Up Nort

We have a friend who is also a casual biking enthusiast who has been telling me for a number of years about how good the biking is in Vilas County, Wisconsin. He even went so far as to pick up a brochure, when he was in the area recently for business, and brought it to us. So, since we were looking for a short, relaxing trip, that also included a fun bike ride, we decided to go check it out.  I did a little research, we picked a date, and we made a reservation.  

Then, on the appointed day, we loaded the bikes and everything else into the car and took off!

This was only going to be an overnight trip but even at that, a bike ride was not going to fill all the time. So our research included things to see in the area.  The first stop we made was in Woodruff, to see what was billed as the "World's Largest Penny".  It has an interesting story behind it. Back in 1952 a local doctor had a dream of having a hospital so a teacher at the local school organized a fund raiser, collecting pennies, to help build the hospital. In just 107 days. over 1,700,000  pennies were collected from all over the world. The hospital was built, and because the pennies continued to flow in for a while, a scholarship fund was also established.  To commemorate the accomplishment, a concrete penny was put up as a monument to the event.  Since it was there, we had to stop and see it.

And since it was about lunch time, we also stopped at a local restaurant and had lunch.  It was yummy.

Then it was on to where we were staying for the trip.  Despite the fact that the main industry in northern Wisconsin is tourism, our favorite motel chain didn't have a motel in the city we decided to stay in so we rented an Airbnb in St Germain to stay at.  You're always taking a bit of a chance to do that, but this place turned out to be very nice.  We would stay there again if we were visiting the area again.

After checking in, we went right away to the point on the trail we had decided to do our ride.  The trail's name is The Heart of Vilas County Trail.  It is a 50 mile trail that runs from Mercer, through Manitowish Waters, Boulder Junction, St Germain (where we were staying), and on to Sayner.  It runs along one road or another for that whole distance, sometimes right next to the road, sometimes off through the trees a little ways away from the road. And it's paved the whole way. Sweet!

Along that way there are way stations, parking lots with restrooms, benches, picnic tables, maps, and what they called "fixation stations", where adjustments and minor repairs could be done, and air pumps were available if needed.  This trail caters to bike riders.  Pretty nice. Our ride was planned to be from one way station to the next, about six miles, at which point we would turn around and come back, a total of about 12 miles. The spot we were beginning at was called the North Creek Loop trail.

So we got to the way station, unloaded the bikes, and took off!

During our ride we crossed a number of bridges.  There are a lot of lakes and rivers in this county. It was a very nice ride.

An added bonus was the fall colors were a little more advanced in this area than they were at home.  Not yet as far along as peak, but still very nice.  

The one thing I have always found difficult is telling what the terrain is along any given trail before actually going there. And so it was with this trail also.  We started a little west of Boulder Junction and planned to go west toward Manitowish Waters. The best description I had been able to find was that it was "mostly flat". But in actually getting there and riding on it, we found that the further west we went, the more significant the hills got.  It finally reached the  point where the hills were too much, they were wearing us out.  So we turned around a couple of miles earlier than originally planned, at about four miles.  As we were on the way back we found that once again, even though it had looked like it was level or even downhill one the way out, it had actually been a little uphill the first part of the ride.  That made the return trip easier than we had been expecting.  That was nice. All in all, it was a very nice ride.  A little shorter than planned but still very nice, a very nice ride.  I'd be willing to go back another time and try a different stretch.

The way back to St Germain included going by "Marty the Musky", a giant fish located by the Boulder Junction Chamber of Commerce.  Of course we had to stop for a picture.  Then it was back to St Germain, where we got some supper and took it back to the Airbnb to enjoy a quiet evening, resting up from the ride (read: hills) we had just finished.  We had the TV on to an old movie, Heaven Can Wait, released in 1943.  It was entertaining, although not quite what we were expecting when we chose to turn it on.  We had thought it would be an earlier version of the 1978 movie staring Warren Beatty.  But it was still good. And an interesting way to end a very nice day.

Check out time was 10:00am so the next morning we were up, breakfasted, and out in time to make the deadline.  The plan today was to find Rustic Road 60 and drive from one end to the other.  

To be designated as a rustic road in Wisconsin, a road needs to be lightly traveled, have outstanding natural features, and be available to the public for travel by auto, bike, or walking, for recreational enjoyment.  We have found them to be quite enjoyable. There are currently 126 rustic roads scattered around the state but only one in Vilas County, Rustic Road number 60.

We found the beginning at the intersection of County Road K and County Road N, northeast of Sayner, WI.  We hadn't gone far when we came across an old mill site on Star Lake.

There's nothing was left of the mill except the sign at the turn-off. But was a small, nice little park, Centennial Park.  It was a very tranquil place to view the lake and enjoy the woods. 

We spent a while enjoying the lake and woods, a very clear lake.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves.

