We went to Madison, WI, last weekend for
Canoecopia. It's a huge canoe, kayak, and outdoor extravaganza thrown yearly by
Rutabaga, the paddlesport shop I used to work at when I took a hiatus from engineering for a while. I worked the show (~24 hours in 2 1/2 days in Madison), so I didn't get to do all that much in the city outside of the
Alliant Energy Center.
We did go to one of our old favorite breakfast haunts,
Monty's Blue Plate Diner. Bethany already had brunch plans for later that morning, so she only had the fruit plate. I'm not one for static patterns in general, except when going to restaurants I rarely get to go to. So, despite the broad selection of good food, I ordered their version of eggs benedict, which I get every time. Silas ate some of Bethany's fruit and a selection of cheerios and some food we brought for him.
No trip to Wisconsin within 6 months of Winter should be without a picture of the avid ice fishing culture! Sorry for the crappy shot. The light was gorgeous both mornings I drove by on my way to the show, but I was marginally late and didn't take the time to stop. I love the fact that these guys will still be out there when there are open sections of water 50 feet away. It makes me a little sad that I've not used my auger and ice fishing rod in four years, since moving south to Pittsburgh. I hear there are places to do it in SW PA, but if I'm going to drive out of the city to do it, I'd prefer to hike.
Ok, this has been sitting in the unpublished pile for too long. I'm just going to blast through a few things that have been going on the past couple of weeks and catch up to real time again...
I am deeply in love with the canoes from Nova Craft. They're a canoe company from London, Ontario, Canada. They recently ran a graphic design contest at Fanshawe College for the students to generate graphic designs for the hulls. The three winning designs are shown above. My favorite is Lurking Octopus. There is more info about the contest and the three winning designs here.
The closed-deck compliment to the previous post. I've never actually paddled one, so I can't speak to how they may or may not function better than conventional poly or composite kayaks. They are pretty, though. However, kayaks just don't pull up the same emotions in me as canoes do.
I didn't end up getting much time to walk the floor at the show. I was processing kayaks in an active area of 'kayakland' and couldn't break away. Here are a few pictures of some sexy wood canoes. Nothing feels like a wood canoe on the water. The materials also have a wonderful dampening quality on the vibrations that cause the brash noises that travel over long distances from other canoe materials. Someday, I'll be able to afford a beauty like one of these. In the meantime, I'm happy enough to have a pair of nice paddling canoes that get me out on the water when I can make the time.
We went to Madison, WI, last weekend for Canoecopia. It's a huge canoe, kayak, and outdoor extravaganza thrown yearly by Rutabaga, the paddlesport shop I used to work at when I took a hiatus from engineering for a while. I worked the show (~24 hours in 2 1/2 days in Madison), so I didn't get to do all that much in the city outside of the Alliant Energy Center.
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