. Mom, who had tracked ‘em down via Google (impressed), had put together a nice little surprise of anniversary themed cupcakes. Huge and tasty, great place to visit on the trek up the northshore. Then we set off on our second most important mission of the weekend: new birdies. But on the way we made a pit stop in honor of Donny, our fast food loving co-worker, at Mickey D’s. After we found some excellent birdies, we stumbled upon Plato’s Closet, and Kirsten came out the big winner of the weekend with a new wardrobe for the fall. Unfortuantely the loser in the situation was the fitting room hanger, which came out of the plaster due to our haul. Find a stud people! Before we headed back we had to stop at Best Buy, another MN corp. gem, for some movies. The two TV show seasons (see below) were clutch.

As we headed home, the storms were ragin’ and we knew that we had made the right decision. An ancillary benefit to the trip was that we finally got to see the rare Northshore surfer. The waves were decent and the dry suits were out in force. But that wasn’t the only rarity we saw on the way home…another moose sighting on Clearwater road. And with that another anniversary weekend concluded on a high note.

(more pix (including beard disappearance) here: http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/2YearsInDuluth )

CW blogs

For those of you not named mom or dad :) …

if you haven’t been tracking with our Clearwater blog, here are some of our recent post on our lodge’s blog:

Will’s recycling project post:
http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/07/ramblings-from-greenhorn-about-our.html

Kirsten’s report on Boss Mike’s 60th birthday extravaganza:
http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/07/mike-turns-big-6-0.html

Will’s gunnel pumping video posts:
http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/07/gunnel-pumping-video.html

http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/07/gunnel-pumping-trilogy-lundeen-style.html

Will’s loon call video post:
http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/07/loon-calls.html

Ramble on lil’ doggie...

Ramble on. Sure I will; glad you asked. It’s been a few weeks since I just mindlessly typed about the summer’s on-goings. Rusty I might be, so please bear with…

We have been continuing in the tradition of lots of summer lawn games here at Clearwater. Okay, maybe just badminton. But there had been a hiatus due to insufficient birdies. We tried many, and killed most of them before a night was over. However, we finally found some that we will endorse. We had to venture to Duluth for them, but they are a major score. One birdie lasted two nights worth. Here’s to you durable birdie makers; you get the Clearwater Canoe Outfitters and Lodge Staff seal of approval.

Maybe you caught Kirsten’s blog about our boss turning 60. Well at least we think so. The aged kept changing. That is, he said 59, others claimed 61. Who knows, maybe the Clearwater blog will again read Mike turning 60 next year; or 62 for that matter. Nevertheless, we still celebrated it in style, with a feast that all contributed to, and some funny stories from the birthday boy himself. (I told you this post would be random).

For those of you new gunnel pumping enthusiast (I at least know that my brother (Matt) is all for its inclusion in future Olympic games), a quick update on the Gunflint Canoe Races results. Per usual, there were shenanigans. Our lodge’s hope, Kevin, was bumped out of the gates by an also ran. And while he finished strong, it was too much to overcome. However, the winner was not a purist; he stood on the back seat. Now I’m not one to rise a fuss (well, electronically is okay, I guess), but gunnel pumping means gunnel pumping, not back seat pumping. The race is not called ‘back-seat-pumping.’ What is the world coming to?

Another thing that has been bugging me, and the rest of the staff has been…the bugs (sorry, had to). However, the tides are turning, the mosquitoes are fading. That’s not to say they are a city levels yet, but significantly down since late June. However, the BWCA ecosystem can be unforgiving, and now the flies are out. While mosquitoes are pesky and typically swarm in masses, the black flies are stronger flies and harder to kill or be deterred by a head wind in the boat. So I guess pick your poison. (personally, I think I’ll take the flies).