After leaving the park, we continued along the road, enjoying the forest and colors. The arrival of fall colors is a variable thing from year to year.  This year we were just seeing the beginnings of it this far north.  This would have been a glorious drive in a couple more weeks.  But even now, with the colors just off to a good start, it was beautiful.

All too soon, we came to the end of the road and it was time to be on our way.

On our way out we stopped at the Vilas County Historical Museum in Sayner to get a photo of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.  We had driven past it several times on this trip so we had to stop and get a picture.

Then it was back to St Germain to a little shop called Cathy's Ice Cream N Candy Shoppe.  They had some interesting rocks outside.

And, of course, we had to have some ice cream.  Some yummy flavors.  We also got some fudge and taffy.  Nice stuff.  

This was a short trip but it was very relaxing, which is what we were looking for.  Got in a bike ride on a trail that was every bit as good as we were told. Saw some sights, enjoyed each others company, and had a good time.  Nothing could be finer.

In a Two Horse Open Sleigh!

My grandparents, my Dad's parents, were ranchers.  They had a house in town and a large ranch a ways out of town. Over the years, they raised cattle (both dairy and beef) and sheep.  The house in town was on several acres so they sometimes had sheep there, as well as hogs. The sheep that came to the house in town were usually bum lambs that had to be hand fed. Back before my grandfather bought his first tractor, horses provided the power to pull the wagons and other equipment as needed. Once he bought his tractors, he kept the horses for several years. When I was a child they would sometimes hook up the horses to the wagons and take whoever was there visiting for wagon rides around the countryside.  It was particularly fun in the winter.  He had a wagon on sleigh runners; we would throw a bunch of haybales on to sit on, bring a bunch of warm blankets to wrap up in and stay warm, and then ride around the backroads all over the county.  It was a lot of fun, fond memories.

A while back, Brombeere learned of an outfit, a farm here in the state, that ran a side business of providing sleigh rides to whoever wanted to go. So we made a reservation and went with Himbeere and his friend.  It was a lot of fun.

We got there a little early.  When that happens they invite you to visit the barn and see the horses that are  not currently out pulling wagons. So we did.

After a while the wagon we were going to ride on got back from the ride that had gone out earlier in the day.  They typically had two wagons out at any given time, depending on how many groups were coming on that day.  So we got to see the horses and wagon we would be riding on.  

The wagon unloaded and then pulled into the barn so they could care for the horses, give them a rest and drink, check them out and make sure they were okay to go out again on the next ride.  That also gave them a chance to check the wagon and make sure it was also okay to go out again.  Then, after several minutes, they let everyone get in the wagon and they headed out.  

After a short trip across an open field, we entered some woods, where the rest of the ride would be.  The lady driving the wagon was very friendly, very helpful; she even offered to take a few pictures so we could have our whole group in a couple of shots.

They had a system of trails all around through the woods. It was very quiet, a very peaceful ride.

The wagon was quite comfortable, considering it was a wagon.

We had come prepared with warm coats and blankets for the ladies.  It was actually a very nice day for the ride.  In the woods there was pretty much no wind and it wasn't a really cold day anyway.  We had actually been a little worried that there might not be enough snow a few days leading up to the ride.

But it had snowed there at the farm a couple of days before we were there and the trails were in great shape.  It was a good ride.

Part way through the ride we stopped at a fire pit they had out in the trees.  If we'd wanted to, we could have brought some food and had a cook out over the fire.  

But we still stopped at the fire pit and just sat and visited there in the woods. 

Even though we had elected not to cook anything, the lady still built up the fire.  They kept it going all day so that any group that wanted to could enjoy it.  We had decided before hand to go into town after the ride and eat at one of the restaurants in town.

It also gave the horses the opportunity to take a rest.

They had a nice set up there in the woods.  We decided this would be a fun thing to do again and, next time we would definitely bring some lunch to cook over the fire, even if it was just marshmallows to roast.  It would be fun.  Especially since they provide the fire and all the stuff needed to cook and all we would need to bring was the food.

It was a very fun way to spend the afternoon.  The whole ride, including the stop at the fire pit, took almost an hour.  Nobody froze, nobody fell out of the wagon, and nobody got bit by a horse.  It was a very fun time.  We left definitely wanting to do it again.

An Afternoon Drive

It had been a while so we decided the other day we wanted to go for a drive.  I keep a list of interesting places around the state that I would some day like to visit. It's the closest thing I have to a "bucket list", I suppose.  Anyway, Brombeere said she didn't have any place in particular in mind, she just wanted to go for an afternoon drive so I picked a place and that's where we went. Actually, where I began, when picking the place, was picking one of the many "rustic roads" our state has designated.  I wanted to go to a new one, one I hadn't been to before.  And I wanted it to be along one.  To earn the designation Rustic Road, a road has to be at least two miles long, among other things.  I wanted one longer than that so I looked at the map and picked one that was long.  It just happened to also be in a state park I have had on my list for a while; two birds with one stone!

