Pickling Party!

Yep, pickling!  As in...canning!  Odd topic, right?  We know a group of guys from from our favorite local establishment and they do everything!  When I need something fixed at home, one of them can do it.  They fish in Wisconsin and maybe twice a year we have a fish fry, at the local establishment, of course.  They make their own pickles, horseradish, peaches and I don't even know what else but I'm sure there are plenty of other things.  The husband scored an invite to the pickling party this past Sunday and insisted that we be in town for him to participate.  I have to say I thought it was kind of silly at first.

Friday night, at the local establishment, a couple of the guys invited me to the party.  I hadn't been invited previously and was under the impression this was not a party for wives.  The husband did not approve at all but Saturday morning he ran into one of the guys at the farmer's market and realized that yes, I was indeed, invited.  Sunday morning I went out for a quick bike ride with friends.  The picking party was scheduled at 10 a.m.  One of the people I was biking with had a mechanical problem, which caused a crash, which caused a small injury and together, it was all enough to end our bike ride.  I had to call the husband to come and get us.  He was, of course, totally irritated because one, he is totally sick of bike season and the repairs we've had to deal with but this was going to make him late for the pickling party.  Anyway, we got through it all and I think we were only about 20 minutes late for pickling.

I wasn't sure exactly what I was in store for.  The first thing they handed me when we (finally!) arrived was a mimosa! 

This might turn out to be okay!  We had three bushels of cucumbers

I didn't know exactly what three bushels of cucumbers meant but I sure do now.  I was the official cutter.  Wow!  That's a lot of cucumbers.  I thought my fingers were going to be stained green for days to come.  The little ones too, so there was plenty of cutting and slicing.

We had appetizers.  Good appetizers too!

Zucchini Fritters

Smoked salmon

 

One of the sisters made all this food for us.  I am not a fan of fried zucchini BUT these fritters were DE-lish!  She made two kinds, one variety had Quinoa!  She said she would share the recipe with me but I forgot to leave my email address for her.  I could not believe how good that all was!

In the end, I think we had 106 jars of pickles.  All different varieties, fryers, dill, bread and butter, zesty, etc. etc. etc.  All the garlic, dill and onions came from the guys garden as well. 

What a party!  Who knew pickling could be SO much fun!  We were invited to the peach party in September.  The guys that do it all have peach trees AND they have white peach trees too.  My favorite!  The pickling party left me with a headache Monday morning (we got pickled too) but it was worth it.  I can't wait for the peach party!

New Buffalo, MI

Around the middle of July, it worked out that both kids would be gone the week of July 22.  I was ready for a break and feeling beach deprived by that time so I booked a room at Marina Grand Resort for a  couple nights.  I booked a room (instead of a campsite) to give the husband a break from pulling the trailer all over.  The husband can commute to work pretty easily, actually very easily.  It's a longer drive but he makes it in the same amount of time as he does from home because there isn't any traffic.  It's a bit easier for him to get ready for work in a hotel room than it is from a campsite, another reason I booked a room.

We were at the Warren Dunes the weekend before, it was hot and the lake felt great.  We headed over on Tuesday and I woke up that morning to the Chicago weather man talking about a cold front moving in from the North and dangerous conditions on the lake.  15 foot waves and dangerous rip tides.  What?  Why now?  Sure enough, I think the high on Wednesday was maybe 70 and the wind was horrible.  I assumed that meant paddleboarding was out for the week and I was right.  Packing was a little different.  I had to think about how to pack for traveling when it doesn't involve my trailer.  I have everything in the trailer, all I pack for camping trips is clothes and food.  I had to find nice clothes, not camping attire and I had to make two trips to the drugstore for things I forgot.  It sort of felt like that first trip of the season when I forgot some everything.

I went for a  chilly bike ride in the morning, I had to pedal fast to stay warm.  I'm more of a trail rider, the biking around New Buffalo isn't great for me.  There is a bike route but some of the back roads are windy and narrow and I don't trust that people pay that much attention.  To get any serious amount of riding in, I would have had to load the bike up and head north to find some good trails.

