Rainbow Flowage and Council Grounds

Today Travalon and I slept in, then we got coffee at one of the coffee shops in Eagle River, and then we came back to the resort and paddle boated on the Wisconsin River.

After we checked out of the resort, we went to a nearby antiques store that Travalon was curious about because they sold a lot of old gas signs, and he bought a Sunoco sign. I looked all over for rosaries but couldn't find them. The owner pointed them out to me, and I got two and some other sort of chaplet for $6. Then I spotted a beautiful Murano glass one behind the counter, and another black glass one, so I got those two as well. Some of them need repairs and/or cleaning, but soon I will get them in shape.

Then we drove to Eagle Lake County Park and took a walk before dipping our feet in the water.

I was looking everywhere for coral roots, because years ago in Door County I saw some blooming around this time of year. They look like candy canes (straight, not curved ones) with little flowers coming off of them. They are very weird plants with no chlorophyll, and they are a type of orchid. I never did see any on this trip, but yesterday we saw plenty of orchids with all those lady slippers! I was also hoping to see a loon on this trip, maybe even one with babies on its back, because on that same trip to Door County years ago I saw a grebe with babies on its back. But we never saw any loons either. I did see some wildlife:

When we drove back through Eagle River, we stopped at the other coffee shop in town. Then we drove west along Highway 70, which follows a part of the Wisconsin River we had not been along. It flows into the Rainbow Flowage, so we stopped there and took another hike. Unfortunately this bridge was chained off, for some reason, so we couldn't go that way.

Here are more photos of the Rainbow Flowage. It is actually quite enormous.

As we drove down Highway E, we stopped at the boat launch on Lake Gilmore.

There was a very scenic creek flowing out of the lake.

Then we drove to Rhinelander, where we had lunch at a place called Bucketheads. On the way out of town we stopped for a walk along Pelican Landing, and we saw this family of geese.

Our last stop was Council Grounds State Park on the shores of Lake Alexander, yet another widening of the Wisconsin River.

We took our inflatable rafts and floated awhile in the cool water under the sunshine. Then, as we were leaving, I took this picture of the wild lupines growing there. They put the ones at the Necedah Wildlife Refuge to shame.

Now we are back home and missing the Northwoods already... except for the mosquitos.

Famous Hat