The Paddle and Portage race was today. Anne and Alana have won a few ribbons at this event (1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes). With Alana in DC, Anne's needed to find a new partner. Last year she did it with her cousin Ellen. This year she volunteered to direct traffic and keep participants safe! The bandages on her chin are a result of the two skin cancers spots removed from her face a couple of days ago. All is well on that front.
Also, the sandhill cranes are around this summer. This time there are two families. Notice the high water levels behind the cranes and the underwater dock that leads to the boat.
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My dear spouse did little to convey the wonders of Paddle and Portage. Imagine – 381 boats converging on the center of the capitol city, a downtown that is already overactive with the Dane County Farmers’ Market around the Capitol Square and the outdoor sale that is Maxwell Street Days on State Street. Even though it’s only 10 am on a Saturday morning, the place is jumping and now you add another thousand or so people, half of whom are carrying 60-pound boats on their shoulders and heads. It's hot, it's sweaty, it's humid, it’s crowded, it’s tough and it's glorious.
It’s boats where they shouldn’t be. I still remember the first time I stumbled upon Paddle and Portage, back in the years when we were new to Madison. I was bicycling along Gorham Street when I was stopped by a cop holding up traffic to allow dozens of canoes to cross the road. What!? It would be like being in Paris and discovering hundreds of people from your high school dancing under the Eiffel Tower. I personally didn’t know any of the Paddle and Portagers I saw that day, but I felt an instant bond with them, and a deep admiration. They were my kind of people – committed paddlers, goofy adventurers, closet competitors – converging to take over the streets for an hour.
Paddle and Portage is beautifully, richly, deeply colorful. Go look through these photos posted for the 2008 race (http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000ZSBCK9_6vEI). Boats of every hue, life vests that match or contrast, dark or blond wood canoe paddles or sleek microcarbon kayak paddles, outfits that range from running gear to bathing suits to pirate garb. It’s a feast for the eyes.
(There's more -- much more -- to say but I have to go to work. I'll be adding more later.)
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