We had a great trip. It was shorted then expected, but we still had fun.It was hot and sunny as we drove to Chicago. It was great to get out of the car and walk around the lake-shore art fair with Shea and Nancy, followed by a wonderful dinner. The next morning Nancy, Bridgit, and I went to Lucky Platter and had some wonderful breakfast. We left Evanston around noon.

We took a few wrong turns and ended up taking the back way to Madison, WI. We got to Rutabaga about 3pm and spent some time there looking at everything. We tested out the Blackhawk Nighthawk 13 that we came to get. It was a little worse for wear, but just needed some love. We spent some time looking at paddles and each picked out a Turtle Paddle. Flipper was great and helped us out. As we were checking out we finally got ahold of the people near Duluth who had the Blackhawk Ariel we were also planning on buying. They didn't have it anymore. So off we went to Oshkosh.

We had a wonderful time with Mick, Shelly, and Ethan. Mick made us stuffed eggplant. The next morning we got the tour of Oshkosh. There is some cool stuff there. We then headed to Manitowoc to get on the ferry to Ludington.

The ferry was pretty fun. I excitement wore off pretty quick, but it was way better than driving.