Kim's Mediterranean Cruise Part 1

(Spain and the French Riviera)
Flight across the Atlantic

Flying first class is heaven! Mary Beth, Nancy and I couldn’t stop oohing and aahing over the seats in first class. They were fully reclinable with the push of a button and had different adjustments for the legs and back. I had feelings of being in a hospital bed and not being able to move my legs. Each seat also received a blanket, a full size pillow, and a goody bag full of socks, tissues, chap stick, ear plugs, an eye mask and on and on. The three of us couldn’t get over the spaciousness. The food was non-stop and very tasty. Each seat had its own TV with many choices of movies, TV shows and music. Despite all the distraction, most of what we did was sleep the night away.

The control panel for the first class seats.

Barcelona
We arrived at The Hotel Claris in Barcelona sometime the next morning. We discovered right away that things are smaller in Europe. Cars are much smaller than in the U.S. and at least half the traffic was motor scooters or motorcycles. The way the motor scooters weaseled themselves in between all the cars was amusing – at first. Of course our taxi was smaller than most in the U.S. also and our luggage almost didn’t fit into the trunk.






The Claris (http://www.hotelclaris.com/ ) is considered a boutique hotel. It is set in the heart of Barcelona inside a renovated palace. The luggage boys seemed amused (or amazed) that 3 women would be traveling by themselves. We were given warnings about pickpockets. We get on the elevator to go to our fourth floor room. What a surprise when the door opened! It didn’t look like all of us would be able to fit inside such a tiny place. Three or four people in one of these elevators is all they can hold.

When we got to our suite, we were surprised to see that the 2 beds were just large twins and were put right next to each other. There wasn’t much room between the furniture and the walls. Yet, with the tightness of the space, this was supposed to be a luxury suite in a luxury hotel. Just one of the many lessons learned in the size of things in America.

We spent the better part of 2 days just trying to figure out where we were. We would walk somewhere and end up walking in circles. Or we’d walk somewhere only to discover that we were going in the opposite direction from where we were supposed to go. I was in charge of navigation with only a simple street map to help me out. I didn’t realize I need to have my compass with me also. I couldn’t figure out why we get getting turned around in directions I didn’t want to take us. The joke for the city of Barcelona was – “Just two more blocks” to get wherever it was we were going.

We ate many good meals at sidewalk cafes. Meals in Barcelona are much smaller than the U.S. also. Yet, even though they were smaller they were very satisfying and filling. We didn’t see any overweight people while we were in Spain. One thing that helped make the meals satisfying, was the “to die for” gelato (ice cream) that was for sale on every block. I don’t know what it is they do when they make it to give it such good flavor. Our favorite café – No No’s seemed to delight in serving food in an artistic way. Take a look at the mozzarella salad and the pasta sculpture on top. Eating at these sidewalk cafes was a delightful way to pass away a few hours of the day.

The architecture and sculpture of Barcelona was amazing to say the least. We saw buildings that were built in the mid-evil times all the way through to modern styled structures of the present. Everywhere you turned you could see that artistic thought was put into it.

Les Rambles

Les Rambles is the most famous street in Barcelona. This is a crowded, tree lined street that is very popular with tourists. The street is packed with people selling flowers, small pets and other goods. The interesting entertainment of living statues, mimes, musicians and artists makes is a very enjoyable walk. The wide boulevard connects the Placa de Catalunya, a busy square, to the Monument a Colum, a tall column erected in honor of Christopher Columbus.

Next to Les Rambles is a huge market that sells all kinds of food – fruit, vegetables, meat, candy and goat heads???


Barri Gotic

The Barri Gotic (the Gothic district) contains a concentration of medieval Gothic buildings only a few blocks northeast of Les Rambles, and is the nucleus of old Barcelona. It's a maze of interconnecting dark streets linking with squares. Most of the buildings date from the 14th and 15th century, when Barcelona was at the height of its commercial prosperity Around the Cathedral, one of Spain's greatest Gothic buildings, you can still see part of the ancient walls incorporated into later structures.

