Tag Archives: Vacation

A Superior Week – Part I

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So I’ve been back from my fall vacation to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for nearly a week, and I guess I could share parts of my experience with the madding crowds hitting this here blog.  I’ve decided to do so by simply transcribing the notes that I took while there, and those will follow in this post and the next one.

To set the stage, I should mention that I took a short week to go camping at Hurricane River campground on the southern shore of Lake Superior.  If you look at the little map up there, Hurricane River campground is represented by the two little tent icons a third of the way across the map – oddly enough, on the Hurricane River.

The dot at the point of land to the right of Hurricane River is the Au Sable Light Station.  That small point is virtually the only area on the entire map where one can pick up a cell signal.

Moving west from Hurricane, you can see the icons for the Benchmark campsites (back country), Twelvemile Beach campsites (cars), and Sevenmile group and single campsites (back country).

To the east of the Au Sable Light Station are a number of back country campsites, the Grand Sable Dunes (labeled) and the little town of Grand Marais.  The distance from the Sevenmile sites to Grand Marais, were one to walk along the North Country Trail, is right around 17 miles.  Over the course of the week, I did indeed hike every inch of that distance.  And loved it…although one of my ankles is still bothering me.

Now that that’s out of the way, on to the field notes.

10/3/16@19:10 – I’m sitting at my picnic table in a leather bomber jacket, listening to Lake Superior crash on the shore while my fire crackles happily.  It is so nice finally to be somewhat chilly.

Today was mostly a driving day.  I left my hotel room in Lima, OH, after sleeping until nearly 07:00, which was nice in and of itself.  The drive to Grand Marais was uneventful for the most part.  It did get rather interesting in the last 10 miles, when my GPS discovered what it presumed to be the quickest route fro me.  Last year, I took only paved roads.  This year, however, the Garmin took me about 8 miles down what amounted to a logging trail – and not a very good one.  I admit that I considered turning around a few times, but the Subaru was a trooper.  The Audi wouldn’t have made it.

[Note: I opted to take a longer route on the return trip.  Did not want to try the Rhoddie Truck Road again after a night of rain!]

 

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

 I arrived at my campsite at around 16:30 and got things set up before taking the 2-mile walk to the Au Sable Light Station to check my email and to let Jenny know that I’m still alive.  Had a voice mail from my boss, so I called him and was informed of a mandatory meeting at 10:00 tomorrow.  Oh goodie.  I wonder if either a}Digital Life has been sold or b}I need to start looking for a new job…

10/4/16@08:15 – Not to be a global warming alarmist, but it is decidedly warmer here than it was during the same week a year ago.  If I had to guess, the temp is in the low 60s this morning.  I’ve put on my leather jacket now, but have been sitting here in just shorts and a t-shirt for the last 45 minutes.  Last year, it was more like 45.

Made some coffee this morning, but probably won’t have anything else before I start the hike to the lighthouse for the 10:00 call.

Charging with boiling water!

Charging with boiling water!

While making the coffee, I did my first real test of the “charging pot” that I bought a few years ago.  It has a wire attached to it that clips to other wires and eventually goes into my phone (or iPod or exercise band or whatever).  Through some sort of magic, it is supposed to be able to charge small electronics by using the heat generated in coils built into the bottom of the pot.  I was delighted to find that it works beautifully on my Coleman stove, and am determined to try it on my alcohol stove the next time I go ultra-light.  What a great thing it would be to have a renewable source of recharging on those trips, rather than having to carry relatively heavy charging blocks.

I also brought a solar-and-crank-powered radio with me on this trip, but haven’t tried it yet (though I did let it charge via sunlight on the first driving day, and it seemed to take a charge really well).

Woke up twice during the night.  Once at around 03:00 to pee, and again a bit after 05:00 because my blankets had become dislodged and I was cold.  The first time, my fire was still burning, but it had died by the 05:00 awakening; and it was so unbelievably dark that I seriously wondered if I’d gone blind.  After trying (with no success) to see my hand in front of my face, I pressed the “light up” button on my wristband and reassured myself that my eyes still function.  Had an interesting time falling back to sleep, entertaining myself by imagining what I’d do if I’d actually lost my sight and had to hike to the lighthouse in order to call for help.  Or, for that matter, how’d I’d be able to dial 911 (assuming I got there) on one of these newfangled phones with no tactile buttons.  I guess “OK, Google – call 911” might work.  I’ve never considered it before.