People always ask, when we ask them when they will be getting back from their trip, what do we do if they don’t make it back on time. Well, we wait longer. But not too long :) We did have a long wait a few weeks back. A couple of day trippers, big gents, dumped a canoe a few too many times in the strong winds that we’ve been having this summer. The decided to split up. Bad decision. One stayed with the canoe, the other tried to hike back. A closing time, we hoped into the boat to look, and found the one who stayed with the canoe immediately. However, the hiker was nowhere. So what do we do when they don’t make it back on time? We call search and rescue. Fortunately, by the time they had assembled, we had found the hiker at a lakeside campsite. He had hiked all day, but only made it about ½ mile (out of the 4.5 miles back to the lodge).

Some of you may have caught my recycling project blog post on the lodge’s blog lately. Yes, 2008 is my green year. I tried to be better with recycling, consumption, and energy conservation around the apartment this spring. Perhaps I made a difference; most likely I just annoyed Kirsten with my random efforts. However, this summer I have had the chance to make a tangible difference. Without bothering Kirsten. I’ve taken to improving the lodge’s recycling system. I am a systems guy, and I am always looking for improvements. While I’m not done here, the recycling van is filling to the brim, and the dumpster is filling out applications for a second job, and posting personal ads on eHarmony. But seriously, green is the new black and conservation one thing that you can see the results (well at least if you can see the ozone, and visit landfills regularly).

The dog days of summer are here, sort of. The weather has been every changing up here. Sunny. Hail. Wind. Clear. Cold. Humid. We’ve had a bit of it all. While it’s easy to dress for it, and manual labor keeps one warm… the lake temperature has been suffering. It had been getting up to nearly 70* before a cold spell kicked it back down below 65*. Now it’s back up near 70*, and on a warm day it is perfect for a post work dip, or not as shocking during a gunnel pump fall. So if you visit, bring your suit for a dip in a pristine lake. Just check yourself for leeches when you can’t stand the temperature any longer.

Besides becoming addicted to blogging this summer. And actually updating my facebook account. And emailing a bit (who knew it would taking being away from broadband to actually improve my e-communications?). I’ve also started a youtube account. So far it’s mostly gunnel pumping videos. And it’s only taken with my little Canon Elf camera (not the best for video). But hopefully I will keep it going strong. Doubtful, but hopefully…so check periodically for our lives, in motion.

While I am out in the wilderness this summer, the office is still in my blood. That is, I’ve learned a new tool and I’m addicted: the laminater. I could buy one for myself. Have you ever laminated something? Or should I say, have you ever made paper invincible? It’s beyond words. Try it, if you dare.

We saw an Imax/Omnimax (is there a difference, besides the dome part?) on the Colorado river in Duluth. It was good, great cinematography and captivating storyline, but there were some questions about this ‘save the planet’ film’s claims. However, I recommend it, if only for the intense draw to now float the Colorado. Or go back to my first love, and raft the John Day river in Maupin (just outside of my beloved Wildhorse Canyon). Also, the movie may also get me to again set foot in my birth state, despite Bronco fans.

A big congrats goes out to my former roommates (or current roommates if you are Comcast), Tory and Jill on their engagement. Hopefully a wedding means moving out of our old townhouse, no matter how cheap it is (now). But in all seriousness, congratulations, we are very excited for you two!

For those of you thinking about visiting, the clock is ticking. Less than a month left to check this O’Brien duo in the great north. We’ll be back on the 17th (of August) and we’ll hit the ground running looking for a new apartment, dog, job, etc. (and if you know about a good part time job for me, send it my way!). And just so you know, our weekend days have been shifting around some. We are off on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, and that trend may continue. So just give us some notice if you are headed north.

Hopefully you caught the lodge’s post about the huge hail storm we got here on Monday. (the photos are provided by yours truly) I’ll try to post some more photos, but I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it. For me, a life long Washingtonian, I’ve never seen hail so big, and near has my car, but we both survived unscathed. Thunderstorms are fun, and definitely are a plus for MN and a minus for WA.

Besides just birdies, we also picked up some DVDs for quieter nights out here (which are rare). But big recommendations for How I met your mother Season II and the Tudors. While both a bit crude in their own way, HIMYM is easily the funniest show on network TV (consistently funnier than the Office, hands down) and the Tudors is another great historical(fiction) drama in the lines of Rome, the Sopranos, and other high quality HBO/Showtime series.