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece is one of Barcelona’s most important landmarks. Construction on this church was started in 1882 and will continue at least until 2014. Gaudi died in 1926 before his masterwork was completed and since then, controversy has continually dogged the building program. Some say the shell should have been left as a monument to the architect but the chief architect today argues that the task is a sacred one. He believes it is a church intended to atone for sin and appeal for God’s mercy on Catalunya. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful work of art.

The Cruise

The French Riviera

We left Barcelona on a Saturday to board our cruise ship - The Voyager of the Seas. The ship held over 3,000 people and was one of the largest cruise ships when it was built. It contains a rock wall, skating rink, swimming pools and more. Our suite was on the top deck of rooms and had a fantastic balcony and window view. I can honestly say that our suite was nicer AND bigger than the house I'm living in now. It would have been easy to live there for an extended period of time.

The French Riviera ended up being my favorite place the whole trip. Our port of call was Villefranche. We took a tender (boat) off the ship, boarded a tour bus with our tour guide Angelique. We drove almost an hour to the towns of Nice and Cannes. It was the only cloudy, rainy day of the whole trip.

We were set loose by our tourguide in the midevil center of the town of Nice. Like most of the cities we visited, the old part of the city was surrounded by high walls. This was how cities protected themselves in midevil times. Since it was Sunday, we were told that most of the shops would be closed but it was market day. The market was packed with local people buying their food. What a way to shop! It would be so nice to be able to buy food like this all the time. The fruit and vegetables always looked so good. Also for sale were flowers, candy, pastries, meat, spices and soaps. We ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe next to this market.

After an encounter with the town drunk while waiting for the tour bus to arrive, we boarded the bus and headed west to the city of Cannes. Besides being the home of the International Film Festival every year, it is home to movie stars, expensive shops, fancy hotels and one of the most charming places we visited. Again, since it was Sunday, most everything was closed. We walked around the building where the film festival is held and saw the handprints in the sidewalk, walked around an art market, watched botchiball being played, watched a sand sculpture, and walked along the boat harbour filled with expensive yachts.

Perhaps my favorite part of this whole city is when I took off by myself to explore some of the side streets in the old part of the city. I started down a narrow street and soon found it was lined on both sides with very small cafes. Some had only 5 tables in the whole place. I took a turn on another street and came upon some flower displays. I walked further and found more displays. Before I knew it I was at the top of the hill above the city where the cathedral was and more flower displays. After talking with the tour guide, I learned there was some kind of flower festival happening.

Below is the view of the city of Nice on our way back to the ship. Despite the rain, this was a very enjoyable day.

The rest of my trip will be in the makings. Check back often to see if I've updated this section...

Sam's BWCA Solo Paddle

Decided to go back out into the same area we did last week as a solo trip with my Vagabond, and a small Duluth Pack. The trip turned out to be quite an adventure from the start. As you can see in the dock photo the weather was threatening, but I thought I had time to make it across Snowbank (about 2 miles) to the portage before all heck broke loose, wrong!

Learned that the 14' Vagabond is not suited for rough seas on a large lake, made to to an island in the center of the lake, and had to wait it out with the loons and grebes for about 3 hours.

The dark skies of the storm against the deep red sun delivered it's own sense of beauty, and that combined with watching the birds helped pass the time.



The portages out were fairly easy, and my homemade yoke for the Vagabond worked fine, in spite of the slippery, wet conditions on the trails.




But made it back to Disappointment Lake and got a great campsite on a high bluff overlooking a narrow channel where Dennis, Sean & I had caught fish last week. Quickly threw up the Hennesy and a tarp, thinking the weather may return, but the rest of the week was fine!

















The views from high on the bluff were beautiful! Especially the early sunrise.

And the fishing right in front of the bluff was good:
The largest ones were 2 to 2-1/2 lbs.













The bite overall was excellent, I lost count at about 30, all smallmouth, kept a few for evening dinner...fried in a mixture of lemon seasoned batter and Japanese bread crumbs - yum!

