The late Jauary blues

Carrie and I headed up for a long snowmobiling weekend again. We are lucky to have such great parents to watch Cam for the entire weekend.

We took off really late Friday the 23rd as we had Cam's rescheduled winter concert to attend on Friday night. Ended up at the cottage at about midnight or so. My dad had come and plowed and turned the heat up on Thursday so everything was toasty warm.

On Saturday when we got up it was about -15 or so. I had a few things to get taken care of in the garage prior to being able to leave. So I got those chores done and we took off about 10am and -9 or so. We headed north through Minocqua and then Arbor Vitae and into Boulder Junction. From there we headed for Presque Isle. Stopped at Zastrows for lunch. It was OK but we won't be back. From there I of course made a wrong turn and ended up in Marinesco, MI. Ok - we can handle this. SO we went west from there on trail 2. Somewhere along the way we went north and then for some unknown reason to anyone in the world, we headed back east again. Crap..... We just made a huge loop and were about 25 miles north of when we left Marinesco. OK - we can handle this. Stopped at the Hoop n Holler for a warm up and cool down of my temper... Of course my trusty navigator Carrie was having a blast making jokes. I left her there.

Well maybe not. So we left from there heading for Silver City, MI and our hotel for the night. It was getting colder by the minute and the wind off Lake Superior was making it worse yet. Add that to the 75mph South Boundary Rd near the Porkies and you have balls crawling in your stomach cold.

Top of Summit Peak near The Porkies

Ended up at the Americinn in SC around 6:45pm local time (Eastern). Changed and headed for dinner in the attached restaurant. It was great and will definitely return there again. Back to the room and I think we may have been to bed by like 8 our time.

Sunday we got up thinking we were going to head for Hurley and then back over to Land O Lakes for the night. It was about -10 when we left and we had to travel the 75mph South Boundary Rd again. It gets cold quick at that speed. Not ball crawlin' cold - but still really cold. Once to Indianhead, we stopped and had a quick warm-up and then on our way again. Down through Wakefield, Ironwood, and then Hurley. Headed south from there thinking we would hit Mercer in no time and then head east to get back to LOL for the night. Once in Mercer, we decided to just head back to the cottage as it was just as close to go there as LOL for the night.

We ended up back at the Thirsty Whale for a hot one and then onto home by about 5pm. It was a good ride with a round trip of about 330 miles or so. A bit cold at times, but fun none the less.

Monday I tried once again my hand at aiming the satellite dish at the cottage. We finally got it working right after an hour of messing with it. I also did a little work on the 2007 POO to make the lights work better. Then home for another grueling week at work...

TTFN

January in the Snow

January 9 -

Carrie, Cam and I left for the cottage in the newly fixed dually. Bob and I just purchased a new Frabill ice shelter and I was eager to use it. We ended up getting up north a bit later than I had wanted but Cam was good none the less the entire way.

Saturday we got up to -10 or so. I bundled up and headed out to finish putting the ice shelter together as Bob was not able to finish it before we left. That turned into a nightmare at -10 as I was trying to work with plastic. I ended up finishing it in the garage with the torpedo heating blowing on me. That worked pretty well. After Cam's nap, we loaded up the truck and headed for the "honey hole" (see previous post). We ended up killing the gills. We went home with 28 keepers and about 45 or so caught in about 2.5 hours. Cam was great playing out on the ice and in the new ice shanty for that time.

The rest of the night consisted of cleaning fish and drinking at the cottage.

Sunday we loaded up and headed home. A good weekend of fishing for sure.

New Years Up Nort'

Twas Christmas day and we headed up north for the weekend. Originally we were taking the dually and my Toyota truck up. Pulling out of the driveway, the turbo on the mighty dually took a large dump. Idled it back home and unloaded all the stuff in it into the Toyota. Carrie, Cam, Bob and I left for the cottage about 6:30pm.

On the 26th, we went fishing for a bit on Lake Killarny. Didn't really catch anything worth the while. Back to the cottage and went sledding a bit and basically just played outside. The hill at the cottage is so much fun to sled down. Here are some pictures

(Getting ready to go down the hill)

(Cam is having so much fun sledding)

(Nice moves Don)

(now this is how you go sledding,
you get a ride up the hill with a 4wheeler)

(come on daddy I'm waiting for you :)

(my two boys)

(look at Don in the back, good save)

(here comes there ride back up the hill)

(yes this is water that Cameran is driving his dump truck)

After dinner Cameran still wanted to go outside and play some more. We had great fun jumping of the deck and sledding off the deck.

(jumping off the deck at the cottage, what great fun)

(lets jump together mom)

(sledding from off the deck)

27th rolls around and we went outside again to do some sledding down the drive before Don takes Bob and Cam back to West Bend. Cam and Bob are going billy-big-riggin to Kansas City for the first part of the week. I then returned with the prius so we had a vehicle for the week.

The 28th Carrie and I left for snowmobiling. Our first day took up through Boulder Junction to Land O Lakes. A nice day and to top it off we had dinner with Jeneen and Chad from Conserve School where we once worked.

(Don is trying to figure out were we are)

(on the Cisco Chain, Mi)

(again on the Cisco Chain, Mi)

On the 28th, we woke up to a fresh coot of snow and we are on our way north into Michigan snowmobiling. We ended up in Twin Lakes for lunch at Parkview and then headed up the Calumet, MI where our hotel was. We checked in there about 3:00 or so and then headed north to Copper Harbor, MI. It was a great day for a ride. We had dinner at the Marnier in CH and then headed back to Calumet to relax.

(Getting ready to leave from Sally and Doug's cottage Land-O-Lake,Mi)

(Bond Falls, MI)

(Houghton, MI.)

(coming into Houghton, MI)

Tuesday the 29th came and we headed for Silver City, MI on the 'mobiles. It was a good ride down through Lake Gogebic and then back to Land O Lakes for the night. Ate at Bent's camp on the cisco chain. Always a favorite when we are in that area.

Wednesday we are scheduled to be back at the cottage. We left LOL early and made it to Boulder Junction for breakfast. As our food arrives, Bob calls and lets us know that he has crashed my Toyota into a tree near the cottage. He missed a corner. Both he and Cam were OK thank god, but the truck looked totaled to him. We called Chad from Conserve School to pick us up in BJ to take us back to the cottage. In the meantime, my dad went to where Bob and Cam crashed to pick them up. The trucked ended up at Custom Collision in Rhinelander. Now we are again down a vehicle. Oh well.

(our poor truck)

We ended up fishing the next few days at my "honey hole" to which I will not divulge the location to all 2 people the may actually read what I type here. So we did ok out there for 3 consecutive days. We also ended up doing some more sledding down our drive way. Here are some more pictures.

(my two boys)

(he's really not drinking the beer, but it is a cute picture :)

(having a great time ice fishing)