And finally, last but not least, Tuesday (the 15th) marked 2 years. 2 years married, and basically 2 years in MN (or just 2 years away from SEA). We hit up the big northern lake city of Duluth (more on that trek later). It’s been fast, but action packed for sure. New state/city, jobs, grad. School, friends, experiences…for me it starting to feel more like home (who knows, I may even change my Facebook network). Wow, 2 years, maybe a whole ramblings post on that later…(but for now this has been long enough).

Loonie Video

Here's a video from our recent trip. At first we were just getting photos and videos of them swimming, diving, cleaning themselves, etc. but then as we got closer they started calling to each other.

Words and my camera do not capture them very well. This is definitely not the best video on youtube, so check out some others if you are interested.

Sans the beard

Well it's time to stop living a lie. Many of you have facebooked me, about your love and/or disgust with the beard. I must put it bluntly...it is no more. RIP six weeks of no shaving. Back to supporting the Mach 3 monopoly. Here are some pix to capture its demise.

New Pix

I know, I know...not enough bloggin lately.


Well until I summin the strength to write again, here are some pix from our last two trips:


We went to Duluth to for our 2 year anniversary (2 years, I know):
http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/2YearsInDuluth



Today we got back from camping on....our own lake, Clearwater (but we did portage to Mountain lake for a day trip):
http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/ClearwaterToMtnTrip

Gunnel Pumping Video

I have been a youtube-ing fool today. We went gunnel pumping again today since the weather was finally decent (and by decent I mean that the winds did not necessitate a small craft advisory). Here is a video of my return to shore after a g.p. session.

Today we had a fearsome foursome; newcomers AJ and Kirsten joined Kevin and I on the calm waters of Clearwater lake. We got some videos of Kevin, and posted them on the Clearwater blog. Kevin goes for the glory at the Gunflint Canoe races this Wednesday.

The misrememberings (Bengtson visit, too)

(editor's note: these pix are completely random)

The blogging has definitely been slower lately. Been busy. After the state park camping, the week flew by (because it was a 4 day work week), and then the Bengtsons arrived and all hours of the day were packed. Hopefully this post will quench your thirst for recent O’Brien activities but if not… too bad, because we are going on another trip on Wednesday and won’t be blogging again anytime soon!

I can’t quite remember all that happened between the waterfalls and the Bengtson’s visit. That might be a combination of lack sleep, my old age (well, relative to my coworkers), too many badminton birdies to the head, or simply the length of time between now and then. Anyway, the ramblings from that dead period included a big feast of hard boiled eggs after cabin cleaning, adventures with the BakePacker (a bread maker for the trail), lots of grad. Readings, moose hunting (with a Canon, camera that is), a hook through Kevin’s finger, and a whole lot of badminton birdie destruction and campfires.

Perhaps my memories was have also faded due to the wild and crazy moose hunting adventures with the Bengtsons. The times were so crazy that I had to take a nap before they showed. But then it was off to Trail (Service) Center for a Goober Burger. That’s right, a Peanut Butter and Mayo hamburger. It wasn’t as great as I expected, too sticky so I added ketchup. Try it and let me know what you think. Then we went driving the Gunflint (Hwy. 12). We popped our heads in at the ‘Walmart’ of the ‘Trail, Gunflint Lodge, which just happens to be a year (1926 vs. 1927) younger than Clearwater. We win. After doing some burn area viewing, we headed over to Honeymoon Bluff, a great little hiking trail on our lodge’s road. We got to enjoy the sunset with some real honeymooners. But then it was on to the trip’s real purpose: moose hunting. We had seen two a few nights before, so we had high hopes. And a plan. Kirsten driving, me shooting the pix (based on our reaction times). Night one was moderately successful: one fox, multiple turtles, a bear’s head. But no moose or pix.

