Up North Trip

We spent last weekend at the Creagh's house at Camp Manitowish in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. We had a great time over the course of the two day visit. We got up at 4 am on Saturday and headed out with most of the vanload which included Lauren sleeping a bit. We arrived in Minocqua just under three hours later and pulled into Paul Bunyan's Breakfast Buffet Restaurant. The food was great and the entertainment was even better as "Mr. Bunyan" himself made a guest visit and sat with us at our table.

After a solid breakfast we headed out for some geo-caching in the Great Northwoods. During the first find, we visited an abandoned summer resort area that had been reclaimed by the State over 50 years ago. Only the foundations and a small stairway remained. In addition to the cache, we found about one-two ticks on every member of our party. During our third cache of the day, we spotted a bald eagle over a small, pristine lake in the middle of nowhere. We found six caches on the day and Brooke gave Lauren a tour of Coon's Lodge before we drove the rest of the way to Camp Manitowish.

At Camp Manitowish, we walked through all the buildings and outdoor facilities. We also tried our hand at a few of the challenge course obstacles which was a lot of fun. On our way back, we peeked at the winter cottages available for week-long stays and saw four deer in the woods. Afterwards, we had burgers, brats, hotdogs and smores. Brooke won a game of Settlers of Catan and we went to bed with the windows open and a great Northwoods breeze circulating through the house that made sleeping perfect and refreshing.

The next morning, James watched the kids while the rest of the group took off for a 3-mile run. They spotted another Bald Eagle near the lakefront. After they came back, we had eggs and waffles and then headed out for a canoe trip around the bay. Everyone got paddles and helped out, including Brooke & Jay's neighbor Brent.

We circled the large bay, grounded the canoe in the shallows between the island and the land, backed it back out and went around the island. After putting everything back where we found it, we toured the haunted house on site and headed for home.

Thanks Brooke & Jay for a great weekend! Pictures to come.