I’ll Try I Swear

To my zero blog readers, I’ll try to get more posts, I swear.  It’s no surprise that I kind of lost interest in my blog this last year.  After posting entries since 2003 (my first journal was a home programmed database) I kind of lost my desire.  But I may make it a point to get back at it more often for my personal journal and so I have a history.

This summer was actually very exciting and would have made for some great posts.  We’ve been busy all summer.  We went to Washington Island and Door County, ran a relay from Madison to Chicago in 36 hours, went to a bunch of Brewer games (they may make the playoffs), my cousin Jeff’s wedding in Evanston (one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to), Summerfest, Irishfest, State Fair, Sheboygan County Fair, and many many other adventures.

We’ll here’s hoping to get back to my old anecdotes.

He’s An Island Boy

Another wonderful vacation in a tropical paradise. This Tuesday we left for St. Thomas to spend the week. We flew out of O’Hare at seven in the morning so we woke at four to drive from Milwaukee. We flew from Chicago to Charlotte to St. Thomas. St. Thomas is two hours ahead so we ended up getting in at about four in the afternoon. Jocleyn’s sister Marissa lives on the island so she came to pick us up at the airport. The airport was pretty rickety but they really know how to welcome you. In Hawaii you may get a lei but in St. Thomas you get Cruzan rum punch, what a welcome. We collected our bags and got in the car for my first death defying introduction to the roadways of the islands. They drive on the left side of the road in the VI so that is the first thing that that you need to get used to. The second is that the roads are a lane and half wide without emergency lanes. If you go off the side of the road you’re pretty much going to roll down the mountain. Well, the only way I can put it is all the drivers are nuts and the roads are nuts. The inclines are somewhere in thirty plus degree range with convenient stops on the tops of these hills. Then from the stop you have to navigate the one hundred eighty degree switchbacks and ninety degree turns that are one lane wide with two cars trying to use the turn. An explanation really doesn’t do it justice. It’s something that you really have to experience to fully understand the craziness. After a forty-five minute roller coaster ride we made it to the Ritz where we were staying. One of the reasons that we went to St. Thomas is because we got free lodging at the Ritz thanks to Jocelyn’s mom and her fiancé Craig. Not only did we get a free place to stay but the place was absolutely amazing. Boats and RainbowIt was a three bedroom, four bath condo with an amazing view and great amenities. We really were extremely spoiled and can’t thank Craig and Jenni enough for letting us stay with them. We weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the lodging situation. Jocelyn’s aunt and uncle were also on vacation and staying in the condo as well. It was cloudy when we got into St. Thomas but as soon as we sat on the balcony overlooking the bay the sun came out and two gorgeous rainbows came out. It was a sign that this would be a great vacation. We sat on the balcony, had some rum, and enjoyed the weather. Once dinner rolled around we motivated ourselves to get ready and get some food. We went to Duffy’s Love Shack the first night. When they say shack, they mean shack. This bar and grill was nothing more than a garage in the middle of a parking lot. I had a burger and some local drinks and all was good with the world at that point. After that we went back to the condo and had some more rum drinks and enjoyed the night’s ocean breeze. We went to bed pretty early because we were wiped our from the day of travel.

On Wednesday morning we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day. The plan for the day was to take the ferry over to St. John to see some of the flare of that island. St. John has about 4200 people living on it where St. Thomas has 50k. St. J it more laid back, nicer, and is solely a tourist island. We took the ferry over in the morning and rented a car in Cruz Bay. Jocelyn’s uncle Jeff got suckered into the driving duties. We got into the Jeep Liberty and started off on a tour of the island. We started off by driving to Cinnamon Bay. It was a gorgeous beach that had a huge castle/house overlooking it in the distance. While we were there we got a little sun and did some snorkeling. The snorkeling wasn’t as good as Mexico but its still fun to swim around and see the life under the sea. We were swimming around for about an hour and I started to get tired so I headed back in. At about eleven we got back in the Liberty and drove to Coral Bay on the other side of St. John. We stopped at another shack type place called Skinny Legs. It’s called Skinny Legs because the owners of the place have skinny legs. I was in love with the place. It was a dumpy shack that had a canvas roof and a bar. I had another burger and some Virgin Islands Pale Ales (which is a delicious beer). We sat at Skinny Legs and ate our lunch. I could’ve stayed there all vacation, it was great. The sun worshipers wanted to get back to the beach though so we headed to Jumbie Bay. Jumbie is a word that you hear all the time down in the VI and it means malevolent ghost or zombie. This particular beach had a crazy story behind the name. The beach used to hold bowling matches. Not regular bowling matches though. Slave owners would bury slaves in the sand up to their necks and then roll balls at their heads. The ghosts of these slaves are jumbies and hence the name. So after a couple hours of lying on the beach that was once a bowling alley we headed back to Cruz bay to return the Jeep. We had a couple beers at The Beach Bar before catching the ferry back to St. Thomas. Once back at the condo we sat on the balcony until it was time for dinner. This night we went to Agave terrace. It was a fancier place and it was the typical open air eating type of dinning. Their signature attractions were a fabulous view as well as hermit crabs walking all around their decorative areas. For dinner I had lobster and scallops and loved every morsel. After dinner it was back to the condo for more lounging before we went to bed.

