FALL 2021

Giant chairs are a big tradition in Northern Wisconsin and the Michigan UP.

In September we took a trip to Chetek, Wisconsin which is a part of the state we hadn’t visited before.

This giant cowboy rat is in Oakdale, Wisconsin. Not sure why anyone would choose a rat to welcome people to the state, but it does get your attention.

Near Necedah, Wisconsin is this huge outcropping called Castle Rock. At one time this was an island in a glacial lake. It is quite majestic.

Whoever decided on the street signs in Chetek must have been quite a comedian. The place we stayed was on 23 15/16 street which you turn on to from 23 7/8 street.

We stayed on Prairie Lake which was very scenic but then I’ve never seen an ugly lake.

Both of our boys were able to come to the lake with us for a few days. It was the first time we’d all been together as a family since the pandemic started.

I suppose I shouldn’t call them boys anymore. Tom is 41 and David is 38.

Tom’s girlfriend Kaiyla was also able to spend a few days at the lake with us.

Gilmore was exhausted from all the attention he got during the boys’ visit. He started the boat ride full of energy.

In 5 minutes he was sound asleep in Barb’s lap.

One day we decided to go waterfalling at Big Falls in Eau Claire.

It always amazes me how the water goes from turbulent to serene in such a short distance.

Rice Lake is a small town near Chetek. We ate dinner there one evening and did a little exploring. The town’s park has a series of sculpture that tell the story of Rice Lake and the surrounding area. The sculptures are very well done. We particularly liked “Wooly” the mammoth and “Trusty Rusty” the draft horse.

One of the areas where we like to walk Gilmore is Cool Creek Nature Preserve. It has a very scenic babbling brook and nice walking trails along the creek.

These are the “greeters” at the park’s entrance.

Our street is very popular for Halloween because a few houses up the road there are dozens of zombies and further up the road is a castle with smoke breathing dragons.

Our house is nowhere near as scary.

This was Gertrude’s first Halloween so she was dressed up in her finest. She could barely contain her excitement.

See no evil, hear no evils, speak no evil.

We call this the woodpecker dance.

We hope all is well with everyone!