So this is blogging?

Huron and Cheyenne – June 2009

2010-02-09T23:01:00.001-06:00

Well, I’m way behind on updating my blog but here are a few pictures from the backyard or our Labs, Huron and Cheyenne. Cheyenne was just about 3 months old and had more energy than coordination.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures – New Year’s Eve 1997

2009-06-15T22:09:00.001-05:00

Wow. New Year’s Eve at Marquette circa 1997.

Pictures on Flickr.

Memorial Day Camping

2009-06-15T21:52:00.001-05:00

We spent a very relaxing Memorial Day weekend at Kohler Andrae State Park. It was a little challenging though with our new puppy Cheyenne.

Pictures on Flickr.

Camping at Ottowa Lake

2009-06-15T21:30:00.001-05:00

In early May we spent the weekend at Ottowa Lake in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. We made a quick trip to the spring-fed trout pond and spotted some cranes in a corn field. Yeah, that was about it.

Pictures on Flickr.

Spring Camping at Kohler Andrae State Park

2009-06-15T21:17:00.001-05:00

We kicked off the camping season back in April with an early trip on the Lake Michigan shore at Kohler Andrae State Park. A good trip as usual. Cold, but nothing a good campfire couldn’t fix.

See some pictures on Flickr.

Old Pictures – Backpacking Glacier National Park 08.1997

2009-04-03T22:58:00.001-05:00

A backpacking trip to Glacier National Park with stops in Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Badlands, and Little Bighorn National Battlefield.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures – Camping and Hiking Devil’s Lake/Red Oaks with MU AOC 04.1997

2009-04-03T22:18:00.001-05:00

A typical MU AOC camping trip – booze, a little hiking, terrible gear and cold nights. Fun times.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures – Skiing with MU AOC at Steamboat, CO 01.1997

2009-04-03T21:31:00.001-05:00

Cool skiing trip with Marquette’s Avalanche Outdoors Club at Steamboat, CO. Most the the pictures are from a day for snowshoeing.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures - Rafting at Thortons with MU AOC 10.1996

2008-12-21T17:48:00.001-06:00

Cold weather camping and white water rafting with low quality gear and an on-site bar... sounds about right.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures - Camping at Mirror Lake and Devil's Lake with MU AOC 04.1996

2008-12-21T17:39:00.001-06:00

An infamous camping trip at Mirror Lake and hiking at Devil's Lake with Marquette AOC. The pictures got double exposed but there were a few that were still worth saving...

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures - Rafting at Thortons with MU AOC Club 10.1995

2008-12-21T17:31:00.001-06:00

A classic rafting trip circa 1995 in Northern Wisconsin with Marquette AOC.

Pictures on Flickr

Old Pictures - Marquette Tower Hall 1995-1996

2008-12-21T17:14:00.001-06:00

wow... good times.

Pictures on Flickr

In Nashville for the Packers vs Titans Game

2008-11-05T21:36:00.001-06:00

This past weekend me, Paul, Andy, Ryan M., and Shaun loaded up and made a long drive to Nashville for the Packers Titans game and some general debauchery... mission accomplished.

Trip Highlights -

The Second Fiddle - probably the greatest bar in Nashville featuring lots of live music
Andy taking a late night cab ride to White Castle
Me intoxicated and yelling at the Packer's President, Mark Murphy, "Murph! High Five! Don't leave me hangin' Murph!"
Paul giving his phone number to a homeless (?) man, Scotty, and his dog (a pit bull), Missy.
Coyote Ugly
Jack's Barbeque on Broadway - awesome food!
The Beer Cellar - 150 flavors - 50 on tap
After waking up from 16 hours of full throttle drinking - Andy on all 4's in his underwear and black socks begging for Tums.
The game that we actually went for - Packers lost in OT but we definitely got our money's worth
Shaun throwing a few hundred cocktail napkins in the air at the Second Fiddle to "Make it Rain"

There are definitely things I am forgetting but the whole weekend was one glorious blur!

Pictures from the weekend (when my camera was working)

A Little More Kohler Andrae Camping

2008-10-24T22:33:00.001-05:00

We made one more last minute reservation to camp up at Kohler Andrae State Park. It was cold but not bad (especially with a bunch of firewood and a camper with a heater).

It was pretty quite on Friday night and Saturday morning. We took Huron swimming early Saturday afternoon and by the time we got back we were being overrun with Cub Scouts. They swarmed in, setup, did some scout activities, and went to bed. You could tell the dads that camp from those that don't. Some tents went up quick - others struggled. Rustic People watching.