It was a pretty busy day on Wednesday so we hung around the resort on Thursday. I walked around the entire place and snapped some pictures of the iguanas and vegetation. Everyone was lying on the beach but I’m not the beach layer so I skipped some stones, playing some pool on the outdoor pool table and built a sand castle. After doing that I had worked up quite an appetite so J and I went to eat at one of the little restaurants on the resort. I had a jerk chicken sandwich with some fries. That was just he fuel I need for a long day of lounging on a deck chair. I was getting sunburn so after eating I traded the beach lounging for deck lounging. I spent the rest of the day there drinking some Cruzan and coke and staring into the blue distance. For dinner that night we went to pizza place across from Duffy’s called Sop Choppy’s. The pizza was great and I ate way too much. After the pizza it was back to the balcony to breathe in that warm ocean breeze and relax the night away.

What would a vacation in a tropical paradise be without a trip to the local tourist trap bazaar? We went to the St. Thomas market area on Friday which is right by where all the cruise ships dock. There was one ship docked and every time I see those massive ships I am in awe how such a huge structure can float. This market place is strategically placed and caters to the tourists and docked ships. If you’ve ever been to Mexico or any other tropical destination the markets in St. Thomas are identical. Jocelyn and I got bought our wedding bands from a little jeweler called Ballerina II. Talk about some high pressure sales tactics. The shop salesmen started out by offering me a beer while I waited for the ladies to look around. Talk about catering to your clientele. If more jewelry stores gave the men beers I have a feeling men wouldn’t be as reluctant to go browse the local jeweler’s shop. So the shop lackey went in the back and got me a cold can of Budweiser. What started off as a complimentary beer turned into “What are you looking for buddy, something nice for you?” So I started looking and ended up buying my ring and Jocelyn found one for herself. After the jewelry store we went to a couple more shops. For lunch we had a VI Pale Ale at The Happy Buzzard and at some authentic island food at Cuzzin’s. From there we headed back to the resort. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging until evening. That night we went to a gallery night type of event. There were a bunch of local artists and they were serving champagne and hors’dovres. We looked around and met up with a couple people that Craig and Jenni knew from the island. While we were in the gallery a torrential down pour started outside. We ran through the drenching rain to the car and drove off to the Toad and Tart to have dinner. This place doesn’t even rank as a dive bar on my scale. It was a flat out dump. The food we had was pretty good and a drink is a drink but the atmosphere was somewhere between garbage dump and homeless shelter. The TT is a fantasic place! After dinner we went back to the resort. Once we got back we sat in the car and waited for the rain to let up but it wasn’t so I made a dash for it. Everyone got soaked to the bone but we were safely in for the night. We listened to music, had some rum drinks and talked the night away.

On Saturday I wanted to head to St. John early so I could explore Cruz Bay. J and I packed up our stuff and headed to Marissa’s place to spend the last day because Craig and Jenni had already checked out and were on their way home. Conveniently Marissa lives only a block away so we wheeled our stuff over there. I dropped off my stuff and Chad and I took the ferry over to St. John. Once on St. John we headed to a little bar called The Quiet Mon. It’s a tiny little place up some steps. Kenny Chesney is a hero in St. John and this bar is in one of his songs. We had some beers there and then headed to Woody’s to get some lunch. We got a bunch of appetizers including spicy shark bites which were very good. After lunch we went to another bar and shot some pool and waited for J and Marissa to come over from St. Thomas. Once they arrived we shot a little more pool, went to Joe’s Rum Hut, Cap’s Place and then back to The Quiet Mon. Chad took a little nap on the bar while we had some VI Pales. After Chad rallied we went to the Beach to get some food and see a band that was playing. I was a little bored with the band and went to a place called Lizard’s that is actually owned by a Sheboyganite. The bartenders were cool guys and I talked to them the rest of the night and waited for the band to get done and others to come over to meet me. They finally made it over to Lizard’s and we had a few final drinks before we jumped on the ferry and headed back. Once back on St. Thomas we went back to Duffy’s Love Shack. I was completely fine going to the place but we got a fish bowl drink called the Shark Tank and it killed me. Once we left Duffy’s and got back to Marissa and Chad’s I was feeling a little under the weather. This “sickness” lasted throughout the night and took me into the next day.

