National Parks Road Trip Summer 2025

In mid-June, we embarked on an eight day road trip across Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin to visit nine separate National Park Service sites and a few odd roadside attractions and museums. We truly had a fantastic time. This video is our travelogue from the trip. Below is a detailed description of the entire trip. Feel free to continue reading as it was a very fun and interesting time.

Kayaking Season Has Begun

Our 2025 kayaking season has begun. At the start of May, we decided that the weather was getting nice enough that we could switch over from hiking on the weekends to kayaking as part of the “52 Adventures Challenge.” The video above is from our third kayak outing this year. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon/evening kayak starting from downtown Oconomowoc. We started in Fowler Lake and then paddled down the Oconomowoc River and back. The whole trip was about four and a half miles round trip. The last time that we did this trip was last July. It’s hard to be completely sure, but it seems like the water level was down about a foot compared to last year. We had wanted to paddle all of the way into Oconomowoc Lake but there was section of the river about a tenth of mile from the entrance of the lake that was too shallow to continue without getting out of the kayaks. All in all, it was an extremely fun evening.

I’m not sure if it is noticeable, but I am now capturing footage from two separate cameras. I am continuing to use my GoPro Hero 10 mounted on the front of the my kayak just like last year. This spring, I also purchased a GoPro Max 360 and have that mounted on pole at the back of my kayak. Shooting 360 video from the back allows me to gather a lot more video of my surroundings that I can choose from when editing everything together.

2024 Year In Review

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mamagoon and I really enjoy hiking and kayaking on the weekends. During our first full year of hiking on the Ice Age Trail, we set a goal of completing the 52 Hikes Challenge. The intention of this challenge is to encourage people to get outside and exercise by hiking at least once a week every week of the year. We have completed this challenge every year since 2021. Two years ago, we did, however, change our definition of a “hike.” As the program is intended to encourage a healthy lifestyle, we decided that our kayaking adventures are really just hikes on the water if you know what I mean. Our challenge has morphed into the “52 Adventures Challenge.”

Earlier this year, I decided to purchase a GoPro Hero 10 action camera. My thought was that I wanted to be able to take pictures while we were out kayaking without inadvertently dropping my iPhone in the water. I needed a waterproof camera that also had a decent screen/viewfinder and the GoPro seemed to be the best option. I soon realized that beyond taking pictures, I could also use it to document all of our hiking and kayaking adventure on video.

I have, over the past several months, posted a few videos of some of our adventures on the various social media platforms. I have not wanted to overwhelm my friends or followers so I have restrained my impulse to post every single outing. I felt like that would have been like being forced to watch your relatives’ vacation slides for several hours back in the 1970s. All that is to say that the video above is a compilation of many of our hiking and kayaking adventures from this past year with sprinkling of side quests thrown in as well. Enjoy!

Fall Colors

In my opinion, the best way to view the fall colors in Northern Wisconsin is from the inside of a kayak. On Saturday, I took my final kayak trip of the year on the Three Lakes Chain of Lakes. I started out from my Dad’s cottage. It is located on what is called The Thoroughfare; a channel that connects Big Lake to Whitefish Lake. I kayaked from there into Big Lake (briefly), and then into Dog Lake followed Deer Lake. Once in Deer Lake, I paddled southwest down a channel on the way to Crystal Lake. At the entrance to Crystal Lake, I took a short break and then returned the way that I came.

I was the only boat out there on any of those lakes that day. To be honest, the temperature was in the high 40s or low 50s and the wind was biting. So it wasn’t surprising that no one else was crazy enough to be out there. I was pretty happy to be wearing my shorty wetsuit under my raincoat that’s for sure. In spite of the cold weather, the colors on the trees were fantastic and nothing beats kayaking on several totally calm lakes. It truly was a magnificent day.

My First Night Time-lapse

While up at my dad’s cottage this past weekend, I tried out the night time-lapse feature on my GoPro camera for the first time. The setting is called “Nightlapse” and allows you set up your camera at the beginning of night, turn it on, and just let it run all night long. The light pollution in Northern Wisconsin is far less than at home in suburban Milwaukee. This is why it has taken me so long to try this out. At home, I wouldn’t have been able to capture any usable video.

