2013 Ausable River Canoe Marathon

Last weekend, Diana, Cassie, and I drove out to Michigan to support Phil who was racing in the Ausable River Canoe Marathon. Before I get too much further into this post, I want to acknowledge that we know it was kind of crazy to drive out on Saturday and back on Sunday... if we go next year we will make it a longer trip.

So onto the post, for those not familiar with the "Marathon" it is a long distance canoe race that covers 120 miles from Grayling to Oscoda, Michigan. The unique thing about the race, other than the long distance, is that it starts at 9 PM on Saturday and races through the night for 14-19 hours. The boats use flashlights mounted to their bows for paddling during the night. Phil was racing for the first time with his friend Gary, also from NY.

We arrived in Graying at around 3 PM and met up with the clan before going out to dinner. We were going help as the pit crew, or feeders, or bank runners, or whatever term you want to use. Basically we were going to follow the canoe throughout the night providing food, drink, and moral support. The events started with the introduction of the paddlers, where each team is introduced to the large crowd there to watch the start.

Paddler Introduction! Phil and Gary in Boat 81.

Following the introduction, it was time for them to get their canoe out of the "boat impound." All boats were inspected earlier in the day and were then locked in the local school gym until 8 PM.

Boat Impound

Then it was out to the starting line. Another unique aspect about this race is how it starts. Earlier in the week, all of the canoes competed in a short time trial to determine their starting position. They then line up on the street according to the time trial rank for a sprint to the river when the gun goes off.

Lined up at the start. Flashlight mounted to the bow.

The start was quite the sight with 77 boats sprinting down the street to the river.

After the start, so began the long night of driving, waiting, cheering, feeding, and repeating. Cassie had no clue what was going on all night, and Diana slept in the front seat as best she could from about midnight to 6 AM so she could drive on the way home. Most of the pit stop areas were packed with people and there were portable lights set up on the river. It is a crazy sight seeing a small light bobbing in the distance, then see the canoes come into the light with the cheering spectators, and then disappear into the dark again.

Portage over Mio Dam at ~2 AM.

Pit stop around 4:30 AM. Feeders in the water waiting for their canoes.

We learned that this is as big of an event for the spectators and support teams as it is for the paddlers competing.

As morning broke we were able to get some actual pictures of the team we were supporting. Out of the 77 that started, 12 teams dropped, and Phil and Gary finished 42nd and were the 2nd place rookie team where both paddlers were first timers.

Pit crew hard at work.

Running on the Portage

Paddling hard!

 

Still going strong

Strong into the finish

Across the line in just about 16.5 hours.

Happy to be done!

Phil and his pit crew!

And here is the Cassie picture. We couldn't keep her out of the river.

 So following the race, our plan was to make the 4 hour drive to Muskegon, MI and catch the ferry directly to Milwaukee so we could just sit and relax. Well, half an hour from Muskegon Diana got a call saying the ferry was down for mechanical issues and wouldn't be running... and just like that our relaxing ride on the ferry turned into an additional 4.5 hours in the car. We were not thrilled, and it took a couple days to recover from the weekend. It was quite the experience, and we were glad we could support Phil in his race. They did great! And from the sounds of it, they will be doing it again next year.

Door County Triathlon

This past weekend Diana and I went up north for the Door County Triathlon. The past few years we have done the Half Ironman distance, but this year we decided to take it easy and have fun with the shorter sprint distance (1/4 mile swim, 18 mile bike, 5k run). This race is extremely well run and we really enjoy going up for it. We got up to the Mitsche's new property in Sturgeon Bay just in time for sunset and then waited for David to arrive from Madison.

Sturgeon Bay!

Saturday morning we woke early to some strong wind and some rough looking water. We drove the short distance up to the start to find some nice 3 ft white caps in the bay... pretty glad we were only doing the sprint!

