12th Anniversary SUP Session

  Happy Anniversary to Us!  As my wife and I paddled across the lake on our paddle boards on our 12th Anniversary, our two girls perched on the nose of the boards…I had to chuckle. 12 years ago, as we exchanged our vows, I could not have imagined the amount of fun that we’d be…

Summer is Here!

It was a long winter for our family, but we made it. The last couple of weeks have been eventful. We sold our house in town and moved out onto Crooked Lake for the summer. It’s been great to wake up to the sun rising over the lake with the woods in the background. Evie…

1st SUP of the Season

It’s been a long winter here in Indiana. Between teaching, coaching, and finishing up grad school…Life has been busy. I had hoped to get some serious snow-kiting in this winter, but the snow never materialized locally (though it was plenty cold). We had snow, but never in sufficient amounts or with the needed winds. It…

A Touch of Nordic and HopSlam

    Winter in Indiana offers little excitement in the realm of extreme sports, but occasionally I luck into a little fun. We had a healthy dump of snow last night and I woke up sufficient snow to go out for some cross-country skiing. On my way to get out skiing, I lucked into one…

More SUP’ing with the Dog

One of my favorite ways to spend a fall afternoon is fishing off a paddle board with my dog, Sparky. I usually don’t catch enough for a fish sandwich, but it’s very relaxing to head out onto the water and take in the scenery. Sparky and I usually have a great one-sided conversation.

Paddling the Mighty St. Joe

I recently took the SUP out on the St. Joseph river in Fort Wayne for a short paddle down the river and through the Fort Wayne. Growing up in the area, the rivers always had a poor reputation and are notoriously dirty. I was surprised by wide array of scenery, parts of the river seemed…

Chain-O-Lakes

Windy days are few and far between locally, but that doesn’t mean the good times can’t roll. One of my favorite workouts on windless days is a Paddleboard session at Chain-o-Lakes State Park in Albion (Indiana). I grew up going fishing and hiking in the park with my parents, so it’s always a fun trip…

One Last Hurrah Before the School Year

As the summer wound down and my graduate classes came to a conclusion, we found ourselves with six days to hit the road in search of fresh breezes to fill my kite. Our plan was to head north to Holland for a night, then work our way all the way north along the lakeshore to…

Tawa’s Point State Park etc…

“The world’s big and I want to have a good look at it before it goes dark.” -John Muir Tawas Point State Park and North Our trip into Michigan “Chasing the Wind” took us Northeast to Lake Huron and Tawas Point State Park. Tawas Point is a well-known kiteboarding spot which is rideable in pretty…

VanBuren State Park and Points Beyond

Our latest adventure “Chasing the Wind” took our Happy Clan to the west coast of Michigan and Van Buren State Park. We booked 3 nights in the campground and hoped that the winds would materialize for kiting. We planned on enjoying the beaches of Van Buren State park and exploring the communities of South Haven…