My final day was a hurtful one. I couldn’t move. The drinking and lack of hydration had made me quite sick. I managed to power through it and was able to take the forty-five minute roller coaster ride to the airport. We caught our flight at about one and headed back to the states. We flew to Philadelphia and then to Chicago. We got in about nine thirty and made it home about eleven, the end of our vacation.

It was TONS of fun and a great vacation, even with the last day. I would highly suggest St. John. It is gorgeous and a lot of fun. A huge “thank you” to Craig and Jenni for letting us stay at the resort with them as well as Marissa and Chad for their hospitality. Thanks everyone!

Here’s The Story of The Hurricane, Aftermath

Short week for me this week. I took off Friday because this weekend I flew to Florida for my cousin’s wedding. Thursday night after work Rich and Billie came down and drove us to the airport where we all caught a flight to Ft. Lauderdale. The flight was smooth and without incident. We changed planes in Atlanta and ended up getting into FtL about midnight. We took a cab to a cheapy hotel by the airport and spent the night. On our way to the hotel we saw a lot of damage from the hurricane that had rolled through the weekend before. There were tons of broken signs and a lot of dark places that still didn’t have power. I was a little worried because I wasn’t able to get an answer from our hotel when I called them during the week I was pleasantly surprised when we drove up to the place and it was still there. The weather was hot and humid and so was our hotel room. It smelt very musty and extremely damp. The four of us were only going to be there for a couple hours so we dealt with it. We cranked the AC and went to sleep.

Friday morning we woke up early and took a cab to downtown FtL where our nice hotel was. We dropped off our luggage at our hotel and started to do some site seeing. The site seeing lasted about four blocks when we decided we were hungry and needed some breakfast. We stopped at a little diner and got some breakfast. I had some delicious huevos rancheros. The problem is my meal was huge and had lots of salsa. This would normally not be a problem but having this meal sitting in your stomach isn’t very conducive to walking around all day site seeing, I was worried how this would work out. After we finished eating we walked toward the ocean. On the way we passed a bunch of intercoastal waterways. These waterways all had mansions up and down them but the amazing part is these mansions were dwarfed by their mega-yachts parked in front. These mansions and yachts continued the couple miles that we walked to the ocean. Once we got to the ocean we happened upon the international yacht show that was in town. The FtL marina had hundreds of mega-yachts tied up that you could walk around on and dream about some day being able to afford the anchor. I keep using mega to describe these yachts because they were. You haven’t seen anything like these yachts on Lake Michigan, these things were huge. We looked at the yachts from a bridge for a bit and then continued on to the beach. Once at the beach we snapped some pictures and walked in the sand a bit. It wasn’t all that exciting, more water and sand. Just across the street from the ocean there was an open air bar/club that we went to and had a couple beers and looked at the ocean vista. The scene was very nice but the beer was very expensive. So after a couple drinks we walked by the yacht show again. We were actually trying to book a riverboat dinner cruise and their office was right by the entrance to the yacht show. Once we arrived at the office of the riverboat cruise we found out that they were shutdown due to complication from the hurricane. A little disappointed we turned back and headed to a little German themed bar that we passed on the way. I really enjoyed this place. It was literally a hole in the wall. It was hidden down an alley but amazingly there were plenty of others there that found this little bar as well. The bar had no doors and was a typical warm climate open air bar except it served fine German lagers. This bar was the definition of vacation. The wind whistled through while we sat and relaxed. Rich and I played some pool and I kicked his butt all over the felt. I could’ve stayed their all weekend but we had to head back to the hotel and meet my dad, Randy and Becky. We headed back, checked into our hotel and met up with the rest of the family. We didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. We sat around, showered up and got ready for dinner. For dinner we walked to a Mexican restaurant a couple blocks from the hotel. The dinner was pretty good. Since we were in a tourist trap the prices were expectedly expensive for what we got. After dinner we walked down along a waterway and looked at some of the moored yachts. We then went to a couple bars and watched the Lamborghini’s and other assorted luxury cars cruise the strip. This whole time we were actually waiting for our cousin Steve to call but due to hurricane complications the cell phone network was temporarily knocked out for three hours. Once the phones were back online we headed down by the ocean to meet up with Steve. We met up with him, my other cousins and aunt at a steak house. Since we had just eaten and we were dressed worse than the FtL homeless we really didn’t want to sit around and watch them eat their forty dollar hunks of meat. Conveniently there was a bar right next door that was more our style so we waited for Steve over there. Once he was done eating he came over and we sat at the bar the rest of the night getting caught up and talking stupid. A little after midnight we took a taxi back to our hotel and got rested up for tomorrow’s wedding.

