ahoy apostle islands!

3 days and 2 nights at the islands with about 30 miles of kayaking. great times! we arrived at bayfield, wisconsin where we rented our kayaks. we plunged right in and took a 3 hour safety course. it consisted of different rescues and general awareness about the 5 Ws: weather, water, winds, waves and wshorelines (yeah, our safety instructor was creative and amusing!)

it was a little cold at first and flipping over the kayaks were kinda scary, but after some water in our noses and 2 different rescues later, we were ready for the real thing. the first paddle to basswood island was quick and painless. the campsite was great too, right by the water. after an uneventful night and some bear pawing on the bear cage, we were ready for day 2.

the day was calm and the water was mostly still. it was great to be out in the open water and in the sun. what a way to spend the weekend. the water was really clear and at most places along the shore, we could see the lake bottom. nights at the campsites were quite ordinary, dinner and... sleep!

paddling back to the mainland on the 3rd day was really tiring, after a full day in the kayak, we were faced with high winds and choppy waters at our last crossing over open water. it took probably an hour to paddle the last mile and a half! but we all made it safely back home.

ali leading the front in our tandem

taking care of our rear

cove at hermit island

cool, clear waters at stockton

the 3 Cs

canoeing, camping and the como park zoo! the summer here has been great, cool and sunny. the humid days are present, but i can count the really humid days with my fingers. 

the zoo; who can say no to a free place of animal fun? actually the best part were the lily pads that were hanging out outside the conservatory, they were the coolest plants i've ever seen, well besides the venus fly traps and pitcher plants of course. alison, what is your favorite plant? "i dont know, plants you can eat!"

Gorgeous!

i think if i wanted, i could have jumped onto the victoria platters

must be a long day for our furry friends

the weekend trip to the st. croix was beautiful! even though we scraped our canoe bottom many times, we managed to keep our canoe intact. i had to jump out many times to push our little boat off the rocks. 

it's break time, all work and no play = crabby

a scrumptious noodle lunch along the river

breaking camp before it poured

we were too late! 15 min into the paddle and the rain came down on us, hard. i couldn't really see anything with water droplets constantly jabbing my eyes. we were soaked and paddled as hard as we could to avoid being struck by lightning. ok, it's not that bad, but we would not want to battle the storm again, at least not before alison gets a hat. =p