Apple Cake...best for fall paddling!

German Apple Cake
Here's the recipe for that cake I brought with to Lake Superior. I'm going to give the original recipe and I'll add how I changed it. I never follow recipes completly by the letter...so here it is. Enjoy!
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil..I used canola or grapeseed
1 tsp real vanilla extract


2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon...I also added 1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups chopped peeled tart apples..I used almost 5 cups of Haralsons
3/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts..I used 1 1/2 cup walnuts

Directions: Peel and chop the apples and soak them in a bowl of cold water with a splash of lemon juice added. Set that aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. In another bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Drain the apples well. Fold in apples and nuts. Pour into a greased 13x9x2 in. pan. Bake at 350 for 55-60 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened...I used 1 and 1/2 pkgs
2 tsp butter...I used about 2 tablespoons.
2 c. powdered sugar...I didn't measure. I just kept adding until it was the thickness I wanted.Directions: Beat cream cheese and butter together and then add powdered sugar. Refrigerate the left overs.

Hottest Bachelor Contest Winner!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27196476#27196476

He paddles a Jackson!

Climbing

With water being in local short supply I've been taking climbing classes. The anchors clinic and the knots clinic from the U of M. I've learned alot from them. This week our Tuesday night climbing group got a lead climbing clinic from me! I spent the majority of the two hours taking my partners thru lead climbing. Shirley and Todd have been really looking forward to leading up on Barn Bluff and both made it look easy. The surprise superstars of the night were Gabby, 11 and Olivia, 10. Both of Shirley's daughters have been climbing at the Y with us and show fantastic ability. Gabby tried leading and did super! Such a natural! The biggest suprise was Olivia! She asked if she could try and got the go ahead from her Mom. She made all the clips but couldn't quite get the beeners open on the chains...they were locking beeners so they were tough even for us adults. She's another natural climber! AJ too!
The young men that belay at the Y, Davis and Caleb, also got their first try at leading. Definately 100% class graduation! We also met another Red Wing native that's been climbing for 19 years but has been out of it since marriage and kids and his usual partner moving to Colorado. It was very good to meet Tony as he's very expeienced and wants to start climbing again. He also ice climbs and has done Nightfall several times. My goal for this winter is Nightfall. It's great to see all the enthusiasm for climbing!

Fall on the Kettle

With a overcast start I headed up to the Kettle River to meet up with Kent, Sally, and Lew. We met up with Tom, Brian and Dave at the put in for a very nice group of paddlers. The sun made a valiant effort to come out but not quite. The word to describe my day on the river was mellow. I was in a mood to just run the river and ride the wave trains. Look at the leaves and just enjoy the good company. Everyone had a great day paddling. Happy Birthday to Kent!

Barn Bluff Climbing

It was a beautiful fall afternoon. Shirley, Gabby, Todd and I headed up to Barn Bluff to do some climbing. Todd who is a student in Red Wing is from Madison and today was his first time outdoor climbing. He did great! Shirley is a very new climber but she already has the passion for the sport. She's doing fantastic. The climbing wall at the Y just opened up and her children have been climbing with us. All three show great ability for climbing. I was glad to see her daughter Gabby came with today. When she saw the climb she said "no way" but after watching her Mother, Todd and I she was game to try. She did the harder route up the very first time...so fun to see. The time went fast and we have plans to climb Barn Bluff most Thursday afternoons unless I'm on afternoon shift. This week has been chaotic but very fun. I just did seven midnight shifts yet each day I was able to fit something else in. I took two climbing courses this week. Monday at Midwest Mountaineering with Carolyn. If you haven't taken one of her classes she's great! Different teachers have different strengths. She's very strong on technique and movement. Tuesday I climbed at the Y. Wednesday I took an anchors clinic at the U of M...so much info! Now I need to add to my rack and go out and practice setting up anchors. This Tuesday at the Y we'll be having a small informal lead climbing class. Shirley and Todd are very interested to start leading. The young men who belay at the Y are interested in joining us also. And so it begins. It'll be a good climbing year for sure. For those interested in ice climbing the Sandstone Ice Festival is coming up They have FREE clinics on ice climbing but sign up early so you can get a spot. http://www.sandstoneicefest.com Caution...it's very addicting! Hey are you missing the paddling photos?? I know I am! The Kettle should be beautiful tomorrow!!! Fall colors!
Todd
Shirley
Gabby
Gabby
Nora

Todd

Todd
Gabby
Shirley

Working Weekend and Keeping it Real

Photos by Kari Urban

I started my midnight shifts this Thursday night. All my rowdy friends went to rivers and I was feeling left behind. Nolan King had a glass blowing party so since I have aways been fascinated by glass blowing I was really looking forward to this. When I was in college I did alot of art. I had wished to keep with this line but life just didn't work that way for me. Glass blowing is something I really would like to try...hopefully this time I can work it out. I did pottery in college and I'm thinking it would be good to try that again. If there is one thing I have learned it's to try to do things you love for work. Your life will be much happier if you can. Check out Nolan's web site at http://www.nolanking.com/ and especially this page on his award winning snake walkway...incredible! http://www.decorativeconcreteideas.com/kingcon_1.html Here's a link to the Nichka Glass Blowing studio http://www.nolanking.com/nichka_index.html

Sunday...I actually slept during the day. This midnight shift Boo has been keeping me up during the day making it very hard for me to function. I met up with my new climbing partners at the YMCA...old friends but new to climbing and loving it. This year at the Y the crack is my favorite climb. Everyone is doing fantastic! They're naturals at climbing! I'm looking forward to doing more of Barn Bluff. Maybe this week. Anyway even though I usually just sleep and work 12 hour shifts on the weekend I was able to get out and enjoy the things I love to do. Check out Bryan's Blog for what I missed...Looks like they had a blast!