Saturday morning we woke up refreshed in a hotel that didn’t have 200% humidity in it. The wedding was at three so we had some time to burn but we really didn’t know what to do. We figured that by the time everyone got their stuff together and showered up that it would be noon so we decided to start getting ready. So everyone started getting dress but J who wanted to go lay by the pool for a bit. The rest of us got dressed up in out finest duds and a couple headed to a restaurant down street from our hotel. I had a nice sandwich and then we sat at the bar for a bit and tried to find out exactly where the church was. We found out the church was actually back in the direction of the hotel so we walked back toward our hotel. We met up with the rest of the group at a bar that was across the street from out hotel. After a couple beers it was finally wedding time. We put the women and my dad in a cab and the three brothers walked a couple blocks in the heat to the church. The wedding was nice. It was a full catholic service so it was pretty long but the priests kept it pretty interesting. One of the priests was a monsignor that the Counsells knew from Notre Dame. After the wedding we all piled in a cab and headed to the reception. This was actually a secondary reception hall because the initial venue was wrecked in the hurricane. I don’t envy my cousin Jen having to find another reception hall and getting it set up in less than a week’s time. This place was really nice though. The Atlanta Falcons were playing the Dolphins that Sunday and they were staying at the hotel. Five buses filled with massive guys got a police escort to the back door. They closed off the whole lobby and roped off an area for the team to walk through. I tried to snap an incognito photo of Michael Vick but it turned out blurry. After the Falcons excitement we tried to find the Badger v Penn State game on the lobby TV but it was nowhere to be found. We even tried to find it at a seedy sports bar by the hotel. Their cable was out so they were even worse off than the hotel, we could at least watch the Notre Dame game there. So instead of watching football on TV I had fun in the cocktail party with the family. My dad appeared to be having a good time himself as he bounced around from conversation to conversation. Finally it was time for dinner. We sat down and did the whole wedding routine, speeches and whatnot. For dinner we had a chicken breast with some vegetables, it was good. After dinner the grooves started up the cocktails started flowing a little faster. It was an open bar and I saw a guy get a Johnnie Walker and water so I got the same and continued to for the rest of the night. For about ten minutes everything in the reception hall went completely black and it wasn’t because of the whisky. The aftermath of the hurricane had struck again. They must’ve been fixing the power and cut off power to the hotel. They either fixed the problem or had a backup generator because the lights came back on and stayed on for the rest of the night. The night went by very fast. I don’t get to see the Bennett cousins very much so we had tons to talk about. My cousin Jeff had to leave the reception very early because he was running the New York marathon on Sunday so I really didn’t get to talk to him very much. Steve always makes for great conversation and a good time. The reception ended very early. It was ten o’clock when the lights came on and it was time to leave. We hailed a couple cabs and went to the same bar that we were at before the wedding. We spent the rest of the night there, just the fam. Everyone left at different points of the night and surprisingly the last ones standing were Jocelyn, me and my dad.

Sunday morning was rougher than rough. We got up at six to get a taxi to the airport. As soon as we got to the airport I laid on my bag and slept until the final call for us to board. We make it back without any problems, we had a layover in Cincinnati and got in about one. We made it just in time to see the Packers lose to the Steelers. A great extended family weekend, they don’t happen enough.

