Long And Winding Road

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If you've noticed that ALL the songs I quote as post titles are oldies, well there's a good reason for that.

I am an oldie and oldies are all I know.

On Saturday when we wended our way home from vacation we, like the proverbial ant of really old song lore, had high apple pie in the sky hopes of spotting some exciting wildlife.

Before we even reached the county road we spied this wild beast.  HE was loose and had a chain dangling from a ring in his nose.  He looked none too pleased to be the subject of my photo op!!!!

Needless to say I did NOT get out of the car to take his close up.

Much of our long and winding road went right through virgin forest.

It simply isn't true that we've lumbered away ALL our forests.  Northern Wisconsin is mega-lumbering territory and yet the forests abound, returning with shocking rapidity after being harvested.

In biological terms it's called secondary succession.

I'm just sayin'.

All the way through that forest we kept our eyes peeled for elk or bear.

Alas THIS was the only bear I found and he was in a gas sration in Glidden.

We saw nary one elk.

Fisherhubby said they were all sleeping in on a Saturday morning.

I thought maybe they were burrowed in watching cartoons.

Glidden was called Bear Crossing 'cause the world record bear was shot there, commemorated by this primitive and rustic painting.

I can tell you for sure and for certain that I don't want to meet a 665 pound bear while I'm out walking in the wild.

In Park Falls we came across the St Croix Rod factory and outlet shop.

Notice it is open every day (almost).  That made me giggle.

I can honestly say it had never once crossed my mind to even wonder how they make a fishing pole.  Looked to be an interesting process.

As for Fisherhubby, he was in hog heaven.  I  can guarantee you that if the Lord doesn't return and the crick (that's how we say it here) "don't rise" FH WILL be going back there when he saves up his pennies to get a new rod.

Because he NEEDS a new rod, only having 30 or so now.

As it was he got himself ANOTHER tackle box,  I have NO IDEA how many of those he has.

They threw in a ski hat for free which he proudly wore the rest of the way home in spite of the fact it was late July.

In Medford we stopped at a local watering hole called "The Flame" for lunch.   Fisherhubby ordered the sirloin steak which filled his entire platter and only set us back $14.

I went the breakfast route with a pork chop, 3 eggs over easy, and hashbrowns which only cost $8ish.

We were both delighted with our fare.

The rest of our trip home was uneventful with nothing to report save the fact that I needed an emergency pit stop in Rudolph to rid myself of coffee consumed at lunch.

Thus our vacation came to a very satisfactory end.

Already we are looking forward the next exciting adventure of Fisherhubby and Miss Keetha.

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It Was Fun While it Lasted

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It was fun while it lasted, this vacation of ours.

We did some shopping and eating out.

The girls finished 10 jigsaw puzzles with Fisherhubby only hiding the last piece on two of them.

The boys caught, and released, 609 fish - an all time 2 week record for us on Gull Lake.

There was watermelon eating,

Electronic  gadget tweaking, and girls smashing guys in euchre 4 games to 3 - so yah pretty sure we're the euchre champions of the Universe!!

There was even spoiling of our vacay doggie.

That's right, Miss Cheney comes with the cabin and we love her then leave her for the next vacationers to love.

But all good things must come to an end so - - -

The fishing rods are all stowed away,  the tackle's all been tackled, Big Mable is deflated, the boat is high, dry, and hitched,

The puzzles are boxed in their boxes and stored in their tote,

And there has even been suitcase package.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early we will hit the road for home.

Mark and the bear jogger, Jennie,  will high tail it for Indiana lickety split.

Fisherhubby and I, not having as many miles to go before we sleep, will take a circuitous route through Chequamegon National Forest in the hopes of spotting still more elk.

By tomorrow night we shall all be resting our heads on our own pillows in our own homes and the Gull Lake Vacay 2013 will be history.

Oh but it was fun while it lasted.

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End of Vacay Frags

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Today  is the last day of our Northwoods lake cabin vacation.  Bright and early in the morning we will point our noses toward home.

But for this post I'm looking back and giving you some end of vacay frags.

I cannot make a link back from my phone but if you will visit Unknown Mami's blog you will find more Friday Frags.

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Meet Jennie.  She and her hubby Mark have been with us for the past week.  Jennie is no bigger than a skinny minute.  She's so short that from behind it looks like her car is driverless.

This picture is here because of human error.   The human would be the aurhor of this blog and the error was accidentally uploading the pic from my phone.

Work with me here and just enjoy the view, OK?

Now back to the Jennie frag - - - imagine the look on tiny Jennie's face when the nachos she ordered were this ginormous!!!

She implored us to help her eat them - Fusherhubby was more than happy to oblige.

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I posted a pic like this on my Sunday in My City post claiming that Fusherhubby was proud of catching a Round Lake Muskie.

What I did NOT say then was that he and fishing buddy Mark caught it right off the wall in Famous Dave's.  It's merely a replica of someone else's catch.

I thought FOR SURE that ONE of my bloggy readers would "call me" on it - but every single one of you let it slide.

