Crane Vacation to Wisconsin

When I needed to vacate my favorite Chicago campground in mid-June for a week (in between my two 14-day stays), I decided to head north to the Dells region of central Wisconsin.  My goal was to try and see an endangered Whooping Crane in the wild, and that's an area where they nest in the summer.

I rolled into Juneau county's Castle Rock Park (not to be confused with Adams county's park by the same name on the other side of Castle Rock Lake!) and had my pick of a few dozen campsites on a Thursday evening-- for the bargain price of just $17/night!

Revisiting my first RV campsite

I first visited lovely little Cunard Lake in August of 2004.  It’s a small, rustic campground that’s part of the Northern Highland American Legion (NHAL) State Forest near Minocqua in north central Wisconsin.  The picture above was taken from my lakeside campsite during that trip, and I was hooked on RVing from then on!
That first trip was quite a learning experience, though!  Here was my fancy, schmancy setup:

After a wonderful (but very cold and wet) tent camping trip up into northern Ontario earlier that summer, I decided that I was ready to spend the “big bucks” on my first RV, a Starcraft pop-up tent trailer.  I firmly believed, at the time, that it would be all the RV I’d ever need, and really had to convince myself that this “tent on wheels” (which also happened to have a toilet/shower, furnace, and kitchen) was worth nearly $9000 more than my humble REI tent.

I was pretty sure I had remembered all the dealer had taught me about how to “pop-up” the trailer, and I proudly hitched it to my SUV all by myself and headed towards Wisconsin.  With no campsite reserved, I wisely determined that the NHAL area would be my best (and only) bet for weekend camping since it’s the only area in Wisconsin with a few hundred “first come first served” sites across various lakeside campgrounds in the region.
I arrived at Cunard Lake and saw that all lake view campsites were taken except for one, so I took it!  It was an awkward and rather unlevel site, but I figured I had “levelers” on my camper, so that wouldn’t be a problem….
So, I got to cranking…and cranking!  Once the rear “levelers” had nearly lifted the wheels off the ground, I realized “oh, these aren’t really levelers—these are just stabilizers not meant to hold the weight of the camper’s axel and wheels!”  Rookie RVing mistake # 1.   Forturnately, I only managed to bend up the door frame a little bit (and nothing worse).



After I finally managed to get the camper all set up, the rest of the weekend was glorious.  I remember falling asleep to the sound of loons calling on the lake, and the paddling was wonderful on this no-motor lake.
Fast-forward 9 years.  The View had spent all summer in my driveway untouched as I’ve been busy working and planning a big home remodeling project.  It was a hot HOT summer in Chicago and I was ready for a get-away.  But where?  I didn’t have enough time to do the really big Canadian trips on my bucket list (the Maritimes or the Canadian Rockies).  So, I decided to re-visit my favorite Northwoods and Great Lakes campsites instead!
I arrived to Cunard Lake this time, with my much more capable View, and amusing myself that I ever thought a $9000 pop-up camper was “all the RV I’d ever need”….ha!  Just as before, all the lake view sites were taken except for one…THE exact same one I’d had before!  Fortunately, I’ve learned a thing or two about leveling an RV since then, so I was able to make the odd-shaped, un-level site work (so glad to have a short motorhome that I could easily position for a perfect lake view!).


I had excellent Verizon 3G coverage from my site and just LOVED my new “office with a view” layout—I can’t believe how much more comfortable and functional the View has become now that I’ve removed the dinette table and put in the swivel-rocking office chair.  So comfy to prop my feet up on one of the dinette benches, gaze out the window, and compute away…and get paid for it!


This was Millie’s first trip to Cunard Lake, and with one word (“swimming”?), she quickly found the path down to the lake.


Millie has a favorite toy that we use for swimming, and her routine is to always try and snatch it away whenever I go to pick it up…she usually succeeds!  Here’s a little video of her afternoon fun--

Millie Swims Cunard Lake

After Millie got to do her fun activity, I got to do mine—paddling!  The lake was peaceful with lots of lily pads.  Saw a few small frogs on this morning paddle, but the loons were apparently over at the next lake looking for their breakfast.

On our final evening, the skies were clear so I thought I’d try some star trail photography.  I set my cable release to take a 30 second exposure every minute for about 3 hours. 


Still learning how to process these correctly, and I honestly think I like just one of the single exposures better, but it was fun new thing to try out!

Weekend in Door County Wisconsin

When asked where she wanted to go for her weekend birthday trip, my mom chose Door County Wisconsin as it’s known for some of the best fall foliage in the region, and has plenty of shops, farm markets, and pubs to also enjoy.

