Mon, 8/9/10

Wagon Trail RV Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Another gorgeous day. But very humid. After lunch we loaded the bikes on the truck and headed for Newport State Park. This park has lots of hiking trails, some nice places to swim, and primitive camp sites—where you pack everything in. We did that last time we were here. They’ve expanded some of the hiking trails for biking. That’s what we headed there to do. We planned on biking down to the site on Little Europe Lake we backpacked to several years ago. The gravel trail started out great for a couple of miles, but then the gravel disappeared and the trail became very rough with lots of exposed roots, rocks, and sand that caused loss of control of the bikes. It was a teeth-jarring, exhausting ride that left us covered in sweat. We biked through a beautiful, deep, dark forest though. There’s lots of wildlife in there, but the metal basket on my bike was making so much noise over this rough trail that whatever we might have seen was scared away. I’m amazed that neither of us had a flat tire. Back home and took another shower. Mid-80s today with high humidity.

In 1917, Ferdinand Hotz bought 1017 acres of what is now Newport State Park. He built an estate on Little Europe Lake which included a log cabin, carriage house, and an outhouse. This outhouse is all that remains of the estate. In 1967 the Hotz family started selling the land to the state.

Sun, 8/8/10

Wagon Trail RV Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Another beautiful day. We hung around all morning and after lunch headed out to do the laundry. The place was packed and some miscreant had tied up four washers, left, and didn’t come back for several hours. We emptied two of the washers, piled the clothes on top, and put our laundry in. He showed up eventually, all apologetic. We ignored him. After finishing the laundry we drove down to Fish Creek and stopped at one of the farm markets and then had dinner at Summertime. We ate out on the patio and there was a little bird out there with a broken wing. It’s apparently getting enough to eat, since the restaurant puts seed out for the ducks that hang out on their grounds. But the poor thing won’t survive much longer. Back home and put the laundry away. Played Monopoly again. Mike beat me soundly. Mid-80s today.

Blue Ox--Bailey's Harbor

Wooden chain over the bar--carved by chain saw from one log

Blue Ox--Bailey's Harbor