Super Sunday!

What a day.

Woke up early, and saw it was foggy out. Becky asked me if I was going to go out and shoot. I mumbled something about getting more sleep, and rolled over and fell back asleep.

Woke up again about 45 minutes later. Still foggy. Decided to head to the lift bridge and shoot some pictures.

What a scene! Fog, with the sun popping in, and a boat of fishermen floating in the river. How lucky could I be? I'd soon find out...

Met up with Paul and Karen for a trip to an abandoned river crossing. Rumors that I heard were that it was going to be torn down this summer, so I wanted to get some shots of it and generally check the place out. Turned out pretty nice.

We then headed up to Marine on the St. Croix. I wasn't happy with any of my shots there, but was glad to be out taking pictures. We headed back towards Stillwater, so I could check in with Becky to see how it was going with Madeine - I'd been away for a couple hours, and in Marine, you don't get reception on your cell phone, so I didn't know if I missed a call.

Got back home, and Becky said "Go back out and have fun." So, I headed back out with Karen and Paul. We were talking about heading downtown Stillwater, and I turned to head to my car, and I saw a waver of a hot air balloon over one of the barns at Aamodt's. I freaked. We grabbed our gear, and headed over, just in time to see the first balloon in the air, and we could walk up to the other two. Simply amazing - I finally had not one, but two witnesses about the balloons launching across the street.

So, we headed downtown after many "thank yous" to the balloon crew. Very nice people.

We arrive in downtown Stillwater. Start walking around near the lift bridge, and head down towards the Dock Cafe, to see the paddle boats, which were docked at the time. I notice that the gondola is also docked by the paddle boats. I actually emailed Paul earlier in the week a link to his site. I turn around and look up towards the side road, and lo-and-behold, there is the gondolier, walking towards the docks. What luck! He's waiting for a couple to show up at 7:30 for a ride.

After that, I was ready to throw the camera in the river. What a lucky day! Some great shots, some great company. I left Karen and Paul at the entrance to Brine's restaurant, and headed home to see the family.