An Unforeseen Visit to Three Lakes

Friday

We seem to always go up north only during the holidays when the rest of the tourists go. We had nothing else planned for the weekend so we decided why not. 

Well, we had planned on going to Milwaukee to visit my parents, but my dad, at the last minute, had to go to the hospital.

Scott had to work late the night before so we left first thing in the morning. 

I thought we would save time by skipping breakfast at home and eating somewhere on the way. Scott took the wrong way and we ended up on 94. We stopped at Cabelas to find some plastic worms for my dad. 

They didn't have them. Dang it.

We were starving by then and settled on Einstein Bagels.

Oops.

After having an unsuccessful trip at Cabela's we tried Fleet Farm. 

I picked up a new spinnerbait for Mike instead. Unless the best for the father-in-law.

Not a better place on earth.

This weekend happened to be my dad's birthday and Father's Day weekend. Meadow colored and stickered a picture for my dad.

We were hungry since we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Luckily there was frozen pizza.

Meadow decided to draw some more instead of having pizza.

Not too long later, my dad showed up.

We saw this deer a couple of times over the weekend. It was definitely not afraid of people. We had Meadow walk up quietly to see how close she could get. 

Meadow and I drew a cake for Mr. Mike's birthday. I accidentally wrote 51. Turns out the old guy is turning 61.

My dad chose Twelve Pines for his birthday dinner. We had tried to go here for New Years a couple of years ago, but they were closed.

Such a Wisconsin joint.

Mr. Mike and I both got the endless fish dinner. It was damn good.

I chose the bacon hamburger. It was too big to eat.

Saturday

For Mr. Mike's birthday weekend morning I made strawberry stuffed french toast.

Meadow was excited to get her suit on and play by the lake. Don't let her fool you she doesn't go in past her ankles.

I took out my kayak and my old fishing pole for a little kayak fishing. I got a few bites and few more weeds, but nothing good.

While everyone was out playing, I was, once again, inside all day baking. I can't complain, I did tell my dad I would make him any dessert he wanted. He surprisingly requested our wedding cake: half chocolate/half red velvet. 

It must have been beer o'clock.

Always fishing.

Well, you're always baking or reading books. To each his own. I just wish I caught more fish.

Chelsea was planning on camping in nearby Nicollet National Forest. My dad thought we could stop over to hang out for awhile.

 My dad hadn't talked to Chelsea at all and I saw she had texted me asking what we were doing today. I replied letting her know we were coming her way. We didn't have service near the campground and we drove around three times looking for them. We finally gave up and once I got cell service I saw she had texted back saying they ended up camping somewhere else farther away.

Well, at least it was a nice ride.

At least Meadow got a nap in.

I think we were all glad to see the cake when we got back.

We tried to adjust the tires to see if that was what was causing the bumpiness. That improved slightly. Looks like we will take it in after all.

Turns out the wheels needed truing.

I made some strawberry ice cream to go with Brooke's cake.

Then we ate an old fashioned brats, chips and beans meal for the dinner. I even fried up some onions. The only thing missing was the sauerkraut.

We decided to check out the water ski show since we didn't have anything better to do.

I was excited to see the waterski show this year. I haven't gone in years. It turns out they weren't starting for another few days, but they were letting people watch them practice.

Meadow do you want to live at the cottage and join the ski team?

We can live in town and then go down the road to the cottage when we feel like it.

When we got back Mr. Mike suggested we go fishing.

I caught myself a decent sized largemouth, but we didn't get any of those big old northern pikes.

There she is. Whoops, I forgot to set the focus to auto.

I suggested we head back since it was cake o'clock.

Meadow could hardly wait for grandpa's cake.

What a lucky guy. Homemade cake and ice cream!

Yummy. I think my dad mentioned this was one of the best birthday cake's he's had. I guess our 9x13 cake mix cakes we made him as a kid wasn't good enough. I'm kidding.

Before we went to bed we went on a brief night kayak. I got scared, so we went back to the cottage.

The only thing scary were all the mosquitos.

Sunday

After multiple attempts at trying to boat to Sunset Grill for breakfast, today turned out to be a perfect day.

It was exciting to boat to a restaurant. Somehow I never get to do this up north.

We weren't the only ones with the same idea. There was a 45 minute wait.

While we waited we relived memories by taking a walk around our old campground.

I'm surprised Brooke doesn't like drive-in camping more. She sure loved it when she was young.

At that time I didn't know backpack sites existed.

Once we ordered we had a longer wait to get our food.

Meadow wished me a happy Fathers Day. She was super excited.

It was a good wait, but it was worth it. Country fried steak, yall.

The waffle queen got a waffle.

The weather was perfect for kiting. While we were rummage saleing in Duluth I saw a 3D Shark kite. I wish we would have gotten it.

They kept on losing the kite in the water.

My dad suggested we take the boat out to the middle of the lake to fly.

Brooke won't go fishing, but she'll darn well fly a kite any day.

Cake-o-clock.

Mr. Mike and I worked on replacing the Insights coolant. I didn't want to get my sweet s'mores shirt dirty. So, I just took my shirt off.

Thanks Mr. Mike.

Before we left we played in the lake for a bit.

I was showing off my I can spin a bucket without spilling skills.

Meadow hadn't gone in the water deeper than her ankles. We all went in to encourage her to go deeper.

She was braver than usual once we were all out there.

She had fun, but prefers walking her stuffed animals.

Before we left, Mr. Mike and Meadow said goodbye to Dog Lake.

Every time we drive through Tony, Wi one of us says, "Jimmy!"

It was no different this time.

I got to pick the restaurant for Father's Day.  I couldn't say no to the Chinese buffet in Ladysmith!

When we got to the Wisconsin border we were south of a crazy storm.

The sunset was so pretty even Meadow had to take a photo.

I think that's God saying that we go road tripping too much.

Never