Lake City, MN. Dragonfly is a sailboat again!

Yesterday, Kathleen and I had our first sail aboard Dragonfly since 2022, before this blog was created. We’ve cruised more than 4,000 miles over the past three years with the mast and sails in storage, and quite honestly, enjoyed being a powerboat more than we expected. But it was time to be sailors again, and we went out on Lake Pepin on a warm, gorgeous afternoon in light southeast winds and full main and genoa jib. Everything still worked, nothing (major) broke and we more or less remembered what to do. 

Dragonfly is now berthed in the Lake City Marina, a 635-slip municipal facility. The harbor was first opened in 1934, and its dedication was attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Map link: Lake City Marina.  Hansen’s Harbor, our former home on Lake Pepin and the location of our 2023 Great Loop departure and send-off party, was sold in February, following the unexpected passing of third-generation marina owner Allen Hansen. The site is now Pelican Point Yacht Club and Resort, and we observed significant redevelopment efforts on the grounds when we drove past yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed our four summers at this marina and were saddened to hear of Allen’s death at the too-young age of 55.

Source: Visitlakecity.org

Bonus Question: Do you know the common names for the following medical conditions?

A. Sigmatism

B. Circadian disryhthmia

C. Cephalalgia

D. Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia

Lake City, MN (population 5,200) is 65 miles southeast of our home in St. Paul and is located on Lake Pepin, a 40 square mile natural lake on the Mississippi River. The lake was named after Jean Pepin, a French explorer who settled here in the late 1600s, and the name first appears on a 1703 map of New France. Lake Pepin sits in a valley carved out by the last ice age, and was created when sediment from the Chippewa River dammed up the Mississippi and backed it up for 22 miles. Besides Lake City, a large part of the Minnesota shoreline belongs to Frontenac State Park, a 2,600 acre collection of river bluffs, prairies and forests with excellent trails, campgrounds and picnic facilities. The Wisconsin side is home to the villages of Maiden Rock, Stockholm and Pepin, which was our first stop in September 2023 after leaving Hansen’s Harbor. Post link: https://dragonflyboating.blogspot.com/2023/09/first-stoppepin-wi.html

Lake Pepin was the site of one of the largest maritime disasters on the Mississippi River, when the ferry Sea Wing capsized in an 1890 storm, killing 98 people. In 1922, Lake City native Ralph Samuelson invented the sport of water skiing here, using a pair of boards and a clothesline—towed by his brother, Ben, at about 20 mph. Samuelson spent the next 15 years teaching waterskiing and performing in shows from Michigan to Florida. A large bronze statue of him is on display in a park adjacent to the marina and Lake City celebrates Waterski Days every year on the last weekend in June. 

Bonus Question Answer: 

A. Sigmatism = Lisping

B. Circadian disryhthmia = Jetlag

C. Cephalalgia = Headache

D. Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia = Brain freeze

Acadia National Park, Maine

Thursday, May 21: Kathleen, Danielle, Jay and I left Boston at 9:15 AM, fought our way through the heavy city traffic and drove three hours north to Augusta, ME. Fun facts: Maine is the only U.S. state with a one-syllable name and the only state that borders exactly one other state (New Hampshire). Bonus Question 1: Which two states border the most other states? Hint: They touch each other (answer at end of post). 

Augusta (population 19,000) is the easternmost state capital and the third smallest capital city. Bonus Question 2: Which two state capitals are smaller? (answers also at end of post). Portland was Maine’s first capital city, but was considered too far south, and Augusta replaced it in 1827. The attractive statehouse was constructed of locally-quarried granite, hauled here by teams of oxen. After touring the building, which was mostly empty, we ate a picnic lunch in the 20-acre Capitol Park across the street on a sunny but cool and windy day. Map link: Augusta, ME

Number 32 on my state capitol quest!

Next we drove two more hours to Trenton, ME, arriving around 4:00 PM. Jay and I went grocery shopping, we ate dinner at our Airbnb, and spent a quiet night in. Our rental is on the west bank of the Jordan River, a tidal estuary which flows into Mt. Desert Narrows and the Atlantic Ocean. The tidal range here is a whopping 11 feet, big enough that you can see the moving water level in real time during the roughly six-hour cycle. The photos below show the change in the shoreline from high to low tide. Map link: Trenton, ME

