The "Pelican Breeze II" Rulz!

By Jeshua Erickson

Published Monday, July 7, 2008

Tim, Lisa, Forrest, Sara, Mark, Taryn, Jen and I decided to take a cruise on the Pelican Breeze II on Sunday. Well, Forrest didn't really have much choice, but he certainly enjoyed the trip. (He's only 1.)

(Photos by Tim Engstrom. Top photo: Jeshua. Bottom photo: Jen and Jeshua. Both photos taken aboard the Pelican Breeze II.)

What an amazing tour! I never knew Albert Lea Lake harbored so many pelicans. At any give time I've seen one or two. On this trip there were sand bar clusters of what appeared to be hundreds of white, sun bathing pelicans. For the longest time, I thought the name "Pelican Breeze" was a bit of a joke.

In fact, when I called my friend Riley and told him about the number of pelicans tour he replied, "You beat me to the joke!" Like me, he'd assumed there weren't really all that many pelicans on Albert Lea Lake. When I told him what I'd discovered, he was shocked.

In addition to seeing the sites and experience of viewing the WHOLE lake, our tour guide or "first mate" told us stories about Albert Lea's history around the lake. Jen wished there were even more stories. She loves history. I was happy gazing out over the water to the shore, and occasionally hearing historical tidbits.

I learned quite a bit on the "Pelican Breeze II" tour and encourage folks to get out and enjoy Freeborn County treasures like this one. In the past, I've joked about how shallow our lakes are. Not any more. Our wetland lakes in Southern Minnesota play a crucial ecological role. Many plants and animals depend on natural features of likes like ours that cannot be found elsewhere.

Check out the Pelican Breeze website...

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