Final tally on exotic car sightings. 3 Lamborghini’s, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Bentley, an Aston Martin, countless high end Benzes and BMWs (the Ford Escorts of FtL). I haven’t seen this much excess and filthy richness in my life and I only saw a two mile stretch of FtL. I’m really disappointed in myself because for the first time in my life I felt a little jealousy being around all the haves and I have always tried to be thankful for what I have. But seeing all the excess and knowing that I will never have a fraction of their opportunities got me thinking for the first time about material goods as a measure of a person instead of a person’s ethics and morals. I haven’t had any material jealousy since we left and I am back to just worrying about being a good person but for the first time I could see how one could be driven throughout their life by material worth instead of self worth.

O’ Canada

VACATION! I had a full week of vacation last week and to say I had been looking forward to it would have been an understatement. After work on Friday we drove to Chicago to spend the night at Jocelyn’s mom’s house so we could get going in the early morning. Friday night we had some Chicago stuffed crust pizza and the cheesy deliciousness was a great way to start my vacation. We went to bed pretty early so we could get up early and head to Canada.

We woke up at about three on Saturday morning. We had already packed the car so all we had to do was wake up and drag ourselves to the car. Marissa and Chad (Jocelyn’s sister and her boyfriend), Arianne (the other sister), J, me and Jocelyn’s mom slept walked to the car and started our journey. Jocelyn’s mom took the first shift and we were off. The first part of the trip was fairly uneventful. I have a problem sleeping in cars so while everyone was snoozing I was taking in the night scenery in such beautiful places as Gary, IN and Kalamazoo, MI. The ride from Chicago to the Canadian border seemed very short and before I knew it we were in Canada. From there we cruised by Toronto and headed straight North to Port Loring which is by North Bay. On our way we stopped at a McDonald’s for breakfast and a roadside hamburger stand for some delicious burgers. One thing that is different in Canada is the way they eat French fries. They put brown gravy and vinegar on their fries. The hamburger stand was my first exposure to the gravy fries which are called poutine. They were pretty good but my burger was delicious. After that we finished our trip and we made it to the Port Loring in about fourteen hours for the whole trip. As soon as we got into town we stopped at a little grocery store to pick up some food and a liquor store to pick up large amounts of vital Canadian lager. We had to drive the last miles down a gravel road in a car that was now packed tighter than a sardine can. At the end of the gravel road was a boat that we took to our final destination, Little Pine Isle. It took two trips to get us and our equipment and groceries over to the island. We immediately started up a fire, turned on the music and started unpacking. Once we got unpacked we some dinner. After dinner we decided to go into town for the big corn roast. I felt very at home at the corn roast. It could have been any of the summer picnics or brat frys in the Sheboygan area. The only thing that made this different is that the money we used to buy our beer was multicolored. The beer cooler behind the sawhorse bar was actually a canoe that was filled with ice and the Canadian lager. I thought it was a pretty ingenious setup. The corn roast was held at the local resort/campground and had a little lodge and a band playing on a flatbed truck trailer. Like I said, I felt right at home and felt like I was in high school again at a field party with my buddies. There were plenty of intoxicated Canadians that could have easily been mistaken for a number of my friends. After the corn roast we head into town for what was supposed to be a big closing party for a bar called Simp’s. “Closing Sept. 5th” the sign in front read. Well when we got to Simp’s there was not to be a soul to be found. Since it was closed we went to another bar that looked a lot like a basement. I think it was one of those places where the guy was sick of having his friends come over and drink all his beer so he just started charging them. We walked in and the local card sharks were having a Texas Hold ’em tournament. When we walked in we got stares like we had a third eye on our heads or something. We sat down and ordered some beers. They also had pickled eggs so I got one of those. We sat and drank our beers and low and behold Simp from Simp’s came walking over. We asked him what was going on with the big closing party. Turns out the closing party was last September and they just hadn’t gotten around to taking down the sign yet. I guess he was now a part owner of the fine basement we were in and this was his new establishment. We started laughing out loud in disbelief of what just happened. After our beers we went over to the local assembly hall where the other big event was going on, the hockey dance. Yes that is what it was called. We got there a little too early because there were only a couple drunk Canadians in there and the rest were still at the corn roast. Some guy said it was a $5 cover and told us the fun was going to be starting soon. Well $5 Canadian or American was too much for that so we packed it up and headed back to the island. On our way back we saw some drunken guys with full coolers on the front of the quads on their way to the hockey dance, very northwoodsish. Once back at the island we watched some TV, drank some beers and went to sleep.