10/4/16@13:20 – As I suspected, the meeting this morning was called so that my boss could pass on information regarding upcoming firings at AT&T (“surplussing” is what they like to call it these days).  Apparently, the company has decided that too many people with my job title exist, and they’ll let us know later this month who will get to stay, who’ll get shuffled to new AT&T jobs, and who needs to watch their ass as the door slams shut behind them.   Having gone through this so many times previously, I’m almost too tired of it to be worried – although I’ll admit that it adds a bit of stress to life as I try to determine how I’ll take care of the cats if I end up looking for a new job in a few months.  But I’m on vacation, dammit.  I’ll try not to think about things like that for a few more days.

Made some hot dogs and mac & cheese for lunch and finished listening to “Mozart In the Jungle” this afternoon.  It’s a book by oboist-turned-author Blair Tindall.  A fascinating tale about a woman who hung her hat on being an orchestral musician while the world of orchestral music spun out of control financially.  At 40, she gave up on her dream, went back to school, and became a journalist.  Well worth a read (or a listen).

This afternoon, I think I’ll go for a long walk.  The breeze is lovely, temp is in the 70s, and rain isn’t due to arrive until late tonight.

10/5/16@09:00 – Didn’t sleep particularly well last night.  Not entirely sure why, as I re inflated my air mattress, had plenty of blankets, and got a lot of exercise yesterday.  I think that it might’ve been too quiet, although at one point I got my radio out (works great!) and listened to a bit of the VP debate.  There was no wind, however, so I couldn’t hear the trees or the surf.  I need that stuff to sleep when I’m here!

It is much cooler this morning.  I’m still in shorts and a sweatshirt, but the breeze has come back and the temp is probably in the 50s.  Weather forecasts, however, have been saying that it will remain unseasonably warm – nearing or surpassing the 80-degree mark.  Not at all what I was hoping for.

Flies were terrible this year.

Flies were terrible this year.

The heat – what else can one call 70s and 80s in the U.P. in October? – has had one extremely negative effect: flies.  Flies have been incredibly annoying over the last two days, and I’m sitting here now stamping my legs under the table in a way that reminds me of Vermont Holsteins in the summer.  During my walk yesterday – from Hurricane River to Grand Sable Dunes – I must’ve killed 1000 of them on my shirt.  It used to be an orange one….now it’s orange with multiple little blood spots all over it.  U.P. Tie-Dye, I guess.

Made some coffee and sausage links for breakfast today and took the opportunity to charge my charger while doing so.  Everything seemed to work pretty well in that area, and I’m back up to 75% power on the charger.

Not sure what today will hold, but if it gets to be as hot as predicted, I might just jump into the lake for a minute.  My hair could certainly use it!

10/5/16@19:03 – I took a very long walk today – long enough to drain the battery on my Microsoft Band, so I’m not sure how much distance it’s going to give me credit for.  I know, however, that I went about 18 miles.  Left my campsite at Hurricane River at around 09:30 and walked on the NC trail westward until I got to the Sevenmile back-country campsite, which is just about 6.3 miles.  I then turned around and came back east, passing my site and continuing to the Au Sable back-country sites, which are about 3 miles east.  Stopped at the lighthouse on the way back in order to upload the information from my Band.  As I mentioned the Band was dead by the time I got there, so I just checked my email and walked back to the tent, where I started charging the band.

My feet, by the way, are killing me.  However, I got a really nice (and really COLD) dip in the lake about 5 miles west of here.  I kept passing side trails leading to gorgeous (and completely empty) beaches; so finally I took one of them, stripped down to my jockeys, and got wet.  Spent probably 15 minutes there before getting dressed and continuing on my trek.  Yeah – getting the sand off of my feet was a major pain in the ass, but I dried off pretty quickly, so wasn’t cold.  In the water, though…wow!  “Bracing” seems like a good word for it.  Each dunk felt kind of like my torso was going to break.  But damn, it felt good.

This was MY beach. Gorgeous, cold, and empty.

This was MY beach. Gorgeous, cold, and empty.

As I said, my feet were on fire when I got back to my tent…and I was also sweating like a pig….and I was also out of beer.  The last problem needed to be addressed, so I unhooked the tent from the car and drove to Grand Marais, which is a tiny town about 13 miles away.  It basically survives by catering to North Country Trail hikers and hunters, although it was a booming lumber town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Got some beer and some relish, figuring on grilling some hot dogs over the fire tonight, and came back to my site.  Got the fire lite….and then the skies opened up.  I spent 10 frantic minutes arranging tarps and tent flaps and getting everything into the tent, with a minimum of things getting soaked.

