Coming up!

Our plans for this week...
Sail Heron this afternoon.  Yippppeeee!  Watch for the post later this evening or tomorrow.

Thursday we are leaving the boat here & heading for Des Moines, IA in our pickup truck.  In Des Moines we will attend niece, Ali's, graduation reception from High School.  Way to go, Ali.  Then we will pick up son, Taylor and head back to Pepin, WI with him on Sunday.  Taylor will then drive our pickup truck back to his farm in Iowa, where the truck will be stored while we are sailing this next year.

Tuesday, a week from today, we plan to pull up anchor and head for Trempealeau, WI.  We should be there in time for the Blues Bash on May 28th.  How cool is that?

But the COOLEST is... Bob isn't working weekend nights in the summer!

Stay tuned!

Treasure Hunting

For Christmas Bob gave me this metal detector.  My first attempt was on the beach at Lake Pepin.

Here is what I found.

And here is what I found walking back from the shower in the morning. Hmmmmm?

The Weekend

The north end of Lake Pepin begins sixty miles south of St. Paul, MN. where the Mississippi River widens to 3 miles and extends south 28 miles. Lake Pepin is flanked on the Minnesota side by Hwy 61 and on the Wisconsin side by Hwy. 35. Both highways are marked with “Great River Road” green-and-white signs. There is a bridge crossing the river at Red Wing, MN and at Wabasha, MN.

The bluffs, covered with a variety of hardwood trees, rise up on both sides forming the river valley. In the fall, the bluffs appear to be covered with a fall colored patchwork quilt. In the spring, geraniums, marigolds, and impatiens bloom in window boxes hanging from the historic buildings paralleling the river’s shore.

Pepin, WI is only 7 miles north of the bridge at Wabasha. Pepin is home to about 900 very friendly residents and was birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1867. Seven miles north of Pepin is a reconstructed log cabin at her birthplace. Memorabilia and displays of Laura and her work can be found in the museum in Pepin from May to October.

The first weekend in May brings out all the bargain shopper’s as they search for that unique treasure at the annual “100 mile garage sale”. The garage sale takes place up and down both sides of the lake.
The second weekend in May brings out all the art lovers for the self-guided “Fresh Arts Tour”. The tour is along the picturesque Wisconsin winding roads of Lake Pepin and Chippewa River valley. Fourteen artists’ studios and galleries are participating in 2011.

We are lucky enough to have 4 of those artists showing their work right here in Pepin. Johanna Berge will have her handmade jewelry displayed at Bnox, Tom Latane will be a block away with his metal work, Jane and Dave Smith are right on the river with creative metal yard décor and stained glass, and Leslie Stewart’s work will be displayed at the Lake Pepin Art Design Center. All are within easy walking distance. http://www.freshart.org/

Below is a metal piece crafted in the blacksmith furnace of Tom Latane in downtown Pepin. During the tour, we were able to see him working with the irons in the fire, etc.  Fascinating.

Tom's wife, Cathrine makes items out of tin.

Below is Smith Brothers Landing where Dave creates beautiful metal garden decorations. http://www.pepinsmith.com/gallery.htm

Pepin WI – www.pepinwisconsin.com

Bed & Breakfast – Harbor Hill Inn(below) and A Summer Place

Motels – Pepin Motel and Great River Amish Inn

Restaurants – Two Old Guys (huge yummy cinnamon roll $1.50, great pizza, homemade bread by two old guys who own the joint & one old guy who makes bread too.)

Harbor View Café (award winning riverfront elegant, yet casual) http://www.harborviewpepin.com/

We ate here on Saturday.  Bob had the Rattlesnake Beef Loin and Susie had the Chicken breast over pasta.  WOW.  It was terrific.  The next day we went back and shared a piece of Georgia Walnut Pie ala mode.  $7.00 and plenty for both of us. It had to be the best thing we have ever eaten.

The Pickle Factory (lakeside sports bar atmosphere with exceptional ribs, burgers, onion rings, Reuben’s, nachos. Oh, I give up…everything is very good.) http://www.pepinpicklefactory.com/

Dan’s Pepin Marina – our home from May 5th – May 24th. Peaceful, even though trains within 100 yds of our boat zoomed past sometimes as often as 3 times an hours. Believe it or not we actually got used to them.

On Deck Seminars and Charters, David Sheridan, owner. http://www.on-deck.com/

Laura Ingals Wilder - Birthplace - Pepin, WI

We would highly recommend this area for a long weekend destination.

Wireless Internet in the marina!

Today the marina configured their wireless internet for the season.  We have internet inside the boat, whenever we want it. 

Bob is working on the tiller he made.

Trying out the sun shade.  It is great for keeping the rain off, too.

Here are the 3 walleyes Bob caught Wed. morning.  We grilled them up & ate them on Wed. evening.

After boring ham & cheese sandwiches Thursday night we threw this roast, new potatos & carrots in the crockpot this morning before heading out on our road trip.  We had a long list of little things we wanted from Wal-Mart so since it was cool and cloudy, we headed to Red Wing, MN about 28 miles north of here.  First on the list was breakfast at Liberty's Restaurant in downtown Red Wing and then out to the Wal-Mart, Target & Menards.  We are looking forward to warmer sunnier weather tomorrow, but haven't heard the forcast, so don't know whether we will get it or not.

The boat launch video

I've had this video edited and ready to go for some time, but don't often get the internet connection for uploading it.  This video is of the launching of the boat which was on Thursday May 5th. Day 2 of our adventure.

Bob & Phil motor the dinghy through the marina to our slip at the north end.

Motoring out Friday May 5th  on a very calm warm sunny afternoon. What a huge lake.

Whoa!  A beached whale?  Nope, but it is a huge flathead catfish on the beach at Lake Pepin.  Boy, do they grow big in the Mississippi. 

Bob caught two walleyes, yesterday.  What a nice birthday present for the birthday boy.  He caught three this morning, all over length limit so he cleaned them and they are on tonight's menu.

My first fish, a large mouth bass.  Caught this morning, May 11th.  All the fish were caught with the best lures, mimmick minnows.  An old local fisherman gave us great advice about those last night. 

Saturday night was burgers on the grill and Sunday night were these delicious cordon bleu sandwiches.

Two Old Guys Country Store owned and operated by Larry Caturia (in the red shirt below) and Daren Edwards below daily make loaves of Honey Wheat, Cinnamon raisin, sour dough, Rye, German Rye, etc.  The Farmer's white is from an old recipe from Larry's Mom.

These two old guys opened a winery near Maiden Rock WI. in 2005 (not far from Pepin, WI) They also started brewing dark beer here in Spring 2010. March 1st 2011 they opened Two Old Guys Country Store along Hwy 35 in the middle of Pepin, WI. The old building was once a furniture store and long ago was home to a JD Implement dealer. Both Larry and Daren make bread, serve as waiters and/or cook. Buddy, Chris works 6 days a week kneading, forming loaves and baking bread, strudel, pies, rolls, etc. Chris' Mom is the waitress most days. They serve Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream made in Madison, WI.  This ice cream has the highest butterfat in any ice cream made.  That's what makes it soooo creamy.

Don't let them know, but their prices are way to low.

http://www.maidenwines.net/