At low tide you can walk out to the island behind
the trees on the right

Friday, May 22: We awoke to a beautiful, chilly morning, with blue skies, a moderate northwest wind and 47F outside; cool enough to need our bedroom space heaters. At 8:45 AM, we drove about 30 minutes to Acadia National Park, the first American national park east of the Mississippi River. Established in 1916 and renamed Acadia in 1929, the park encompasses about half of Mt. Desert Island plus many smaller islands and is one of the top 10 visited national parks in the country. The natural beauty, variety of activities and proximity to big population centers are the main reasons for Acadia’s popularity and the park does not disappoint. Its mountains, valleys, beaches, headlands, woodlands, lakes, streams, ponds, ocean vistas, hiking trails, and a 45-mile network of historic carriage roads draw more than 4 million visitors annually. Map link: Acadia National Park

Our first stop was Sand Beach and a hike up to Great Head, once the summer estate of Louisa and Herbert Satterlee, who received the land as a wedding gift from Louisa’s father, J.P. Morgan. We took in the spectacular views of the nearby islands and coastline from the summit, then descended to Sand Beach and ate lunch at the trailhead. Next we took the Ocean Path south to Thunder Hole, a natural blow hole, although it was low tide and there was no thunder. We continued on to Otter Point Overlook before we pooped out, got our car and drove back to Trenton. After showers and a little recovery time, Danielle and Kathleen drove to nearby Ellsworth and an L.L. Bean outlet store, then we all went to dinner in Bar Harbor, enjoying excellent Mexican food outdoors at Salsa Verde Grill, followed by ice cream on the Village Green in chilly 50-degree weather.

Thunder Hole

Saturday, May 23: Kathleen and I were up before 6:00 AM on another clear, cool day. We went through our morning routines (coffee/tea, Wordle, Waffle, crossword, etc.), then read and watched the tide go out, a mesmerizing and peaceful experience that became a new ritual. After breakfast, the four of us drove to Seal Harbor, where we rented bicycles and rode into Acadia National Park to ride on the carriage roads. Built for horse and buggy riding between 1913 and 1940 by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., one of five children and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the 45 miles of crushed stone trails are an enjoyable and popular way to see the park’s interior. Only bikes, pedestrians and horses are allowed, motorized vehicles are forbidden, and the system is very well marked. We completed the 9-mile Jordan Pond Loop, which was hilly and challenging in places, but mostly fun. After our ride, we ate a picnic lunch at the crowded Jordan Pond House, a teahouse and restaurant serving vacationers since the 1870s. We returned our rental bikes, then hiked part of the way around Eagle Lake, a beautiful, unspoiled lake under the shadow of 1,530-foot Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in the park and one of the tallest peaks on the Atlantic seaboard. 

We stopped for groceries on the way back to Trenton, then ate in again. Our dinner preparation was interrupted by a large red fox hunting in the meadow behind the house and we all gathered around the kitchen window completely captivated. After our meal, we played Azul, a favorite board game, then watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Blake Edward’s 1961 hit movie based on Truman Capote’s novella. The movie was critically acclaimed and a commercial success, but out of the all-star cast of Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Ebsen, only Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar. Composer Henry Mancini won an Academy Award for Best Musical Score and his classic song “Moon River,” performed by Hepburn, won the Oscar for Best Original Song as well as a Grammy for Song of the Year. 

Eagle Lake

Carriage roads

At Jordan Pond

Sunday, May 24:  We had a slow morning, and passed the time watching the tide and the birds—in less than three days we’ve counted more than 20 different species on the property. We drove to Bar Harbor and walked along the Shore Path, a public thoroughfare that crosses private land, then continued across the namesake “bar” of Bar Harbor. The rock and gravel strip out to Bar Island, which is part of Acadia National Park, uncovers at low tide and is a popular day hike. Hundreds of others had the same idea and the bar and island trails were very busy. On the island there are warning signs to mind the tide tables so you don't get trapped on the uninhabited island; there’s also a phone number for a water taxi if you want a rescue, or you can just wait the 6+ hours until the next low tide. After the walk back to town, we ate lunch at Side Street Cafe, then shopped at the Village Green Craft Fair before driving to Southwest Harbor, in a less-busy section of the park. There we hiked the Flying Mountain and Valley Cove Trails, seeing only three other groups on the trail. We returned to our Airbnb, made dinner, played Code Names, another favorite game, then read until bedtime. Map link: Bar Harbor and Bar Island, ME

The Shore Path

Balancing Rock

The bar at low tide. The dark line of seaweed at
Danielle’s feet is the high tide line,

Village Green Craft Fair

Lobstah pawts in Bah Hahbah

Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day): We woke up to light rain, which turned to steady rain for the first half of our drive back to Boston. Rather than take the interstate, we traveled on the more scenic U.S. Route 1, which runs 2,370 miles from Fort Kent, ME, on the Canadian border to Key West, FL, and connects most of the major cities on the East Coast. We stopped for coffee in Rockland and lunch in Portland, where the rain stopped and the skies cleared, allowing us to stretch our legs in a nearby city park after eating. Traffic wasn’t bad as we approached Boston, and we returned to Danielle and Jay’s around 4:30 PM. After resting and unpacking, we ate dinner, watched Jeopardy and Taskmaster on television, then read until bed.