Diana went off in wave 9, and David and I went off in wave 15. It was a nice, flat, and quick course, and we were all pretty happy with the results. Diana finished 14th out of 61 in her age group, David was 12th and I was 7th out of 40 in our age group. We recovered with beer, pulled pork, and roasted corn (at 10 am) before heading back to the house. Race pictures are here if you enter our last name.

We had a bunch of friends doing Sunday's Half Ironman, so we had them over to the house for a spaghetti dinner and to hang out. The night ended with another great sunset. 

Sunday we were up early again to watch the start of the Half Ironman. We biked up from the house just in time for the start... and rain. The rain died off after about an hour and we biked out to a spot on the bike course to watch and cheer. We then biked to a spot on the run course to watch and cheer... and then biked to the finish to cheer (and have some refreshing beer), and then biked back to the house. Overall, our "relaxing" day of watching included almost 50 miles of biking.

And now for the required Cassie pictures. She did come to Door County with us and spent some time swimming in the bay. We didn't take any pictures then, but Diana got some good frisbee pictures yesterday!

Flying through the air

Coming in for a landing

The full catch!

Garden Update

It's been a little over a month since we planted the new flower garden in front of the house. Here is a picture from this morning showing the progress. The plants are growing well and we have lots of flowers!

New Garden!

We finally took the time this weekend to tackle landscaping the front yard with a new garden. This project actually began long ago when we first bought the house and said, "it would be nice to take out those bushes." If you don't remember, here is a picture of the original shrubbery.

A Shrubbery!

So over the past few weeks I slowly removed the very well established bushes and root balls. some of which took a long time and a lot of digging to get out. At last I had all of the bushes removed and we were ready to plant. But what to plant was the question... enter Diana! After hours of internet research, and even attempting to use graph paper, Diana fell back on what she is best at: arts and crafts. So out came the construction paper, and soon we were looking at a scale model of our front yard complete with movable bushes, plants, and flowers.

Paper Planning

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day and a plan. Off we were to the garden store, which happened to have a good deal this week; 15% off up to 10 items for every non-perishable food item. Well we had more than 10 plants to buy, but that didn't stop Diana. We just bought half of the plants and then went back again later with more food items.

After a few hours of digging, planting, mulching, and watering, the yard was complete. No sooner had we finished when someone pulled over in their car, rolled down their window and said, "looks great! this was long overdue." I'm pretty sure "long overdue" was in terms of the overall history of the house and not since we had moved in. Enjoy the pictures!

Before

After

Close up 1

Close up 2

Close up 3

New York

After the relaxing time in the Outer Banks, we drove up the coast to NY on Thursday to attend Charron Millspaugh's wedding on Friday night. We spent Thursday night at the Grandparent's house (Vinett's) and then met up with Mom and Emma Friday morning to go out to brunch for Grandma's birthday. We went to the Mohonk Mountain House, which is a pretty cool venue on top of the mountains and has a lot of history. We took some pictures, but check out the link, and go there if you get a chance. Brunch was great, and touring the house was a fun experience. The weather was cool and rainy so we didn't do much hiking of the grounds.

Part of the house from the porch

Lake Mohonk

Another view of the house showing the stone construction

After brunch, we rested for a few hours before driving across the Hudson to the Dutchess Manor for the wedding of Charron and Chris. We had a great time seeing cousins and relatives that we do not get to see too often. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures so we are looking forward to seeing other people's pictures from the night. The night carried on to the bars along the river, and we called it a night earlier than some of the partying cousins. The next morning we enjoyed post-wedding brunch at Aunt Rachel and Uncle Keith's (Charron's Parents), and then we continued on driving west to lake.

We got to the lake early in the afternoon on Saturday and were welcomed by cool weather.We got situated and then went out to dinner so we could watch the Ranger's playoff hockey game. Unfortunately they lost, so it was back to the cottage for games of fighting solitaire before going to sleep out on the porch... which was a little chilly for the end of May. Sunday involved coffee on the dock, opening season chores, boating around the lake, and general relaxing. It was great to be at the lake again since we didn't make it there last year. Hopefully it won't be as long until our next visit! Monday morning we were up early and on the road for the final leg of the drive back to Milwaukee. Total mileage for the trip was 2,800 miles!