The road began at the top of the Black River State Forest and is 12 miles long.

This winter in our state there's been a lot of snow.  Unfortunately, it's usually been followed each time by warmer weather.  So we'd get a really nice, heavy snow fall.  It would stay cold for a week or so and then it would get warm, which would cause a lot of the snow to melt.

As we drove along the road you could see the effects of the heavy snow.  Not only would there be a lot, but it would also be heavier than normal, a little wetter than normal.  That makes good packing snow,  good snowman snow, good snowball snow.  But it can also be hard on trees and shrubbery.

So we saw lots of bent-over trees, lots of broken limbs.  A hard winter, some might call it.

But it was still a pretty drive.  It was an overcast day, it might have been prettier if the sun had been out, shinning bright in the winter sky.  But it was still a very pretty drive.  This forest was in what is referred to as the "driftless area", the leading edge of the ancient glacier that used to cover most of the state.  So in front of the glacier a lot of dirt got pushed around, resulting in today's hills found all over in the southwest part of the state.  It's a very pretty area.

We did find one parking area that had been plowed out, the parking area for the trailhead of a number of trails through the forest, used for hiking and cross country skiing in the winter.  So we stopped to look around.

We might have tried a picnic, there were, after all, some picnic tables, and we found a nearby water pump.

But the snow was a bit deep and the pump turned off, if not frozen.  So we decided to pass on the picnic.

Some of the small stream and ponds were frozen over.  Others were not; very picturesque.

Eventually we came to the end of the officially designated rustic road so we turned around and drove back along the road and through the forest.  It was a very nice drive, a good time together. The whole time we had only seen four or five other cars, we'd nearly had the park to ourselves.  We enjoyed the time very much.  It also left us feeling like we needed to come back when it was warmer; have that picnic, or maybe even go camping for a day or two.  Maybe even bring the bikes back and try one or two of the trails that were all covered with snow this time.  That could be a fun time.  But today, it was a good drive, that was all we were looking for.  But it was everything we were looking for.

A Nice Day Trip

Brombeere has been working on a quilt for one of her daughters for the last while.  They have been talking a lot about the material and pattern and so it came to the point where Brombeere needed some very specific fabric to move forward with the quilt. She had checked the local fabric shops she normally shops at but hadn't found what she was looking for. So she checked a couple of shops near by she doesn't normally shop at but still hadn't found what she wanted.  But, in talking about what she was looking for with one of the people at one of the shops, she learned of a little store quite a ways away that specialized in the kind of fabric she was looking for.  So she called them and described what she wanted and they said they had some that would probably work.  So off we went, across the state to see if it actually would work.

But I digress.  This isn't about quilting today.  It turned out that this little shop is near a state park we've been thinking about visiting.  So we decided that since we were going to be so close, we'd make the trip to the park while we were there.

I had looked at this park online previously and studied the maps enough to see that there were some nice looking trails through the park.  I had actually thought it might be fun to take our bikes to the park and ride around, which is the best way for me to explore places like this.  These were designated, maintained trails through the park but still, you can only tell so much from maps.  One of the things we learned from our visit is that some of the trails are paved and would be good to ride on, but most were not.  Some were pretty narrow and would be difficult to ride on a recumbent.  Good to know.

We also learned that there were a number of hills throughout the park.  Hills make pretty scenery but they can be difficult on a bike, for me, at least.

Not real bad hills, but enough to make it a challenging place to ride here and there.  Still, while we were there we saw an older lady riding a two-wheeled recumbent around the park. If she can do it so can we. 

Driving and walking through the park that day we found it a very restful, peaceful place. We were there on a weekday, and its getting late in the season so there weren't many people camping; there were two camping areas and one of them was completely empty.  We didn't see anyone picnicking.  

Lots of flowers, and the leaves were just beginning to turn.  Brombeere even found a wild berry plant with mature, albeit small fruit on it.  It was very tart, but good.  Yum, wild berries.

So we spent a little time driving, walking, and looking through the park, enjoying the quite scenery.  A very restful way to spend a couple of hours.  And the good news was that the fabric Brombeere was looking for, that we traveled so far to find? Yes, the little shop had some that she felt would work wonderfully.  In fact, Brombeere, said she definitely would be back next time she was working on a bigger quilt that called for a wide piece of fabric.  A good trip all around!

Yet Another Wonder in the Family

Heidlebeere has been expecting; that's always exciting when a new grandbaby comes along. For a couple of reasons, this was considered a high risk pregnancy so everyone had been watching pretty close as things have been developing, hoping the little kid would make it full term.  If fact, Brombeere and Heidlebeere decided Brombeere would go out a little early in the hope of being there when the young child made an appearance in the world.  So she flew out a week before I drove out; we'll come back to that in a  minute.  