Bonus Question 1 Answer: Missouri and Tennessee both touch eight states, including each other. See map below.

Number of states bordered by each state

Bonus Question 2 Answer: Montpelier, VT, population 8,000, is the smallest state capital city, followed by Pierre, SD, population 14,000. 

Road Trip: Rhode Island

Kathleen, Danielle and I took a quick trip to Rhode Island, the state where Kathleen and I lived briefly and the site of our 1988 wedding. We first stopped at the large, attractive state capitol in Providence, sharing the atrium and hallways with a number of school groups touring the building. Completed in 1904, the statehouse is made from Georgia marble and boasts the fourth largest self-supporting marble dome in the world, after St. Peter’s Basilica, the Minnesota State Capitol and the Taj Mahal. Map link: Providence, RI

We drove south for another 30 minutes, stopping at 8025 Post Road in North Kingston, the house we rented in 1988 and the location of our wedding rehearsal dinner and reception. Not surprisingly, it has undergone significant improvements since then, but the lines, bones and location were all recognizable. We stopped for lunch in the nearby Village of Wickford, enjoying the shaded deck and sea breeze at Wickford on the Water restaurant in the 90-degree heat. Map link: Wickford, RI

Next we crossed the Jamestown and Newport Bridges that span Narragansett Bay to Aquidneck Island (the original Rhode Island) and the city of Newport, population 25,000. Famous for being a sailing center and summer resort for the wealthy, Newport hosted the first U.S. Open tournaments in both tennis and golf and every America’s Cup sailing regatta from 1930-1983. It was a major hub in the slave “triangle trade” of early America, where Caribbean molasses was distilled into rum, which was then exchanged for West African captives. Today Newport is home to Salve Regina University, the National Sailing Museum and Hall of Fame, Naval War College, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Naval Supply Corps School and Naval Station Newport, where Kathleen did her surface warfare training and where we were married 38 years ago next month. Our first stop was The Breakers, a 70-room, 138,000-square-foot mansion completed in 1895 as a summer “cottage” for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The Breakers is the grandest and most-visited of a dozen Gilded Age mansions that are open to the public, most along the Cliff Walk, a 3.5 mile National Recreation Trail with stunning views of the historic properties and the ocean. The northern terminus of the Cliff Walk is at Easton’s Beach, which we visited briefly, but the stiff wind and chilly air coming off the ocean limited our enjoyment. Instead we strolled through Downtown Newport, with its waterfront wharves, hotels, restaurants and shops, until it was time to head home. Map link: Newport, RI

It was a two-hour drive back to Boston, interrupted by a vicious line of thunderstorms that brought thunder, lightning, heavy rains and road flooding. By the time we arrived at Jay and Danielle’s at 7:00 PM, the rain had stopped and the skies were clear. After dinner, we watched Jeopardy, and were excited that one of the questions on the show was about The Breakers in Newport!

Bonus Content: It’s Walter Cup and Stanley Cup playoff time and I am watching as much of the action as my schedule allows. Ice hockey is by far my favorite spectator sport and is unique among sports, in my humble opinion. There are also many peculiar and little-known NHL rules and regulations—here are some of them:

1. The Blood Rule: To improve player safety and minimize the spread of infectious disease, players must leave the ice if they have blood on their jerseys. The rule applies regardless of whose blood it is. 

2. The Two-Stick Rule: Players may not carry more than one stick. They cannot pick up a dropped stick and pass it to a teammate or carry a replacement stick without dropping their own first. 

3. The Gretzky Rule: From 1985-1992, the NHL forced teams to play 5-on-5 rather than 4-on-4 during coincidental penalties, specifically to limit Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers’ dominance on open ice. 

4. The Jersey Tuck Rule: Players may not tuck their jerseys into their breezers, so that player names and numbers are always visible and hip pads are not exposed. Famous former “tuckers” were Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Wayne Gretzky, who superstitiously tucked in the right side of his jersey before every game. 