The night previous to this, the aurora borealis was out in full force and I was hopeful that I might capture it that night. Unfortunately, that was not to be. In about half of the video that I did capture, the moon was so bright that you weren’t able to see any of the stars in the sky. Once the moon dropped below the horizon things got much better. As it happened, I was lucky enough to capture Orion drifting across the night sky. I am very impressed with the quality of the video that was captured and I can’t wait to try this out again some night.

Hiking and Kayaking at Mauthe Lake

Four years ago, about six months after the beginning of the global pandemic, Mamagoon and I were looking for a way to get out of the house without going to restaurants, movies, stores, or any other place where there might be… people. Around that same time, the Ice Age Trail Alliance announced their first ever Mammoth Challenge. In October, 2020, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) was going to be celebrating it’s 40th anniversary. To help celebrate, participants were challenged to hike 40 miles of the trail, either as a group or individually, during the month of October. It was a way to get out of the house and we fell in love with hiking in general but more specifically on the IAT. Since that time, we have hiked over 800 miles and completed the Mammoth Challenge every year.

While we enjoy hiking on most weekends, we soon realized that summer hiking is very hot and sweaty. In late summer 2022, we purchased a couple of recreational kayaks and have substituted kayaking for hiking as our preferred outdoor adventure during the hot summer months. The weather has been so warm this year that we have continued to kayak all the way through September and into October.

As last weekend was the first weekend in October, it was time put on our hiking boots and start the Mammoth Challenge (44 miles this year) again. But the weather was still so nice that we decided that our transition from kayaking to hiking would be completed by doing both on the same day. The Milwaukee River segment of the IAT crosses the parking lot adjacent to the entrance to Mauthe Lake Recreation Area. We arrived at around 10am and went out and back to the south for a five mile round-trip hike. Afterwards, we had a quick lunch at the picnic tables outside of the Henry S. Reuss Ice Age Visitor Center and strolled around the exhibits for a bit. Then we finished up the day by launching our kayaks on Mauthe Lake and paddling the lake and a little bit of the East Branch of the Milwaukee River. All in all, it was a glorious way to kick off October.

Portland ePrix, Sun. 6/30/24

In my previous post, I discussed my interest in (okay, maybe even love of) the Formula E racing series. The video below contains highlights from the Sunday Portland ePrix. Both races together were so much fun. The spectacle around the races is awesome. When you aren’t watching the races, the fan village makes you feel like you’re at a state fair, music festival, or similar venue. There is so much to do.

Months prior to the races, after I purchased my tickets, I had a flag made to support the Jaguar TCS Racing team. It had the team logo along with both Mitch Evans’ and Nick Cassidy’s logos on it and I had hoped to have them sign it at the event. About a week before the races, the venue changed how fans could get access to the autograph sessions. Instead of first-come-first-serve on the event day (like last year), you had to sign up for tickets ahead of time. Unfortunately, this information came out at the very bottom of an email about how to purchase race tickets and I missed the new information. So, sadly, I missed getting the tickets before they were sold out and I didn’t have access to get my flag signed.

I’m mentioning all of this because, while standing in line on the second day, another fan mentioned how he had been able to get autograph session tickets both days. If the venue had been smarter and limited fans to session tickets on one day or the other, I might have been able to get my autographs too. With this knowledge, I decided to sign up for every free give-away that was advertised in the fan village that day in hopes that my disappointment could be lessened. As luck would have it, I won a drawing for a meet and greet with the drivers from the DS Penske racing team, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne (and Oliver Turvey). That was a nice consolation for not being able to see the other drivers. While not watching the practice session, qualifying, and the actual race, I spent time in the fan village. I toured the Hankook tire booth, drove a racing simulator in the gaming area, and enjoyed talking with other racing fans.

The race itself was incredible. My favorite driver, Mitch Evans, didn’t qualify well and started 11th on the grid. But he worked his way up to the front during the race and ended up on the podium finishing third. The points that he received from this amazing race and the one on the previous day, moved him up to second in the overall championship fight. Way to go, Mitch!

