Twelve people on a canoe trip makes for a rather different trip than two or three people on a trip.  Even though it meant one and a half food packs, eleven packs total, and five canoes, we survived and had a pretty good time all told.  I couldn't help being a little nervous as the comfort and enjoyment of the canoe trip (the first for several of our crew) was at least somewhat dependent upon me.

( Many pictures below the cut )

It was a great trip, and probably the last trip that the family is going to be able to all make together for several years with mom and Burnell going to Egypt.  Next time, Sarah will have to make it, and so will our little boy and maybe even other little children too.  A houseboat might be a nice welcomed change, though.

Simple pleasure - lots of good memories
Peace

Some time last year, family started talking about a canoe trip with as many people attending as possible.  As a former canoe guide, I volunteered to plan and lead the trip.  I've said several times over the last few days that if I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't want to.  But that being said, planning a trip for 12 (twelve!!!) is much more hectic than planning a trip for two or three.  Though we are only out for three nights and four days, the amount of food we are taking is unreal. 

I am actually delighted that so many people are able to make it on this trip.  As far as spouses and significant others go, everyone in the Peterson/Fistler/Olson/Atkins clan is going to be there except for Sarah.  Being as she is rather pregnant, though, I suppose it is wisest that she isn't out in the middle of the wilderness.  Twelve people, though.  That's a big group.

Twelve concerns me in a couple ways. First, as I haven't been to Voyageurs before, I don't have any idea how large the camp sites are.  Joe says they're pretty big with many tent pads, but since we have five  2-4 person tents, one 1 person tent, and one hammock, I am concerned that there will be enough tent pads.  One thing about being part of a family that includes adults and young adults (as opposed to kids) is that couples tend to want to stick together and often don't particularly want company in their tents.  The four-person tents could hold three people without too much trouble.  Four would be a bit cramped, though, and would necessitate splitting people up or adding guests.

Also, twelve people meeans a lot off stuff.  People actually did pretty in packing minimally.  Even though people packed pretty well, we still have eleven packs.  Eleven packs!!!  That's on top of five canoes.  I certainly don't have a problem carrying a smaller pack and a canoe at the same time, but I'm not going to expect everyone carrying a canoe to do the same thing, nor for every person carrying a pack to carry two packs on the portages... especially since I understand a couple of our group members are unable to carry much due to one thing or another.

We'll have a good time though.  The first paddle stroke is really the best.  That means we are finally moving, and we have a whole wonderful trip in front of us.  I'm really looking forward to it.

simple pleasure - being done packing
Peace

The Graniteman Triathlon was yesterday, my fourth of five races scheduled for this summer and the first race for my sister, Lindsey.  I'll spare you the full race report, but if you are interested, you can find it here.  Considering how spotty my season has been, I wasn't sure what to expect with this race.  I've been training regularly again, but not at the volume nor the intensity that I would like.  That said, I knew I was in better shape than I was for the Lake Minnetonka Tri late last month.  So I decided I was going to leave it all out on the course and just see how I would do.

Before I get ahead of myself, though, I want to give a big congratulations to graveylump for completing her first triathlon and beating her goal time by 15 minutes!  It was a real treat to be able to cheer for her in the race.  I was hoping to see and cheer for her out on the bike portion, but I must have just missed her.  I did get to watch her second transition and cheer really loudly (and probably obnoxiously) for her as she finished up.
( Pictures and a race accomplishment inside the cut. )

So another good race in the books.  Sounds like Lindsey is interested in doing more races some time.  Now we'll just have to convince Matt and Molly to join us (if not Sarah and Rick as well).

Simple pleasure - sweaty hugs
Peace

3 weeks of teaching - done
If I can survive three weeks, I can survive a trimester.  If I can survive the first trimester, things will be just fine.  I have to say, though, it is very nice not having to think about school for a little while.  If I were smart, though, I would spend a bit of time each day getting all of my grading taken care of and having the first few weeks of the term planned.  It's a little hard to excuse myself and spread out the books and papers when there is company, and we're going to either have or be company for the next two weeks.

I finished talking about Afghanistan with my Global Issues students this week, so we'll be moving on to something else.  I have wanted to talk about poverty and homelessness.  But since my students are in many cases the faces of poverty and homelessness, I'm not sure how I would approach that.  They are important issues, but I am going to have to spend some time thinking about it and I may have to focus on those issues abroad.  I don't know.  Perhaps I will talk about food instead, which touches on poverty and resources.  I've got 13 (12... 11... 10... 9...) days to get things figured out.  I'll just have another cup of coffee for now.

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I haven't been running in over a week.  It's been cold and snowy, but that's really no excuse.  I know that I can bundle up enough to stay warm.  At the very least, I should put the bike on the trainer today and get sweaty.  I signed up for the January Challenge in the Minnesota forum of Beginner Triathlete.  The official goal is to get in 45 workouts during the month.  I've got no chance at all of getting that many in, so I am going to shoot for 26.  That is a workout every day with a rest day on the weekend. 

