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The Crews All Here: Labor Day 2021 at the Three Lakes Cottage

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We had a full house for Labor Day weekend this year. We started off said weekend with rummage sales and a trip to the new store in town, Little Dipper.

We've been eyeing this place up all summer. They have classic Chicago Schwinn's for rent, seasonal flowers and an assortment of souvenirs and vintage items.

It was pretty darling inside.

The main reason we went was to get their Chain of Lakes puzzle. Blake had sent the historic map to the owner, so we had to get it.
 
 

The siblings decided to go out for a hike. 

They let me come along, I guess.

My parents have a map of the chain of lakes in the front entrance of the cottage. It has been there for years and while brushing my teeth I noticed it had points of interests including hiking trails. One I had never heard of and it wasn't on our National Forest map. We decided to check it out.

The only description I could find of the trail was a short paragraph on a few different websites. 

The first place we stopped was not the right place.

The directions were pretty brief. Basically go north for 2.5 miles and two parking spots will be on the right. 

We found another entrance that seemed like it would be it. 

We think this was the pine barrens.

The description said the trail would include informational signs. 

This seemed more like an old logging road than a trail.

The "trail" got narrower and narrower until it was nonexistent. 

Time to turn around and find another spot. 

I'm pretty sure this was the spot.


It just didn't have the signs we were looking for.

Since that was quick we thought we would head over to the Sam Campbell Trail. After doing this trail multiple times we never did the Vanishing Lake section. Brittany and Chelsea said there was a shortcut to the lake. You basically take Sam Campbell Road all the way to the end. 

Don't be fooled like us, this is not the Vanishing Lake. 

But it does look like a vanishing lake.

This part of the hike was pretty scenic and we didn't see a single soul.

It was totally different than the main part of the trail.



Brittany recently scored a pair of canoes for a really good price. The cottage has been needing a canoe.

All my practice from Memorial Weekend was lost. 

Whenever I paint my toes Theo has to get his done too.

I got bored and decided to go for a bike ride by my lonesome.

The weekend was getting me stressed. We got an offer on our condo and were waiting to hear back about a duplex we made an offer on. Solitude on forest roads was the perfect medicine.

I took my old road bike all the way to the end of Chicken in the Woods Road.

Someone's been managing their forest. More private landowners up north need to do this.

Meadow surprised us all with dinner.

We each even got name cards.



Meadow was too shy to watch everyone enjoy her dinner. 

We had been wondering where she was. She told us it was time for dinner then disappeared. 

We also got this sweet bumper sticker from the 80s from Little Dipper. Oh, and this house designed Three Lakes sticker.

Theo is still in diapers and we are over it. 

That's an understatement.

At a recent visit to the doctor he suggested we let Theo go diaper free for a few days. 

With the bribe of the Switch he even sat on the toilet a few times. This is a big step for Theo.

Bored games on the screen porch before dinner.

All that potty training wore the little guy out.

Grandpa grilled up brats, hot dogs and burgers for dinner. Sometimes you got to keep it simple.

At some point Sunday night we found out that our offer on the duplex we adored was accepted! We drove to town to sign the e-docs.

I made crepes on our last morning. It's a big hit with the Romenesko clan.

One last boat ride, probably for the year.


The kids seem so big in real life, but then you see them in a picture. Big little kids.


I decided on going on a bike ride to celebrate the news that the offer on a duplex in Minneapolis was accepted. 

On our drive home we stopped at Casa Mexicana for dinner. They had one outdoor table available.

We hadn't been here a long while. Totally was worth the stop.

As usual our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. 

Goodbye, Wisconsin. Until next time.

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