Thu, 7/22/10

Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Cloudy this morning. We both slept in until 10:00! Unbelieveable! Started raining around noon and continued at a steady drizzle all day. Mike went over to the lounge with the computer to get on the Internet and get some reservations for our winter trip. Waited too long this year. Got shut out of a couple places we wanted to stay. Did manage to get into a state park on the Estero River. It's a state historic site and we've never stayed there before, so we'll see. We also couldn't get into Manatee Lake State Park near Sarasota but did get a reservation at a commercial park with a very high rating closer to Sarasota. While Mike was at the lounge, I read my book, did some crosswords, cleaned the bathroom, and went for a short walk with the umbrella. Put a pork roast in the oven. Had that along with mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas. Yum! Probably mid-70s today.

Wed, 7/21/10

Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: A beautiful morning this morning. We headed to the computer place in Sister Bay again because I uninstalled something I shouldn't have (sigh). I could have reinstalled it myself, but the disk to accomplish that is at home in St. Louis. I can't get into Word or Excel. The guy at the computer store didn't have his disk either, so I have to go back on Friday. After that we did the laundry, had lunch in Sister Bay, and then headed to the park in Sister Bay for a concert in the park. The group, Copper Box, played in the gazebo in the park and we set our chairs up in the shade and watched them for a while. They are so good--the two main musicians/singers played at least 3 instruments each. Left there a little after 4:00 and did the grocery shopping. Back home to put everything away. Relaxed for a while and then walked the trail down to Rowley's Bay and sat by the lake for a while. A beautiful, warm evening. Walked back and had something to eat. Mid-80s today.

Tue, 7/20/10:

Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: A beautiful day today! We took our bikes and biked down to Liberty Town Park--a beautiful little park in a grove of cedars and birches right on the lake with a pretty little sandy beach. We sat at a picnic table and soaked up the sun and people watched for a while. I waded in the water up to my thighs and wished I'd had my bathing suit on. The water felt really great once you got used to it. And it was crystal clear. We will definitely be coming back with our bathing suits on and a cooler of food and drinks. Biked back and sat outside reading for a while. Went to Viking Grill for an early dinner. Net Flix delivered another disk of Sopranos episodes. Watched them and then to bed. Mid-80s today.

Liberty Grove Town Park

Mon, 7/19/10:


Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Today was kind of an iffy day weather-wise, so we decided to browse a couple of galleries. Started at an Asian gallery in Ellison Bay--Asian art and antiques. Beautiful stuff! Weather got better so we stopped and played miniature golf in Sister Bay. Mike did great. I was terrible. We had fun though. After golf we stopped at Wilson's in Ephraim for a huge ice cream cone. Sat on a bench by the lake eating and people watching. I was a mess after and went down to the lakeshore and washed up a little. Then we stopped to see Fred in his gallery on Water Street. Talked with him for a while. He's still a hunk. Back home and had pork steaks, mashed potatoes and a vegetable for dinner. Watched the last episode of "The War" by Ken Burns. Mid-70s today.

View from our bench

Wilson's Ice Cream Place

Sun, 7/18/10

Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison Bay, WI: Rained all day today. A nice, gentle rain, but rain nonetheless. We just planned to kick back today anyway since we’d been going strong for a couple of days. Read our books and watched a couple of movies. Over to the lounge to work on the computer. Hopefully tomorrow it will clear off some.

70s era Indy Cars
Road America--Elkhart Lake, WI

Sat, 7/17/10

Holiday Inn, Manitowoc, WI, to Wagon Trail Resort, Ellison, Bay, WI: After having breakfast and checking out of our hotel, we stopped at the Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. A great venue which also included a tour of a WWII submarine. After that we drove over and checked out the huge car ferry that runs from Manitowoc, WI, to Ludington, MI—a four- to five-hour trip across Lake Michigan. Started our drive back on Rt. 42 which is a pretty drive—a lot of it right along the lake. We stopped just outside Two Rivers and walked the bike path that goes along the lake for a half hour or so. Each parking area along the bike path has beautiful flower gardens—planted by volunteers I guess. Like my sister who is a Master Gardener. She does a lot of that. A lot of work. A beautiful, sunny, breezy day. A lot of people at the beach swimming, walking the beach, or throwing balls into the water for their dogs to retrieve. Continued on. Each little town has its own summer festival it seems. Algoma is having a trout fest this weekend. Another is celebrating Shanty Days—whatever that is. We stopped at Coyote Roadhouse on Kangaroo Lake just outside Bailey’s Harbor and had an early dinner. Sat on the deck overlooking the lake. Great food. Back home to our site, unpacked and put everything away. Upper 80s today. Yes!

Formula I car
Road America--Elkhart Lake, WI

Lotus
Road America--Elkhart Lake, WI

Holiday Inn, Manitowoc, WI: We got turned around a little this morning on our way to the track but ended up at this beautiful little lake—Crystal Lake—which was aptly named because it was this beautiful, clear, sparkling little lake surrounded by beautiful, lush green hills. Still were at the gate before 9:00. We were the first ones there. We had no idea what to expect, but Dave and Amy had everything organized. Dave had arranged our tickets and everyone’s golf cart. We all got our golf carts and headed off to our spot on the course with others following in vehicles. Got our “shelters” set up and then relaxed and watched the different cars on the track. This venue is a 4+ mile road course and you really need a golf cart to get around and be able to see everything. At around noon Dave and Tim who had their Porsches with them were able to do the “touring” segment—doing about 4 laps on the course. Mike was able to ride with Dave. Everyone zipped around on their golf carts checking out different areas of the course. Later that evening we all met for dinner at the Paddock Club in Elkhart Lake which is a cute little town on beautiful Elkhart Lake. Around 6:00 all the race cars drove through this cute little town and people were lined up 8 deep to witness this extraordinary parade of cars of all description. Then at around 8:00 the race cars all left—again driving through town, revving up their engines making an incredible noise. After the cars all left we walked around for a while and then drove back to our hotel. A really fun day and we met some great people. Dave and Amy did a great job organizing the whole thing.

Start of the "touring" venue

Mike riding in Dave's Porsche

John riding in Tim's Porsche