I spent the rest of that day at the pool.  It turned out to be an okay afternoon for the pool, but not in the water.  I stayed in the sun and I finished the book I was reading, The Midnight Room by Ed Gorman.  Great book! 

Thursday I spent the majority of the day at the beach!  It was cool still but the wind had died down.  Good thing it wasn't blistering hot because the lake was freezing by then. I came home Friday morning with my need for the beach fulfilled so I guess that means it was a successful trip!

Overnight at Warren Dunes

In the early spring or maybe late winter I was looking at my calendar and two things stood out to me.  First, I had two weekends with nothing planned in July.  That just seems like a waste of a summer weekend to me.  Second, with everything I did have planned, I didn't have a beach day.  I know I've said it before but here's the deal...I love the sun and I love the beach!  I knew by the time summer  sports wrapped up I would be dying for beach time so I got online and booked a site at Warren Dunes State Park.  Warren Dunes is one of my fav places, I don't know if I could bear to go through a summer without a visit.  The beach is so pretty and so close to home, it's an easy drive.  The dunes are fun to climb up and the river that goes back to the clay always provides plenty of entertainment (translation: people watching).  By the time I was doing all of this, I could only get a site for Saturday night, another overnight camping trip!

Warren Dunes State Park

I told all of our friends, beach day July 20, put it on your calendar!  When it came time to go, it worked out that just half of one family could go.  Our friend (who doesn't camp) and her freshman daughter along with six of her friends met us there and spent the day.  None of those kids had ever been to the Dunes before so I filled them in on what to do and they were off!  Not to be seen again until they needed food and water.  Neither of our kids went for different reasons so it was kind of funny to have all these girls running around.  We had lunch ourselves and then headed to the beach.  It was hot and had been really hot for a week or so, the lake felt great! 

This was the first time we had ever camped at the State Park.  In the past, we've camped around there in private campgrounds then just drove to the park.  The campground itself is kind of narrow so it makes navigating with a long trailer behind a big pickup a little tricky.  The sight I had reserved was just at the beginning and a corner lot so the husband got the trailer in pretty quickly and easily.  If we had been back further in the campground, it would have been a nightmare!  The campground was full so there were cars, people and other various camping paraphernalia scattered around a very narrow campground.
 
Our friend and her kids all loaded up and went home, leaving us to ourselves.  We had some dinner then just hung out.  The husband said so this is what camping is like when my wife doesn't have 30 activities planned!  Hmmm, I think he is bitter about the bike repairs from Devil's Lake.

The trailer is parked now until it's time to head to Table Rock!

Devil's Lake

Devil's Lake is one of my new favorite places!  What a great park, there is so much to do around there.  All this time we've lived here and we've never been there until this summer!  It's an easy drive for us, about three hours.

We camped at Baraboo Hills Campground.  Nice campground, nice amenities and lots of entertainment, especially for families with younger kids.

Friday night, I took boy #2 on a kayaking tour of the lake with the naturalist.  When we got to the park, there was a fish fry and a live band next to the lake.  Kayaking on flat water is incredibly boring but for boy #2 it was just the right length of time and level of difficulty.  We learned a little about the history of the lake, I'm always interested in the history of places we visit.  At least, when there is something interesting to learn.

The sun set on our kayak tour of the lake and we headed over to the campsite for a late dinner then to bed.  Rock climbing at 7 a.m.!  We used a guide, Devil's Lake Climbing Guides, we have never climbed before so we don't have equipment or knowledge.  Nick was our guide and he was great, really nice guy, fun to hang out with.

We started with talus scrambling.  I guess that's the rock climbing term for climbing up the big rocks without ropes.  There is a path that goes around these rocks, to the bottom of the bluffs but Nick said it was easier to go this way. 

Hmmm.  I'm not sure I totally agree with that but we did it.  The kids went right up and over without any trouble, I was a little slower.  It's pretty high at the top, I had to stay focused on where I was going, not where I came from because it was a little unnerving for me.  Anyway, we did finally make it to the real climbing. 

We climbed for several hours but ended up cutting it a little short so we could get off to Devil's Lake Resort for some mountain biking.  In July and August the chair lifts are running up to the top of the ski hill so you can mountain bike down. 

