Skip to main content

A 39th Birthday Cottage Visit and Ice Skating "The Glide" in Boulder Junction

Back at the cottage for my (early) birthday weekend. Where else would I go for my birthday? I'm a simple man.


Grandpa cleared a rink and a little loop for us.

Theo just wanted dig in the snow.

Meanwhile Meadow and I went cross country skiing on the Anvil Ski Trail. Meadow said she would only go with me if we did a trail with hills. We hiked this a few years ago and it was quite hilly. 

She was an old pro on the hills while I wiped out. 

We didn't make it too far as Meadow complained her boots were too tight. I made her check the fit a few weeks ago and she claimed they were fine...

Was a beautiful trail in the Nicolet National Forest.


After grocery shopping Brooke joined me out on the makeshift rink.

Not quite the same as having the whole lake but it would do. 


We've been talking about going to Twin Pines Bar & Grill east of Rhinelander for years. Why not go for a Friday Fish Fry on my almost birthday?

It's always busy whenever we drive by so we've been curious. 

Could this be the perfect Northwoods tavern?


The kids got burgers.

We stuck with fish.

I got some cheesecake and G.G. kept on requesting a piece. I'd give it to her and she would claim it didn't count. If you want a slice, order one!


They even had mom's favorite quarter game. 

This place was super cheap. The food was grade A. And the vibes were elite. We will be back.

The kids tried to beat their grandpa at Kings Corner.

Keeping myself busy and my brain off of a certain president by reading "The Greatest Story in Sports."

The next day we traveled up to Boulder Junction to skate The Glide, the first forest ice trail in the USA.

We had been so excited to go since we heard about it. Of course it started snowing hard on our drive over. They went through with a plow right when we started. 

It was magical.

It's about a mile loop. I thought mom would make it around once but she gave up quickly. At least she tries. 



The trail was built on a little used cross country skiing loop. This year it's .8 miles, but plans are to expand in coming years.


Meadow was lapping us all even after getting Gail back to the rink.




I thought we were done, but Theo wanted to go around one more time.

On the way back we stopped at Marty's Place North for a drink and apps.

Another place I have been wanting to try. 

I asked for a grasshopper and the young bartender looked at me like I was crazy. He wasn't sure if they made that. Of course they did.





We're going to try and reserve this table for New Year's Eve next year.


We ordered some apps as we were promised meatloaf when we got home.

Mmmm...

We made another stop at the ice castle in Eagle River on the way back despite the kiddos protesting.

I had never seen it so busy. We decided to skip the line to sit on the throne.


I made some new luminaries with buckets. I love this idea. 

Before breakfast I got a quick ski in around the lake. 


They sure love the big swing.

I thought we'd be back in a few weeks for Theo's birthday, but it might be a while with lots of plans in March and April.

Meadow loves Pepe.

Every time we pass this old building it seems to be sagging a little bit more. I said we should take a photo whenever we pass it to see it's slow decline. 

DQ stop on the way home? Why not.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sisters, a Brother and Walking Chicago

  Summer always seems to mean one thing: weddings. Whether I'm shooting or attending, we're bound to end up at a few every year.  This time around we were heading down to Chicago from my big sister Katrina's nuptials. I feel like all our vacations are centered around a wedding or something wedding related. I wish we could go on a vacation without having to worry about being somewhere.   It also means a few repetitive trips down I-94. There aren't nearly enough unique stops off the interstate. One outlier is Foster Cheese Haus , the only organic Wisconsin cheese shop I know of. Run by the folks behind Castle Rock Organic Farms , we always try to stop by. Unfortunately for us they were closed on Wednesdays, but at least we got to spy on their darling garden out front.    Brooke and I arrived in Necedah. We decided to stop at Brooke's sister Brittany's home along the way to cut the ride in half and get her dressed hemmed.   ...

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special.  Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show.  I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

Dakotas Road Trip: Badlands and Black Hills

  I thought we would skip Wall Drug this time since we've seen it before but Scott was gun ho on going.  Come on. You can't go to the Badlands and skip the world's greatest tourist trap. First stop ice cream.  We thought we would have lunch here but after seeing the prices decided we would cook something at the park instead. But first we had to take a couple tourist pics. When we we decided we were coming here I was expecting it to be 90's and hot. Did not think it would be rainy, chilly and foggy.  I always make Brooke look cool. She on the other hand always finds a way to take a pic at the most awkward possible moment. Either that or I'm just really awkward. Earlier this year, I asked Theo where he wanted to go on vacations this year. He said he wanted to backpack camp at the Badlands because he was sad he didn't get to go yet. This is all for you buddy.