Day of Detours

 

In case you were curious, here are the photos from yesterday that I couldn't post. First: our view at lunch yesterday.

On the reservation they have these flambeau (torch) decorations on all the streetlights.

This is a unicorn-pegasus inflatable thing we saw on our pontoon boat ride. Isn't it cute?

Here is one of the two teenage loons we saw.

And here is the teenage eagle in the nest.

Today we did get into Mass, then we went for a walk on the Bearskin Trail from the point where it starts in a park in Minocqua. The weather was beautiful, but as we started back, we heard thunder in the distance. By the time we got to the Thirsty Whale, they weren't letting people sit outside on the patio because of the thunderstorm, but we got a seat right by the open door to the patio. Here is our view.

We actually didn't take that many photos today. After lunch we walked to the antiques shop in downtown Minocqua, where Travalon got some old cassette tapes (the tape player still works in his car, but the CD player no longer does), while I found a beautiful rosary necklace. Then we went to the other antiques shop, and I got a few rosaries and chaplets. The traffic was terrible going south on Highway 51, so we took Highway 47, where we found another antiques shop. Travalon got a fireman Texaco teddy bear to go with his car mechanic Texaco teddy bear, and I found something that was clearly a rosary but had the crucifix removed and replaced with random trinkets, so I will restore it to its rightful configuration. We continued south to Highway D, then turned back east and thought we would get south of the bad traffic... but it was even worse there! There were already five cars ahead of us trying to make a left onto Highway 51, but the traffic coming down from Minocqua was bumper to bumper, so we took a detour.

"Take Fawn Lake Road," I told Travalon. This was a beautiful road that passed by a number of lakes, and hardly anyone else was on it. It met back up with Highway 47, and we passed through the town of Lake Tomahawk. Here are a couple of photos of the lake.

Then we took Highway 8 back east to meet up with Highway 51 just north of Tomahawk, because at that point Highway 51 is four lanes so it wasn't so congested. We went into Tomahawk and swam in the Wisconsin River at the beach at Sara Park, and just down the road is the start to the Hiawatha Trail, so we walked on that too. It also starts with an old railroad bridge, and from it you can see a still functioning railroad bridge. (Why did they ever have two so close together??)

Just north of Wausau there is a beautiful hill you can see from the highway, and the map says it is in Brokaw but the exit sign calls it Maine. We overshot the exit, got back on the highway going north (if anyone was tracking us, they would have thought we were insane), and got onto Highway WW, but it was all torn up. Every road going into town was torn up! We drove into town anyway, on a torn-up road, but we couldn't find the beautiful hill. Then I did some internet research to find out why they changed the name of Brokaw, and the story is very sad: there was a paper mill there that specialized in rainbow-colored  office paper, of the kind I have often used at work, but a broker from New York City bought a bunch of paper mills here in Wisconsin and closed that one. The town of Brokaw was deeply in debt, and almost everyone lost their job, so the village dissolved and was taken over by the village of Maine. I was heartbroken to think some rich people from out East figured they could add a couple more million to their personal fortunes, so they ruined an entire village. I literally cried for miles. Also, I was sad because there was an article about how COVID kills more people of color, and I feel like that's why the powers that be don't care at all. More about that tomorrow - it's stunning when God gives you a glimpse of just how evil human hearts can be.

We did see a beautiful sunset just as we approached home.

Famous Hat