Vacation Day 3 - Nicolet Beach

Today was our first full day in the park. Our goal was to spend a little time at the Nicolet Bay beach. In the end, we had so much fun that we spent the entire day there! Nicolet Bay is on the northeastern shore of the park. It has a nice big sandy beach within a large sheltered bay which keeps the shallow waters calm and warm enough for swimming (well warm is a relative term here!) We brought the bikes and kayaks down along with water toys and picnic stuff. I got out kayaking twice today. In the morning I tied a large towing tube to the back of my boat and gave Emmy and Mathew a ride out into the bay. We spent about an hour paddling around, looking at the other boats, birds and whatever else they found interesting.

After lunch, Jenny Mathew and I loaded up our gear for the 1 mile paddle out the Horseshoe Island. This island is part of the park, and has a few landing areas for kayaks and sailboats as well as a couple miles of hiking trails. Also part of the goal in reaching this island is that there is a Geocache called Horseshoe Hideaway that I've been wanting to do every since my brother Dave told me about it. The paddle out was a lot farther than it looked from shore, but the conditions were perfect with very calm water and a nice breeze to keep us comfortable. Once on the island it took us quite a while to find the cache. The coordinates were pretty far off and the hint was not at all helpful. but, after about 45 minutes of searching we did find it. On the paddle back Mathew alternately insisted that he could paddle back by himself and that if we'd just let him jump in the water he could swim back to the beach. I should point out the he is THREE! Ah to have that level of naive confidence again. Later in the day Catie and her friend Sarah took the kayaks out for a bit and had a great time enjoying the water and the beautiful scenery. Dad and Bonnie also joined us at the beach for a while and then later joined us back at camp for a delicious dinner of fried Walleye, Wild Rice and Fettuccine Alfredo. What a great day.

Vacation Day 2 - Door County

We spent the better part of the day today cleaning up from yesterdays Family Fest and getting our camping gear organized and packed. We finally got on the road around 2:30, our destination Peninsula State Park in Door County Wisconsin. We arrived at the campground at 6:00 pm, unpacked my car and headed over to Grandpa and Bonnie Wunrows trailer home in Sister Bay for dinner. This was our first visit to the trailer and we were very impressed. It's the perfect size for a retired couple to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Door County Peninsula. Grandpa prepared burgers and dogs over an open campfire. We had a great time and it was a nice way to kick off the week. Following dinner we had a chance for the kids to go swimming the the camp pool. After sunset, we headed back to Peninsula State Park to finish unpacking and get the younger kids to bed.

Catie, Emmy and Sarah

Bonnie, put the knive down you're scaring me!

Dad and I catching up, while the burgers cook

Vacation Day 1 - Family Fest

My sister Jenny and her husband Jack host an annual family get together at their home on the north shore of Lake Winnebago. Because of fortunate scheduling, we were able to participate in this years even. There was a great turn out of 45 people evenly split between Jacks family and Jenny's family. There was lots of good food and great water fun. I had my kayak with us since we are heading up to Door County with Jenny's family for a week of camping starting tomorrow. I was able to get out for about an hour of paddling. There was a 15-20 mph wind blowing from the west that whipped up the lake with swells of 2-3 feet. Paddling into the wind was fun. Waves crashing over the bow, wind whipped spray in my face, what a blast! It's really fun to be on big water. There was also plenty of water fun for the kids with several rafts anchored near shore for them to float on and dive from. Jack brought his ski boat out too so the kids could do some tubing. We all had a blast.

Chris' Mom was able to join the fun

Yours Truly on the rope swing

Hooray for the Fourth!

On July 4th 1995, while living in Corona, California, I wrote this note in memory of my Grandfather. My Dad was kind enough to forward this to me and I thought on this 4th of July 15 years later it was appropriate to post in my blog. -Jeff

In honor of Grandpa Wunrow (my Grandpa) I’d like to lead all of you a great big rousing Hooray for the Fourth !!!

I think of Grandpa Wunrow every year on the 4th of July. Sitting in his green plaid Bermuda shorts, blue Badger Boys State golf shirt, black socks, brown dress shoes and red Wunrow Racing cap, smoking the butt of a goopy old cigar held together with toothpicks, watching the fireworks at State Fair Park from the front of his house. Telling stories about his time in Uncle Sam's Navy. Our country could learn a thing or two about patriotism from ol' Alfred Jon Wunrow, I know I sure did. God bless you Grandpa, and Thank You…. In closing all of us in the Wunrow West clan want to wish you all a terrific 4th of July holiday. We pray that you all end up home safely at days end. Take care everyone. Jeff

Taylors Falls Paddle

I had some vacation time I needed to use and as this is a holiday weekend anyhow, it seemed like a good time to take a long weekend. So, Nik and I decided to get out for a bit of river paddling today. I have always heard that the stretch of the St. Croix River National Recreation area that runs from Taylor's Falls in Interstate State park is a good day trip. It's only about 90 minutes from my house. The best part is that a canoe outfitter rents both canoe's and kayaks right at the boat landing in the park and as a benefit for me, they also run a shuttle service from two take out points so we could leave our car at Interstate Park and them get a ride back once we were off the river. Chris really appreciated this as she is usually the one that has to drive me out and drop me off at the launch site and then try to find me at the take out site. Not always an easy task.

We put in around 1:45 on a mostly cloudy, cool summer day. Temperature was 75 with a 10 mph wind from the north. The current was a slow but steady 1-2 mph. Not fast by any means but nice enough to allow us to drift through some of the more scenic parts of the trip. I was amazed at how may people rent boats and do this trip. There were always at least 3 other canoe's in view, although usually not close enough to feel as though you were being crowded . The geography we paddled through was heavily wooded, with gentle hills rolling outward to form the St. Croix River Valley. There were several small islands with nice sandy beaches where many people landed and picnicked or just relaxed in this beautify setting.

We went through one gorge that had 30 foot granite cliffs on the Wisconsin (eastern) side of the river. We even saw a guy dive off one of these large cliffs into the river! Not something I would have done, but when asked he swore he didn't hit the bottom. Nik and I did land once on a sandy beach once to stretch our legs, take a few pictures and cool off in the water. This time of year, the water is not quite warm enough for swimming, but by the end of the month it will be. Our final destination of the Osceola landing was reached after about 2 hours and 40 minutes of padding. There we cleaned up the boat and waited for the ride back to Interstate Park were I retrieved the car and drove back to pick up Nik and our gear. What a fun day on the water, I'll be back soon!