Wildwood Cottage!

Nothing beats waking up to sunrise on the porch

Or coffee on the dock

The girls enjoying a cruise around the lake. Diana, Cassie, and Coral.

The Lake

Are we there yet?

Outer Banks, North Carolina

The first leg of our long road trip took us from Milwaukee to the Mitsche's beach house on the Outer Banks. It was a long drive and when we got there we were ready to relax. We had great weather for all the days we were there with 70s-80s and sun. It was a nice change from what still felt like winter in Wisconsin. The days were full of time at the beach, time in the pool/hot tub, board games, great meals, and even a fire on the beach.
It was great to have everyone together since we are all pretty far apart, us in Milwaukee, David in Madison, Michael in Iowa, Matt and Kim in Dallas, and the parents in NY. It took some planning and some travelling, but everyone was together! And we can't forget about Cassie, who may have had the best days of her life, as you will see in the pictures below. And yes, we may be crazy dog people, but Cassie is a pretty great pup. So here is the trip in pictures:

There were walks on the beach with Diana and Cassie...

There were walks on the beach with me and Cassie...

There were walks on the beach with just Cassie!

At one point Cassie saw a crab run across the beach and into a hole. After that, she searched every hole and every place looking for those crabs... even in a bucket.

Then there's the pool. This is a newer addition to the beach house, the pool, bar, and hot tub. We spent a lot of time lounging around and in the pool, and at times it was a nice alternative to the sandy beach. It was also Cassie's favorite.

She enjoyed swimming in the pool... at times she just swam laps by herself.

She enjoyed walking around the pool...

She enjoyed riding the paddle board with us...

And sometimes she enjoyed riding the paddle board by herself...

Overall, as much as we liked the pool, Cassie loved the pool.

Diana and I took some time to go kayaking in the Pamlico Sound at pea island where we cruised around and saw lots of birds.

Before everyone left we were able to get a great group shot.

And a picture of just us.

And of course... just Cassie.

But wait! what beach vacation is complete without building a sand castle and digging holes!

Even Diana got involved in the sand sculpting...

To make the sun? a starfish? no, it is an octopus!

So we took a group picture with the sand octopus.

And that's about it. We had a great time in the outer banks visiting with everyone and now were leaving to continue our road trip with a drive up the coast to NY. We were leaving nice and refreshed after a relaxing time... well Diana and I were refreshed... Cassie was just pooped.

Dad Vail Regatta 2013

May was a very busy month for us! This is the first of three posts for the month. The beginning of May marks the end of the rowing season with the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. Diana was busy with coaching getting the team ready for the race. Cassie even helped critique the rowers from the launch, although she was often distracted by the ducks and almost went swimming several times.

Launch Dog!

We left for Philly early on Thursday morning, May 9th. And by early, I mean the plane left at 5:15... so we were up at 3:00 and parking at the airport at 4:00. But as Diana pointed out, the tickets were a good deal. Leaving at the hour we did get to see a nice sunrise from the plane.

Airborne Sunrise

Leaving so early meant we got to Philly pretty early also, at 8:30. We took the train from the airport to downtown, and then walked the mile or so to the river. We had some time to kill until Diana's rowers got to the river, so we found a nice spot in the park and took a nap. Refreshed after the nap, we met up with the Marquette rowing team and Diana did her duties as coach getting the crews out on the water for practice.

Friday was a long day of racing and Marquette had some good races, but did not advance to Saturday finals. Once we were done at the river we met up with some friends from Delaware and went out to dinner. Saturday was mostly watching races and I helped set up the Delaware alumni tent where rowers, family, and alumni met to eat, socialize, and watch races. Delaware had a good showing, winning gold in two events. Saturday ended with dinner and going out with friends once more before heading home on Sunday. Overall, it was a great trip and we will likely be back again next year.

Coach Diana!

Rowing in Philly

Delaware Alumni Tent

Marquette Women's 8