Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin

Every now and then, you have to do something crazy, so...when Pat and Joel invited Duane and me up to Joel's cabin, I decided...what the heck!  Duane "opted out", so I went by myself...FOUR AND A HALF HOURS to Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, for an "overnighter" (totalling about 26 hours), then FOUR AND A HALF HOURS back to the cities...UGH!  Actually...the UGH is only a minor one (ugh), because the drive up and back were BEAUTIFUL, and we had a BLAST!

I got there around 12:30 (even though Joel said it was only a FOUR hour drive...), and we started the "adventure" with Joel's homemade fajitas...REALLY, REALLY good!  After lunch, we headed out in the boat.

Joel's sister Katy, and her friend Carrie were spending the weekend as well, so Pat, Katy, and Carrie were dubbed "Charlie's Angels".  Joel was Charlie, and SOMEHOW I ended up being Bosley (??!!)...

Here's a shot of the angels on the pontoon before we headed out...

Katy, Pat, and Carrie

We had a GREAT time out on the water!  I haven't really done the "lake thing" since my aunt and uncle sold their lake house a few years ago, so it was AWESOME being on the water again!  Here are some shots from the afternoon:

Pat and me

Joel with his "bottle opener flip flop"!

the angels in the tube

Katy with her "Horny Blonde" beer

Carrie and Pat

a wild rice...paddy...(field?  bog?  patch?)...

close up of wild rice

an eagle along the edge of the lake

After zipping around the lake for awhile, we headed to the "Lower Unit Tiki Bar" for beverages.  TOTALLY cool "lake people" kind of place, where boats pull up to the docks, park, and socialize.  People have grills on the backs of their boats, and share (sometimes!), and just "hang out" for awhile.

While we were socializing, a cloud moved in, and, without warning, we got caught in a torrential downpour.  It was a HOOT!

After an hour or so, we headed back out for another spin around parts of the lake (I think there are about FOUR really big lakes connected togther....couldn't tell you the names of ANY of them, but it was REALLY beautiful)!

contemplating tossing Bosley over the side of the boat

getting along nicely

After more boating, we headed back to the cabin to make dinner.  Joel put a chicken and some red potatoes in the crock pot, and it was DELICIOUS!!!!

We spent the rest of the evening chatting, and even ended up making s'mores in the fireplace.  We also did a little swing dancing, and more than one of us woke up with sore backs on Sunday!

Sunday morning Joel made his famous "pancake roll ups" (yum!), and we had coffee (MUCH NEEDED!).  I took the following "establishing shots" of the cabin, dock, boat, etc.  It was a VERY lovely place!

We EVENTUALLY got ready, and headed to Little Bohemia Lodge, and looked at the John Dillinger exhibit, as well as the bullet holes on the outside of the building from one of the shootouts he was involved in:

We had lunch at the bar, then headed to the bridge to "lep"...which is, apparently, something that EVERYONE who comes to the area HAS to do.

I'm a BIG SCAREDY CHICKEN when it comes to water (long story involving the ocean, someone lifting me up above the waves as they were coming in when I was two, and MISSING one wave....as a result, I didn't learn to swim until I was 14, and still DON'T like putting my head under water....).

Anyhoo...I decided to be a RISK-TAKER, and "go lepping".  Here are a coupld of photos to document my accomplishment (and, except for taking a REALLY LONG TIME to jump, and almost psyching myself out...DID IT...even though I DID wear a life jacket (I know...how lame)...).

After lepping, I got back into my "land clothes", and headed back to the cities.  On the way home, I saw the billboard below in Cadott, Wisconsin...(COOL!)...and got caught in a windy monsoon near Hudson (NOT COOL!). 

It was a CRAZY long drive, and I was CRAZY tired when I got home, but it WAS really fun, and it was nice to meet Carrie and Katy, and to see Joel again (and OF COURSE it's always FABULOUS to spend time with Pat!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Since all of us, except for Joel, are teachers, we decided that this SHOULD become an annual event, to blow off some steam before the start of each school year. I think that's a GREAT idea!

Here's hoping YOU did something CRAZY FUN recently, and were able to spend time with FUN people too!!!