Sunset from Mount Zion

 

I realize that I didn't post a couple of photos yesterday. Actually, I thought I had taken some, but when I went into the Photos app no new photos were showing up, so they must not have uploaded. Sometimes there's a day delay on these things. Anyway, while I was out walking I saw a neighbor's lovely garden.

This bush seemed to appear out of nowhere - I don't remember it other years, but it looks very mature. It smells wonderful, and my phone tells me it is a "multiflora rose."

This morning Travalon and I hit the road just after ten, and we drove until taking a walk at beautiful Iverson Park in Stevens Point. It has lots of bridges going over the Plover River, and wonderful trails back in the woods. Travalon forgot to bring his good camera on this walk, so he took photos with his phone.

We stopped for lunch at the Cedar Grill on the outskirts of Wausau, where Travalon had a walleye sandwich that he really enjoyed, and I had a grilled vegetable and goat cheese sandwich on the most incredible bread. Oh, it was so good! 

Our next stop was the trailhead of the Bearskin Trail. We walked to the first trestle and then turned around.

In Minocqua, we stopped at the Minocqua Brewing Company, and to our surprise they were having a free tasting led by the owner, who told the story behind each of his brews.

They are a very leftist outfit, and the local government in Minocqua is not, so officials are always hassling them with newly created rules just for them. For example, they aren't allowed to have their dumpsters showing, even though every other business in town can do it, so they made a "dumpster koozy" to hide the dumpster. Behold the Freedumpster!

We took a walk in Minocqua and saw this pretty little island on Lake Minocqua.

We are staying in Hurley, in a hotel we have stayed at before. The drive into Hurley from the south is so scenic because Mount Zion rises over the town. I wish I could have gotten a photo of that, but I don't know where you can stop to get a photo, since we were on the highway. We went into Ironwood across the border for dinner, at a place called Don and GG's that Travalon had always wanted to go to when he was a student in Ironwood but couldn't afford it. We had a very tasty dinner of baked fish. Then I suggested we go to Mount Zion to watch the sun set, since they have a viewing platform up there. This turned out to be a great idea, because there was a stunning sunset. Here are some photos from my phone.

Travalon took so many photos that I may have to do a whole post of them when we get home, since photos are loading kind of slowly here. First some photos he took with his good camera of the views... and of me.

The locals claim this little peak has no name.

This cloud sort of looks like an angelfish.

This big peak is Copper Peak, and the ski jump on top is the largest in North America, or so the locals told us.

And here are some photos of the sunset. The water visible in some photos is Lake Superior.

Here is another view of Copper Peak.

We returned to the hotel and went swimming in the pool, which Travalon remembered with great fondness. However, today it was so cold that even swimming vigorously didn't help much, so we did our twenty minutes and then retreated to the sauna for a few minutes to warm up. There was a nine-month-old baby in the pool named Famous, which I didn't realize until her mom called her name and I looked over. In my generation every third girl has my name, and the others were all Stacy, Heather, and Jennifer, but it's refreshing to see a baby with that name. I'm glad it's not completely an old lady's name these days.

Famous Hat