The next day we started with a boat tour of Clearwater. Though navigator Mark missed one rock, we enjoyed burning off the clouds on the picturesque tour. Then we headed to town. First stop, lunch at the Wild Onion. Good, unique menu; but with only one server on the end of a 10 hour shift, the service was slow. Or maybe it was just that we broke the no cellphone policy. Then it was off to the beach to join the rest of the tourists. With the week leading up to the fourth, town was getting busy. It was actually hotter in town then on the trail, which is a rarity (in the summer). We shopped, visited the lighthouse, and wore ourselves out on the Streets and shore of Grand Marais. On the way back to the lodge we grabbed some BBQ fixin’s and had a nice dinner, with some surprisingly good corn. It turned out to be the highlight of the night as moose hunting was again an exciting let down (don’t let the Moose Viewing Trail sign fool you).

It is officially summer up here (which has likely jinx the weather for tomorrow’s trip). The next day we salvaged some well used birdies (for those of you one the outside world, this is an SOS for good birdies, the kinds that don’t break after a short rally). After the vigorous game was punctuated with another busted bird, we tested the waters with the Bell 4 man Kevlar. We headed to the palisades for a ‘high payoff’ hike. The trail has grown a lot with our summer’s rain volume, but the Deet 100 was superb (and the wind at the top helped). After managing not to dump the canoe, we continued to sun(burn)bathe before heading back to Pigeon river for another visit to the High Falls and Naniboujou’s restaurant. Both unique and enjoyable, but the binoculars gave the falls visit the upper hand. Then it was back to the lodge for funny stories about 90 year olds and their driving adventures. Unfortunately there were no moose to be seen (although rumor has it that Mark and Nora got to see a swimming cow and calf on the way out).

Then it was the fourth. While we didn’t brave the crowds at the Marais Marina, we did put on our own show. Salvaging more birdies, even creating some hybrid shuttlecocks at times, we played and grilled the night away.

And that leads us up to now. Besides a solid 3+ hour nap (definitely need a few more), search and rescue for a lost hiker (don’t worry, happy ending), funny cabin cleaning finds, Tory and Jill getting engaged (congrats!), going swimming (for the first and second time), finally getting a Sven and Ole’s bumper sticker, working on a recycling project (more on that later), and learning to gunnel pump (to bad I won’t be around for the Gunflint races) not much has been going on.

We are headed out tomorrow, and hopefully will have some more pix and stories soon.

Thoughts

I drove to town alone today. In the car I realized that this was probably the first time I had been alone since the beginning of the summer. I was not longing for time alone, but it was a good chance to daze in and out of thought. When imagining my summer up here, I pictured a lot of time to reflect; a time to think about what’s important in life; a time to soak up the peaceful surroundings and appreciate its beauty (and maybe even time to come up with a good dissertation topic!). Well, as many of you I’m sure could attest to, planning for revelations or epiphanies about the meaning of life does not always work. At least, that is, not as we imagine it.

The reason time alone is rare up here is because we work with such a great staff. The opportunities are most definitely here to seek solitude and to access incredible places in nature, but what good are these places when you know you are missing out on badminton or a campfire? These events may sound trivial or silly, but I think my time up here really illustrates the great value of relationships. Spending time in a beautiful location is amazing and does definitely do something great for the soul, but speaking for myself, it can only go so far. Even if I intentionally sought out solitude, I doubt that it would have the same centering effect, if I knew that I was missing out on spending time with people. I was struck by this thought today. For all that we do to seek out natural beauty, the value of simple togetherness…interaction…..connection still is at the base of our lives (regardless of how strikingly beautiful your surroundings may be). On the flip side of this reality then, does it really matter if you are not in a place of beauty, but are in good company? I think about this often when people have a hard time imagining living in particular towns or states (including myself). But really, isn’t that the great thing about relationships? When you are around good people, the surroundings matter very little. Life usually ends up revolving around the people you know no matter where you live. So while it does sadden me a little bit that I haven’t had this deep, reflective time up here, it would sadden me much more to miss out on spending time with the friends we’ve made here.

