Vacation til Nov. 14

 Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Death Valley, Mammoth Lakes(replacement for closed Kings Canyon), Yosemite,Lake Tahoe, Hearaldsburg for wine tasting,San Francisco.

Will have to visit Death Valley in summer to experience the heat. Hopefully we can do a day trip to Sequoia/KingsCanyon to see General Grant and Sherman.

No posts in that time, I don't do that on my phone.

But it's not a vacation since retirement.

Day 2 - canoeing therapy

Lots of coffee and a leisurely egg breakfast we decided to explore the east end of the lake. I kneeled in the empty canoe, similar to my paddling position in my C1, except that the C1 at least had a 6 inch high seat. After only a half hour my ankles were useless, and getting me out of the canoe required both friends to haul on my arms and step out, trying to stay upright while my ankles recovered.  I waited on an island in the rain while they fished. We lunched on the island, three canoes passed by, the last one asked about camping and we replied that we were just there for lunch. They called the first 2 canoes back and gladly claimed the campsite. One guy was so thankful he gave us a Iowa Hawkeye hipflask of bourbon The half hour paddle back to camp was against a headwind. And a crawl into the tent and a 2 hour nap was needed to refresh ourselves, bourbon was liberally applied as medicine.

The Dagger Atom C1 in action, I used to paddle one of these, never got very good at it.

This is pretty close to the coloring I had

This is pretty close to the coloring I had

The canoe vacation as therapy

I just came back from 4 days in the BWCA in Minnesota. 2 friends hauled my ass in a canoe to a site on Gabbro Lake. We had a 208 rod portage to even get to the putin on Little Gabbro. My dorsiflexion has vastly improved since this episode in 2008. No smashed toes or falls. The portage was great therapy, up hills and down and having to correct ankle stability all the time while carying a 40 lb. pack. Because I was the duffer in the center of the canoe I sat on one of the packs. It was terrifying. Within 20 yards I knew we would tip over unless I lowered my center of gravity in the boat. 50 yards away was Safety Island, a 15 yard long rock with 4 10-15 foot pine and evergreen trees on it. I managed to get into a kneeling position when we grounded there. After 1 attempt to run up the class 1 rapids separating little Gabbro from Gabbro. I directed us to the right eddy where we lined the canoe up. When asked later what I rated the chances of making it thru the rapids safely, '50%'. With over 40 years of paddling canoes and much hairy whitewater, duffing it with no control over the course of the boat was excruciatingly depressing.

Mind, body, soul and alcohol - the four primary elements

I know I shouldn't be so blasphemous but considering who I was with it was quite appropriate. We only had 1 growler of local beer,  a 4 bottle box of chardonnay, 2 bottles of rum and an acquired flask of bourbon from appreciative canoeists we directed to an open campsite. We continued our blasphemy by creating a new religion - Fish Jesus, when we come up with the precepts we'll let the world know.

Wildlife

On the trip itself we saw seagulls harassing bald eagles that were picking up fish that the seagulls considered their own. On the drive back we saw a radio collared cow moose and 4 wolves crossing the road, not that close to each other.

Worm blowing

Its a fishing technique. When my friend Greg first told me about it, I envisioned him taking very small  pipettes and blowing air into the  worms. You attach a sinker to the line and the worms float about two feet higher. The rods are propped on shore with the bail left open to allow the fish to keep taking line. We ended up with 7 nice walleyes for wonderful additions to our meals.

Half tepid, vaguely forward, marginally better

Discussion topics during the trip. You would have had to be there to attempt understanding of our discussions.

Desserts

My contributions to the food preparation.
1.Soft baked chocolate chip cookies
2.Jello oreo no bake dessert - even though it said not to use powdered milk because the taste would not be as good I did, Ok, but the double serving was a bit much.
3. Jello chocolate instant pudding  - the temperature was not cold enough to set up the pudding, still a runny liquid.  We all broke out laughing at that fiasco.

Looking For The Ideal After Stroke Rehabilitation Facility?

Didn't think I would find medical vacations for stroke. This is not an endorsement but it is stroke related so it belongs in my blog.
http://www.djhottopics.com/2011/10/looking-for-the-ideal-after-stroke-rehabilitation-facility/
You'll have to look at it yourself.
Aside frοm thе age-ancient traditions οf mud baths, thеѕе health spas offer mineral water bath, hot spring baths, аmοng others. Yου′ll still gеt tο experience аll thе οthеr usual spa treatments lіkе aromatherapy, classical massage, body scrubs, even yoga.