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Gary and Carol have been here since Wednesday, and it's been nice to visit.  Thursday, we went to Orchestra Hall for a "Scandinavian" Christmas concert.  I was hoping for music that is a little more like some of the new Scandinavian folk I like to listen to, but it was really quite good, of course.  We're really here in the Twin Cities to have a world class orchestra.  Sarah and I should really go more often.

We'll be going to the Swedish Institute in the next couple days, go out to eat somewhere, maybe go to the James J. Hill House or the Ramsey House and just try to sit and stay warm.  Right now, it is my job to have my coffee and wake up while they're at church and have pancakes ready shortly after they get home.

Simple pleasure - vacation!
Peace

So this is a little overdue, but here's a short trip report.

I arrived after an uneventful flight, but just missed the shuttle to Gig Harbor by seconds.  I could see that shuttle pulling out of the parking lot.  So I sat outside enjoying the balmy 50 degree air and read my book for an hour.  Eventually I arrived in Gig Harbor and was picked up by my grandparents.  We spent the afternoon and evening having lunch and just visiting.  It was really nice hearing all sorts of stories from when they were young.  She was a young farm girl who grew up on the North Dakota prairie before being sent to the metropolis of Fargo to go to a private high school 'cause there just wasn't any place for her to go where she grew up.  He grew up in Fargo (or Moorhead?) in a small house headed by a stern and pious father who worked very hard.  It was really nice to hear their stories. 

Since they moved back to Gig Harbor, they bought a small house at the end of a cul-de-sac that need a whole lot of work.  He did that work and turned kind of a funny little house into a very nice place indeed.  I am so impressed that he did all of that work himself - taking out some walls, putting in others, moving windows, duct work, serious landscaping, plumbing, you name it.

Lindsey was to arrive the following day about noon, so I got dropped off to pick up a rental car.  Then I drove to the airport to pick her up.


It was a short trip, but I sure was happy to be able to visit.  My grandparents both have medical issues, and aren't getting any younger and having my sister there was a bonus.  Family has become much more important to me in the last few years.  I'm glad I got to see them.

Simple pleasure - listening to the Twins on the radio again
Peace

• I made cardamom bread yesterday evening.  I really like the process of opening cardamom pods and the grinding up the seeds in the mortar.  It smells really good while baking too.  I searched the kitchen for something tasty to put on th bread when I found some blackberry jam that Sarah brought home from Oregon.  The fragrance of the cardamom works so nicely with the bittersweetness of the jam.  What a treat.
• I played poker at the Kom-On-Inn.  It is this dive bar in west Duluth that has been patronized by the working-class folk of that area for decades and decades.  The great part of the bar though, are the big panels around he walls that have paintings of many of the old mills and factories of the town - steel mills, ore docks, refrigerator plant, the cement plant, etc. - many of which have long since been torn down.  That bar, though perhaps lacking in refinement, is a historical treasure to Duluth.  My poker playing wasn't great, but drinking cheap beer and talking with the locals was pretty great.
• We were given the soundtrack to "Once."  It is a great movie, and the soundtrack is wonderful - great Sunday morning music.  If you haven't seen this movie, do it.  Do it soon before you forget about it.
• My baby sister has mono.  She wasn't able to go to school all last week, and even had to miss out on some of the homecoming funness I guess.  Poor girl.  She looked miserable.  Boo.
• It will be in the 30s today.  Sarah suggested that I go biking outside today since I complained of horrible boredom after my ride on the trainer in the basement.  I really want to ride outside, but I don't want to deal with cleaning the bike, nor with being so cold since I don't have much for cold-weather bike gear.  Maybe I'll go anyway.  My bike needs some cleaning anyway.
• It is good to be home after being in Seattle (a post for later) early this week and then going straight up to Wrenshall.  I'm glad I got to visit family, but it is good to see my wife and have a quiet morning with her in our home.
• Yeah, this soundtrack is really good.  It gets extra points for having several songs in 3 and even at least one song in 5.

Simple pleasure - sitting by the wood stove in Burnell's A-frame and visiting with him amid the sawdust and building materials
Peace

I went to the Twin Cities Bike Swap this morning.  Great event.  Tables with people getting rid of their old bike parts, gear, etc. for fantastic prices.  I picked up a set of aero bars for $30 (regular price ~$90) and a new ergo-saddle (regular price often well over $100).  I made out like a bandit. 

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Sarah and I went swimming tonight.  This was my first swim since I got new goggles and a new swim suit.  The goggles were good, if a little tight around the inside of my eyes.  The swimsuit, I liked a lot.  They are a pair of Speedo Jammers - think bike shorts without the padding.  Wow.  My old swim shorts seemed like I was pulling a parachute through the water compared to this new suit.  Even my easy warm-up portion of the swim was noticeably faster.

