Madeline 2021 - First Trip: Muffins, Motorcycles, and More! (Saturday)

Saturday, June 26, 2021

After yesterday’s unsuccessful attempt to obtain one of Marie’s marvelous muffins at Mission Hill Coffee I gave it another go today. Success! Muffins happen.

On my morning walk I noticed how overgrown the Madeline Island putt putt golf course is looking. 

It’s like a ghost town. 

Could it be a Covid-19 business fatality?

Dale got home from work around 12:30 p.m. We went to the Beach Club for lunch and were able to have a nice talk about all the stress in our lives.

After lunch Dale had to go back to work. I sat on the deck and lit up a cigar. By the way, he’s back in his old apartment which he hasn’t been in since 2018. In 2019 he was in a cabin on the lake and in 2020 there was no camp due to Covid. That brings us up to the present day. 

Dale came home around 4:00 and took a bike ride while I took a nice walk. While out and about I happened upon a bejeweled car outside Tommy’s Burned Down Bar.

I’m guessing they’ll use it as a float in the 4th of July parade. Here’s a view of the back.

And a slightly more close up version of the front. 

Also, there’s some kind of motorcycle gathering this weekend so motorcycles are parked everywhere.

Dale had to go back to work at 6:30.

While he was gone I got some more walking in and then got cleaned up.

Dale didn’t get home until late. We had a late dinner of pizza and watched Family Guy.

Madeline 2021 - First Trip: Walks, Cocktails, and More! (Friday)

Friday, June 25, 2021

Totally lazy day. Didn’t sleep well last night. So nice to wake up to Dale being around. Did lots reading today but also lots of walking. 

Got hungry around noon so I headed to Island Grocery to see if they had a sandwich but they didn’t so I stopped by Grandpa Tony’s and ordered a BLT to go. It was delicious. 

Lots more reading and walking this afternoon. I took a nap around 4 p.m. due to not sleeping well at all last night. 

Dale got home from work around 5 p.m. and we went to the Pub for dinner. Lots of the restaurants on the Island are open limited hours and seem to be trying to get their sea legs back after the pandemic. I ordered a brandy Old Fashioned but they made it with bourbon. I didn’t make waves due to them being short staffed and somewhat frazzled. 

We took a nice walk after dinner. The house pictured above has been in the remodeling stage since at least 2014. I usually refer to it as the red house since that’s what it used to look like (see picture below from 2014).

Otherwise not an exciting day but restful none-the-less. Also, it’s great having Dale around. We’d been separated for 3 weeks. 

Madeline 2021 - First Trip: Travel Day (Thursday)

Thursday, June 24, 2021

I meant to leave the house at 10:00 a.m. As I pulled out of the driveway the dashboard clock said 10:18. Not bad. Photos above and below taken at the Thompson Hill rest area where construction was occurring. 

Construction wasn’t just happening at Thompson Hill. I’ve encountered more than enough from Minneapolis to Duluth on the roads. I probably shouldn’t complain though because traffic moved steadily through all of it. It probably didn’t hurt that it’s not quite the weekend yet otherwise it might’ve been really bad. 

I ended up encountering some more construction on Highway 2 going through Wisconsin. At one point it was down to only one was and I came upon a long line of cars stopped to let vehicles going the other way through. The wait wasn’t too bad. 

I departed the ferry onto Madeline shortly before 4 p.m. and stopped at the Beach Club for an Old Fashioned. Dale joined me at about 4:40 and we ended up having dinner right at the bar. So very good to see him. 

After dinner we took a nice walk which included Nebraska Row. Gorgeous sunny evening for a walk. We had so much catching up to do. 

Upon arriving home we sat on the deck and watch the sun descend to the horizon. Funny, we watched some campers set up and grill and then build a fire on the lawn across from ours. Didn’t know they could do that. The land and the building on it belong to the phone company so maybe they’re with them.