And that’s where things stand now.  The fire is burning merrily in the rain and I’m waiting it out from the confines of the tent, wondering if maybe I should just boil the hot dogs.   At least I’ve got beer.

To be continued……

Insidious and Insightful Insights Into the Debate

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So it’s Tuesday afternoon and I’ve nearly recovered from the last 5 days of activity, which included driving up to Greenville, SC, for a mini family reunion – during which Dad met his first great-grandchild – and driving over to Conway, SC, for a football game in which Furman was pummeled by 20 points largely because their special teams gave up 18.

Both events were enjoyable, of course.  I’m just not quite as young as I used to be, and that was a lot of driving in a pretty short period of time.  Basically, I got about half of the sleep that I needed between Friday and Monday (and, believe me, I was a mess yesterday).

So the big presidential debate was last night.  Here’s my take on it:

 

Moving on, let’s talk about my cat Chamberlain, who has had a pretty rough couple of years but has come through like a champ and, in the process, has turned into possibly the sweetest feline on earth.
chamberlainIt was just about a year ago today that I brought him to his vet because he’d been losing weight and had very little energy.  He was diagnosed with diabetes and had to start getting daily insulin shots.  A month prior to that visit, I’d taken him in to the vet because he was scratching incessantly and had bald spots all over his head.  That, it turned out, was because he had a flea allergy.  Just a few bites had turned his life into a nightmare – which was cured with some superb flea medicine and a steroid shot.

As it turned out – or at least appeared to turn out – it was the steroid that kick-started the diabetes; fortunately, he eventually recovered from both.  I’d weaned him off of the insulin by about March of this year and everything was going great.  He had lots of energy, enjoyed playing and racing around the house, and occasionally snuggled in my lap.

In April, he got startled during one of my lunch hours, jumped off of his cat tree, tore through my music room, lost control cornering on a hardwood floor, and was immediately unable to put any weight on his left leg.  Two hours later, we were back at the vet and I was looking at the x-ray confirming that he’d broken the ball off of his left femur.  Surgery to extract the broken femur head was scheduled for three days later.  A few days after that, he came home and we started a long rehab.

For a week or so, Chamberlain was confined to my guest bedroom – the mattresses removed from the bed and put on the floor so that he wouldn’t try to jump more than a few inches.  In the mornings, I’d carry him downstairs for breakfast and then carry him back up to his room while I took my walk.  In the evenings, I’d carry him down to lie in the kitchen for a while before bedtime.  At night, I slept on the mattresses on the floor so that he could have some company.

It’s now 5 months later and, unless you know what to look for, you’d never know that the little guy has absolutely nothing attaching his left leg to his skeleton.  He runs and jumps and plays and does all the things that a cat should do – but his personality has completely changed.  Cuddling in my lap is no longer an occasional thing – it’s something that he loves to do whenever I sit down.  He used to be somewhat of a loner, but now he wants to be wherever everyone else is.  He rarely tears around the house now – not because he can’t, but because he’s more inclined to look around and SEE what’s happening before reacting to it.

Can’t say that I blame him for that.

Anyway, he’s a sweetie.  And – hopefully – we’re done with the vet for a while.

I’m on vacation next week.  The plan as of now is to drive up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and spend a week on the southern shore of Lake Superior at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  I discovered this place last year and fell in love with it.  Looking forward to some fresh air, cool temperatures, steady breezes, and solitude.

 

What happened?

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The last week was kind of a blur.

Monday and Tuesday were okay, but I had to do an upgrade late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, and then I ran trivia Thursday night.  Between Wednesday morning and Friday night, therefore, I think I got about 6 hours of sleep.  And I’m not as young as I used to be.  Pretty sure I was in bed by 7:00 on Friday and I got another 5-hour nap yesterday afternoon.  Feeling a bit better today.

After literally three years of trying to get the television feeds at the call center fixed/upgraded, I managed to do so some day last week (I’m guessing that it was Thursday, but I honestly don’t remember).  The problem was that the account was setup around 5 years ago by someone who left the company 3 years ago, and nobody knew any of the account information – ergo, we couldn’t get anything done.  As it happened, I was searching through my intranet forums for something (I don’t remember what), and I stumbled across a post I’d made about three years ago with the subject line, “Avalon Ridge U-Verse Account Information.”  Imagine that.  I’d never thought to look in my own notes.

Long story short, I called support, gave the information, and by the next day all of our set-top boxes had been replaced, and we got two new wireless ones to put in the break room.

Maybe people will leave the floor televisions alone now that there are two that they can control.  I’m not hopeful, but that was the plan.

