Rain, Rain Go Away

Kaia and I are magical. We have the ability to produce tremendous volumes of rain wherever we go camping. Last year we drove around Lake Superior on the "Circle Tour," a 1300 mile trek around the great lake that took us through 3 states and a large portion of Ontario in Canada. Throughout our journey we were accompanied by copious amounts of rain and several nights where temperatures dipped into the 30s (in August). Or take the camping trip to Tettegouche State Park on the North Shore. It was raining and in the upper 30s and 40s for three straight days. We hiked for miles in ankle deep water because, dammit, it was our vacation.

It should be no surprise then that Monday afternoon we were greeted by a deluge at Trempealeau State Park about 20 miles north of La Crosse. This rainstorm brought bouts of one and half to two inches of rain per hour - while we were in the middle of our 26 mile bike ride. But let me not get ahead of myself.

We visited my parents Sunday night for Father's Day. It was nice to see them and we took them out to Buzzard Billy's in downtown La Crosse for a nice dinner. I had the seafood jambalaya which I can highly recommend. We commenced the evening with me trying out my dad's new recumbent tricycle in a spin around the block. It was a fun ride. I'll have to get myself one someday. Afterward we went for dinner and then headed to our campsite at the park. We already had set up the tent on our way down to La Crosse so it was a perfect evening. Campfire, stars, bright moon, early to bed.

We got up the next morning and planned our adventure for the day. We started off with a 3.6 mile canoe trip around Trempealeau Bay. It's a trail that follows a little stream around the edges of a huge marsh all smack dab in the middle of the river bluffs. We saw otters, pelicans, herons, turtles, fish, and lots of birds. It took us about an hour and a half and it was pretty relaxing. There was one harrowing incident with a downed tree that almost took my head off as we crossed beneath it but otherwise we were fine. After the canoe trip we visited the nature center in the park and then had lunch.

It was in the midst of the 26 mile bike ride from the park to Lyttle's Landing that we encountered rain. It was threatening all morning and early afternoon and it even sprinkled on us a bit on our way away from the park. As we began our return trip the rain started to pick up. By the time made it back to the town of Trempealeau it was coming down pretty hard and we took refuge in a coffee shop to wait out the rain. We played a game of cribbage and the local sheriff told us that we were in for a deluge. After waiting for about a half hour it became apparent that we either had to make a break for it or sit in Trempealeau with our six remaining dollars for the rest of the night. We found a slight break in the rain and we pedaled furiously back to our campsite. After surveying the weather we decided to pack it in and return home a day early. We were both defeated so we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Manny's in town when we got back. We were truly roughing it no longer.

So much for our camping experience. We'll have to try again later this summer :(