Honeymoon: Boat Tour and Bu-Byes

   
Whenever my family has first timers come visit they like to take them to this small island that's open to the public for a picnic. Being that it was Labor Day weekend I was worried it was going to be busy. 

After a brief delay we got the island to ourselves.

There's Mr. Mike's trusty tripod grill. 

What we didn't bring was a bottle opener.

Olive had to use the potty while on the island. 

We grilled up brats, (cheese) brats and (mushroom) brats.

Olive decided to organize our beer bottles.

After our late lunch we packed up and continued our boat ride.

As you can tell, a lot of rich people vacation up here. Until I met Brooke I thought that if you had a cabin you had to be wealthy. Clearly you don't have to be, but it makes it easier if you have a seaplane.

This part of the ride is a no wake zone. This is usually when my dad lets the kids take over and drive. Olive didn't feel quite ready for that responsibility.

Unlike Olive, I'd seen the Eagle River many a time and just laid back and relaxed.

Another place we always take newcomers is to the dam.

Emma was Mr. Mike's helper throughout the day.

As we stopped to check out the minuscule dam we watched this thingamajig move boats from the Three Lakes side of the chain of lakes to the Eagle River half.

Only a few handful of times have we actually taken our boat over to the other side.

I guess Emma is the evil twin as she's the more rebellious one.

The gals wanted to point something out or I made them pose for this pic.

We headed back for some swimming.

Before dinner I caught Brooke, Olive and Emma's feet chilling.

I made my world famous fish tacos (OK, they're really a Mark Bittman recipe) while Brooke and Emma picked up beer and wine. We ate, chatted and generally had a good time and then went to bed.

My parents had never had fish tacos. My dad thought it was weird putting cabbage as a topping instead of lettuce.

Day 15

Today I made crepe-battered French Toast (a nod to Uncle Louis in Duluth) for breakfast. Not sure what Tyler is doing.

I believe he's eating like a raptor. 

Olive took a pic of me. So I fired back.

Bad memory Scott. I took this photo because I thought it was cute. 

We'll just let Mr. Mike's smirk and t-shirt speak for themselves.

I rode my bike past Olive and she thought it was great and kept signing "more".

I think I circled her like 500 times.

Just like the UP, shrooms were everywhere.

Ty and I decided to go on another paddleboat ride.

Don't forget your sunscreen kids.

We were seemingly taking in water when Mr. Mike and the girls flew by. No one told us that they were going for a ride.

My parents were packing up to leave and my dad asked if we wanted to go for a boat ride before he put the boat away. It must not have been as much fun as yesterday for Olive as she fell asleep in the middle of the ride.

Olive stayed asleep even when Mr. Mike towed the boat ashore.

We wanted Tyler and Emma to stay another day, but someone wanted family time. 

Since everyone was leaving and we already spent enough days on the lake we decided to leave as well.

Brooke and I cleaned up and left the place looking better than when we arrived.

We had some questions for the 'rents and then headed south to a mystery destination.

I've taken a photo from the same location every time we've stayed the last year.

I plan on taking this picture for the rest of our lives at every visit.

Where was our final stop? You'll just have to read the final Honeymoon post.

To see more photos and Emma's perspective go here.