On Sunday we got home and winterized the camper before the late Packers game. Now we wait until April for more camping.

A few pictures, mostly of the dog.

More Camping at Kohler

2008-10-06T00:37:00.001-05:00

Earlier this year we made plans to camp at Kohler Andrae for a second straight trip in September. We ended up roping some old college friends and their families to join us for a perfect fall weekend on Lake Michigan.

See the Pictures.

Camping at Kohler Andrae

2008-10-06T00:16:00.001-05:00

As usual I am late on the post but we had two camping trips at Kohler Andrae State Park with groups of friends in September.

The first was with Ryan, Alisha, and their dog Tenna. The weekend was something special - it rained nearly the whole time. Suzie was sick and gave her nasty cold to both Ryan and I. We still had a good time though; spent most of Saturday at a bar until it cleared up a little. After that we took the dogs to the beach and had a few more cocktails.

See the pictures

No More Web Site

2008-10-06T00:02:00.001-05:00

I dropped my regular (completely out-of-date) web site today in favor of the blog only approach. I plan to repost all of the old pictures from the web site here over the next couple months.

I'm trying out Flickr right now too instead of Picasa Web Albums - I feel like I'm slowly moving into 2002. Rad.

Backpacking the Porcupine Mountains

2008-09-01T21:14:00.001-05:00

I just returned home from a short two-night 12 mile hike in the Porcupine Mountains State Park in Michigan.

Tim left early for the trip and put some time in on the Lake Superior Trail back to where the Big Carp River Trail meets the Correction Line Trail. Ed and I hiked in two days later to meet him there. The Big Carp River trail from the Escarpment is mostly a downhill 5 mile day with good views of the Lake of the Clouds and the river valley. We camped that night near the Correction Line Trail on the river.

Day two is a short 3 miles on the Correction Line Trail over to Mirror Lake. The 3 miles is deceptive - it's mostly uphill but evens out near Mirror Lake.

We camped on the south side of Mirror Lake on the second night. The area was busy with some interesting groups including 10 or 12 kids with no tents, a solo backpacker, and two girls from Madison that got to camp later in the day. We were packed in but the lake was nice and we washed some grime off with a swim.

Day three was up and down 4 miles on the North Mirror Lake trail -a steep descent back down to the Lake of the Clouds is followed by a steep climb back to the Escarpment. Easier than I remembered from a past hike but still no fun.

It was a good trip with nothing too exciting besides Ed trying to wrangle snakes we spotted at the Mirror Lake camp. The bugs weren't terrible but it was hot - hot enough I left the dog at home. That turned out to be a good thing as it hit near 90.

Here are the pictures.

Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

2008-08-27T22:16:00.001-05:00

My wife sponsors the Polar Bear Zero at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Twice a year sponsors get to take behind the scenes tours of some of the facilities, so we went over and toured around.

We went into the elephant area and the area where all the African animals spend nights and all winter - underneath the cat house and outside African Animal area.

The Elephant area was interesting in its size. The walls are probably 10 inch thick concrete and the cage bars are massive. They showed how they safely coral the elephants, rhinos, and hippos into the building and talked about things I have never thought mattered like how to keep the elephants nails filed down.

The winter/night quarters weren't as interesting but it is a large area very reminiscent of a livestock barn. The coolest part was looking though a barred door that had the "Danger - Lion Moat" sign. Out this door was the moat that separates lions, cheetas, and hyenas from the other animals.

Pictures from the zoo

Salmon Fishing

2008-08-27T22:04:00.001-05:00

Two weeks late on this (per usual) - about 10 days to be exact. I went over to the Michigan side of Lake Michigan to salmon fish with a buddy and our dads.

It was choppy but a gorgeous day besides that. Unfortunately, we only landed one fish.

Here's my dad fighting one that didn't make it in -

Camping at Lake Kegonsa State Park

2008-08-13T22:59:00.001-05:00

We spent last weekend camping at Lake Kegonsa State Park near Madison, WI. Ryan, Molly, and retriever Murphy joined us on Saturday. Nothing much to report - weather was good, mosquitos were bad.

The flooding back in June (contributing to the mosquitos) has left a lot of lakes in the area with problems like e-coli and blue-green algae blooms. Of course, Lake Kegonsa was under an advisory for both which we conveniently found out after taking the dogs swimming. Not great, considering blue-green algae can kill a dog within a minutes. However, everyone faired fine.