It turned out for the best that Brombeere flew out early, this little cutie was born just a few days later. Number 16 had safely arrived.

Everybody was excited, it was a much anticipated event.  Daddy was pretty happy for the new arrival, as was everybody else.

All the siblings came to visit in the hospital.  Brand new babies probably do more sleeping while being held than while laying in a crib.  This little kid was no different.  

Meanwhile, I had stayed behind so I could attend a concert.  The new arrival's aunt was singing in a choir again and I wanted to attend. But the day after the concert, which was every bit as good as ever, I took off for points west.

I made it fine and got to meet the new arrival and then we went to see Moosbeere and his family.

We wanted to give Heidelbeere and her family a little time to get acquainted with the new baby. The plan was to spend most of the time this trip with Heidelbeere and her family helping out but here and there we would run over to visit Moosbeere and his family.  So during this time we got to spend a day going to baseball games the kids were involved in.  

It was fun, a whole day in the sun watching grandkids having fun, playing baseball.  Enough to get a little bit of a sunburn.  Isn't that what summer is all about?

And they all did real well.  It was a good day.

The sports complex where all the games were held also had big lights on the fields.  A pair of osprey had taken advantage of the tall lights to build a nest and they also spent some time watching the games.

Mama was on the nest while papa watched from atop one of the other set of lights.  They were a distraction to those of us trying to watch the games.

After a few days with Mossbeere and his family we went back to Heidelbeere's place to spend some more time with them while they figured out the new schedule and routine. 

Babies don't come with directions, they just expect everything to fall in place.  You know how it is.

They didn't want to take the baby out to church quite yet, not with all the oohing and ahhing and all that jazz that normally goes on the first time a new baby comes to church, but there were people who had come from out of town so they did want to have the blessing pretty quick, before all the crowd dispersed again. That, plus the next Sunday was Mother's Day and they didn't want to detract from all that, so they got permission to hold the blessing on the Saturday before. So a large crowd of family from both sides gathered for a very nice naming and blessing ordinance and a little family get-together afterward at the church. It was nice time.

We had also decided to go visit Brombeere's sister who live in Arizona.  It had been a long time since we'd seen her and it would never be any closer so we decided to take a few days and make the trek.

This also gave us the opportunity to see the Grand Canyon, which neither of us had ever visited before.  On our way down we stopped at the Navajo Bridge outside of Marble Canyon, Arizona.  This was actually our best view of the Colorado River, which carves along the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Even at this point, it's impressive.  The bridge is actually over the Glen Canyon; the Grand Canyon is further to the west.

We had a good visit and did a lot of catching up.  It was only a few hours but it was a good visit.

Then it was time to head back north, which was when we stopped at the Grand Canyon.  It's an impressive place.  The north rim was still closed, which is the main reason we stopped on the way back, so we could go to the south rim.  

All the pictures I had ever seen didn't do it justice.

As we drove north toward it everything looked like normal, arid desert country.

And then suddenly there was this big hole in front of us.

We took a shuttle that was available along the south rim so we were able to view the canyon from several different vantage points, it was amazing.

Lots of sunshine but the elevation, up on the rim of the canyon, kept it from being real hot.  That was nice.

We saw lots of wildlife there, too.  And much of it was pretty tame.  The squirrels were all over and not very afraid.

We saw several elk, they had no fear.  The shuttle driver told us that as long as you didn't approach them and get too close, the elk didn't mind having people around at all.  After riding around on the shuttle all over the south rim, we drove east along the rim back to the road that went around the canyon, stopping here and there at various vantage points to take in the view.  

Heading back home we saw lots of cactus, for which Arizona is famous.

It was all over the place.

We stopped at a small park that had a nature walk out among the cactus.  Unfortunately, it was also out in the heat so we didn't spend a long time out there.  Then it was back on the way north.

While we were out west visiting, Brombeere spent time with two of the grandkids on sewing projects.  One wanted to make a snake, the other made a pillow.  It was fun to do that with the kids.

Brombeere also brought the stuff for a quilt she's making for Heidelbeere.  They laid out all the hexagon blocks to decide what order and arrangement to put them in.  That was interesting.  Once they all the blocks laid out they carefully gathered them back up so they could preserve the arrangement they came up with.  That was an adventure.

All too soon it was time to head back home.  Heidelbeere and family had gotten to the point that they were feeling comfortable with the new routine and the little baby was getting settled and doing better. We had been away longer than any other vacation we'd ever gone on.  As we were heading back we were amazed to see there was still snow as we went over the mountains near Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was pretty.

Soon enough we were back and there was nothing left but the memories and souvenirs of all the fun time we had spent.

And we were also able to collect a few more magnets for the fridge.  So, yeah, the good times were over and we were back home in our own space.  After so long away, it was nice to be back.