Minnesota for the Weekend

admin December 2, 2024 0 Comments

I’m a few weeks late posting pictures, but earlier this month Kenzie and I went to Minnesota for a long weekend. The goal of the trip was to see some of the history from the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books (and later TV show). The books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were based on her experiences growing up here in the late 1800’s, and seeing this seemed like as good a reason as any for a road trip through Minnesota.

We made a big loop around the state and along the way went to Walnut Grove (where the Little House museum was closed unfortunately), saw the property where the Ingals first homesteaded in Minnesota (along with “Plum Creek”, the little creek running through the property), saw an authentic “mud house” (the typical homesteader home of the time), Sleepy Eye, and also Mankato. Mankato was great. If you remember the stories, this is where the Ingalls would go to the “big city” to deliver and pick up supplies. As we drove into Mankato we stumbled upon the old train station, the same one they would have gone to for deliveries. None of these places were the least bit touristy, and you were free to wander around on your own. It was a lot of fun to see firsthand the places associated with so many of the stories from the series.

The highlight for Kenzie though was probably when we happened up on Minnesota’s Biggest Candy Store. It was in the middle of nowhere but stood out because of the huge yellow grain silo (which had been converted into part of the store). It took us more than an hour to get through it, and we spent a small fortune but it was totally worth it! Oh, and if you ever want to see the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle…they have it. 🙂

Where we were in town we had to check out The Mall Of America too. It took us 3 days (about 4 hours per day) to get through it all. It’s very impressive and includes an amusement park and aquarium. After 3 days we were ready to be done, but it was worth a visit.

Our last day in town happened to be Veterans Day, so we decided to visit a nearby veterans cemetery. We looked up some Kuhns and even found one with the same name as my father, so while we didn’t know the person, we went looking for the headstone. These cemeteries are just beautiful.

Minnesota is not necessarily the first place I think of to visit for a vacation, but I can’t recommend it enough if you’re up for a bit of adventure. We had a blast!

Day 5, Headed Home

admin June 30, 2024 0 Comments

Day five and it was time to head home. I had originally planned one more day, but for the last two day’s I’d been watching a storm brewing and based on what I was seeing, it seemed like something I did not want to be out in.

I was a little disappointed to be leaving early, but after seeing the storm building on my way back, I was sure that it was the right call. And I was happy to see that what I’ve learned over the last year about reading marine weather, wind predictions, etc paid off and translated into making a good decision and not finding myself in weather that was more than I could handle.

I left Fishermans Bay about 5am to take advantage of the high tides to get out and the smooth water before waves increased later in the day. By the time I’d made it to Bellingham Bay, the waves were enough that the boat was riding waves and the stern was being tossed around pretty well. Not so much that I was uncomfortable with the conditions, but enough that it confirmed I was right to call the trip a bit early!

Along the way in the morning, I saw seals, a beautiful sunrise, and spent a little time traveling alongside one of the Washington State ferries.

I feel like I’ve come a long way in the last year! A year ago at this time I barely knew how to raise a sail. And this week I visited four different islands and did nearly 100 nautical miles of solo ocean sailing. It’s been an adventure and I’m looking forward to learning so much more!

Day 4, Lopez Island

admin June 29, 2024 0 Comments

Day 4 was a short hop from Friday Harbor to Fishermans Bay on Lopez Island. It was only about a hour sail across the bay and the weather was beautiful in spite of it getting ready to turn bad the next day. The entry into this bay is tricky and has to be done at just to right time of day when the tide is high to avoid grounding. But all went well, and by noon I was set up and ready to explore the island.

I brought an electric scooter and it was the perfect way to tool around the sleepy little island. There are just a few country roads, one small grocery store, 2 gas pumps, a town library. But I had a great time over a few hours (until my battery ran out) exploring. I’d read that Lopez is know for everyone being so friendly and waving as they passed each other. I didn’t realize how true it was. EVERYONE drove around with their car windows down, and I don’t think a single one passed me with out waving. The grocery store even sells t-shirts that mention the “Lopez Wave” so I had to pick one up.

