It's not easy bein cheesy!

For the past 2+ weeks we've been running all over "Cheesehead" land.  It's been a very enjoyable stay and I wanted to share some overall thoughts about the state...as well as update on some of the sights we were lucky enough to experience.

Devil's Lake State Park, Baraboo WI

Our first stop in Wisconsin was at Devil's Lake State Park.  While it was a bit of a tight fit getting into the park with our monstrosity, once we were in we had a great time.  The only real drawback was that the park is electric only.  That means no running water outside of what we put in our storage tank.  Luckily we had plenty of capacity for toilet flushing and cooking and such.  They had great onsite showers, so that was a non issue.  With that being said, I think it would be a stretch to last more than the 4 days we were there...that's about as much "roughing" it as my family can take...lol

We camped with our friends Pam and Rick Prow, and they brought other friends and family as well.  I think we all enjoyed our time as we got to know Rick's daughters and thier families...we had a blast.  Aaron was able to make a good friend in one of Pam and Rick's grandsons, Nicolas.  They seem to be face timing almost every day to play Minecraft.

The other family that joined us was Deb and John. They were an absolute treat to get to know and really gave us some great ideas on how to do some things.  They brought cast iron sandwhich makers, they played games, John even baked a cake in a Dutch oven (it was Rick's birthday cake and it was phenomenal).  We look forward to seeing them again in the future!

As for the area itself, it was absolutely gorgeous.  There was a ton of green space around the campsites for the kids to play, a great nature center at the top of the hill with live animals, we visited an orchard nearby for fresh apples (and pie, and fritters, and turnovers, and cheese....), and the actual lake and trails were stunning.  We did a bit of geocaching while there, and also took the trail to the top of the cliffs to get some unbelievable photos.  They even had a triathlon the day we were leaving.  

After hiking the bluff, we ran into a couple park rangers setting up a game and we asked to play.  It was an old Scandinavia game called kuub involving 2 teams throwing sticks to knock down the other teams totems.  It was much harder than it appeared, but it was pretty fun.  We might end up making set for the FTF Rally in Feb...we'll see...  Anyway, I'd highly recommend this park if you can comfortably handle the electric only scenario.

Bailey's Harbor, Door County, WI

Our next stop was a week in Door County.  For those unfamiliar with Wisconsin's geography, that is the 'thumb' of the state that sticks out between Green Bay and Lake Michigan.  We stayed about 3/4 of the way up on the eastern coast.  We were able to visit some lighthouses, a local ice cream and candy store, and we ate at one of the areas premier attractions, Al Johnson's restaurant which is famous for having goats on the roof (it also has a kick ass Monte Cristo and the fried chicken was rediculous).  Karen and the kids were also able to check out a local place called 'The Farm'.  It was basically a petting zoo on steroids, and the just couldn't stop talking about it.

The first few days I was a little confused because everyone had been telling me how beautiful the area was, and although it was definately pretty, it didn't seem horribly different from the other places I had been in Wisconsin.  That all changed late in the week when we headed out to explore the northern part of the peninsula and finally made our way over to Washington Island by ferry.  The northern quarter of the island gets very hilly in some places which creates fantastic views of Green Bay, and the last mile of road before the ferry looks like it was purposely paved to be used in a car commercial as it curve left and right for seemly no reason other than the builder thought it would be cool.  

Once on the island it just gets better.  Schoolhouse beach is one of only 5 beaches in the world with perfectly round stones created by the glaciers.  It was truly an awesome sight.  On the other end of the island is dunes beach which is all sand, and in between the is a large hill with a lookout tower that gives some of the most unbelievable vistas I've ever seen.

Another thing that I totally enjoyed was the people of the area.  Smiling faces wave to you when you pass on the street.  When people say good morning, it's with a tone that truly makes you believe they mean it.  Although they are make no a living there, they aren't above shoving an extra slice of cherry pie in you bag or stopping by you campsite to talk about your latest blog post.  A wonderful overall experience.  If it wasn't for the winters, this would definately be on my short list of places to settle down in.

Menominee, WI

When we left Door County we needed a place to stop about halfway to Itasca, MN.  Menominee fit the bill as it is just west of Eau Claire and just east of the Minnesota line.  We actually stayed just south of town at Irvington Campground.  The campground owners suggested a couple local things to check out.  First we checked out the Game Park in town.  It's run by the local Lions Club and has elk, deer and buffalo.  It was pretty cool.  Steph actually reached through the fence to touch the Buffaloes head (I couldn't believe she tried it!)

We also drove to Hoffman Hills Recreation Area.  It used to be owned by a farmer who decided to donate it to the state as a park instead of selling out to mining companies.  There were miles of trails and we hiked the "more difficult" route up to the lookout tower.  While there, we met a young couple named John and Jen.  They were visiting from Minnesota, and come to find out that John was actually the old farmers grandson and grew up on the property.  We chatted for a long while...they were super friendly and recommended many places in Minnesota for us to check out in the next leg of our journey.

Menominee itself is an interesting town...it's home to Stout Polytechnic College and has some very rich history as a logging town, but the people seemed to really segregate into 2 distinct group; the overly neighborly (like the owners of our campground or John and Jen from the tower) and the disinterested or disengaged (the majority of the poeple in town who wouldn't even make eye contact, let alone smile).  It's a very strange dichotomy to experience, but the campground was great...so no complaints here.

That catches you up with us.  We are now in Walker, MN.  We'll be visiting the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Itasca this week and then start our journey south again.  Talk to you soon!