Door County is the peninsula in northeast Wisconsin separating Lake Michigan from Green Bay that starts at Sturgeon Bay on the south end and extends about 50 miles up to Washington and Rock Islands on the north end.  There are numerous small arts-and-crafts kinds of towns on the coasts of the peninsula, with farmland and orchards occupying the interior land.  There are also a half dozen gorgeous state and county parks.

We stayed at Tranquil Timbers RV Resort in Sturgeon Bay, another of the Encore/Thousand Trails parks on the ReadyCampGo program. The trees throughout the park were at their peak and just gorgeous.


It was also a perfect Indian Summer weekend with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s each day.  Millie and Mom soaked up the sun late Saturday afternoon!

After slowly crawling out of the Friday afternoon congestion of Chicago and Milwaukee, we finally made it up to the campground just after sunset.  After getting parked at our site, it was off to the first of Mom’s favorite Sturgeon Bay restaurants—Neighborhood Pub & Grill.


The place was packed and we had to wait a few minutes for a table.  The crowd also seemed to be intently watching the ballgame on the various big screen TVs.  Within 5 minutes, everyone in the bar let out a huge roar and one of the bartenders even set off a small firecracker.  We then realized what everyone was so excited about—the Milwaukee Brewers had just won their playoff series and were moving on to the NL Championship series! 

With the game over, some tables opened up and we ordered dinner.  It also happened to be their Oktoberfest weekend, so we ordered some of their German specialties with excellent red cabbage, spaetzel, and spiced apple sauce.

On Saturday morning, we drove up to Sister Bay to Mom’s favorite farm market, Seaquist Orchards.  We were a bit early for the bluegrass concert in the Apple Barn, but there were plenty of pretty fruits and pumpkins to enjoy, and Mom loaded up her shopping basket with apple cider, donuts, cherry pie, and other goodies to bring home.

 

On the way out, I spotted this pristine vintage Winnebago Brave being driven by a poodle.  Apparently, Millie is not the only dog who likes to drive her Winnebago!

We then drove up to the northern tip of the peninsula to take some fall foliage pictures.  Lots of folks riding their motorcycles on these roads and enjoying the warm sunny day!

We zig-zagged our way back down to have lunch at Wilson’s and enjoy the pretty harbor at Ephraim.

and then made our way down to Jorn’s Sugar Bush to buy some fresh maple syrup (is it obvious yet that my mom had a major craving for sweets this weekend?!!).



After returning to the campground to rest for a few hours, we headed out Saturday night to first visit Pooh’s Pub in downtown Sturgeon Bay (actually named Poh’s for the owner’s George & Kim Poh).  Kim is my brother’s roommate’s sister, and this bar has been run by their family for years.  We happened to arrive just as George and Kim were finishing up the day shift, and Kim’s other 2 sisters were starting the night shift!  After hearing so much about this pub from my brother for so long, it was great to finally stop in for a visit and meet the family.

We then made our way to Mom’s other favorite Sturgeon Bay restaurant, The Nightingale Supper Club.  This place looks completely unchanged from the 60’s/70’s and had a bar almost a big as the restaurant itself.  Good thing, too, because we had to wait 1 1/2 hrs before being seated for dinner.  But the atmosphere and food were both very enjoyable.

Sunday morning, we headed up to Jacksonport, where Mom recalled a small town park that allowed dogs on the beach of Lake Michigan.  Millie got in a quick fun swim before we had to head back to Chicago, so a great time was had by all!

Best Dog Beach in the Midwest

I’m sure if swimming dogs everywhere were polled for their favorite dog-friendly beaches, Lake Michigan’s Kohler-Andrae State Park would rank as one of the best.

For our final night on the road, I decided to reserve a spot at Kohler-Andrae State Park in Sheboygan so that Millie would have the best to enjoy last.

Air and water temps were perfect.  The lake was cool and refreshing without being too cold.  A great, large sandy beach for both dogs and their owners to enjoy, and that we did (although, you’ll be seeing no pics of me in my bathing suit!  Just Millie!)

Our camsite at Kohler-Andrae was not too shabby either.  Nice big site shaded by tall pines:

After dinner, we walked the boardwalk through the marsh and enjoyed the sunset.

After her walk and swim, Millie was thoroughly exhausted, but loved every minute of it!

Manitowoc

Two Rivers’ larger twin city is Manitowoc, WI.  It too is a town with a rich industrial and maritime history.  The Wisconsin Maritime Museum has a nice modern large building downtown, and the city serves as the western port of the Badger Car Ferry service that sails across Lake Michigan between Manitowoc and Ludington, MI daily.

One day at lunchtime, I drove down to watch the Badger come into port.  Quite a neat event!