5. The Brodeur Rule: Established in 2005, a trapezoid behind each goal limits the area that the goalie may play the puck. It was implemented to prevent talented puck-handling goalies, specifically the New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur, from playing the puck in the corners on dump-ins, which limited offense and scoring. 

Other Goalie Rules: Teams may only play one goalie at a time. Goaltenders must use white tape on their sticks, to allow refs to see the puck better. Goalies may not leave their sticks in the crease when pulled in an empty net situation. The Emergency Backup Goalie (EBUG): Teams typically roster two goalies, and in the event that both are sick, injured, or otherwise unable to play, a local player is hired to fill in. Each NHL home team is required to have an EBUG in the stands—they are typically local amateurs, former college or junior hockey players or recreational league goalies. It is rare that EBUGS ever play, but it does happen, and has resulted in some legendary moments in professional hockey. David Ayres, a 42-year-old Zamboni driver and former American Hockey League goalie in Toronto, filled in for the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in February, 2020 and was credited with the win when the ‘Canes beat the Maple Leafs. He is in the NHL record books as the oldest goalie to win his regular-season debut. 

Concord, MA, Lowell, MA, and Concord, NH

After spending the previous day in Boston, we kept up the sightseeing momentum, heading north out of the city. Our first stop was at Minuteman National Historical Park, known to schoolchildren nationwide as Lexington and Concord, where “the shot heard round the world” started the American Revolution. On April, 19, 1775, a group of 700 British Army regulars under Lt. Col. Frances Smith marched out of Boston to seize a reported stash of weapons in Concord. The British troop movement triggered Paul Revere and William Dawes, via different routes, to ride west to sound the alarm. The two met in Lexington and picked up a third rider, Dr. Samuel Prescott to continue on to Concord. The three met a British patrol—Revere was captured, questioned and released, although his horse was confiscated and he had to walk back to Lexington. Dawes and Prescott escaped, although Dawes was bucked off his horse and he also turned around on foot. Out of the trio, only Prescott made it to Concord to warn the patriots, although some historical accounts say a fourth rider, Israel Bissell, traveled even further. I was extremely curious about why Paul Revere got all the credit for the “Midnight Ride” and why the other participants were largely forgotten. In my research, I found that Revere had a high social standing, wrote a detailed account of the night’s activities, and had a tendency towards self-promotion. He also benefited immensely from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s classic 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” which intentionally altered and streamlined the facts to create an American legend at a politically sensitive time prior to the Civil War. Map link: Minuteman National Historical Park

Awaiting the British on Lexington Green in 1775 were 77 colonial militia, nicknamed “minutemen,” as they were required to be ready on a moment’s notice. At 5:00AM, the redcoats reached Lexington and opened fire, then charged with bayonets, killing eight colonials, the first to die in the revolution. The Americans withdrew, and the British continued on seven miles to Concord. Thanks to Prescott’s warning, the weapons stockpile was well hidden outside of town, the minutemen were armed and waiting at the North Bridge, and the first British soldiers fell. The redcoats regrouped, realized that their mission had failed, knew they were in trouble and retreated towards Boston. More colonials joined the fight, and a running battle commenced chasing the British east along what is now called Battle Road. Back in Lexington, the militia there joined the pursuit and avenged their fallen comrades from that morning. The exhausted British finally reached the safety of Charlestown in the evening, with 73 dead and 174 wounded missing from their ranks. The American Revolution had begun. 

The national historical park had a small, informative visitors center, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff and an entertaining multi-media video. Along Battle Road and within the park is an early 18th century house called The Wayside, where authors Louisa May Alcott and later Nathanial Hawthorne and Harriet Lothrop (pen name Margaret Sidney) once lived. Neighbors included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville and Henry David Thoreau, and our next stop was Walden Pond, less than two miles away. From 1845-47, Thoreau lived in a 10x15 foot cabin that he built by hand with $28 of materials on land owned by Emerson, his friend and mentor. In 1854, he published his thoughts on this experiment in simple living in his classic book Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Today, the location is a popular state park, with a replica of the cabin, visitors center, hiking trails and swimming beach. Map link: Walden Pond, MA

The Wayside author’s home

Replica of Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond

Walden Pond

We continued north to Lowell (pronounced as a single syllable, rhymes with “goal”), designed in the 1820s as a textile manufacturing town, powered by Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River. By the 1850s, it was the largest industrial center in the country, relying on hydropower and thousands of “Mill Girls,” young, single women recruited from New England towns and farms to work in the factories. The Lowell National Historical Park preserves this heritage, with multiple visitors centers, restored weaving mill, canals, locks and replicas of the company-owned boardinghouses where the Mill Girls were required to live. At the Boot Cotton Mills Museum, we were treated to a live demonstration of still-operating weaving machines—the noise was significant and our guide indicated that during the mill’s heyday, ten-times as many machines would have been going strong.

