Lake Rest on Rest Lake, Or Where's That Confounded Bench?

 

This morning we went to Dixie's Coffee for breakfast and lattes. This was our view.

We went down to the docks at our resort, and the rowboat sitting there was just too tempting, so we took it out. Travalon didn't like the oarlocks, so we just each took an oar and treated them like paddles.

We rowed back into this shady cove.

There had been a young couple who took out kayaks while we were just looking at Rest Lake, and when we got back to the dock with the rowboat, the woman was sitting on a bench watching us. She struck up a brief conversation with us, so we knew they were in town from Boston for a wedding. 

Our next stop was Win-Man, the mountain biking area where they usually have a food cart. They did not today, so we bought protein bars and Gatorade, then we went to a new brewery called Some Nerve - their logo is a nerve cell! Clever. I had a watermelon habanero sour, and Travalon tried a couple of cream ales. They were all good. Alas, the brewery also did not have food, so we headed to the Trout Lake State Nature Trail without eating a real lunch. Here are a couple of photos. (More to come when we get back home and have better internet access.)

I remembered that there was a bench overlooking Trout Lake, but where was it? That is why Travalon suggested calling this blog post "Where's that Confounded Bench?" We did eventually find it.

The closest town is Boulder Junction, so we went there to get a late, light lunch. There was a food cart, but the people working at it steadfastly ignored us, so we went to the nearby brewery which had a food menu, but they said we had to order it from the food cart. We found another stand "just about ready" to sell gyros, so we gave up on Boulder Junction and went back to Dixie's for some Lotus Drink and macaroni and cheese. Then we went for a hike around Statehouse Lake, where there was a wedding going on. On the trail, this adorable squirrel yelled at us.

And we had to cross this cute little bridge.

That was a lot of hiking, so when we got back to the cabin, I put my feet up while praying a Rosary and then joined Travalon in swimming at the beach at our resort. Then we showered and went to Smoky's, the classic supper club where we always sit in the bar area to enjoy the live music. The musician today was from Denver, and he said he remembered us from last year. We split walleye and the best steak ever, and we also split a Black Squirrel, which is their version of the ice cream drink Pink Squirrel but with raspberry in it. That's what we always order. Why mess with perfection? Tonight is cloudy so we didn't bother to go to the beach to look at stars. The only sour note (besides the food truck people who snubbed us) was that the Badgers lost to Notre Dame 41-13 at Lambeau Field, and they were only down three points at halftime. We're not expecting great things from them this year... again.

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Stargazing on Rest Lake

 

This morning Travalon and I set off, and other than stopping for a quick lunch at Subway in Portage, we drove until reaching Rib Mountain. We took a vigorous hike at the top of it. Here are some photos.

There are more, but the internet is very slow here so it's taking forever just to load a couple of photos at a time. Then we stopped for a hike on the Bearskin Trail.

We got to Our Lady Queen of Peace just before the 5:30 Mass. The cantor had an especially lovely voice, but the priest from India had such a strong accent that I wasn't always sure what he was saying. Then we stopped by our cabin (the same one we have stayed in other years) before heading to Shillelagh Irish Pub for dinner. We just love their Guinness and mushroom soup, and we also had duck wontons, and Travalon had a shepherd's pie. There was a band playing oldies, a guy on guitar, his dad on drums, and a blonde woman whose relationship to them was not explained on the keyboard. After a while, Travalon and I were it for audience, so they started playing original tunes, which were actually pretty good. One pentatonic tune had a sort of Mideastern, psychedelic flavor. Then a group of Millennials came and sat right up front, and the band actually talked to them, asking for requests and urging them to sing along. Travalon and I were kind of bummed that we didn't get that kind of consideration for being such a loyal audience. They played the absolute weirdest version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" I'd ever heard; the guitar sounded right, but the keyboard seemed to be in a totally different key and time signature. Also, they were a bit too loud for my taste, but it was still a fun way to spend a Saturday evening.

Once we got back to the cabin, we went down to the beach and gazed in admiration at the bright stars above us. We could clearly see the Milky Way, and perhaps some faint northern lights, and a number of satellites passing by. I took some photos with my phone, but they are not downloading to Boethius my computer, so they will just have to wait. Who knows if they even turned out? I wanted to do a Peter Cetera imitation like last year to get the loon to call back to me, but then some other people joined us on the beach, so I was too embarrassed. There were a surprising number of boats on Rest Lake at that late hour, and they made the waves slosh against the shore. I thought I saw a faint searchlight too, so maybe that is from the airport - there must be an airport in Manitowish Waters, since the Single B-Boy will fly up here and then bike around. He isn't here now - he and Cecil Markovitch are in Macedonia. I'd be jealous if I weren't in the North Woods myself. Nothing better than here!

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Friday Night Chasing the Train

 

Today I worked from home and did laundry, so I took a photo of the two T-shirts Travalon bought at Irish Fest.

At first it was very rainy today, and then it was very humid, so I didn't spend much time outside. After work I danced around the house to music and then did DuoLingo.

When Travalon came home, we went to the rail yard, and we could see some really cool clouds from there.

A train was just pulling out of the yard, and Travalon got a couple of shots of graffiti.

We went to the place off of Fair Oaks, but the cars there have all been there for a long time. Then we tried to find the train that had just left but never found it again. We went by Muso, where they were having improv tonight, but that didn't interest us. We went by the East Side Club, but there was a performer with a $5 cover charge, and we hadn't brought our membership cards to get in free, plus the parking lot was packed. So we went to the Northside Lounge and sat outside with some fancy drinks, talking about our travels to foreign lands. That made me feel like I was in college again. Some people said they liked Travalon's Dubrovnik shirt, and other people said they liked my "Is Potato" shirt and my hat from Africa Fest. 

Speaking of train graffiti, here are screenshots from the longer video recently posted on social media.

I love how colorful some of these are. Stay tuned for more screenshots from Travalon's videos.

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