Out and Back

I rode the Ore to Shore point to point mountain bike event a couple of years ago with Rick Laliberte.  On our way to Marquette I noticed an area in northern WI named the Apostle Islands.  I had seen them on a map and thought it would be a cool place to go.  Matt is back from Europe, Ben was home, we had a free weekend (kind of) so we made kind of a plan to go and explore.  Kriston should have could have gone, but  we used this trip as our annual back to school outing where just the boys go.  I know its early, but August is toast so we took the chance.
Our initial plans were changed a bit during the week due to the death of my cousin Debbie down in southern MN.  Debbie had cancer and had been sick for awhile so it was expected and things were in place for the funeral.  We rode to Austin, MN together as a family, attended the funeral and then the boys and I headed NE to WI. Kriston rode home with my sister and spent the weekend with Piper the dog.
After a day behind the windshield we made our way to Bayfield, WI.  Bayfield was full of tourist and I mean full, way out of our league.  Of course we had no reservations.  My friend Jenny Aune had been in the area a couple of weeks earlier and filled us in on a couple of places to camp and what to do.
We ended up staying in the Apostle Campground.  I will not even include a link because the stay was none to pleasant.  The Wenzel's are use to pitching a tent in a remote area and doing our own thing.  The list of rules and the un-friendly owners were almost too much.  It's the tourist season so we had no choice.

Signs like this were all over the camp.  I understand that if the rules were not set there could be chaos, but come on.
Since we had no agenda, we were looking for things to do.  In spite of all the rules, we had a good nights rest in camp and headed out first thing in the morning to Meyer's beach which is located across the point from the tourists in Bayfield about 20 miles.

Meyers'beach, beautiful weather, sandy beach and a calm Lake Superior.  Photo is looking west.

Looking east on Meyer's beach.  Note the folding chair that we purchased at a garage sale in MN.  $1.50 for a classic hard core 1970's chair, could not pass it up and bought two of them.
After spending the morning at the beach we made our way to Red Cliff's, WI for kayaking.

We had a guided tour through a company called Living Adventure, Inc. We took the half day deal out to some old shipwrecks.  The photo above is of Matt cruising next to the wreckage.  The ship was 300 ft long and went down in the early 1900's, very cool.

Matt was on his own, Ben and I rode in a tandem.  All of us are comfortable in the water and took to the kayaks right away.

Our guide, Zack was a good guy and let Matt try a wet exit.  Matt looked like a pro, turned the kayak over and jumped right back in.  The trip was well worth the time and effort.  It would have been neat to head over to one of the 22 islands and do some more exploring but will do so on another trip with our own boats.
Back to Bayfield for the evening with pizza on the pier and some R & R.

After swimming in Superior all day, the boys still did not have enough and had to jump off the pier into the lake.  Never mind the signs that say don't do so.
The next day we headed west, made our way to Duluth and had an unscheduled stop down at the Lake Front.

Matt and Ben have done this before, but it was much easier when they have ladders set up inside.  They said the water was a lot colder then over on the WI side.

Lot's of ship activity.  I never get tired of watching them.
After Duluth we made our way over to my Mom and Dad's on the 8th Crow Wing by Nevis, MN.  We were lucking out with the weather, still had no agenda and took Mom up on her offer to stay the night.

Sunday evening on the lake as well as all day Monday.  Mom spoiled us with food and generally took real good care of us.  Always nice to spend time with them, only wish we could spend more.
Out for 4 days and we had a blast doing our own thing and not having to be anyplace in particular.  In spite of all the rules and touristy stuff we had another successful trip.  We kept in touch with Kriston the whole time sending her photos and updates.  Next year Kriston is going with.