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Meet Uncle Ben.  He lives year around a few cottages down the shore on this lake.

Sunday morning Fisherhubby was summoned to Uncle Ben's bedside and quickly realized an ER trip was in order.

After a couple of pretty scary days where it looked like there may have been a stroke with residual damage I'm glad to report that Uncle Ben is on the mend.

We are so glad we were right here when Fusherhubby's medical help was so sorely needed.

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Death by chocolate ice cream from West's Dairy.  Double yum.

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I do so wish I could have gotten a better picture of this motto to live by 'cause I'm afraid you won't be able to read it.

Basically it says life's journey isn't meant to end in a pristine well preserved body but rather in an all out slide for glory and enjoyment.

Or something like that.

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Fisherhubby and Mark took the boat to another lake today to try their luck.  They didn't catch very many but they caught some smallies which was the goal so they are happy campers.

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Back in Indiana our grans made some silly pasta faces while eating their lunch on their back to school shopping spree.

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I do not have any idea what this contraption is called,  but that is our oldest son, Kelly, blasting off toward the sky on it.

This is our same dare devil son who skied right off the side of a mountain last winter.

It's for sure and for certain he knows how to squeeze thrills out of life.

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Fishing Report

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The boys have taken their boat and run away to Big Round Lake today with stars in their eyes about catching a plethora of smallies.

Never mind that their fish total here on the Gull is 540 with their largest EVER daily catch of 122, including this 4 pound large mouth, yesterday.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin the girls have completed 8 jigsaws, read a little, and ONE girl has "run with the bears" on three different occasions.

I'll let you guess which girl runs and which girl thinks running is a nasty old 4 letter word.

But HEY JACK, the nonrunner has watched the runner's progress on a map app and has been ready to jump in her car and dash to the rescue at a moment's notice should a black bear or elk or sasquatch or any other fierce beast threaten her life.

In fact the nonrunner saved the runner from the jaws of certain death by wild cricket just yesterday.  The nonrunner is a cricket slayer for sure.

That is just the way she rolls.
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Man Cannot Live By Fishing Alone

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Even Fisherhubby cannot live by fishing alone. He must come in out of the boat at least once a day to eat.

And to please their wives the fishermen agree to go into town to eat out - in this case Mexican.  Yum.

Of course the fishermen also find it necessary to stop by the tackle shop on these forays into town.

It is not yet clear how much tackle one fisherman needs.

And besides fishing, eating, and tackling it would appear that the expert fisherman also requires plenty of napping.

The fish total so far over a week and a half:  405.
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Two Fishermen Under Azure Skies

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The sky was bright

With an azure hue,

When out in their boat

Went fishermen two.

They cast out their baits

And pulled in their fish,

And stayed in their boat

Just as long as they wished.

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Mr. Sun and Miss Moon

Good-bye Mr. Sun,

Hello Miss Moon.

I'll be joining you in Slumberland soon!

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Sunday on My Vacay

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We are in the middle of our 2 week vacation.

Bliss.

We're on Gull Lake in the middle of the Wisconsin North woods .

I'm linking this post to SIMC even though I can't manage a link back here on my blog.  I'm just smart-phone-blogging challenged like that.

Lake Time is the BEST time.

Our friends, Mike and Diane were here with us for the first week.  WHAT a time we had!!

They have now gone on to bigger and better things like visiting Mike and Frank's place in Iowa.

This week Greg's fishing buddy, "Markie" and his wife Jennie have joined us.

We went to the famous brunch at Famous Dave's.

Oh, but not to just ANY old franchise Famous Dave's, no siree bob!!!

This is the original on Round Lake. While we were eating our waitress came by and said, "Did you see Dave?"

"The REAL Dave???" I asked.

"Yep, the REAL Dave!"

Well, I jumped up and ran all over that restaurant just to try to meet Dave and get his picture for you, my bloggy friends.
Alas Dave had left the building.

I was able to get this picture with his cardboard cutout self AND our very real and live waitress, Bezh.

Bezh is cuter anyway.  ;-)

Besides having a really tasty buffet Dave's got some fun Northwoods stuff going on decor wise.

Like this Bobber-Que-Grill serving dish.

Bobber Que - get it????  That there's Northwoods humor at its finest.

Or how about this wooden canoe hanging above a doorway???

The whole dining room is all Northwoodsified.

And there's more ambiance in the bar.  There's so much ambiance it's hard to know where to look first.

I was very happy to meet Mr. Moose - stood right up on a chair in the bar just to get closer to his big face.

No I had NOT had one too many,  I'm a teetotaler.  I'm just goofy Iike that even stone cold sober.

Fisherhubby was especially proud and happy to catch a Round Lake Muskie.

After lunch we took Mark and Jennie to a place where they could have a romantic stroll.

Notice Fisherhubby and I stayed behind them where I HOPED FH would get a hint.  That ended our vacay Sunday - see you from my own hometown next Sunday WITH a link.

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