Very different from bass fishing in Louisiana, the fish really do follow the rules uo here! We often joke about the fish not reading the bass fishing

books, but they sure do in MN.



So, what a great two weeks! Anyone who's never been to the Boundry Waters is missing one of the last pristine wilderness areas left in the lower 48. It reminds me of Alaska, but much easier to get to, and many, many routes to explore by canoe, foot and even snowmobile in the winter. And the town of Ely and it's residentd are a delight, so what are you waiting for? Come on up and join us on the next paddle!

Sam's BWCA Trip with Sean & Dennis Thomas

This trip all started at Steve Joffrion's fantastic log cabin that is located right on Miner's Lake in Ely, MN. Steve and his Son's built the main structure from standing timber! The wildflowers in the yard were beautiful.

We used the cabin as a staging place and spent the first two nights there, since our permit started Tuesday. The stay at the cabin was quiet & relaxingand the town of Ely was fun & interesting. http://www.elyminnesota.com/

On the way into town, we went to the Bear Center, next day toured the town and did the "Root Beer Lady" tour. http://www.canoecountry.com/dorothy/ "Big Teddy" was out, tearing apart a log that had ant larvae inside (one of their favorite foods!).

Ely has a rich history, both as a mining town, and one of the most northern entry points into the remote & pristine Boundry Waters Wilderness.

We launched early Tuesday morning and spent four days & three nights in the Boundry Waters. The temperatures were moderate, and the skies crystal blue, reflecting into the clear waters below.




Sean (Dennis' Son) was a real "trooper" and proved to be a good fisherman. It was almost impossible to keep those two in camp. They were hard at the fishing most of the day.

This trip was quite different than the one I had made last year, especially the first part, more pocket lakes and portages and almost no river travel. We put in at Snowbank Lake and ended up going all the way to Ashigan Lake on Tuesday, heard the fishing was good (and it was), but the campsites were pretty barren, with very little shade. The underbush was "spring-green" and the blueberry bushes were loaded with fruit rippening for the July season. We decided to stay the two nights at Ashigan, since we were on fish & Sean was having a good time.
Sean had fun sleeping in the Hennessy Hammock those first two nights.



The third was a bit too cold! The nite temps were 45-50, perfect for curling up in a light sleeping bag!

We swam a lot, caught many fish, and found a superb waterfall, next to one of the portages on our move Thursday morning! It was very surprising, I just didn't realize this loop had one, it wasn't mentioned in the books. The glistening waters crashed over the top, roaring past us, filling the air with a chilling spray!

As Sean discovered, a smaller set of rapids at the other end of the portage was perfect for taking an exhilerating dip.

The last day & night was spent on Disappointment Lake. Unlike the name suggest, it was absolutely beautiful, with many small islands and an interesting shoreline. We lucked out and got a great campsite (one of only 4 on the lake), across from a small island. I swam out to it yesterday afternoon and explored it, another highlight of the trip.

The fishing was great here, better than Ashigan. Dennis & Sean went off in the canoe yesterday evening to fish, I caught many nice ones just walking the banks near the campsite.

The second to last portage brought a surprise "close encounter" with a beaver lodge.

We left camp about 9am this morning, paddled to Parent Lake where we did more fishing and had lunch at a nice shady empty campsite. Around 11, we started seeing dark skies to the West, and the winds were building, so we decided to head for the entry point early, and it was a good decision.

By the time we crossed Snowbank, the rollers were starting to lap over the gunwales. We finished unpacking, and got the gear in the truck just in time for a massive downpour!

We topped the trip of with a good old fashioned hamburger, and an ice cold beer at Cranberry's in Ely - a perfect ending to a great adventure!

Day 3

We left after a line of thunderstorms went through early in the morning. We headed up Hwy. 3, the Great River Road. It was a very interesting and scenic drive. One of the towns we went through was the town of Chester, Illinois. Chester is known as the home of the creator of Popeye. They say that many of the characters in the Popeye stories were created from people in the town. It was a very quaint town with many old buildings.
After passing through town, I spied a strange mailbox at the side of the road. It was on a pulley. The owner of the mailbox evidently didn’t want to have to walk down the hill from the house to get his mail, so he put his mailbox on a pulley and a wire. All he had to do to get his mail was pull the mailbox up the hill, retrieve his mail and send it back down the hill again to be ready for the next day’s delivery. Very ingenious.