On Sunday we started the day with a little breakfast. Everyone had the normal cereal breakfast but my Canadian breakfast was a couple cans of Canada Dry ginger ale. I did try this stuff called peameal. It’s essentially a small piece of ham that you cut up to make Canadian bacon or sliced ham. The texture of the stuff was awful though. It was very slimy and besides the stuff is rolled in cornmeal to give it a grittiness. I could do without the stuff. After breakfast we headed into town so Chad and Marissa could get fishing licenses. I didn’t need one. I was planning on going fishing but you only need a license to catch fish and I knew I wasn’t going to catch anything so I kept my twenty bucks. From there we went to anther little grocery/general store to pick up some food items we had forgotten. After that we head back to the island. Once we got back we took the pontoon boat out to do some fishing. I fished for about two seconds and then got bored and enjoyed the scenery and drank some beers. Once we got back it was time for dinner. I had made some spaghetti sauce that had been simmering away so we ate that with some salad. After dinner we watched some TV, drank some beers and went to sleep.

Monday was labor day and I spent the day pretty much lounging. I woke up and had my ginger ale breakfast. We then took the boat to the mainland and went to for a walk. We walked the gravel road that leads to the dock which is 2.5 hilly miles each way. I worked up a pretty good sweat but I prepared and wore my swim trunks so I could swim back to the island. Unlike the water mammal Picl family I stink at swimming. I was so tired and almost drowned during the hundred or so yards I had to swim to get to the island. I made it but it was quite the chore. After that I spent most of the day in the cabin with the windows open, reading my book on the couch. It was a day of naps and reading “The Old Man in the Sea”. That is how I spent my entire day. I got up and had a couple hot dogs for lunch but that was my only movement. When the evening rolled around we took the pontoon out for a booze cruise. We saw some of the lakes and had some beers while taking in the beauty of nature. When we got back we were going to grill out but we weren’t able to find any charcoal. Luckily there is a small fire pit on the edge of the island where we could make a wood fire. So we took the grill and put it on the pit and grilled our burgers and hot dogs over some wood. It was good and everything had a nice smoky taste. After dinner we watched some TV, drank some beers and went to sleep.

Tuesday was actually our first true day off. Everyone had Monday off for Labor Day but those suckers all had to go back to work while we basked in the Canadian sun. There is no rest for the weary, even when vacationing in Canada. During the day we did a lot of island maintenance. We moved the old outhouse on the island to a different location. The outhouse was big, heavy and rotted so moving it wasn’t easy. So everyone pitched in and we finally got it moved to where we wanted it. After that task was complete we cleared some brush and chopped some firewood. I got stung three times by some wasps. Twice in the leg and once in the pinky. My hand swelled up but it wasn’t too bad. After the hard work we had lunch at a restaurant called Jake’s. It’s just a regular little diner with booths and a counter. The place also sells beer and booze which is always nice. For lunch I had a ‘Banquet Burger’ which was essentially a burger with everything. But it came with my new favorite food, poutine. I explained it early (fries w/ gravy and cheese) but this place actually did it right with thick brown gravy, yummy. So after lunch we headed back to the island for my afternoon nap. After my nap Chad and I went fishing. There are some high rock areas that have buoys marking their location. We figured we go to one of these areas to see if we can coax the fish out. On my second cast I managed to hook one of the ropes holding the buoys in place. So I pulled the boat over toward the buoy and saw that my lure was really stuck in the rope. So I started yanking on the lure and in the process slipped and drove the hook all the way into my hand. It went in just above my fingernail and under my cuticle. The thing went in all the way and the barb of the hook was no where to be seen. We were now in a bad predicament. I had a hook stuck in my hand which was tangled in the buoy rope so any drifting of the boat would tear my finger open because the only tether between me and the buoy was my hooked finger. I was trying to untangle the lure but I couldn’t because my finger was bleeding and I was using my other hand to hold on to the buoy rope so we wouldn’t drift away and tear my finger open. So Chad came over and got out the razor knife and started slashing at the rope. The razor by my hand made me nervous and I told him to stop. Something had to give here so I gritted my teeth and pulled the hook out. The barb pretty much tore up the inside of my finger and I started bleeding even more. After I got the hook out of my finger I got the other barbs untangled from the rope and we were free at last. That was only my second cast and I knew Chad wanted to fish so I just put my hand in the water and kept fishing and bleeding with Chad. I did get a bite but the fish jumped off the hook. So I took my wasp stung, finger mangled self back to shore where it belonged. For dinner we had some delicious black bean soup that Marissa made. After dinner we watched some TV, drank some beers and went to sleep.