 

Boot Cotton Mills Museum

Mill and canal

Our last stop in Lowell was the Whistler House Museum of Art, located in the birthplace and childhood home of painter James Whistler. His most famous painting, completed in 1871, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, is commonly known as Whistler’s Mother, which his actual mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, posed for. Born in Lowell in 1834, he later played himself up as an impoverished southern aristocrat and also once claimed St. Petersburg, Russia as his birthplace. Moody and insolent, he was somehow admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but was dismissed for poor grades and a large number of demerits by then-Superintendent Robert E. Lee. He left the U.S. for good, studied art in Paris and settled in London until his death in 1903 at the age of 69.  

Whistler House

Source: Wikipedia

Continuing northwest, we crossed into New Hampshire and drove about an hour to Concord, the state capital and third-largest city, after Manchester and Nashua. We visited the 1819 statehouse, built on land previously occupied by a Quaker meeting house. It was constructed from local granite, quarried by convicts, and is the oldest state capitol in the country where both legislative bodies still meet in their original chambers. On the grounds is a statue of Christa McAuliffe, teacher and astronaut, who perished at age 37 along with her six crew-mates when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986. McAuliffe taught social studies at Concord High School and was selected from more than 11,000 applicants during President Ronald Reagan’s initiative to send an educator into space. A quote from McAuliffe is inscribed on the pedestal of her memorial: "I touch the future, I teach.” Map link: Concord, NH

We made a couple more stops on our quick visit to Concord. The first was the home of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science movement in 1879. Known mostly for the belief that sickness is best treated through prayer, rather than medical intervention, Christian Scientists are subjected to frequent criticism, opposition, and the occasional child neglect lawsuit. A New Hampshire native born to Protestant Congregationalists, Mary Baker Eddy suffered from ill health all her life. After her first husband died, Eddy lost custody of their son due to her poor health. She remarried, then divorced, and was often bedridden. In 1866, she slipped on the ice and was seriously injured, but avoided conventional medical treatment and instead turned to her Bible. After she recovered, she was convinced the prayer alone was responsible for her convalescence, and the idea for Christian Science was born. Besides the Bible, Eddy’s 1875 book Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures is the foundational text for practitioners. There are no ordained clergy, and each congregation elects two Readers to conduct religious services. Mary Baker Eddy died in 1910 at the age of 89. 

Our last visit was the home of Franklin Pierce, our 14th president. Born in 1804 in nearby Hillsborough, NH, Pierce attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, where he met Nathaniel Hawthorne—the two remained lifelong friends and Hawthorne wrote Pierce’s biography. Pierce served in the Mexican-American War and became interested in politics as a young lawyer. He served as a state legislator and Speaker of the House, U.S. representative, U.S. senator, chairman of the state Democratic Committee, U.S. Attorney, and was elected president in 1852, defeating Winfield Scott, his commander in the war. Pierce and his wife Jane began his term in mourning. Their first son died in infancy, their second at age four from typhus, and their only surviving child, Benjamin was crushed to death in front of them in a train derailment just weeks before the inauguration. Both parents spiraled into depression and Jane did not attend the inauguration and mostly avoided Washington society. Pierce was an unpopular president, mainly due his pro-slavery beliefs and series of compromises placating Southern interests. He intended to serve a second term, but lost the 1856 Democratic Party nomination to James Buchanan; the only time an elected president seeking reelection did not win his party’s endorsement. Historians rank Franklin Pierce amongst the worst U.S. presidents, and on a list of other ineffective, proslavery executives—including John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan—who set the stage for the Civil War. 

Franklin Pierce residence, known as the Pierce Manse

Bonus Question: It’s World Cup tournament time, and while I’m not a big soccer fan, it’s hard to ignore the largest sports event on the planet. Only eight countries have won a World Cup championship since its inception in 1930; six of them more than once. Can you name these countries? (answers at end of post)

Bonus Activity: Walden Pond word search!

Bonus Question Answer: Past World Cup winners, with the number of titles in parentheses: Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), Argentina (3), France (2), Uruguay (2), England (1) and Spain (1).