On the road again!!!

We visited our friends from Sun City who spent their summers in a campground/resort on one of the many lakes in Wisconsin. It is near Bloomer, WI. We went to tour the Leinenkugel brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. After the tour we got 2 tickets each to get beer with so we could sample the different beers. There was actually a beer that Francoise liked somewhat. It’s name was BerryWeiss; it tasted a lot like a winecooler but a little bitter. We met some of their friends who live in Apache Junction, AZ in the winter and had a great time with them as well. We had a nice campfire one evening but, of course, not as big as the ones we are used to. Every morning we walked the road around the lake which was 3 miles. Twice we took Bear (our friends’ dog) along with us. She enjoyed the walk as much as we did. We then went on to Effigy Mounds near McGregor, Iowa and hiked the trails totalling over 8 miles. Before we started our hike we were warned by the ranger that it was quite a hike with steep inclines. They thought we might be too old for that kind of hike. It took us a little over 4 hours but we stopped along the way to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The effigy mounds are quite interesting as they are burial grounds for the Indians and they are shaped like animals. Anyway, we showed them that the grey-haired lady could do the hike after all! All total that day we hiked/walked over 9 miles as we toured McGregor afterwards. Gary had a huckleberry ice cream in McGregor which he is liking more and more. He had eaten one previously in Nebraska. I had a turtle which, for you who don’t know what it is, is a treat consisting of pecans or peanuts held together with caramel and topped with a layer of chocolate. Very goooy, but very yummy! We drove mostly over blue highways and enjoyed the slower pace and the scenery a lot. The leaves are changing colors which makes it very nice as we haven’t seen that since we have moved to Arizona.

This week we spent a lot of time in the woods.  We started out to see friends of ours in Suring, WI and bought some great apples at an orchard. We then continued to Nicolet National Forest where we spent 3 nights. This is bear country so we were warned about not leaving food around our trailer but we never did see any bears or even bear tracks. We were the only ones in the one loop of the campground and met the only people in the other loop. They are from Michigan and we spent a couple of nice evenings sitting by the fire and talking. We also finally got to do some nice scenic walks every day. It never rained much while we were there except for when we arrived and had set up the trailer. However, we woke up in a very damp trailer because of the condensation from the cold nights. Then we went to Boulder Junction in Northern Wisconsin to meet our other friends who have a cabin on Boulder Lake. We spent 4 nights in Boulder Junction where it rained most of the time. Met some really nice people there though. On Thursday late afternoon we wanted to get out of the rain so we stopped in at the art gallery (it was close to closing time) but people inside were walking around with a glass of wine in their hands. We left thinking they had a special party. The next day we stopped in at the gallery and told the lady what had happened. She said we could have come in and joined them. She gave Gary some wine and talked about her house in Aruba and how she became an artist etc. Very nice. We met the gentleman who owned the furniture store in B.J. and after a bit he told us we could park our trailer in his drive way (we had parked it in a parking lot next to the Chamber of Commerce, with their permission). When we left he invited us to come back any time and park our trailer with him. We also met another artist who had a Dutch name so we decided to go in and see what he was selling. He was so happy to meet somebody from Holland as his ancestors came from Holland. He is going to move to the Ukraine to marry the woman he met there while restoring church interiors. He gave Gary a proof of his work and me a print (both framed). I gave him a copy of my book and told him what it was about. He said he is going to take it to the Ukraine with him and promote it there.  Boulder Junction and area are definitely an area we would love to spend more time in the future.