Ontario to Wisconsin to South Dakota!

We had another sensory overload moment as we traveled south into Wisconsin and into our old stomping grounds of Spooner, Shell Lake, Milltown and Balsam Lake Wisconsin. Spooner does not look like it changed at all in the past 50 years. Paul Bunyon still stands at the north edge of town holding his arms out where there is supposed to be an axe. I do not think there ever has been an axe in his hands in my memory. The Red Cross drug store is still operation on the corner of Main. Again, in operation for the over 50 years I have been living and coming through this area. Tony's Riverside Pizza...I will never forget the pizza's my dad and I shared over the years in that building. 

Of course there are the new things, a Dollar General on every corner, but for every new thing I see something that has been there for decades and brings back memories. The Washburn County Fair was going on as we passed through. We did not stop but a vivid memory of me at probably 10 years old flashed back. Our family was attending that fair and, much to my mother's dismay, I won an albino rabbit. At the end of the fair, they put a bunch of rabbits and pigs in a big pen and let the kids loose. If you caught an animal, you could keep it! I remember pinning this bunny to the ground, its legs a kick'in as I scooped it up and brought it over to my mom. 

My mom would not let me keep it at home, but the neighbor farmer made a pen for me, and I put the bunny in it. The next day I returned to find the farm dog eating my once pure white bunny. Talk about traumatized....

I doubt they have that event anymore. After we passed through Spooner, we took a left on Highway 70, east to Stone Lake where we met my niece Katie and her husband Mike. We reconnected with Katie a couple years ago after a probably 20-year gap. We had never met her husband, Mike. We were not supposed to meet up with them until after 7pm on Friday night, but she was so excited to get together she took Friday off and we had the full day together! She planned an action-packed day starting out at the Perlick Distillery in Sarona where she had another surprise for us. 

Her brother Steve was meeting us! Again, it has been well over 20 years since we have seen him. Weird to see them all grown up when you only have memories of them in their early teens. Not only has he grown up and in his 40's, but he is also married and has several kids. His wife, Tabitha, was there as well, a super nice person, it was nice to meet her. 

Katie and Steven

From there we went to the Garage Bar which is in.... you guessed it a garage. Well, it started out that way, now it is more of a pole building. Where else can you order 5 mixed drinks and a beer and get change back from a $20?

Our last stop of the night was at the Summit Game Farm for their Friday night fish fry. Another Wisconsin staple. We saw these guys on the road along the way.....

So delicious! (The fish fry, not the porky) All too soon it was time for bed and hit the road in the morning. We carried on south to the Milltown/Balsam Lake area. Somewhat a spur of the moment visit, we gave my sister a two-day notice asking her if we could camp in their driveway for two nights. Sister Judy and Mike live on Balsam Lake. 

She planned two days of fun in the sun visiting a few of our favorite Wisconsin bars in Milltown. In all our travels we have never run into anything like an up north Wisconsin bar anywhere else. It is just a vibe that is not repeatable anywhere else. Those of you who have experienced it will understand, those of you who haven't won't understand so I will not even try to describe it. All the bars have deer and fish mounts, all have pull tabs and all of course have shake-a-day. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the flavor what I am talking about. 

Wise Guys in Milltown is also the home of a good friend and our favorite bartender Julie (Jules). We try to stop by and see her whenever we are in the area. 

Next door is Hack's where we went and pulled a few pulltabs. We won over $100 on our first round, but we "reinvested it" and eventually walked out with empty pockets. 

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Who do we run into while we were there? Kevin's daughter-in-law and grandchildren! They were just in South Dakota and we missed them as we were in Ontario, what are the odds of running into them in a bar in Wisconsin?!?! Pretty good actually...

Here's another thing about Wisconsin bars; drink chips. You can win drink chips at shake-a-day or when someone buys you a drink and you are just not ready for it. Judy has a baggy she carries with her for just such occasions. 

Mike has what he described as a garbage bag full of drink chips from when he cleaned out his dad's house. He would probably break the bankrupt if he cashed all those in!

 Our last adventure of the day had us heading over to Waterside restaurant on Lake Wapogasset where we met our friends Doug and Connie. So good to see both of them. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures.

The next day, Judy had more big plans for us! While we saw Judy and Mike in Florida last winter, we had not seen the rest of my siblings in a few years. Judy was able to get a hold of everyone and set up a lunch date for us in St. Croix Falls! Sadly, sister Carol was not feeling well and could not make it, but we got to see brothers, sisters, spouses and even my niece Kristina! 

The problem with getting together with a group like that it is impossible to spend as much time talking to each one as you would like, but it was awesome seeing everyone, who knows when we will be able to do it again. 

But our adventures are far from over! There are hundreds of lakes in the NE corner of South Dakota that have walleye in them, the problem is knowing which one to fish. Luckily, we have friends who fish this area quite a bit and turned us onto a lake between Watertown and Aberdeen.  The campground was like a ghost town. Full of campers but no one around. There must have been a 3-4 dozen sites, all with campers in them, but one around. When Barb called to get a site for two nights, the guy said he only does seasonal sites but had an open one we could stay in for two nights. Being it was a weekday; we figured everyone must just come up on the weekends. 

At over 15,000 acres of water it was hard to know exactly where to fish. Where does one even start? No fear, the master fishman is here! Notice I said master fisherMAN, as in me, not my lovely wife Barb. After looking over the lake map, I noticed a couple of sunken islands out in the middle of the lake, the perfect place for those tasty walleyes to feed. And sure enough, we had a couple on within minutes of dropping our lines in the water. 

Over the next two days we caught dozens of fish. Nothing big, in fact nothing over 16". They all seemed to be about the same size, 13"-16". The only picture we took was of the smallest fish caught by your truly. Truth be told, the next fish I caught was even smaller, but I threw it back before Barb could get a picture of it. 

We were able to weed out our limit of eaters each day adding to our bounty. The freezer is officially full of walleye!

Two 5-hour drives later we were pulling into our driveway. Our Great Summer Adventure was over. Only three weeks, but full of fishing and fun! Both of the girls were glad to be home. Dakota walked around the house, her tail a wagging. She even went over to the toy basket and pulled one out and tossed it in the air. Zoey was over the top excited and got the Zoomies which I was able to catch on video. Somehow I have a feeling we will be buying new furniture sooner than later.....

Everything was as it should be at the homestead. One thing that caught us my surprise was the sunflowers under the birdfeeders! We are going to leave them to grow for now. They made it this far after all. 

Now, it is back to work. There is a list of things to be done before I head to the farm for harvesting!