So maybe what I needed wasn’t time to think, but time to NOT think. Maybe peace and restfulness can come from either reflection or just living in the moment. For now, though, I have been enjoying myself too much to do much deep thinking. I guess that sounds like a good way to live.

-Kirsten

P.S. The Clearwater Blog is a good way to get a sense of the fun staff up here- everyone blogs about their trips and the random stuff going on around here. www.clearwateroutfitters.com

Pix from Mark and Nora's visit

The dog days of summer...

It's been awhile since I've blogged. Hopefully over the next few days that trend will change. But until then here are some pix from our latest weekend. We were pretty busy over the weekend, and not much down time to catch up on sleep. So my blogging time has become nap time over the past few days. Until I catch up on my Zzzs (or Zeds), hopefully all these pix will tide you over.

http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11/BengtsonsInTheBWCALookout

More pix

If you want to see more photos from our last few trips here is my web albums account link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/willo11

Enjoy

(let me know if it doesn't work)

4th set of days off

Though MPLS seems a lifetime ago, there are only about 6 weekends left for us up here. And a couple of them are already planned out (Kirsten’s Parents visiting, Duluth Anniversary trip, etc.). So with that in mind we wanted to hit up some different places while we are up here. Sorry BWCA(W), but we won’t be hangin’ with you for a few weeks; but we won’t miss letting the bugs thin out. While Isle Royale (thanks for the spelling, Hun) and kayaking the world’s 3rd biggest lake (Superior) didn’t happen, many other adventures were had on Minnesota’s Northshore.

Thanks to some incredible trip planning and weather watching (Rick Steves and Al Roker better watch out for Kirsten) we raced to Judge C.R. Magney State Park just in time to get the tent set up before the thunderstorms rolled through. With the rain fly on, we decided to head into town (Grand Portage) to wait out the rain and see where the next day would take us. When we returned to our site, the power was out and the firewood was soaked, but we were too tired from a long week of work at the lodge to care.

Let’s just call the next day waterfall Thursday. Magney park is home to two great falls: Upper and Devil’s Kettle. The trail was busy with families of all ages, and it contains over 200 stairs…it is definitely on the beaten path, but worth the traffic. The falls were impressive, especially Devil’s Kettle. Though it’s been a bad year for bugs up here, all of the area falls are at high levels of flow. That is, most of the tourist guide pictures show much less water going over the falls than what is actually currently happening. In addition to the rushing water, the Kettle is an intriguing feature. It is a hole that the water flows into, and experts have not been able to track the water path or determine how deep the kettle goes.

After the hike we grabbed a quick bite back at camp, and then hit the road. Even further up the northshore we drove around the inlets of Grand Portage. We came across a fox with a meal in its mouth. It ran alongside our car for about a quarter mile and just starred at us. Eventually we made it to our next destination: Grand Portage State Park. This park had two more hiking trails and two more waterfalls. The first one, High falls (creative name) is the tallest falls in MN. It is on the border river (Pigeon River). This is what made the river impassable for the fur trading Voyagers, forcing them to make a 9 mile! portage, which thus gives us the reservation’s name of Grand Portage. High falls was much more impressive than its name. The splash mist was far reaching and rather refreshing.

Kirsten and I decided to take the additional trail to Middle Falls. It was longer, and more dangerous (I cut my toe pretty good on a stick) than we thought but the end result was perfect. Middle turned out to be a pretty falls that we were able to walk out to and relax on the rocks. But once we caught our breath, it was fun to push logs into the rapids and watch them bob through the rapids.

Tired, bloody, and muddy we decided to venture to the fanciest restaurant we’ve visited yet. The Naniboujou lodge, a depression era club for the nation’s elite, is a fascinating stop just outside of Hovland and literally across the street from our campsite. Kirsten is going to review it for the CW lodge blog, but in the mean time I will quickly give you an overview. It rests right on the shore of Superior and it is a well kept, colorful lodge that takes you back to an earlier time. After a tasty meal we headed to the shore to skip some rocks, loon watch, and snap a few dusk photos.

