Mission Accomplished: Elgin to Carpentersville

Voyageur's Landing to Buffalo Park. Outstanding company from Bruce, MagicPaddler and PaddleUpStream. 14.5 total glorious miles roundtrip, overcast day, 75F. The Carpenterville dam was spectacular, and enjoyed by all. The current below the dam was absolutely the most one could paddle against and still make progress--100 yards of sheer effort and struggle. Reinvigorates the desire to wet that paddle. I particularly like that we paddled through towns...lovely East Dundee, Carpentersville, and to edge of Algonquin. Plenty to see--old factories, some in decay, others modernized and still functioning plants. Greenery and humanscaping. Perfect blend. Thanks, gentlemen!

First Day of Vacation

Rode bikes with Cathy to Fabyan Windmill, ate lunch at Egg Harbor, had a rip off maragarita at La Magdalena's in Elgin (my review of the place will be on tripadvisor soon--horrible!), and then crashed at home. Unwinding has begun.

A Binful of Babies!

I love A.S.S in Geneva. Flasks, beakers, spyglasses, neon lights, corks, tarantulas, live and dead frogs, rubber gaskets, chattering teeth and bug jewelry. These are just some of the images stuck in my mind from A.S.S.

Oh, and a binful of dead babies.

Za Za's Trattoria St. Charles, IL with Zena and Bruce

Enjoyed a wonderful day with paddler Bruce and his artist wife Zena in Geneva and St. Charles. They brought us a super artistic glass "wind, earth, water" Kanji glass plate, now prominently displayed on our mantle. Zena is a budding Chihuly in glasswork. While Zena and Cathy munched Graham's and Col. Fabyan's Popcorn on Third Street, Bruce helped me test paddle a sweet sectional at Ryan's Geneva Kayak. After the Nordkapp found its way into my conversion van, we tracked down the ladies at the condo, and boogied to Fine Line Art studio off Crane Road in St. Charles to watch live Raku artists at work. We then, famished, hit Za Za's Trattoria (St. Charles) for a sumptious meal: crabcakes, heaping hot pasta, scallops, shrimp, whitefish, sausage, halibut--between our four starving patrons, I think we had a little of everything on the menu. Small and understated outside, but table linens and first class service inside. We had a window seat, no less! Downed the cocktails and beer, and then home to crash out. Thanks a million for spending a long and lovely springtime day with us, Bruce and Zena. Your driving down means much to us. Our friends. Forever.

Second time at Za Za's today, it's still a great place!

http://coolkayaker1.blogspot.com/2009/03/za-zas-trattoria-st-charles.html

Fox River north of St. Charles May 2009

Okay, fooled you. I am sitting here, getting nothing done at the library, jonesing for a paddle like this one from two weeks ago with my pal Bruce on the Fox. You can see a smidgeon of his orange Valley sea kayak at lower right. Here we are headed upstream with some fetching St. Charles homes in the background. I am in my blue over white 3-piece Argonaut, and we are still feeling groovy. The total paddle was only 11 mles that day, but it felt like more, being the first real trip of the season, and of course, fighting the heavy flow from Elgin for the first half of the trip. Reflections on a nice day, much like today. Oh hell. I'm outta here!