The new awning on the camper went up quick and easy and the repaired fridge worked well after we got it started.

A few pictures from the trip.

Vegas!

2008-07-24T17:43:00.001-05:00

Spent last weekend (Sat. - Mon.) in Las Vegas. A big group of friends, coworkers, old co-workers, their friends... we all stayed at the Flamingo. We got in a day later than everyone and worked hard to catch up (read "got really drunk").

Nothing really of note. Just a really fun time all around. Ate well, gambled like addicts, won some money, lost a little more - but didn't come home broke.

No pictures to show; I took a point and shoot camera but left it in the room.

As always, Vegas did not disappoint. I haven't been in three years but not too much has changed that I hadn't heard about. The whole family friendly thing is pretty much done and gone. The Flamingo has pole dancers right at the entrance of the casino. One of the smaller places downtown has girls dancing in the pit between the table games - not nude in either place but scantily clad. This of course doesn't stop lousy parents from bringing their kids.

We had a lot of fun at Buffalo Bills and all over downtown where us non-high rollers can still afford to gamble. Tore up Craps but couldn't win at Black Jack or Pai Gow.

Got home on time on Monday and the rest is history.

The last two days I've been home sick. I'm covered nearly from head to toe in a mysterious rash that came out of nowhere on Tuesday. Went to the doctor on Wednesday - he called it "impressive" and sent me home with an industrial sized tube of steroid cream. He said I should be good to go in a couple days - feels pretty miserable right now though.

Camping - Kettle Moraine

2008-07-24T17:23:00.001-05:00

A little late on this post but we were out camping in Kettle Moraine State Forest - Long Lake Campground two weekends ago. Not much to say... it was busy, it stormed, the mosquitos were terrible (pretty much like every place else), and our LP fridge wasn't working in the popup.

On the positive side, we set up the screen tent and had a nice fire. I hooked up a new 12 volt outlet in the camper. That combined with the new 15 watt solar panel and an inverter is enough to watch a movie and charge the laptop, iPods, cell phones, etc. without draining the battery.

So overall, it wasn't anything exciting but it was still a relaxing weekend.

Got the fridge fixed already - fouled up burner apparently. Whatever that means; it was only $89 versus $600 for a new fridge so I'll take it.

Camping in the Hiawatha National Forest

2008-07-07T22:02:00.001-05:00

Over the 4th of July we took an extended weekend camping trip in the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We had a beach front campsite at Bay View Campground on Lake Superior. The campground is nothing special with only 24 sites, pit toilets, and and hand pump for water. (You really feel like an animal when pumping water by hand and getting torn apart by mosquitos.) The sandy beach in front of the campsites makes up for the lack of amenities - sitting all day with a couple beers is the way to go.

When we got bored with that we checked out a couple lighthouses in the area as well as Tahquamenon falls.

All the Pictures from Bay View

Fishing in Canada

2008-06-29T18:34:00.001-05:00

I spent the last week on a fishing trip in Northwestern Ontario. We spent 6 days on Lake Savant at the Wildewood Camp - about 6 hours north of International Falls.

The fishing was nothing short of spectacular. I'm guessing that the 8 of us pulled in about 1500 - 1800 fish, mostly walleye. In one day alone my buddy and I pulled in 75 walleye. The lake also supports big Northern Pike, Lake Trout, Perch, and Whitefish.

The weather was decent and allowed us to fish everyday. Sometimes we motored about an hour up the 26 mile long lake to get to some prime destinations.

Along the way we caught huge walleye - some around the 25 to 27 inch marks. Northerns were everywhere. When the walleye fishing slowed, that usually meant the Northerns were ready to be caught. We pulled in plenty between 30 and 40 inches. I caught a three between 29" and 33" on walleye jigs. I nearly had a 2-fer when a big northern tried to snatch a walleye I was landing right next to the boat. Another guy in the group actually netted one that way when it wouldn't let go of his walleye.

The camp was a true camp and one of only two on the entire lake. The log cabins have no running water - all water has to be hauled by buckets to the cabin. A shower building does sport hot water with two showers to keep things smelling better. each cabin has an outhouse which was getting pretty ripe by the end of the week! You can fly into the camp on float plane or take a 5 mile muddy and bumpy trip by ATV - we chose the ATV route to save a few bucks.

Loons cover the lake and we also saw woodland caribou swimming in the water. We saw 4 or 5 bears on the way up but none in camp. A few guys saw moose around the lake too.

More Pictures of the Trip