Well folks, were back from our amazing trip at the boundary waters. It was definitely an amazing trip. Thursday night we got into Grand Marais and thought we’d stop off of a night cap before getting to the camping area, and what happens? Kate knows the bartender. Insanity. It was a good night and we all had a couple of cocktails and then headed on down to the campsite. Got things set up and were in our sacks by about 2am. Not ideal, but at least we were able to get a good start Friday morning.
So Friday morning we put it on Bearskin Lake, which actually isn’t in the Boundary Waters. We had to paddle from Bearskin out to Duncan Lake. Once we landed at the portage we were in the boundary waters. From Duncan we got to the Staircase portage which led us to Rose Lake where we were planning on setting up camp for the weekend. The Staircase portage is exactly what it sounds like. Fairly steep terrain (at least when you’re carrying a canoe). And there actually were a couple of sets of staircases that some volunteers had put in this past year. Thank you volunteers. Halfway through the portage there’s this beautiful water fall. We ended up stopping there for lunch and Kate and Andy took a little dip. Laura’s and my water wear where packed a bit too deep to get in. Although I did venture down and dip my face in for a bit. And on we went to the camp site on Rose. Set up camp, ate, drank, watched the moon rise and went to bed (by 10 o’clock).
Saturday was a much more relaxing day. In the morning it was quite chilly and windy, but by mid day it had warmed up quite a bit, the wind died down, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was gloceous. We ended up going for a hike in the afternoon where were saw this amazing view of the Lake (pictures to follow). After some lunch we headed back down to camp and started up for dinner. That evening… oh, wait, dinner. We had this chili that was made in Andy’s new dutch over with cornbread topping. It was outstanding… after dinner with sat around the fire for quite a bit drinking wine and whiskey and chatting about anything we could think of. And around 9 o’clock, we took the canoes out onto the lake to watch to moon rise and go star gazing. It was incredible. The lake was still and the moon and stars were quite beautiful.
Sunday, was pretty basic. Packed up camp, ate some breakfast and made the trip home. We got back to MPLS around 10 o’clock last night. It was a long exhausting haul, but very well worth it. I’ll be sure to post pictures soon (once I get them off the camera and onto the computer). And hopefully I’ll post a few more stories about the trip. Just wanted to get a quick rundown of the trip up while I’m stalling here at work.
The time has finally come. Tonight, Laura, Kate, Andy and I head up to Grand Marais, MN for a night of camping on the North Shore of Lake Superior and then we’re off to the Boundary Waters. I haven’t been up there in a few year (probably longer), and I’m super excited. It’s going to be Kate and Laura’s first time up there which will make the adventure even more exciting. Hopefully the weather stays nice up there. Here in Minneapolis it’s been warm and sunny all week, fantastic weather. But I think the forecast for Grand Marais is supposed to be a bit rainy. Either way it’ll be a good trip. It’ll either be beautiful and sunny, or rainy and challenging. As long as it’s not too much of a challenge I’m sure we’ll enjoy either.
Yesterday Laura and I heading out to Midwest Mountaineering for supplies (after two previous trips to REI – one with both of us and one solo trip by Laura). I’d never actually been in Midwest Mountaineering, but I’ve gotta say for all the sales they had going on, I was very impressed. I got a couple of Patagonia shirts, pants, shorts, and knickers (just to cover all bases), a couple of pairs of wool socks and a hat. In the end it was around $200, but if I’d paid the full retail I probably would have spent close to $600, so that’s awesome. We’ve definitely spent a lot gearing up for this trip though. But it’s pretty easy to do when we’re getting stuff that we know we’ll using again. Most of the stuff I got yesterday were also great purchases for biking (wearing my knickers now). Always fun getting some new stuff.
Hopefully my next post will be filled with pics from the trip.
Well yesterday I finally got out to the Theodore Wirth trails with Shawn. We’ve tried to get out there a couple of times, but it just hadn’t worked out yet. And since it was so amazing out yesterday (bright and sunny and in the 70s) we decided to play hooky go for a ride. I’ve gotta say, it was far more exhausting than I was expecting. I biked to Shawn’s out near Lake Harriet, then the two of us rode down to Theodore Wirth park, road the trails for 45 minutes to an hour or so, and on the ride home all I wanted to do was lay in the grass and wait for someone to come pick me up. It was totally worth it though. The trails were awesome. Definitely some challenging parts, but also some nice milder parts where I was able to really get some good speed. It’s pretty fun zipping around in there. I for sure what to do it again, but I don’t really have a bike for it. I was riding Karen (Shawn’s girlfriends bike), which was fine. She’s a pretty tall woman and the bike was a little small, but I felt pretty comfortable on it. It was pretty hard on my back and shoulders, but I think that’s more due to the fact that I’m not used to that style of riding rather than the bike. There’s a ton of really getting you’re center of gravity positioned correctly and what not where you’re really using your upper body strength as much as lower. Today, I’m feeling a bit sore, but definitely more in my shoulders than legs.
All in all it was an awesome ride. I took a couple of spills from going to fast. First one I almost hit a tree, but luckily bailed into the brush before and then other I definitely hit a rock and just got knocked off the bike and on to the ground. I’ve got a bit of a scrap on my right elbow and a little nick on my shine (from hitting the pedal). Still feeling tired from the experience, but really can’t wait to get back out there and do it again.
Just saw this on another blog (I Bike MPLS) and I just could help but to post it aswell. Amazing.
So I finally got around to taking some pictures of Laura’s bike to post. I actually took the pictures to post them up on the Bike Porn forum of Minneapolis Bike Love. Love that site, by the way. Here are a few of the pictures that I took though.
The bike is a Bianchi Sport SS. I’m estimating it’s from around 1984. Nancy (Laura’s Mom) got it new and she thinks it was probably around that time. I haven’t been able to find much on it online, but that’s the best guess.
This past weekend Laura and I went down to Lawrence for Lauren and Shad’s wedding. It’s always nice to get down there. The weekend was pretty rushed and exhausting, got in Friday night, left Sunday noon, but there’s always a lot of good people to see while were there and this weekend was of course no exception. I’ve got a few photos of the wedding reception on my picasa site. There aren’t too many though, which I guess just means we were having too much fun to shoot too many pictures. I ended up getting pretty tanked, oops. It was quite a blast though.
Currently the software for this is only available for Windows XP Professional (which I hate… hate’s a strong word… I poop on Microsoft). Anyway, this is pretty awesome. Apparently these guys are working of Mac version called Lux. Definitely gonna want to jump on this when it’s available.
How to Make a Cheap Multitouch Pad – Click here for more free videos
Well, I’m one step closer to getting this bike built. I finally had everything I needed to get the fork put on the frame yesterday (frame, fork, headset, and stem). Had the guys at One-on-One press the headset for me. Hopefully that will be the only part of the build that I won’t be doing myself (except the wheel building – Universal Cycles is doing that). Personally, I find it far more satisfying to be able to do at least the majority of the bike building myself. I think it’s because it helps make the bike feel more like it’s really mine. My creation, my sweat, all that good stuff. Anyway…
So I’ve got the frame, fork, headset and stem put together. Already have the seatpost and chainring. I think I’m just going to use the cranks off my bauer (Sugino BTs). Should be getting my disc brakes, cog and bottom bracket today. Won’t be do anything until after the weekend though. Laura and I are heading down to KS for Shad and Lauren’s wedding party. Should be seeing some posts on that soon.
Finally starting to look like a bike.