Viking Polaris Cruise (Toronto)

 

Day 1 (8/3/24) Toronto

After we landed in Toronto we were gathered up at the airport with some other people who were going on the same cruise and taken to the ship. After processing and a brief safety demonstration we had the rest of the day to start to get to know the ship. We found our room, unpacked and then went in search of food. It didn’t take long to realize that we would not starve. The ship was not scheduled to leave Toronto until the next evening so we had some time to explore the views and watch a beautiful sunset over Toronto. The next morning we woke to a warm beautiful day. We were scheduled to take a bus tour of the city. We found Toronto to be a little large and busy for our taste. Apparently it is one of the most diverse cities in the world and is known for its contemporary architecture. They were hosting a Caribbean Festival and Island music could be heard everywhere. When we got back to the ship it was almost time for the send off party. Overnight we traveled the length of Lake Ontario and started our journey up the St. Lawrence River the next day. 

Party Ship 

New City Hall

Arp Sculpture

Old City Hall

There is a wonderful story behind the
 grotesque faces on the building.

Toronto CN Tower

Skyline

Cormorants

Toronto in the rear view mirror

  

Jurustic Park

 

Eileen with some new friends

Day 2 (5/23/22)

While sitting in the parking lot of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum we started perusing the internet looking for things to do in the area for an hour until it opened. We had already walked the downtown area looking for things to kill time but most everything was closed. Eileen found a reference to Jurustic Park. With a little more searching we found out it was about forty one minutes away in the wrong direction from our return trip home. We figured it had to be better than sitting and waiting for the museum to open so we took off in the direction of Marshfield not sure what we were going to find. Using the miracle of cell phone navigation, about an hour later we were entering the McMillan Marsh and the realm of Jurustic Park. At first it can be a little overwhelming. There are metal sculptures all over the place. Big ones, small ones and ginormous ones everywhere you turn. We made our way toward a building that looked like it was inhabited by a hobbit and found the office and gift shop. We started looking around and were soon welcomed by Nancy, the Lady of the House. She showed us around the shop and explained that when Clyde was finished with his current victims he would give us the grand tour. Soon we were on our way. Clyde is a born showman with years of honing his skills through jurisprudence. At eighty eight years young he still has a twinkle in his eye and a contagious enthusiasm for what he does. He will tell you that before retiring from his career as a lawyer he found his first fossilized metal remains in the marsh and started welding them back together. Many of the pieces are animated and he has a story to go with all of them. It is his world and he is their ring master. Some wiggle, some make noise, but all are candy for the eye. After the tour we went inside where Nancy demonstrated using the glass lathe. Perhaps because we were also artists before long it was like being with old friends. We talked about Nancy’s travels and their hopes for the future and what would become of the place. We hadn’t planned on staying long but by the time we left it was time to work our way home and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson would have to wait for another day. No regrets, it was a wonderful day.  

First Creature pulled out of the Marsh

Horses head with Hat

A Musical Couple

Bell Curves

Gong Turtle

A Soul Mate

One that Wiggles

The Pirates of the Marsh

Beware

Helidragon

Angler Fish

Another Turtle

The Shop

More Friends

Hiking Rib Mountain State Park

 

View from the Top

Day 1 (4/26/22)

After a year of not blogging I decided I wanted to try to get back into it. On Tuesday we had to deliver some art work to the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau. We decided it would be a good opportunity to get some hiking time in. Rib Mountain is a granite peak “monadnock” that sticks out from the otherwise level landscape. Its stunning granite formations make for a great place to take in some scenic views while hiking. When we arrived Tuesday evening it was unseasonably cold and windy. We still took the opportunity to climb the observation tower, do some recon and plan our hike for Wednesday. Although still cool, Wednesday brought on the sun and it was beautiful. After walking around downtown Wausau waiting to deliver art we headed out to the park. Because of the granite formations the trails at Rib Mountain can be somewhat precarious. There are very few even surfaces so one needs to be careful not turn an ankle. The scenery however is wonderful ranging from distant vistas, fern covered slopes to towering rock formations. The ski hill in the park only closed a week ago so there was still snow on the trails. In spite of our planning we overlapped a few trails but ended up achieving our main objective which was to hike out to the abandoned quarry. Even though it ended up being short of 4 miles it was equivalent to climbing 38 flights of stairs so all in all it was a good workout.

From the Tower

From the top of the Tower

Snow Covered Runs

Treacherous Trails 

First Green

Steep trail

More Snow

Early Ferns

At the Quarry

Hidey Hole at Mauthe

A very weedy Milwaukee River

Day 1 (7/25/19)

We finally had a chance to get out kayaking today. It has been a busy summer but that is no excuse. The weather was perfect. When we first got to Mauthe Lake were greeted by a pair of cranes. We stop and photographed them for awhile before heading on in to the park. As we suspected the water was still high and we had to drive through water to get to the boat launch. This was what we hoped for because our main goal was to go to our little hidey hole which is only accessible with high water. In spite of the high water the river was very weedy. In the ten years that we have been going there I have never seen it this bad. I have some real concerns about the fertilizer washing into the river. It seemed to keep others out of the river however so we had it all to ourselves. We did manage to get to our hidey hole although it was quite different from the last time we were there two years ago. It also had much more growth and wasn’t as clear. You could still see the boiling springs on the bottom nevertheless which have always enthralled us. After coming back out into the river we headed upstream a bit farther but soon found it to weedy to continue. It is kind of sad because we used to be able to get quite a bit further up stream. Perhaps later this fall we may be able to check it out. It was probably far enough for our first trip anyway so we headed back down the river. When we got back to the lake we weren’t surprised to find that the wind had changed and that it was once again in our face just as it had been on the way out.

Our Greeting Committee

A Pair

High Water

The Bridge

Boiling Water

Video Taping

Water Lilies

Eileen in the Lilies

I love these but they are so hard to photograph

Kayak Yoga