Eme and I were able to get an early start Friday afternoon to our weekend of relaxation at the cabin. We had a pleasantly full weekend. Saturday morning we decided to clean out the shed and toss a bunch of junk. Then mom, dad, Eme and me went horse back riding!
After our horse ride through the country, we settled in for some games.
Then came Sunday! Oh, what a Sunday it was! It started out just like any other Sunday at the cabin...French toast for breakfast, a little lounging, and then the muster to get up and do something. Jeff, Shelley, Micah, Elissa, Eme and me decided to go for a hike on the Ice Age Trail a few miles from the cabin. We were on the road driving to our destination and decided to head to Murphy's Flowage Recreation Area. We had never entered the Ice Age Trail at Murphy's Flowage before. It was cloudy and rain was imminent, but we had no idea what was in store for us yet...
We would have kept hiking on our Ice Age Trail but the mesquitos were crazy! But we did get some nice views!
After our hike we were on a quest to find the Beachwood (or Birchwood, I can't remember) Tower and found ourselves at the BP in the little town of Birchwood to 1. Find some fishing bait (for later) and 2. Ask if the locals knew anything about this Beachwood Tower. To our chagrin, they did not. In fact, they thought it might not even exist anymore. But little did we know we were about to embark on an adventure of courage, moxy, and belly laughs. The local Birchwoodians let us in on a little Blue Hill's entertainment morsel...
...As Jeff, Micah, and I giddily hopped back into the Montana (Jeff & Shelley's minivan...Everytime we take a ride in the Montana, we find ourselves singing the tune of "My home's in Montana, I wear a...) The girls were eager with anticipation (not really...they actually were hoping we would say we could head back to the cabin)! So we started to tell our tail of frustration and intrigue inside the BP. As Jeff and I began to describe our quest into the Blue Hills to find a hidden treasure they started to understand this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity (again, not really...they just wanted to get back to the cabin)!
Jeff and I could barely contain our excitement as we headed north on Wisconsin highway 48 towards the tiny town of Edgewater. As we climbed into the high hills of blue we discovered lovely Lake Chetac. We drove and our anticipation was overwhelming. So we decided to tell the girls what we were hunting for...
...As we passed the metropolis of Edgewater the girls sighed and probably wished they would have stayed back at the peaceful cabin but decided to indulge mine and Jeff's curious adventure. Then we passed the Chit Chat bar on the right, just as the Birchwoodians had described. We were about to explode with excitement ("we" being Jeff and me)!
Then we passed the little white church on the right...just as they said we would! See, this "morsel" isn't on any printed maps, so we were going purely on the word of the local BP patrons and their intricate description on how to find...
...And then we saw it! The two hills on either side of the small entrance into a gravel turnaround. It was so inconspicuous that anyone driving the speed limit would certainly miss. Thankfully Jeff was driving at discoverers speed...about 30 miles per hour. He pulled into the turn around, and then the rain came. It was a downpour. But do you think a little rain discouraged Lewis and Clark? I think not!
Jeff shot out of the drivers seat around to the back of the Montana to search for an umbrella. I threw on my rain jacket and flipped up my hood. Out into the wilderness! (The girls weren't as excited and lumbered on out of the car behind us)
Sure enough, about 1,000 feet down the path from the small turnaround and over a small hill, we found it! Oh what a find! It was glorious! It was beautiful! It was...
...a brown pipe sticking out of the ground.
Why did we get so excited about a brown pipe? This is no ordinary brown pipe sticking out of the ground constantly spewing fresh water. This is an authentic artesian well! That's right, an artesian well right in the heart of the Blue Hills of Wisconsin. Oh, what a discovery! We all HAD to have a little drink of heaven...at least Jeff, Shelly, Micah, and I did. Eme wasn't so thrilled about water coming out of a brown pipe in the middle of the woods with green moss hanging off the edge.
Oh man! Now that was an adventurous outing!
We got back to the cabin and shared our wonderful adventure with those who stayed behind and rested our weary legs. Jeff, Micah and I finished the day with a little fishing before severe thunderstorms banished us within the cabin walls.
After a stormy night we woke up to a beautiful Memorial Day morning.
We even saw some wild life. Look closely and you can see a woodpecker on the middle of the tree.
Our wonderfully relaxing weekend had come to a close but we had to snap a quick family photo before Eme and I got on the road for our long journey back to Chicago.
You gotta love the auto timer on the camera...or when you think you hit the timer button...Happy Memorial Day!
