Rainy day at Mauthe

Day 8 (10/30/11)
Yesterday the forecast for today was sunny and sixty some degrees. We went to bed thinking we would be taking the kayaks out one more time. When we woke up the skies were cloudy and the temperature was in the forties. We decided we still had to go do something so we jumped in the car and headed off to Mauthe Lake. We had thought about Parnell tower but after considering the wind we determined it might get nasty. It was a good call because soon after starting to walk around the lake at Mauthe it started sprinkling. We headed back to the car and grabbed an umbrella and then proceeded to go around the lake the other direction. For the most part it only misted. A couple of times it rained harder but not unbearable. We only saw two other people so we pretty much had the park to ourselves. We stopped whenever we saw rocks and built cairns. Tamaracks have become our new obsession in trees. We love the wispy yellow color. When we got back to the car it started raining harder and continued until after we got home. In spite of the weather a good time was had by all.

Algoma Beach Motel

Day 7 (10/1/11)

We had to deliver some art work to a gallery in Green Bay that we have been working with so we decided to make an adventure out of it. I had seen a sign on an earlier trip for the Algoma Beach Hotel so we thought we would give it a try since we had never been on that side of the peninsula before. Well, it sure wasn’t Door County and in most ways that was a good thing. Unlike Door County with its teaming crowds of people Algoma is a laid back rural community. Our only disappointment was the service that we got at one restaurant. When we came in we sensed that the waitress was annoyed that anybody had the audacity of showing up. It didn’t get any better either. Finally she apparently went to make a delivery and another lady, who we really liked, took over. Unfortunately after the other one came back she was supposed to take over again. We finally chased down the waitress we liked to get our bill and left. It had been two hours since we first sat down. We did give the nice lady a tip but told her not to share it with the other one. We had planned on doing a few more things that night but by the time we got done in the restaurant the town had pretty much closed down except for the bars. That worked out well however because we got to bed early and were up before the sun rose. This proved to be a good decision since the sunrise was awesome. We started walking north along the beach and stopped at a McDonalds for a quick cup of Joe. We walked as far as the lighthouse which we were told was the only red one in existence. Since then I have seen a photo of another one that a student painted. I guess maybe what they told us about it being one of the most photographed scenes in the America might be an exaggeration to. At any rate we had a good time and it was a beautiful day. After checking out of the motel we stopped by Von Stiehl Winery for some breakfast wine. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality and purchased a few of our favorites. We then started working our way south to Alaska along the lake. We can’t wait to return to the area to explore more.