I think I’ve decided not to film the football team this year.  The decision is still somewhat up in the air, but realized that I’m starting to feel the wear and tear after doing it for the last 16 years.  The first game is at Michigan State, and I was kind of dreading quick up-and-back jaunt anyway, but I got swayed to just call it off since Jenny’s going to be out of town and Herb has his hands full with Andi.  It’s kind of a relief to have an excuse not to make the trip, and the more I think about the rest of the games, the less excited I am about getting up every Saturday and driving a minimum of 3 hours to stand in either blistering sun or a downpour.

Not to mention that I lost nearly two grand on equipment rentals last season because everybody and their mother has their own DSLR cameras now, so nobody’s buying my shots.  So yeah… I might just stay home and either watch the games on television (everything’s on ESPN3 these days) or not pay attention at all.

On the vacation front, I’m still planning to take a couple of days off on the week before Labor Day, and I’ve got the first week of October off (going back to Lake Superior), but I have 8.5 days yet to schedule and my boss is leaning on me to get them on the calendar.  I have no idea when I want to take them or what I’ll do.  I’m really kind of comfortable just hanging at the house and I hate taking vacation days to do that.  If I don’t use them, however, they’re lost forever.  So maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks?  No idea.

If you’re reading this and have a suggestion, I’m all ears.

The picture for this entry is of the GBB at the Great American Brass Band Festival (Danville, KY) four or five years ago.  We were invited to play, and we got Brett Baker, trombone player from the world-famous Black Dyke Band, to hang out with us for a week and play some solos.  Great guy, and a good time.

Perfection continues

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Dianne took off for home early this morning.  Since we had an overloaded camp last night (sleeping-wise), I slept in the car – and was very comfortable, thanks very much.  Woke up at around 5:30.  Dianne had plans to leave at 6:00, so I got up and took a short walk.

Kind of weird being on the road that early, and I had visions of running into a bear.  Didn’t happen, fortunately.

After Trude left, the rest of the crew had some breakfast, and then Karl, Rennie, and Jamie took off to play golf.  Don, Julie, and Lynn went to town to buy stuff for dinner (pork chops, I think), and to refill a propane tank.  Not sure if Cy went with them or not.  Diane took a nap, I believe, and I went for another walk after jumping in the lake.

Had a nice long nap on the farmhouse porch this afternoon and dreamt that I was playing in the barn at the Shoreham house.  It was beautifully windy on the porch.  Such good napping weather.

Woke up at around 3:30 and….took another walk.  I’m coming up on 13 miles for the day as I type this.

Finished the walk and moved the comforter, quilt, and pillow out of my car and back to the boathouse (I borrowed them last night), where I’ll be sleeping for the remainder of my time here.  Probably leaving on Wednesday so that I can chill at home for a couple of days before having to go back to work.

The weather today, as noted in the title, has been perfect.  Temps in the mid-70s, sunny, nice breeze coming off the lake.

WP_20160703_15_52_04_Selfie

My deer fly stopper

The flies have been kind of annoying on Thompson and Langford, but I’ve modified a fly net to work really nicely with a ball cap, and it keeps the little buggers away from my head.  Not the height of fashion, but I don’t really care.  At least I’m not being driven insane by deer flies.

Souvenir hunting…and the group grows

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Awoke early this morning to a brilliant sunshine.  I thought it was about noon.  Turned out to be 6:00 AM.  Since Karl and Diane are due to arrive this afternoon – and to displace me from my little cottage – I stripped the bed and went for a walk.  Got back in time to have coffee with the rest of the group, which then dispersed to the four winds.  “T” and Rennie went into town to get lumber to rebuild a staircase.  Julie, Cy, Jamie, Di, and Lynn went to the farmers market, I think.  I finished cleaning out the cottage, fell in the lake, and then set out for Parry Sound in my continuing quest to find good souvenirs for the few folks to whom I’d promised something, as well as to replace the Tilly hat that I lost when my car burned down a few years ago.

Managed to find plenty of stuff for the folks back home and get the replacement hat, so I’ll call that a success.

Arriving back at the camp, I took another walk, then fell in the lake again.  Saw a deer during the walk.  If you’re sharp-eyed, you can see it in the picture above.

Now, while we wait for Karl and Dianne to get here, we’re having drinks and watching people make dinner.  Hamburgers tonight!

Balderdash!

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Happy Thursday morning!