Short update. I've checked the courses and it looks like I will be able to take a few each semester...this could be fun!

Lower St. Louis

I headed up to the North Shore today for a busy agenda. Bryan, Dave, Graeme, Pike and I were going to run the Lower St. Louis today. I headed up early with hopes of some morning surf. When I arrived at Stoney it was just barely starting to form...not enough yet to get wet for but I could tell it was coming. I went instead to check out Dave's new house...very nice! We all met up at the Outpost. Bryan was getting his new boat wet for the very first time. Graeme for his first run of the Louis. We had all agreed that it was to be an easy take our time and enjoy the river kind of day. We scouted. Took photos. We had just a wonderful day. Evening was falling as we pulled off the river. What a great group to paddle with! A bit of carnage with our group, a thumb and a few scrapes on the razor rocks. I personally only tore the neck gasket on my dry top...I had wondered why I had gotten so wet and cold. Oh well, more shopping! Oh and yes that's another new helmet. I bought a WRSI with the face shield. It fits great. I wondered how constricted my vision would be but I'm happy to say there isn't any problems there. On the whole I'm very glad I bought it. I think it looks great also! First photo is Bryan getting in his brand new boat!

Da boys dropping into the Hanging Pool.

Graeme on Octopus
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Dave, Bryan, Pike, Nora, and Graeme on the First Sister, also known as the Twisted Sister.

The Final Flow 08

Ever have a season you just didn't want to end? The music stops but the feelings remain like like a soft breeze randomly tickling you? You can't see it but you know it's there. The memories of the year flitting thru your mind like fall leaves? This year at Wausau was beautiful. So much growth! There were so many new people discovering the play park this year for the first time. It was great to see! The regulars getting sooo good! The new design is just wonderful! So much thanks to Julie who makes this happen for everyone! Dan "The rescue man" what a great job! Dan has been growing his own team of rescue swimmers and they're becoming incredible! Mike has done alot of work with the design and it's really great from top to bottom now! Cole has done a fantastic job this year and he just keeps getting more great ideas for next years Freestyle Championships! Thanks to all the people on the board. I don't know all of them but thanks to Alon and Dave for all the time and work you do to make this such a great place! I'll miss seeing everyone of you until next year. Have a great off season!

RapidsRiders Vermillion River Clean Up!

Fantastic! Is how I would describe the entire day today! 24 fantastic people showed up and did a fantastic job of cleaning the Verm on the last day of summer...the weather was...of course...fantastic! I arrived this morning before 9am to find 2 men waiting for me ready to start the job. More and more people kept showing up and heading down to the river. Dead wood was removed from the trails and the clean up got underway. Fewer bikes this year than any other year I've seen! Only 6! Some of the things found were TV's, computer, mattress, socks, shoes, underwear, skateboards, battery, giant snowman and pumpkin, booze bottles and a porno stash? We even pulled a motorcycle out of fishermans pool! Mike J. brought a retired climbing rope and they set up a great pull to remove the bikes and big trash from fishermans pool. Check out the awesome videos!! These kayakers rock!! The crew had all kinds of energy and enthusiasm! Quite alot was accomplished today! Lunch was served followed by the drawing. With the swag we recieved from NRS, 3M and the Classic Rosewood Inn there was enough swag that everyone got something! Thanks to our sponsers! After our lunch we had a kayak pinata...it was a playboat! We used a canoe paddle for whacking. Too much fun! Thanks to everyone that came! The photos and video are from my camera but I gave it to Bryan Z to run down on the river while I held down the food. Thanks Bryan for the awesome photos! Also thanks Alex for the great videos! Check Bryan's blog out for his photos from the day http://liquid-addiction.blogspot.com/ Also Rosie has some great photos on her blog... http://leanupstream.blogspot.com/ Again thanks everyone and pray hard for some rain!

Alex took these videos. They show how to pull trash out of deep silt.

Bouldering at Midwest Mountaineering

I made a trip up to Midwest today and spent a bit of time in the cave. I haven't done much bouldering but I gave it a try. There was a young man bouldering there...he was very good! I'm always amazed at how just the littlest pointers help so much. So many fine nuances to climbing! Again there was the mental aspect. While bouldering without a spotter I was cautious. Joel offered to spot me and I went twice as far over the roof. Learned a little tonight and had fun. BTW the sales at Midwest are insane. I'm surprised I made it out of there without the Federal Government having to bailing me out. I may go back...I've been on an insane gear shopping binge. Not just gear but I've been doing home improvement also. Ahhhh well...It has to rain soon!