The Potgieters in Minnesota – see a small window to our lives below
Before Church we went out on the St Croix river. I took my kayak and Troy took his tandem – the second seat was occupied by Jacques and we really enjoyed the morning.
We went upstream from where the I94 crosses the St Croix to the upstream side of the train bridge. Next time we will see how far up we can get – Maybe all the way to Stillwater.
Early morning on Lake of the Isles. The water is like glass and everything is super calm – totally the oposite of my previous thunderstorm experience on this lake!
At the ceiling of the bridge I spent the thunderstorm under, a bird (swallow maybe) had built a nest, suspended from who-knows-what. Three little heads can be seen with some imagination and the mom is sitting on something left of the nest.
Early morning out on Fish lake again – it is only ten minutes from our house and big enough to get some exercise on.
There was a curious little black fellow on the bank of the lake – he looked to me like a weasel or ferret and was just as much at home on land as in the water. At one point he slipped into the water and within seconds some ducks who were close by flew off the water in obvious panic! And then he appeared again from the water, not having caught breakfast …
The group, Men About Christian Service, from our church went on a canoe trip down the St Croix river and I joined them, of course in my own boat!
We went down from Taylor’s Falls to Oceola – 8 miles and a good three hours of leisure.
I already had the kayak on the car roof when I noticed it was cloudy. So I ran indoor to check the weather forecast and that had a warning that was about to expire for a county north of us.
So I decided to drive up to Lake Calhoun in any case and see what the weather was like when I got there. Calhoun was crowded and there was no parking so I drove to Lake of the Isles where I found a nice parking right next to the canoe racks.
The weather had gotten a bit lighter and I could see thunder clouds already past me. So I launched the kayak and started away towards Cedar Lake through the canal between the two. There I helped a family who had rented kayaks – the boy needed to sit more upright so we adjusted his seat back and the footrests.
By this time it started raining and I headed back from Cedar Lake to Lake of the Isles – as I reached the last bridge, it really came down hard and I decided to wait under the bridge. Within minutes a thunder storm had positioned itself over us and one of the most spectacular shows played itself out around us! The dad of the family waited with me under the bridge while his wife and son had gotten out and was sitting in the rain on shore.
At times the roar of the thunder was deafening and I wondered if the sound conductivity of the water played a role. It felt like the sharp rumbles would cause the bridge to crumble!
Truly an adrenaline rush…..!
…that is, with my own Kayak. I went to Fish Lake in Eagan for the second time.
Wow, now I appreciate summer with its long evenings! This trip was made between seven thirty and eight thirty in the evening and you can see how much sunshine there still is!
There was not a breeze and the water shows that absolute mirror surface, disturbed only by my wake and a few jumping fish. Oh, and also by a water rat that swam past my kayak.
Fish Lake is slap bang in the middle of Twin Cities suburbia. Within a mile are two major strip malls, a huge apartment complex and many residential houses – you can find a map of the lake HERE.
At the end of the Daldorff’s camping weekend at Lake Elmo, I joined them for another paddling adventure on the lake.
This evening I visited the Dalldorfs where they were camping at Lake Elmo. Of course the new Kayak went with and Troy had his tandem there as well.
They were four families from their church camping together and while another family looked after the Dalldorf girls, the three of us went paddling on the lake! Well, at last we can take photographs of each other in the kayaks.
My new kayak behaved very well in fairly high waves caused by powerboats – very stable!
At last my big dream has come true – My Own Kayak! I bought the kayak on Sunday.
It is a America Angler 11.0 by Islander. It weighs 45 pounds and can carry up to 450 pounds – only 11 feet long.
It still taxes me to put it on the minivan roof or take it off – but this evening I took her to a lake all by myself. I went to Fish Lake in Eagan and rowed the length of the lake. The kayak performed very well, despite a fairly strong breeze that was blowing! I am also pleased with its stability.
How very nice it was to see the front bow of the kayak (up to now I have always bee in the rear of a tandem kayak with my friend Troy).
Our trip on the Cannon River went from Cannon Falls to the town of Welch, Minnesota! You can see the whole of the town in the one photo.
We also saw a prospector who was paning in the river for gold.
The river runs in a beautiful ravine and in places we could hear people on the bicycle trail alnong the river, but we could never see them.
Next time we want to go all the way to the Mississippi River.
