Islands!

Today Travalon and I had the day off of work, so we drove to Lake Wisconsin. We went to a small cove right near Sunset Bay, where according to Google Maps there was a small island. We actually saw two islands, but this was from residential roads so there was nowhere to stop and take pictures. We also explored Paradise Island, which is very large and has a land bridge out to it. There are lots of houses and condos on it. Here is a view of it from further down the river.

Our second stop was the Lakeview Bar and Grill, from which it looked on Google Maps like you could see two more islands. This is true! Here is a view of the islands.

And here is a closeup of each one. You can actually see them from inside the bar. In the background of the picture of the larger island, to the right of it you can see Owl Head Bluff.

They also have this totem pole just outside the bar.

Then we drove north along the river and went to the Pine Island Nature Reserve. This is not Pine Island - we couldn't get close enough to it to get a good photo - but it is one of the little islands all along the river at this point.

Here Travalon is with several islands behind him.

This is a larger island just upstream from Pine Island. The actual Pine Island is so big that it has a little creek on it.

Here is a video of something floating downstream. We think it is a piece of ice, since parts of the river were frozen, but this part was open water. However, the edges are so perfectly rectangle that we weren't sure if it was natural or manmade.

Then we drove to Lake Mason. Here are a couple pictures of the sun setting over it.

And here is another shot of the sunset as we drove to another spot to try to see Pine Island. Ultimately, this effort was fruitless because the roads shown on the map existed but were private roads, so we couldn't go down them.

We also took a vigorous hike (a lot of uphill paths) at the Pine Island Nature Preserve. We have to take advantage of these unseasonably warm days while they last. I know a lot of people long for a white Christmas, but I am perfectly content with a warm, snowless one.

Famous Hat