My workout consisted of 300 yards easy warm-up, and then six sets of 200 yards fast, a short breather, 100 yards easy, and a short breather.  I was very happy with my time during my 200s.  I was averaging about 2:45 to 2:50 per 200, which is very quick for me.  If I were able to keep up a 1:30 100 for my sprint in May, I would be probably about a minute faster than I did last year and rather towards the front of the pack in the race.  It was a hard workout, but a good workout.

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My grandfather has been battling some health issues that the doctors haven't really gotten their hands on for the past few months.  Lindsey is going to visit our grandparents in a little over a week, so I am considering going around then too.  The time I would be there would only overlap with the time she's there by maybe a day or so, but any time to visit with her is good and I've been thinking about going out to see my grandfather too.

It would be nice to be able to do that, but I'll have to see just if my grandparents have the energy to have so many visitors and to see if plane schedules would work out.  I hope it does.  I need to spend more time with both my sister and my grandparents.

EDIT:  I am leaving next Monday morning and will return on Wednesday evening.  This will be a nice quick trip.

Simple pleasure - cooking chili
Peace

Sarah and I have taken a few nice trips in the last year - Seattle/San Juan Islands, San Diego, England/Ireland, and even up to Northern Minnesota.  She quietly remarked to me today that she could see herself living in just about any of these places, and would absolutely love to live in a few of them.  That's not the case with Sierra Vista (the town her parents are retiring in).  It is a town cozied up to a large army base in the desert.  There are 40,000 people in town and the town is in a very broad valley between small mountain ranges that rise a few thousand feet above the valley floor. 

The first thing I noticed about the area was the color, or lack thereof.  Everything is a shade of brown.  Then I noticed a lack of things.  Aside from some scrubby mesquite trees, various types of cactus, and other small ground plants, there is very little to see where land hasn't been developed.  You can literally see mountains about 80 miles away over on the horizon, and you can see almost every inch of land  for about 40 miles.  It is a bit unsettling.  It just seems so empty.  There are plenty of mountains on the horizon, but they all look pretty bare too (though as you get closer and higher in elevation, you see that there are trees on the mountains... at least to an extent).

All of that I could probably get used to in time.  In fact, there are parts of the land that are quite beautiful, but I will get to that later.  Sierra Vista, though, seems to have nothing to offer me.  First, since it is so close to a large army base, there is a HUGE military presence and mindset in town.  Second, the town itself was only founded about 50 years ago.  It is remarkable that it has grown so much in 50 years, but it grew in the era of suburban expansion.  The result is that the whole town looks like a big suburb even though it is the largest town for probably 60 miles.  It is full of big box stores and chain restaurants.  The "neighborhoods" all look like suburban neighborhoods with cul-de-sacs, and cookie-cutter houses.  Since it's in a desert, there aren't big trees nor any green areas that give neighborhoods any character... or privacy.

I just could not live here.

Now I should say that I've had a good time visiting Sarah's folks.  We've gone hiking each day and gotte to see some of the land in the area.  Getting up into the mountains can actually be very nice and wooded.  The town of Bisbee (though divided into very different and separate parts by a huge pit mine) is historic, quite pretty, and fun to walk around.  And Chiricahua National Monument just begs to be hiked and explored on foot.  There will be pictures coming later.

Tomorrow is the 8-hour drive to San Diego.  Ugh.

Simple pleasure - a dinner recommendation from a local
Peace

If you are a teacher or could ever be a teacher.  Be sure to leave good lesson plans for your substitutes.  Don't leave vague instructions.  Make things specific.  Coming into a classroom with no, or horribly insufficient lesson plans sucks.

Sure does.

With my last period class, though, I did some trivia with them.  Those who participated seemed to have a good time and I enjoyed myself quite a bit too.  I'll have to give out fewer Starburst candies as prizes though, 'cause if I give out as much as I did today what I have won't last long.  HA!  I think I need to put some more pop-culture in there though.  As I read though the questions I put together, I saw that they were pretty social-studies heavy.

My mom is staying with us tonight, and possibly tomorrow night.  I hope she has a little bit of energy 'cause I kind of want to take her out tonight, at least for coffee.  Well, I have a little bit of cleaning to do before she arrives.

Simple pleasure - taking off my shoes for the first time all day
Peace

It was Sarah's and my first wedding anniversary yesterday.  We did it!  What an accomplishment or something.  Seriously though, it has been a wonderful year and as Sarah said yesterday on our way home from dinner, it was easier than it seemed like it should be.  I guess that's not a bad thing though.  One year down, a whole bunch to go.

In other news I went to campus today to drop off the last of the required paperwork I need for the U to say I can teach.  When I got there I realized I didn't have the check book (no cash apparently) to pay some fees.  Now I'm back home, making a little lunch and will soon be back out the door to catch the 5th bus in under three hours to go get things done.  Yippee!