Friday was not as eventful as planned, but was relaxing. We had hoped to kayak the big lake. But with a high chance of storms (which never came), pretty cold (49*) June temperatures, and a decent wind churning up the waves we decided to take the relaxing plan. Instead we made our first ’08 stop at World’s Best donuts, perused the shops (where I scored a $10 ($42 orig.) at Joynes Ben Franklin’s), made some (rare) cellphone calls, and hit up the Blue Water Café (again). That place does not disappoint. From Kirsten’s Eggs Benedict to my Hot Turkey sandwich, the meals were excellent. Not only that, but the service was on the money and we (I) discovered (finally listened to Kirsten) that there was an upper level with even better views for the harbor. I’m not sure what was a better way to end the weekend, Blue Water or our $28 weekly grocery bill…but either way another nice weekend up north.

Week ramblings

It was a fast week. Lots of late nights but not as much to show for it. Anyway, here are some random memories from our 4th week here.

The summer is in full swing up here. The nights are not as cool, the sun shines til almost 10pm, but most importantly the cabins are on a weekly rotation. Saturdays and Sundays (which have been our ‘Mondays/Tuesdays’ of our work week) have meant lots of cabin cleaning and left over goodies finding.

We’ve also been trying to get out more, like our trip to the palisades. So after that trip we grabbed the kayaks the next night and hit the lake again. This time Kirsten was followed by a loony loon. It kept within 20 feet of her as we paddled around Clearwater’s inlets.

We also continued our outdoor games competitions with more badminton. Rumor has it that we will be playing a summer long game to 101 sets. Winner will receive his/her choice of can-o-beans.

Our boss Mike left for Ohio to do some real world work and visit his newest grandson for the first time. So we’ve been working without our fearless leader for a bit now. On Tuesday Kirsten and I were the only ones working so I got a chance to get out of the food room and down to the waterfront. A bit of a mistake, but all of our paddles are now color coded and organized. What can I say, OCD is in my blood.

Kirsten and I finally hit the closest restaurant to the lodge: Trail Center. It’s owned by the sister of the owner of My Sister’s place and the menus and buildings are very similar. Rumor has it that it’s the best food on the trail. At least stuff that isn’t dehydrated.

Like I said, it was a fast week but I’m not sure where the time went. Well look for some more postings after Kirsten’s parents visit. And enjoy my personal favorite eating holiday (the 4th).

Mark your calendar, make a countdown paper chain, or (in my case) link to an online countdown.

Two important return dates:

8.17.08 return to MPLS
You might not be able to find us for a while though. Between my internship at north central, finding an apartment, and Kirsten gearing up for her 3rd year of classes, we will be at the state fair (most likely in the line for cheese curds) or watching the Olympics (mainly Will).

12.23.08 return to SEA
While ’07 saw 4 trips back west, we are still oh-fer ’08. But the plane tix have been bought and it is on. We definitely will not be able to see everyone and do everything we would like, but it will be a much needed time to catch up. Get ready!

Slide show

Check the slide show on the lower right side. They are finally our BWCA pix instead of random pix. Enjoy.

First Timers

Here's my (Will) advice for those of you coming to visit for the first time.

http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/06/first-timers.html

The O'Brien Weekly Restaurant Review

Here's the link to our latest taste bud adventure:



http://www.clearwateroutfitters.com/2008/06/obriens-restaurant-review.html

Palisades

Here are a few pix from a trip we did after work today. We kind of cheated because Donny and Kevin were headed out fishing so we had them tow our canoe to the trail head. But the weather looked iffy, so it saved us some raindrops. The hike, to the top of the Palisades visible from the lodge, is one that we recommend to our cabin and lodge guests. It’s about a 40+ minute canoe trip (one way, and depending on the weather). The trail head is unofficial and is kept up by our staff occasionally. It’s only about 10-15 minutes to the top, but the views to effort ratio are quite good. Below are some pix to help get the feel. We did get hit by a few raindrops on the short paddle home, but with all of the rain gear I was wearing the spray was actually kind of refreshing.