After a 352 mile drive, we arrived at Cliffside at 3:45 to find Loren and Cindi all set up and waiting for us. We set up right across the road from them. After a guided driving tour of the highlights of Racine's lakefront and marina, we went back to camp where Marsha and I took showers while Loren and Cindi prepared dinner. Now that's the way to camp!
After a great chicken dinner with all the trimmings, we relaxed around the campfire built from wood supplied by Loren from home-grown trees.
The next morning (Monday), we dragged the camper to Loren & Cindi's house to pick out some goodies, including three good-sized pumpkins, from their garden before heading for home. We arrived at home at 3:15 and it's back to the old grind of retirement.
Isn't it great?!
We all decided to take our time getting ready to leave Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island. Copper Falls State Park, where we're staying tonight, is only about a 60 mile drive, so there's no big rush. We ate lunch before heading for town to board the 1:00pm ferry. We got there about 15 minutes early, so we just stood around enjoying the beautiful weather. The forecast for here next week is for much cooler temperatures and some rain. We couldn't have picked a better week to be here.
We boarded the ferry on schedule and enjoyed the ride to Bayfield where we disembarked and headed down the road. After a short stop at the IGA store in Washburn, we arrived at Copper River State Park about 3:00.
After setting up, we set out to find the train to the falls. There was a concession stand at the trailhead, so we decided that we should eat some ice cream to prepare for the 1.7 mile hike along Doughboys' Trail.
The trail was scenic with many views of the various rock formations and waterfalls along the Bad River. After the hike, we were pretty thirsty, so back to camp to "rehydrate" and fix dinner. The ice cream was wearing off. We ate hamburgers and various trimmings. After the dishes were done, it was a relaxing evening by the fire before turning in about 10:00.
Tomorrow, we'll part company with the Flemings. They'll go to Rhinelander to see Mike and Rita's new house and we'll head for Racine to camp for a night at Cliffside County Park with Loren and Cindi Larsen.
See you there!
After a lazy morning we went to town for lunch at Grampa Tony's restaurant. It's across the street from The Beach Club. Great sandwiches and reliable Wi-Fi!
After lunch, we investigated some of the listings on the bulletin board. I don't think we'll be purchasing a summer home here anytime soon. Then we took a drive around the loop on the north side of the island. Not exciting, but pleasant.
Back at camp. we decided to take our chairs (and a beverage) down to the beach and just relax. Several of the pictures below were taken there. Then it was back to camp for brats over an open wood fire.
We had a couple of visitors after dinner. Actually, there were three deer all at one time, but it was pretty dark and only one picture was worth saving. We stayed by the fire until the last of our wood was gone and turned in around 10:00.
The plan for tomorrow is to have lunch in camp, then head for Copper Falls State Park, only abort 60 miles down the road, and camp there for one night. We wouldn't want to leave this beautiful area all in one trip. It might be too much of a shock to our systems.
See you at Copper Falls!
We met Jim and Jan on the beach where they had their kayaks chained to a tree for safe keeping so they didn't have to haul them back and forth to camp. After they donned their garb and cast off, we went to the southern end of the Lagoon Ridge trail to begin our hike.
While Jim and Jan were paddling northward in the bay to the east of the lagoon, Marsha and I were hiking in the same direction, but on the ridge to the west of the lagoon. We only got an occasional glimpse of the lagoon through the trees from the trail. At the north end of the trail, we walked through the group camp area to Bay View Road and took it east for about a mile to hook up with the Barrier Beach Trail, which we hiked yesterday. The Barrier Beach Trail, much of it boardwalk, is a bit shorter and much easier walking, so we go back to camp in about 35 minutes.
After a late lunch and a much needed shower, we all jumped into the car and headed to town to explore Tom's Burned Down Cafe. It was certainly a unique place, but the patrons seemed to be locals who were celebrating the end of the tourist season. We pretty much kept to ourselves. The bar tender said they had Wi-Fi, but neither my PC nor phone could find it, so I didn't post yesterday's blog entry on time.
Back at camp about 5:15, Jim fired up the Smokey Joe and we enjoyed dinner in the comfortably cool evening air. We sat by the fire until about 10:00 without even having our jackets on. Unbelievable weather!
