 |
| The Sand Island Lighthouse (circa 1881), as seen from the shores of Lake Superior |
We wanted to do something "extra" to help the National Park Service celebrate its 100th anniversary and decided that we would “pull a second shift” as NPS volunteers; opening (for the third year in a row) the Sand Island Lighthouse in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (in June) AND (for the first time ever) closing the lighthouse (in September).
Logically, that raised the question of what to do “between
shifts”? Answer; “really get to know Wisconsin” (a continuation of our “really
get to know” a state series); knock a few more state fairs off of our list, and
have an up-close encounter with the world’s largest rubber duck.
We’ll start off with a relatively-direct, week-long drive to
Madison, arriving in time to attend the Brat Fest on Memorial Day (could there
be a better way to kick off a summer in Wisconsin?). En route to the Apostles
from Madison we’ll stop off for a few days in the Chippewa Falls/Eau Claire
area (home of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company).
FYI Note: Madison is in south-central Wisconsin; CF/EC is in the west-central part of the state, about 100 miles east of Minneapolis.
FYI Note: Madison is in south-central Wisconsin; CF/EC is in the west-central part of the state, about 100 miles east of Minneapolis.
From Chippewa Falls we’ll move on to the Bayfield Peninsula,
the northernmost mainland area in the state, where we will stay in an RV
campground in Washburn on the shores of Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay and
busy ourselves by picking berries, eating cheese curds and attending some NPS staff
training sessions.
On June 16 we’ll ship out to once again become the King and Queen of Sand Island, mowing grass, cleaning privies, swatting mosquitoes, maintaining trails, herding campers and giving tours of the refurbished 1881 lighthouse.
On June 16 we’ll ship out to once again become the King and Queen of Sand Island, mowing grass, cleaning privies, swatting mosquitoes, maintaining trails, herding campers and giving tours of the refurbished 1881 lighthouse.
 |
| Our Island Home - 100% solar powered. |
 |
| Betsy provides instruction to two future Junior Rangers. |
 |
| Lighthouse Tour Guide, on duty. |
 |
| Outsmarting the mosquitoes? |
 |
| Tree Hugger. |
We’ll get back to Washburn on July 7 where we will spend a
few days “decompressing” from island life before heading back “downstate” for a
three-day visit to the touristy Wisconsin Dells area (northwest of Madison).
From there we’ll backtrack a bit north to the Wassau area in
the center of the state and from there move east to the Wisconsin “thumb” (if
you’re looking at the back of your left hand), a long, narrow peninsula that juts northeast from Green Bay into Lake
Michigan. We’ll spend a week on “the thumb” before moving south along the shore
of Lake Michigan to the Sheboygan/Fond du Lac area. While we are in this area of the state we are
looking forward to visiting the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, Lambeau Field and
the Kohler “bathroom museum”.
With those cultural milestones behind us, we will continue
heading south down the lake to the Greater Milwaukee area where we will encamp for
a week at the Wisconsin State Fair Grounds, concluding our stay by attending
the first day of the Wisconsin State Fair.
Continuing southward we’ll try to figure out a relatively
low stress way to tow the trailer around (hopefully not through) Chicago to Indiana Dunes
National Lakeshore, on the southern tip of Lake Michigan. There
are four parks in the NPS system designated as National Lakeshores and after
this visit we will have been to all of them. Tex and Rachel are working this
summer in Chicago and we hope to take the train from Indiana Dunes into Chicago
for a visit with them.
From there we will head down to Dayton, Ohio to complete our
2014 “really-get-to-know” tour of Ohio that was cut short by the death of a friend
in San Antonio. Then it will be over to Indianapolis for the Indiana State Fair
and from there to Springfield for the Illinois State Fair. If all goes as
planned, our "state-fairs-attended" count will rise to 14!
After Springfield we will re-engage with Wisconsin by stopping in for a tour
of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin estate en route to Duluth, Minnesota for the
Tall Ships Festival that will feature the World’s Largest Rubber Duck!
“It’s really a fantastic compliment to the Tall Ships,”
states Craig Samborski, executive producer of Tall Ships Duluth 2016. “The
World’s Largest Rubber Duck inspires us to enjoy the world’s waterfronts and
conserve our natural resources for future ducklings.”
Inspired, we’ll return to Washburn for a few days before shipping back out to Sand Island on August 24 for our second tour of duty that will end around September 7.
The schedule after that is a bit more tentative but Betsy
may fly home from Minneapolis to get her car and then drive out to meet me in
Buena Vista, Colorado where we may stay until early October. After that it’s
possible that I may go out to California to tackle one or two (or three or
four) of my "un-climbed" 14ers.
But first things first, On To Wisconsin!
But first things first, On To Wisconsin!