Most of this day was spent on the interstate making our way to southern Wisconsin. We decided that tomorrow morning we would make a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home Taliesin near Spring Green, Wisconsin. As a result we had a long drive to make it through the whole state of Illinois. We ended up at Bob’s Riverside Resort on the Wisconsin River. The Wisconsin River is a beautiful smooth flowing river. Sam and I both wished we would have had the time to paddle a section of it. I guess we’ll have to make it back here at some point.

Day 2

We were up early and on the road. After stopping at Cracker Barrel in Batesville, MS for breakfast, we drove up through Memphis and into Arkansas. We had another scare when another 18 wheeler passed us and sent us fish tailing again. That, the high winds and a sign for Hampson Archeological Site, helped us decide that getting off the interstate and seeing the real U.S. was what our adventure was all about so we left I-55 for the back highways.

The museum ended up being closed for lunch. We didn’t feel like waiting around so we admired the huge cypress trees in the park. Who would have ever thought Arkansas would have bigger and prettier cypress trees than Louisiana? A quick peak in the trailer led to the discovery of a major mess. Everything had fallen out of the cabinets in the last fishtailing episode.

We left the interstate again at Cairo, Ill and headed north of Hwy. 3 to follow part of the Great River Road. Not long afterwards we saw a sign for Horseshoe Lake State Conservation Area. After pulling in and talking to the camp hosts, Jack and Peggy, we found a nice, quiet spot on the shore of the lake. This is a place that made Sam and I feel at home. Who would have thought there would be a place in Illinois that would look just like a Louisiana swamp?

The species of birds in this place are numerous. We saw in just a few hours of sitting and talking, bald eagles, white breasted nuthatches, northern flickers, robins, Baltimore orioles, blackbirds, mourning doves, bluebirds, and cuckoos.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset right over the lake.

Day 1 - Before the Departure

I felt like I would never finish. After going through closets, extra rooms and used rooms; after having a garage sale; posting items for sale on the internet and just plain giving stuff away - continually; after at least 2 weeks of intensive going through things and cleaning up – I finally finished emptying my house!

I wish I had a picture of before, during and after but in all the stress and busyness, no pictures were taken. There wasn’t time to think of picture. Many loads of furniture, knick knacks and just plain junk were hauled away! My daughter, Kristin took what she wanted and what she was forced to take by me. There just isn’t much room in a small apartment for all of her mother’s things.

Sam of course, had gotten the job of taking care of his house after its sale months before. Despite him wanting to “help” me, I insisted on doing it myself.

On top of trying to empty the house, I was busy either finding homes for my dogs or getting them to their yearly vet appointments. By the grace of God, fantastic homes were found for all of my dogs. I am very thankful for my friends for giving them a better home than the one I had given them. I am missing them all!

Some of you already know that Bo, my quarter horse gelding died several months back. That left CW, my quarter horse mare, by herself. I had already found a home for the both of them near Mobile, AL. Since CW was lonely by herself, I brought her to her new home in March. Her home was another made in heaven.

We finally left at 2:30 after working all morning trying to get the house finished – emptied and cleaned. Thanks Lisa for helping make this happen. Towards the end, anything left was shoved in bags and crammed where they needed to go.

We discovered after only a few minutes on the road that the trailer handled differently fully loaded than it did when we had taken shorter trips in the past 6 months. This meant that we couldn’t go any faster than 60 mph without fear of fish tailing down the road. We had a scare when the trailer felt like it was going out of control after an 18 wheeler had sped by us. Of course, this knocked things out of all the upper cabinets.

We only made it as far as Durant, MS. where we spent the night at Holmes County State Park. It was a nice quiet spot with the exception of a yappy dog a few campsites away.