I had dinner at the marina restaurant and on my way back to the boat for the night stopped to look at a beautiful catamaran that was docked near me. As I was looking at it, the owner stepped out to see if I needed anything. I told her I was just looking at the boat, and she invited me in for a tour. They spent the next hour showing me all around every nook and cranny. I’ve been very impressed with how incredibly friendly and welcoming all of the folks in this boating community have been.

I ended the night sitting on the dock watching the float planes come and go, and taking in another beautiful sunset.

Day 3, Next Stop Friday Harbor

admin June 28, 2024 0 Comments

Day three was an easy day, with the destination being Friday Harbor. After a few hours of sailing and some motoring (I had to time my trip to avoid some very strong currents between some of the islands), I was definitely ready for a shower, some reliable internet service, and a real meal at a restaurant.

I had the new experience of calling into the marina on the radio to arrange a slip as I got close. When the marina is talking to you, they refer to you as “Captain” and “Skipper”. I feel like this experience definitely increased my street cred, and you know I’ll be placing my Amazon order for a captain hat very soon! 🙂

I had the afternoon to wander the town, had dinner while watching the float planes take off and land, and picked up a few supplies. Friday Harbor is definitely worth a return visit!

Stuart Island

admin June 27, 2024 0 Comments

I spent the night on a mooring ball in Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, and arrived early enough to visit the island for a few hours. So I took the dinghy to shore and spent time hiking the island and seeing a couple of the highlights.

Stuart Island only has a handful of residents, and a one-room schoolhouse is the only public building on the island. One of the highlights of the day’s hike was coming across the “treasure chest.” It’s a few boxes full of shirts, hats, and postcards which visitors can buy. Nobody works at the store, it’s all based on the honor system. You take what you’d like, and each item has a note included with the price and instructions on how to mail payment back when you return home. It is run by a family on the island that has an embroidery business. The island gets mail delivered by plane 3 times a week, and because of this, they are able to ship their products out and make a living this way. So cool to see this operated as an honor system and that it has been this way for years.

Day Two in the San Juan Islands

admin June 25, 2024 0 Comments

I ended my first day on Susia wandering the island a bit and chatting with others folks who were there for the night. I was invited to several campfires and got some great advice about my route from others who had been there before. I’ve been so impressed with how friendly and willing to share other boaters are!

Day two turned out to be more exciting than I had expected in several ways. The plan was for 14 miles of sailing to Stuart Island along the Canadian border (a portion of which has several big currents that meet). I did my final weather check (which looked OK) and headed out.

I wasn’t 10 minutes out of the harbor when I heard a mayday call from another boat about two miles away. They had hit a drifting log and the boat was taking on water with 5 people and a dog on board. I had my first experience talking with the Coast Guard on the radio getting their coordinates so I could go to them (check that off the to-do list!). I was about 15 minutes away, but fortunately, someone else was closer and arrived before I did. Based on what I heard on the radio, the boat sank completely in under 5 minutes but everyone (including the dog) on the boat was OK. Over the course of the day, I heard 4 other mayday calls for boats that were either sinking or needed help in some way (hint: this is foreshadowing, turns out that the weather report WAS NOT very accurate this day…).

My next hour was beautiful, and the highlight was when a pod of dolphins showed up and swam along with me for about half an hour. Such a cool experience!

It was about the time that the dolphins swam away that I entered the area where currents were merging and the wind also increased significantly (and pretty suddenly, and much more than the forecast showed). I’ll just say that the combination of wind and waves that came on so quickly created some “challenging” conditions for me. I had far too much sail up, and trying to reduce sails in waves and wind had me spending the next 30 minutes wondering if I’d bitten off more than I should have. When I’m up on deck I wear a harness that attaches me to the boat in case a wave comes over the bow and tries to knock me overboard, but it turns out that was very little comfort. 🙂 Based on what I heard on the radio I was not the only person that did not expect these winds, and in the end it all worked out and the whole thing was another learning experience.

The wind cleared out as quickly as it arrived, and after things settled down the rest of the day was “smooth sailing” and beautiful. And Stuart Island was a great stop! I’ll post something else about it later, but it’s a can’t miss if you are ever in the area!