It’s about 8:30 in the main cabin at Ulvik and looks like it’s going to be yet another gorgeous day.  Yesterday did not disappoint.  Nor was anything of import accomplished, which added to the non-disappointment aspect of things.  I drove to the Cornball Store to get “T” some sticky buns yesterday morning, and took a fairly long walk later in the afternoon.

Much of the rest of the day was spent either reading or lounging on the screened porch of my cabin (pictured) and enjoying the ever-present breeze and perfect temperature.  Of course, falling in the lake was also accomplished.

“T” fried up some Tilapia for dinner last night, which was quite good.  In other happenings, I finally won a game of something!  Don’t remember the last time that that happened.  The game, “Balderdash,” was something that Jamie brought with him; it’s sort of a cross between “Dictionary” and messed-up trivia.  Players are given a subject, guess what it means, and then everyone tries to guess which answer given is the correct one.

Kind of goofy, but – as I said – I won.  So there’s that.

We may take a trip to Echo Rock this morning, which involves taking one of the boats through the Magnetawan Locks.  I don’t think I’ve ever done that.

More from the lake

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And so we’ve come to Wednesday.

It’s about 11:30 right now and a beautiful Ahmic day.  A bit nippy out of the sun (probably low 60s), but I’m sure that the docks are in the 70s.  I couldn’t make myself jump in the lake when I woke up 5 hours ago when it felt like about 55 degrees.  Pathetic, I know.  Jamie – who arrived yesterday afternoon – and Cy both said that the water temperature was perfect.  I opted for a hot shower instead, though I’m sure I’ll hit the lake within an hour – after which I’ll take a nap on my screened-in porch.

I made jambalaya for dinner last night, and thought that it was pretty good.  In addition to chorizo sausage and all the “regular” stuff (onion, peppers, garlic, etc.), I included bacon, ham, and scallops.  Made a lot of the stuff, which was good because Patrick and his wife (a Canadian couple who’s last name I cannot recall) showed up.  Got some nice compliments on the slop, and there’s enough left over for lunch today.  I always like the stuff better after it’s had a day to marinate in the fridge.

Had a bit of a scare – or at least an uneasy feeling – yesterday morning.  I got a text message from my neighbor asking if I’d left yet and saying, “The house looks occupied!”  I forwarded that to Jenny, who replied that she thought that she’d heard water running the last time she went to check on the cats.

After grilling the neighbor a bit, I learned that she was just referring to the lights going on and off (they’re on a fairly complex schedule), and Jenny and I decided that the running water was probably the refrigerator.  Heard from her last night that all is well, all doors are locked, etc.

A bit freaky.  Had me on the verge of heading home after only two days here!

I also drove down to Huntsville yesterday – mainly to get ingredients for the jambalaya, but also to look for souvenirs for a few friends in Atlanta.  Wasn’t able to find anything that wasn’t stupid, so I guess I’ll try Parry Sound this weekend.  We’d planned to go there on Friday, but realized that Friday, being Canada Day, won’t be good.  The whole town will be closed.

So what to do Friday?  I hear that there will be a Canada Day parade in downtown Magnetawan, which should be fun.  I’ve been here for at least one of those, and it was so much like a July 4th parade in Shoreham….

 

God’s Country

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After two years away, I’m finally back at the Mag.  Joined Dianne, Cy and “T” at around 3:30 yesterday afternoon after a fairly pleasant drive from Lima, OH, in which I’d spent Saturday night.

The drive from Atlanta to Ohio was uneventful – once I actually managed to get out of Atlanta.  Seems like the west-side traffic gets worse down there every day.  It took me close to an hour to make it from Duluth to Kennesaw.  After that, it was smooth all the way to Lima, and I arrived there at around 7:30 Saturday night.  Woke up early and hit the road by 7 :00 in order to get to Magnetawan before dinner.

After said dinner (dirty bird (a.k.a. bastard bbq)), the four of us played Oh Hell until 10:30. CY was the big winner, followed closely by “T”.  I, as usual, got my ass kicked.  Never have been good at cards.

We got a couple of brief showers on the lake last night – enough to hatch some mosquitoes – but the sun is out today, and it’s absolutely beautiful weather.  When I woke up this morning (at 5:30 – ugh), it was about 68 degrees in my cabin.  I’d estimate that it’s currently in the low 70’s, and there’s a perfect western breeze coming in off of the lake as I sit on the porch this morning.

No plans for today at the moment. I’m sure that napping will be involved, and maybe some tennis. There is also a decent chance that I’ll go into town, as I need both Vodka and a mosquito/deerfly net for my hat.  I took a walk this morning, and the flies were terrible.