On Wednesday we had a couple more chores. We had to take our garbage to the dump. So we loaded up the boat and took the garbage to the local dump. I was hoping to see a bear there but I saw nothing more than a French speaking dump keeper. After the dump we went to a pottery place about twenty minutes away. We got there and as our luck would have it this was the first week they had their off season hours in affect so they were closed. After snapping some pictures and looking around the grounds of the pottery we hopped in the car and drove to another crafts store. We all picked up some souvenirs and headed back to the island. We had lunch and then I had my daily nap. After my nap I did a little fishing off the dock and got some sun. Then we took the pontoon to a really cool waterfall area on the lake’s corner. We walked around the rocks and took some pictures and just enjoyed nature. Once we were finished we headed back to a beautiful sunset. For dinner we had Italian beef in a crock pot and some salad. After dinner we watched some TV, drank some beers and went to sleep.

Thursday morning we went on a canoe ride to another beautiful area that was very quiet because it was only accessible by canoe. We took two canoes and paddled for about twenty minutes to get to a small lake. Jocelyn and I had Arianne in our canoe. Once we got to the lake through the reeds and lily pads we arrived at a lake that was unbelievably still and smooth as glass. It was very quiet and beautiful. Chad did some fishing and caught a fish. We just sat in our canoe and took in the scenery and nature. We then headed back. I took a picture of some lily flowers on the way. When we got back we lounged on the doc for a while and took in some sun. It ended up being a pretty hot day so I jumped in the lake and we had some fun frolicking in the water. I was able to get in my afternoon nap right before dinner so I was rested for the evening ahead. We went on a little booze cruise before dinner. We saw some loons as well as a beaver. We had some homemade pizzas for dinner. After dinner Chad and I were getting a little sick of just watching TV so we sat in the kitchen, listened to some music, drank some rum drinks and played chess. I was awful and lost all three games. I got sick of losing so we ended the games and called it a night.

Our last day in Canada we went on a hike. We took the power boat over to a hunting lodge that looked a like a Unabomber shack. We docked in front of the shack and hiked through the woods to get to a couple hidden lakes. There were no paths of any type so there were a couple branch face whips and stumbles but we all got to the lake in one piece. Once at the hidden lake we sat on the rocks and enjoyed the scenery and Chad did some fishing with his survival knife. He actually caught two rock bass with nothing more than some line and a baitless hook. After some time in the sun we hiked back to the boat and headed back to the cabin. We had some lunch of random leftover groceries. After lunch I took my afternoon nap and then started to pack up my gear. Friday night we went back to Jake’s in town and had our last meal in Canada. I ordered ‘Da Clubhouse’ which was pretty much a BLT with turkey on it. It was very good because you could tell the tomatoes were fresh and in season. I also had a couple Labotts and a large plate of poutine. Once dinner was over we headed back to the island and finished packing things up for the head home. I drank a couple more Canadian beers and we hit the hay and prepared for the long ride home.

We left at about four in the morning to beat the Port Loring traffic. Once we got everything loaded I crammed into the back of the car and was actually able to sleep the first three hours of trip. That took us to just outside of Toronto where we stopped at an Oasis and got some gas and food. From there we were able to get all the way to the border where we stopped at a McDonalds and then hit the duty free shop. There was some sort of protest going on outside the shop but that didn’t stop me from getting my discounted booze. I picked up some Crown Royal even though I really don’t drink whiskey. I can easily pawn the stuff off on my friends. After the duty free store we piled in for our trip across the border. The border guard and customs was pretty painless and he let us right through. After we were back in the US we found some good ol’ American football. We put on the Michigan v. Notre Dame game, checked our voicemail and continued our journey. Our last stop was a Subway/gas station where we got our last road meal and refueled for the last push. We arrived in Chicago about six and our journey was technically complete. Jocelyn’s dad came up from Peoria and we ate at a German restaurant that was right down the street. I had a patty melt and some Oktoberfest which was satisfying. We returned to the house, watched some football and fell asleep about ten.

