Our Bags Are Almost All Packed

As much baggage as we have, you would think that we are running away from home for good.

We are getting real close to our vacation starting. Only 7 days and a wakeup. I am keeping an eye on the weather channel. There are 3 tropical depressions/huricanes out in the Atlantic that I am watching closely. Hanna should be in our area Saturday or Sunday. I am not too concerned about Hanna. My main concern would be the next hurricane that might be heading in our direction...Ike. It might be around Florida possibly by Tuesday. We are flying out around 9 AM on Thursday morning. Hopefully Ike will slow down a bit until after we are gone or even better, that it takes a totally different path..maybe staying out in the Atlantic. Below is a picture of all of the baggage that we are taking with us to Canada. The real trick is making sure that each bag weighs less than 50 pounds. Over weight luggage cost a lot more than having one additional piece of luggage. They have you coming and going.

Getting Closer To Being Canada Bound

We are getting closer to going on vacation. 10 days and a wakeup. By this time 11 days from now, we will have just landed in International Falls, got our rental car and probably checked into our hotel. Starting from the day we leave, I will be updating my blog so that you can follow along on our vacation. Each night I will make a blog entry letting you know how the day went, what we did and how the fishing was. I will also upload photos of any serious fish that we catch along with scenery and wildlife photos. The first day will be a travel day. We will be spending two nights in International Falls, MN. The 2nd day that we are in International Falls, Veronica and I will go shopping to get some of the provisions that we will need for our 2 weeks at AML, Andy Myers Lodge on Eagle Lake. Usually we go shopping at K-Mart and then one or two grocery stores in the area. We usually get up early after our 2nd night in International Falls and go to the Chocolate Moose Restaurant...our favorite restaurant in the area. Actually, all of our meals are eaten at the Chocolate Moose. It is a really cool loking restaurant...kind of has a cabin look and feel inside with Moose being the strong theme. After eating we head off to cross the bridge, get through customs and be on our way. Sometimes it takes quite a while getting through customs but other times it goes quickly. There have been times where we sit in our car for several hours to drive through customs. It is of the upmost importance that everyone make a bathroom run before leaving the restaurant and heading to customs. I will be taking tons of photos to share with everyone. It should be both fun and exciting. Hopefully you will stop by and check my blog during our vacation so that I can share the experience with you.

More Traveling to Come in the Future

I just found out yesterday that Veronica has several business trips that are scheduled for her to go on. If it is not a flying situation, I always try to go with her and split up the driving between the 2 of us. We will be going to Baltimore and then Pennsylvania. While in Baltimore, I want to take the opportunity to go to the harbor area and take some photos there. I would also like to go see a bakery called the Charm City Cakes. Duff Goldman is the owner and he along with his team of bakers create extreme cakes. You might have seen his show, Ace of Cakes, on the Food Network. I know that we won't be able to actually go into the bakery because entry is by appointment only but I would like to get a photo of the building. Duff and his friends make some really beautiful works of cake art. Here is a link to his official web site. If you go there, click on the "Flash" and on the next page, click on the "Cakes". It will show you approximately 160 cakes that they have created. The cakes cover all kinds of genres and styles. Some are truly amazing. I am not quite sure where we are going in Pennsylvania but I will find something interesting to photograph and share with you. This trip will be during the 2nd week in October. During the last week in October, we will be going somewhere in New Jersey. I believe it is Mt. Laurel, which is approximately 24 miles to the West of Philadelphia. Those should be some fun trips.