Sailing the San Juan Islands

admin June 24, 2024 0 Comments

For years I’ve been interested in the idea of sailing, so last year about this time I decided it was time to get this out of my system one way or another. I’d never been on a sailboat, and only ever been on little recreational boats a couple of times in my life. So I took a couple sailing classes down on the river to figure out how to put a sail up and what all the different ropes do, and then bought a sailboat with the idea that I would try it out and if it wasn’t for me, put it right back on Facebook Marketplace and sell it.

Well, as it turns out, I loved it! And I’ve spent the last year learning everything I can about sailing, navigation, weather, and all the other things it takes to do this safely. Most of my sailing so far has been on the Columbia River.  But this week I’m trying my hand at ocean sailing for the first time and headed up to the San Juan Islands for a week of single-handed sailing near the Canadian border.  The plan is about 100 miles over 5 days.

Day one did not disappoint!!!  I put in the water at Bellingham and sailed to Sucia Island.  It’s a Washington State Marine Park, and only accessible by boat.  Along the way I passed freighters, sea lions, and saw an incredible sunset!

No major mishaps, 20 miles of sailing, and I arrived in one piece. Success for day one!

Venice

admin August 12, 2023 0 Comments

The last stop was Venice for two days before heading home. Venice was flooding throughout our time here which was really interesting to see firsthand. We had great Italian food, went to St Mark’s Square and the waterfront, and generally just enjoyed just wandering through the maze of alleys of Venice.

We visited what is probably the most unique bookstore in the world (the more valuable books are stored in a gondola and bathtubs to keep them safe when the store floods), played in the water, and had LOTS OF GELATO!

One of the highlights had to be that we were able to get tickets for a classical music performance held in an 11th-century concert hall. It was mostly stringed instruments (violins mainly) and the acoustics were incredible!

And then it was time to head home. We left at about 3am and took a water bus to the airport for the long trek home.

Over two weeks we visited six countries, sweated through ridiculous heat as well as rainy downpours, splashed around in a magical river, explored medieval towns, and rode donkeys up the rim of a volcanic crater. (Oh, and found the biggest tub of Nutella ever, Kenzie would be upset if I left that out…). We stumbled upon places we never expected to see and along the way I think we all found places that we want to go back and visit again. And most of all shared some special memories with great friends. Thank you, Laura, Kailynn, and Derick for such a great adventure!

Off the ship and on to Venice!

admin August 11, 2023 0 Comments

It was finally time to pack up and head off the ship for Venice. But before we Venice, we planned a tour of the Postojna Caves in Slovenia. It was only about an hour away and didn’t disappoint. The caves were massive. To tour them you start with an underground railroad into the cavern. Then a long walk for several kilometers through the caves. The pictures were not great since it was so dark, but it was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

In addition to the underground caves, we also visited a nearby castle that had been constructed into the cave system. So unique!

After our tour, it was off to Venice. A couple of hour train ride into the heart of Venice and then a water taxi to our Airbnb. Everyone was wiped out from a long day so we just took it easy and brought some pizza back for dinner.

Change of plans…

admin August 10, 2023 0 Comments

Our original itinerary had us stopping in Venice, Italy for a night.  But the ship had a change of plans and instead ended up doing an overnight in Trieste. Since we planned to visit Venice at the end of the trip, it actually turned out to be a great opportunty to be spontanious and do something unexpected. We got up in the morning, rented a car, and drove to Slovania and Austria! It was a long day, but probably the highlight of the trip for me.

Slovania was not someplace that was on my travel list, but it turned out to be one of the nicests places I’ve ever visited. Friendly people, incredible scenery, and a teriffic and unexpected adventure!

We started with driving to the capital (Ljubljana, which I am still having a hard time pronouncing but it sounds beautiful when someone who speaks the language says it). Then we visited a castle overlooking Lake Bled. After that was a drive through the mountains and into Austria (along the way finding an incredible river for the kids to play in).

None of this was part of the plan for the trip, but it turned out to be the highlight for me. Some of my favorite memories traveling over the years are times like this when you take off with no plan or expectation, and just see where the road takes you. This day it took us to 3 countries and places I’ll never forget!