Madeline Island 2022 - Cocktail Hour and Din Din

Saturday, July 30, 2022

After our walk Dale and I headed to the Island Market to pick up a frozen pizza for dinner. We also got salad makings, chips and dip, and some brownies. Dale got some beer and I got a pre-mixed old fashioned cocktail.

For cocktail hour I had a cigar along with my old fashioned.

We listened to some Ultra-Lounge.

Beautiful being out on the deck. It's a bit warmer than the last few days. However it's not quite as windy although there is a gentle breeze. 

During dinner we watched Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates. Actress Chloe Sevigny was featured and it was fun to find out she's descended from a Fille du Roi just as I am. A lot of my genealogical research lately has focused on my French Canadian ancestry so it was pretty cool to see I knew just as much about that piece as Henry Louis Gates. 

Warren and Mom have been looking after Sylvester while we've been away. Warren sent the above picture tonight.

Madeline Island 2022 - The Knowles-Nelson Trail

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Having coffee on the porch with Dale in the morning is something I love. 

Worked on some ancestry stuff for a while...

...and then took a brief walk from the house up to the road. 

Dale was finished with work shortly after noon. After getting some lunch in us we decided to take a drive to the north of the Island. On the way back we stopped at the Knowles-Nelson trail for a little hike. 

Dale's always thought it's funny my grandparents lived in a small community yet had a cabin that was only 10 miles out of town as a get-away. I think my grandpa especially liked maintaining the place as a hobby but I also think both of them loved being enveloped by the woods. There is something that is incredibly peaceful about it. It's something you just don't get when driving on paved roads through wooded areas. 

The Knowles- Nelson trail goes from the road down to the lake. It's manageable in that it's quite short. Despite parts being quite steep it's overall pretty  manageable. 

Approaching the lake is like having a curtain pulled back...

... and it's very dramatic the closer you get to the dock. 

What you see on the other side of the water is not the Wisconsin mainland but Hermit Island which is another of the many Apostle Islands. 

It's been so nice to be up north. 

Hermit Island. 

The coastline is beautiful.

Madeline Island 2022 - Got In a Lot of Great Stuff Today

Friday, July 29, 2022

Slept pretty deeply last night. Coffee on the porch with Dale. 

Worked a lot on genealogy stuff while Dale went to work. 

Susan and Bruce are having us over for dinner at their place tonight so we decided to pick up some wine at Lori's. Turns out they're closed for a few days due to some staffing issues which continues to be a problem in the post-lockdown world. Dale says it's too bad as Lori's has been better stocked than the Island Store this season. 

Anyway we went to the Island Store (which was pretty busy due to Lori's being closed) and picked up some wine. 

We also went to the candle store to pick up some gifts for Mom and Warren who are watching Sylvester back home. 

After dropping our purchases off at the car we went to the Beach Club for lunch. We both got fish sandwiches. Dale got grilled white fish for his and I got fried trout for mine. So delicious. Oh, and I got an old fashioned too. 

After lunch we stopped at Mission Hill Coffee to get some of Marie's most marvelous blueberry muffins. So delicious. 

After we got home we decided to take a walk on the Capser Trail. Dale's only been walking it for the past couple years although he's been aware of it for longer. This was my first time. We both found ourselves asking why we hadn't taken advantage of it sooner. 

To walk it is about a two mile round trip. 

It's one thing to be walking or driving "in" the woods on a wide highway but it's another to walk through on a narrow path and be completely surrounded by the forest. 

It was so incredibly beautiful. 

There's a turn-off on the trail where you can access a boardwalk that goes through a marsh.

Again, just beautiful.

This sign tells the story of the massive beaver dams that used to be there.

On the return trip to the car we ran into a couple of Islanders sitting on a bench and said hello. They asked if we had seen the little mini village of castles that someone is mysteriously building. We informed them we hadn't so they told us where the turn-off for it is in the path at the other end of the trail. We told them we'd be sure to look for it next time. 

Dinner tonight at Susan and Bruce's. Dale's been to their place before but it was the first time for me. It's beautiful and the view from their deck is incredible. 

Dale and Susan had a chance to catch up on some work related stuff. Susan and Bruce were very curious to know how my school year ended up. I told them how hard the extended year due to the strike was on teachers, families, and students. Their interest and concern were touching. 

Anyway, it had been a work day for Susan and she had worked until five when she threw together a whitefish and lettuce salad which was absolutely DIVINE. It was so delicious and what made it even more impressive is that we arrived at 6:00 and that she improvised and made up the recipe as she went along. 

Madeline Island 2022 - Relaxing Day

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Woke up by 5:30 and then had coffee on the porch with Dale. There's a gentle breeze and it's nice to hear the leaves rustling. 

Nice walk with Dale. Sunny morning but cool enough for me to layer a track jacket with a windbreaker. 

Dale off to work by about 10. I started to work on some ancestry stuff and the relaxation I've slowly started to ease into since school let out for the summer reached a whole new level.  I love being at home in Minneapolis with a couple months time off but being out of town but being out of town affords me the opportunity to keep from  falling into those periods of thinking about all of the things I should be doing around the house. That feeling of deep relaxation didn't last long. Mom called and was having trouble getting the back door to our house open so she could feed our cat, Sylvester. 

Took some walks. It's very pleasant outside especially with the sun. It's been an overall hot summer back home so it's been nice getting a little break from that.  

Sat on the outside deck for a bit and enjoyed the view. 

Saw a couple deer eating foliage on the edge of the golf course. Dale says they're much more visible when he gets up here in late May. As the season progresses and the number of people on the Island starts to swell the deer are much more to the periphery. 

Had a couple cigars in the afternoon. The first one was a little Romeo y Julieta. 

The second one was a Macanudo.

Cocktails again at the Beach Club. I had a brandy old fashioned and Dale had beer. 

Another walk. We went to the ferry landing. 

Dinner at home. Nuthin' fancy. Open faced salmon burgers. Watched Big Bang Theory.