As rainy as it’s been lately – we’ve lucked out to have two beautiful Saturdays in a row. On Saturday the 13th, the T3sk3y’s went for a boat cruise with my Uncle John for his 52nd birthday. This was no ordinary buzz around Lake Minnetonka – today we were going to cruise down the Mississippi in his 23′ Baja.
Getting ready to head for the river
We put in at Bayport, WI right at the junction of the Mississippi and the St. Croix rivers. When we launched, conditions were perfect – 60 degrees and bright sun. This promised to be an adventure for all of us – I had never boated on the river before, and John had never been through the locks. This had always kept him from going any farther than Treasure Island Casino. Today, we were headed for Lake Pepin.
The “boats” that were sharing the river with us
The locks at Prairie Island came up pretty quickly. We had planned on landing to talk to the lockmaster to find out how to proceed through the locks. Right as we were trying to land, the locks opened and a group of pleasure boats headed in. We ultimately decided to follow the crowd and try to fit in. It turned out to be a real non-event – pull along the side, hold on to the rope for mooring, let go and drive away once you were lowered. *yawn*
Leaving the Prairie Island Locks
A couple of hours in to the trip, we passed through the town of Red Wing, Minnesota – the largest town before hitting Lake Pepin. We had a nice long cruise through town since the entire area is a no-wake zone. This gave me lots of time to snap plenty of pictures on my way through.
The grain elevators in Red Wing
By the time we hit Lake Pepin, we needed to turn and run for home to make sure we had enough daylight to make it back. This was also the point at which William could take no more of being in his life preserver. It was a quick and chilly 45 knot charge home in the waning sunlight that got us in right at dusk.
Captain John at the helm
It was one thin to land a boat on a lake – it’s entirely another to do it as wind and current are pushing you sideways as you try to get on the trailer.
We wrapped the night with a typically great birthday dinner at Redstone and left almost too stuffed to drive home. Happy Birthday, John!
See the rest of the pictures on my Smugmug account here: Link
Heather, William and I took a couple of hours off from a busy schedule two weeks ago to do a little walking around the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It was a fantastic Saturday afternoon.. and as much as I was trying to take landscape pictures, I kept aiming things at lil’ William. What’s a proud papa to do?
William at the Arboretum
Enjoy the rest of the pictures here: Link
Last Sunday I had the privilege of being part of the Grand Opening for the Minnesota Pinball Hall of Fame in Cokato. In actuality, it’s my friend Jason’s collection of over 50 of the best pinball machines from the past 30 or so years.
Matt McKee can’t decide what to play next
Believe it or not, at one point most of this collection was in his house – filling just about every free inch of basement, garage, entryway, etc. Over the past year, he built a 40×80 heated outbuilding on his property to house his collection.
To celebrate the grand opening, he invited the Pinball Madness gang and several other friends for a Sunday afternoon party that started with Go-Karting and ended with hours of great pinball and lots of food.
Jason and Heidi Sheard playing on Stern Row
How do you pick favorites? It’s impossible.. but if Jason ever wants to sell his Nine Ball – I’m first in line!
See the rest of my pictures here: Link
http://isotropic.org/papers/chicken.pdf
This can only mean one thing.. the 2007 Ig Nobel prizes are out!
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