Dragon Boat Races

Unky Herb was part of the dragon boat races at Lake Phalen today and so PP and I went over to see how he would do. It was part of Asian American Day celebration and festival. He was part of a 20 person team (the Flying Dragons) that paddled and otherwise inspired paddling in a contest that included about 20 teams from various organizations and companies in the Twin Cities. UH has practiced some over the last few weeks and today was the test. The first shot is the finish of their second heat of the day. UH is in the green boat in the foreground, paddling as fast and powerfully as he can. They were touched out by about a second in the race. But the day was pretty successful. They finished fourth and received a trophy and medals went to all the members. Plus they had a bunch of good Asian eats all day from the Flying Dragons support team.



This is UH's team, or at least the male members of the squad. The women were in a later photo which I missed out on. But these guys were an important part of the race engine and appear to be having a good time. And they were. PP and I were there for moral support, but also were able to track down some Mung egg rolls, Nepalese momo, Thai veggie pad thai and California roll sushi. Good eats all around.



After the races, PP wanted to go to Norway Day at Minnehaha Park to see if they had any rummagrot (or however you spell that rich Norski pudding). They were out of it. But the falls are there and I thought to have a look. The creek was basically dry, and no water was falling over the edge. It's a rare day when the creek is dry, but part of the low water effect is deliberate. They are still working on shoring up the creek bed to lessen the chance of wall collapse.


The Norway Day crowd was sparser and more subdued than the Dragon Boats, but they are more familiar ethnically and there was music and art displays from Nordic organizations in the area.