We woke up Sunday morning and took Marissa and Chad to the airport and continued home. Sunday we watched the Packers lose to the Detroit Lions,  this is going to be a long season. It was back to work on Monday but it was a great vacation. It was too fast and not long enough but what vacation ever is long enough.

Mountaineering Is Not As Fun As Spelunking

This weekend actually involved some travel. Friday night we didn’t do anything because on Saturday morning we caught a flight to Tucson for Jocelyn’s grandmother’s eightieth birthday. Our flight Saturday morning was delayed an hour due to the fact that our fresh water supply on the plane had frozen. They were unable to fix the problem so our flight wasn’t able to server hot coffee or tea and there was no water in the bathroom. Before we took off we also had to stop or a fifteen minute deicing, thank heavens we were going to AZ to escape this miserable cold. We flew Frontier airlines and it was pretty sweet because each seat gets their own LCD screen with twenty-six channels of DirectTV. This was very cool and made the flight go fast. We switched planes at Denver and literally sprinted to our connecting flight and made the flight with less than thirty seconds to spare. It was amazing that something actually worked out while traveling. The second flight was smooth and we arrived at about eleven to the 85 degrees of Tucson goodness. J’s mom was there to pick us up and drive us to her grandparents’ house. We stopped at Subway on the way and also at a grocery store to pick up some delicious Fat Tire Ale (great beer which you can only seem to find in the West). From there we arrived at the house and I greeted all the relatives and inhaled my sandwich. Our plan for the day was to meet Jeff DeBruin and his lady Kelly and go to a Brewers’ spring training game. So I called J&K, who were already on their way, with the directions to where we were. They picked us up and we drove to the Rockies’ training facility. It took us a little longer to get there than we wanted but we found a place to park and went to the game. On our way in I heard a “heads up” and looked up to see a ball. The ball was bouncing in the parking lot and I ran to pick it up. This was actually turning out to be a great day. The day really was perfect. I got to see a spring game where Brewers killed the Rockies, tickets were $2, we talked to some folk from WI who were sitting in front of us, had a couple Fat Tires from the tap at the game, I got to hang with my boy Jeff, and we enjoyed the high 80 heat. We couldn’t stay the whole game and had to leave in the fifth inning to go back to the hotel to change for dinner. J&K dropped us off and headed back to Phoenix. It was great to see them and I’m very glad they came down to see us. That night we went to dinner at a Mexican place. Before dinner we had a pitcher of strawberry margaritas and some fresh table made guacamole, the best. For dinner I had a chicken and baked cheese dish. The restaurant had a mariachi band and they sang songs to the birthday girl, much fun. After dinner we went back to the grandparents’ house and had some dessert in the desert. When that wrapped up we were all pretty much shot. We tried to watch Napoleon Dynamite but I fell asleep. We woke up and headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

Sunday we woke up early and got dressed for the birthday brunch. We went to the grandparents’ country club. J’s family had some professional pictures taken and I was forced to be in a few so I’m officially in the family now. I made sure to stay pretty close to the end so I can be cropped out in case of an emergency. After the pictures we had some delicious brunch and enjoyed the scenery with some mimosas and bloody marys. When the pictures were done we went back to the abode and watched Illinois beat the Badgers for the Big Ten championship. I was surrounded by Illini fans so my gloom was further enhanced but I am confident that we’ll get them in the real tourney. After the game we sat around and watched more TV and NCAA bracket selection show. Later that night we headed to the community courts and played some b-ball. It was a great four on four game with a bunch of the family and I knew I was going to pay the price the next day. After that we went back and ordered some pizza. We gobbled that up and headed back to the hotel to shower and call it a night.

Monday I woke up as expected, sore. Those atrophied basketball muscles were barking something fierce. We got everything together and checked out early. We dropped our gear off at the grandparents’ house and J, her mom, and I went to Catalina Mountain state park. We didn’t have much time but I did enjoy the hour and a half hike up the trail. We hiked to a set of pools and while we were there we ran into a guy that went to college with Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets. The guy also used to play for the Beloit Snappers. He saw our Brewers shirts so we talked with him a bit. We finished up our hike and when we headed out we ran into another Brewers fan from WI, we’re everywhere people! The mountains are very beautiful and we plan on doing the whole eight hour hike to the top next year. When that was through we relaxed the rest of the day in the sun at the house. Finally it was time to head back to reality so J’s mom who left on a different flight at the same time drove us to the airport. We hopped on our plane and made it back safely to MKE and the reality of cold.