Portland ePrix, Sat. 6/29/24

The main reason for my mini-vacation to Portland two weeks ago was to attend rounds 13 and 14 of season 10 of the Formula E racing series. The video below contains the highlights from the Saturday Portland ePrix. Interestingly, I have never really been a huge fan of motorsport in general. Five years ago, however, just after we purchased our first electric vehicle (A Chevrolet Bolt EV), I heard about this single-seater racing series where the cars were all electric. After watching one race, I was hooked. I watched the series on the television or my computer for several seasons and then last year, Kristi and I attended the first-ever Portland ePrix in person. It was so much fun that I decided to come back again this year and, as luck would have it, there were two races instead of one.

When I got to the race track on Saturday morning, I was able to watch Free Practice 2 just prior to going on a Pit Lane walk. Although the drivers were unavailable at that time, I could see the various teams working on the cars and getting them ready for qualifying. I am a huge fan of Mitch Evans, one of the drivers for Jaguar TCS Racing and I spent most of my time in front of their garage. I am happy to say that during qualifying Mitch finished on Pole Position. That pretty much made my day right there. The race itself was extremely exciting and Mitch actually crossed the finish line first. Due to a bizarre racing incident earlier in the race between him and Jake Hughes, the race stewards gave Mitch a 5 second time penalty which dropped him down to 8th place.

After the race was over, they allowed any fan that had attended the race to actually take a walk around the race track. You can see my video of that experience in this post. All in all, it was an extremely fun day at the track.

The Four T Trail – Portland

While I was on a mini-vacation in Portland, I completed the Four T trail. It is a loop trail around the city with 4 parts; Trail (a hiking trail 4.5 miles long with 800 feet of elevation), Tram (aerial tram), Trolley (street car), and Train (light rail). It was a fun way to see the city and get some exercise. Portland has some amazing public transit and this trail was a perfect reminder that we can get around just fine without hopping into a car.

In the video, I began with the “trail” segment as that is where I got the most interesting shots. In reality, I started on the “train” segment. I picked up the MAX light rail train near the Multnomah County Central Library in downtown Portland and rode it all the way to the Oregon Zoo. The train station is in the Robertson Tunnel which is (according the internet) 260 feet below ground and the deepest transit station in North America. When you get off the train, you have to take an elevator up to ground level. Once there, I crossed the parking lot and out over US-26 to begin the “trail” segment.

You actually enter the unpaved portion of the trail from the US-26 on-ramp. The trail winds along dirt trails and aside paved roads for about 2 miles and up 850 feet of elevation to Council Crest Park. This is highest point in Portland and you can supposedly see five different mountain peaks from here. From there you start going steeply back downhill for another mile or so on more dirt paths. And when you think you are about done, you go back uphill for another mile and come out into a parking lot on the OHSU campus.

Crossing the campus and walking through the OHSU Hospital brings you to the beginning of the “tram” segment. The Portland Aerial Tram is the shortest segment on the trail but definitely the coolest. From the upper tram terminal and on your way down, you are rewarded with an amazing view of the city and the Willamette River. The ride only takes 5 minutes and they only sell round-trip tickets but it well worth it for the extraordinary experience. 

Right across the street at the lower tram terminal is a stop for the Portland Streetcar and this is where you begin the “trolley” segment of the trail. The streetcar winds along back to downtown Portland and library where you began your journey. What I loved about this trail (besides the amazing hike through the woods) was that the three modes of transportation that you ride on (train, tram, and trolley) are all electrically powered. It is a great way to explore the city in the most sustainable way possible.

Portland ePrix Fan Track Walk

A week ago, I went to the Formula E races at the Portland International Raceway. To be precise, the races were rounds 13 and 14 of the 10th season of Formula E. In the future, I will share my thoughts about the Portland ePrix and the amazing time that I had attending both races. 

After the Saturday race (on 6/29/2024), they allowed any fans in attendance to walk the race track to get a feel for what it is like to be out on the course. I thought it would be fun to record my walk around the track and speed it up to approximate the time it took for the drivers to complete a lap. Actually, they were finishing laps in about 1:15 but this video is only a minute (so that it would fit in an Instagram story). For those that follow Formula E, you will notice that I went through the Attack Mode zone around 25 seconds into the video. Sadly, I didn’t seem to get an extra boost of power after I walked through the zone. And, yes, we all made that joke as we were walking in that area. What a bunch of FE nerds we are.