A three hour drive brought us to my aunt and uncle’s cabin
in Minong, Wisconsin. It sits majestically over a calm lake, and is surrounded
mostly by long grass and dense woods. The cabin stands on a property I’m
familiar with, but haven’t seen for over a decade. They bought the property—I’m
guessing—thirty-years-or-so ago and my uncle used to take me on camping
and fishing trips when it was just a small clearing in the woods. I was
innocent then, and I was thinking the other day that it was possible I had
never been on that property under the influence of anything, but then I
remember being on a weekend trip when I was about 16 and smoking a little
reefer after Uncle Tex went to bed. No matter, I am sober now, and this post
isn’t about my drug-riddled past.
We would be there for four days which included two full days
and arrival and departure on either end. The weather had treated us properly
thus far on our jaunt, and this day was no different: beautiful, sunny skies
and low humidity. We pulled up to the cabin, unloaded, and began to relax.
With two children running around the house causing disorder and
commotion, and the full summer swing in effect at work, relaxation is something
Amanda and I are not used to at any point in our day. We had spent the first
four days of our summer vacation on the go, even though we were at another
cabin. Even when we weren’t out on the pontoon and just sitting on the deck, we
still needed to be alert for dangers to the children as there were vehicles, a
lake, and other vacationists about and it seemed that we were always yelling
for the girls to stay close to us or far from the water and whatnot. In Minong,
it was just us four.
The first day was spent shopping for our weekend at Henson’s
Country Foods, which also has sales of cattle feed, haircare, bulk beef jerky
from the nearby Jack Link’s factory, and sports an enormous liquor store. I bought a
box of bacon ends and pieces which is a treasure for anybody that cares to
know. We brought back out booty, and I fired up the grill and made too many
cheeseburgers. It was beautiful.
Our first full day was spent in or near the water. We tried
out a paddleboat, but with only one backrest to be found, and one adult paddling, it was too
much work, and I gave up. We tried the kayaks next and had a little more
success but he wind was stronger than us that day and we each had squirming
children on our laps and we retreated to the shore. The girls donned P.F.D.s
and went swimming. Here are a few good pictures from the first day or so.
I posted this picture in my last blog, but I took the time to accidentally upload it again, so now you're stuck with it. |
Just another perfect view from my camping chair. |