Goin’ native
Published October 26, 2009 | 
No kayaks in this story. We spent the weekend going native. Well, I didn’t shoot a deer or anything like that but I did go to the local apple orchard. It’s sort of classic rite of autumn to road trip through the local hills taking in the fall color, carving pumpkins, visiting an orchard, visiting a winery and hanging out at a local state park for a Halloween Hike. If you can do it all in one day, all the better!
Lost!
Published October 14, 2009 | 
You got no place to be / Still you wonder where youre goin
And why I had to leave / I hear a voice and it says to me
Find your way back
– Starship
I won’t re-write the story here. You can read my full post by clicking here. Even though it does happen every couple of years around here, it still amazes me that folks can get lost out in the “wilds” of Wisconsin. For those of us who have spent plenty of time in the outdoor world it seems sort of obvious to be prepared for, and thereby often simply avoid danger. Yet like all things in the world, we had to learn it from somewhere. We weren’t just born knowing how to start a fire in the woods for instance. In sea kayaking or all outdoor activities it’s so important that we don’t become survival snobs. We have to simply keep sharing our knowledge in hopes that those who need it, will seek it out. (And those who don’t will just stay on the trails!)
Unification Theory
Published October 13, 2009 | 
Baraboo Interactive Services is now Skillet Creek Media.
When I started my business in 1996 I really had no idea what I was doing. I was just asked to build websites for a couple folks who heard I knew how. Well, sort of. I mean I bought a cheap Packard Bell computer at Wal-Mart because even though we were very poor then, I didn’t want my kids to fall behind the future that I thought was coming. Of course what I ended up using that first computer for was drawing pictures, editing photographs and generally learning to make things. Along the way, I learned HTML, later Flash, and so on… Over a dozen years later I’m still just doing whatever I do. Only now am I really starting to see a theme. At 44 it’s about time, eh!?
Walking The Wisconsin
Published October 7, 2009 | 
Taking a break from walking our kayaks down the Wisconsin River…
Paddling down the Lower Wisconsin River is one of the most popular trips in our area. Walking down the river is another less popular option. Of course most people, most sane people, run the Wisconsin in early summer. Earlier in the year the water is higher, the current is faster and the hot summer sun makes an occasional wade across a sand bar a joy. I on the other hand, am simply horrid at doing things the way they’re normally done. For good and bad, this personal defect usually sets me up for some unique experiences. The reward is simply being right there in the moment which is often harder to achieve than one might think.
Twittering Down The Wisconsin
Published October 1, 2009 | 
This should be fun… cold… and wet…. Beginning tomorrow morning and through the weekend Mary and I will be taking our first paddling trip down the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. Our goal is simply to enjoy the trip and see how far we can travel in the 2.5 days we have. The route is about 85 miles in total but Mary has never spent so much time in a kayak… so well see how it goes! Along the way we’ll be Twittering away and posting pics through DevilsLakeWisconsin.com and my Wisconsin Travel twitter called “BluffNotes”. You are more than welcome to follow along if you like while we spend a couple days promoting our area! Just go here (to the blog) or click here to follow Bluffnotes if you like…
Go Slough
Published September 29, 2009 | 
So deep, so wide, will you take me on your back for a ride
If I should fall, would you swallow me deep inside
– gabriel
In yesterday’s post I mentioned stopping along the roadside to wrangle some apples only to end up cleaning up a bunch of trash. The photo above is from that very spot. What looks like a swamp in the image is part of a vast network of small streams, bogs and sloughs that make up the lower Wisconsin River valley. Somewhere out there past the swamp is the river proper.
My love is in league with the freeway
Its passion will ride, as the cities fly by
And the tail-lights dissolve, in the coming of night
And the questions in thousands take flight
– plant
Last weekend we took a little trip to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave National Park. It’s about a 9 hour drive from our home here in Wisconsin. Well, it may be if you don’t spend 2 hours stuck in Chicago traffic. I love traveling and in America just hitting the open road is a desire somewhat hardwired into many of us I think. It used to be that as you drove you were in constant anticipation of each bend in the road, each ridge you climbed and every stop for gas and food. There was so much diversity. It was in fact, exploring. Our parents have told us that things have changed since they took off down the highway in their 1950′s family cruisers and they have. What has changed more than anything, is simply the lack of change.
Continue reading →