We'd hoped for a long time to successfully organise a kayaking trip with the family on the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee. The plan came together over Memorial Day weekend in spite of inauspicious weather that Saturday morning. A storm with heavy downpours, lightning, thunder and all the fixin's was in full spate at 9 a.m. and the image on weather radar, which looked like a particularly garish tie-dye t-shirt wasn't promising. After getting a cell phone report from Oconomowoc that the weather was clearing, Paul made the call and we ran out to the driveway for the boat drill.

After a blessedly brief parking/bathroom/equipping interval we found ourselves setting out from Laacke and Joys dock and making our way downtown. With hindsight, the bad weather proved an ally - the post-storm temperature was perfect for light exercise and the river was by no means crowded. We paddled and drifted past the Harp, an Irish pub on the river, the Usinger sausage building, the performing arts center (I don't know WHAT they're calling it these days - Uihlein? Marcus?), Riverwalk, the abomination known as "The Bronze Fonz", all the familiar sights. I thought Milwaukee put on a brave show for our guests. The aforementioned sculpture and an immense, bloated carp carcass were the only embarrassments.

While exciting, there was, thankfully, no excitement of the "flipping over" variety on our paddle. We saw a bascule bridge go up for boat traffic on our way to the harbour. We waved to any number of boaters and people on shore. What is it about situations involving boats that inclines people to wave? John asked about an intriguing-looking tunnel next to one of the bridges. I investigated and it turned out to be a storm-overflow-sewage-discharge tunnel so we gave THAT a wide berth. The water got fairly choppy near the Hoan Bridge and the opening to Lake Michigan but it wasn't extreme enough to be a problem. We had the good fortune to see one of the big, great lakes freighters in port - it looked like an ore carrier of the Edmund Fitzgerald type. Very impressive.

We refer to these trips as "kayak pub crawls" but to date, we've never actually gotten out at more than one establishment. Barnacle Bud's is a fun little wharfside fish and chip shop on the harbour south of the Hoan Bridge. It's a LOT more fun going to Bud's on the water than by road. While the stretch of river concerned isn't terribly preposessing (scows, decrepit railroad bridge), the land approach takes one through an industrial area with uneven roads and old warehouse buildings with blind, smashed windows. The first time Paul drove me there I thought I was being taken to a lonely spot to be murdered (not really, Paul).

I was the last in our little flotilla (owing to the picture-taking) and by the time I was turning into the inlet, the others had already learned that we were not allowed to tie up at one of the docks. We paddled to the nether reaches of the inlet, a morass of stinking black mud, where we saw Our Jake waving a greeting from the bank. Good sport that he is, Jake helped us out of our boats which we either tied to pilings or lifted onto the weed-choked edge of the parking lot.

Fortunately, one of the big, round tables was vacated shortly after our arrival and we spent the next hour and a half getting outside of draught beer, margaritas and various deep-fried denizens of the deep. Lovely. Someone, I can't remember who, suddenly alerted us to the fact that we had JUST an hour in which to paddle back (upstream) to Laacke and Joy's before the doors were locked. We settled up and made our way back across the parking lot to the Stinking Morass.

There was less conversation on the return trip. I took on the role of pacesetter and tried to keep the armada going at a good clip. Hats off to our canoe-renters. I'm hopeless in a canoe. I can't keep point and I'm always splashing water on my fellow travellers. Ben and Liz were amazing - they were kicking up a good bow wave. As on the trip downriver, we passed a couple of big tourboats. More waving and saluting. Bits of the riverwalk were being torn apart and redone (didn't they just finish the Riverwalk?) and at least one of the bridges was undergoing major renovation/reconstruction so there were various obstacles to be avoided.

We arrived back at the outfitters just in time, as far as I was concerned. I was starting to feel it, and no mistake. On the home stretch, I found myself eye-to-eye with an immense, murderous-looking seagull which was sitting on a piling. It looked capable of anything and I realised that, if attacked, I wouldn't have had the strength to fight it off.

All in all, a very successful and enjoyable trip. Thanks to John and Mary, Johnny and Kersten, Ben and Liz, Jake, and Paul for a delightful day of kayaking.