This was loads of fun, however, we did come back with two broken bikes.  Boy #2 crashed at the very end of a trail and the teenager did who only knows what, his chain and gears were messed up.  That was it for biking!  I wanted to ride the trails at Devil's Lake State park on Sunday but I was the only with an operational bike so we skipped that.  Next year!  Bike repairs in this house put the husband over the edge, he was pretty crabby when we were loading up the bikes to head back to the campsite.

Sunday morning the husband fished the WI river.  About 9 a.m. he called and said he wanted to stay again Sun night and head back Mon!  Shut the front door!  Really?  That never happens, I always want to stay and he always wants to go home.  Anyway, that gave me some extra time to take my SUP over to Devil's Lake Sunday afternoon.

We got back and dropped the teenagers bike off at the shop, I had loads of laundry to do but all that's okay.  Pay to play, right?  Devil's Lake is on our list of favorite places and will be one that we return too often!  I can't wait to head back next summer. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, we'll go back in the fall...fingers crossed!  Isn't there something to fish for in the fall?

The 4th at Indiana Beach

We usually spend the week of the 4th camping.  Somewhere close so the Husband can get to work.  The past few years we have gone to Michigan to stay at the beach.  For whatever reason, we decided to go somewhere different this time. 

Monticello, IN was it.  The amusement park, Indiana Beach, is there so we got a site at one of their campgrounds, Ideal Beach Campground.  I didn't love it and I really can't recommend it.  The pictures online of the campground are deceiving, it looks really nice but when you get there it's just okay.  The maintenance staff at the campground are very nice and the lifeguards at the pool were really nice but there is one manager in particular that is flat out rude and unfriendly.  I understood from some of the employees of the campground that the company that owns all of this have really let the campgrounds go downhill.  The sites are very narrow, you're really close to the sites next to you.  There was a shuttle from the campground to the amusement park that was really nice for everyone to come and go without us having to drive them and there were nice bathrooms.  It's expensive also.  The most expensive campground we've ever stayed at.

The amusement park is in serious disrepair.  The bathrooms are disgusting and some of the rides look like they are on their last leg.  I mean they really look unsafe.  There is a waterpark at the amusement park, I just told everyone to stay away from it.  What a shame too, the town appears to be built around that amusement park.  It could be great and for an amusement park, it's not crazy expensive but it does need maintenance, repair and upgrading right now.

The weather was not great for most of the week.  I guess it worked out that we weren't in Michigan because it would have been cold and miserable.  We did get out on the lake some.  Lake Shafer is the lake, it's actually a damned up river.  There is a lot of debris in the water, you really have to watch what you're doing.  We rented a boat at Lake Shafer Boat Rentals and went out with the wave runners.  Again, the weather was not great so I was actually a little bored and wanted to get off the boat after a few hours.

We rented kayaks from Hodges Canoe Trips.  It rained. The whole way.  Not just a little rain either.  I thought it was going to start hailing at one point.  I was freezing, I have never been so glad to get out of a kayak in all my life!  The teenager says his kayaking career is over, he is officially retired and will gladly go fishing from now on instead of kayaking.  It's funny now, of course, but at the time it was absolutely miserable. 

Oh well!  Even though we aren't returning to this area, we did have some fun.  There are some memories, some good, some not so much.  The teenager can complain about the kayaking trip and we all know that teenagers need something to complain about!

Cheese Country Trail and Lake Joy Campground

At the end of June we took a trip to Belmont, WI to ride ATVs on the Cheese Country Trail.  We camped at Lake Joy Campground .  We had a nice big campsite, three actually, we had friends with us and a lot of vehicles!  The campground was extremely accommodating for us.  They had several planned activities and nice amenities.  We had an RV, our travel trailer, 4 vehicles, 7 ATVs and 2 trailers!  We put the empty site in the middle and all the stuff on the end, it worked out perfect.  One other nice thing about the campsites is that we were able to pull in one of the campers the other way so our campers were facing together.  The sites had plenty of space to work that out. 

The weather was not good, Sunday was sunny and warm, of course the day we had to come home.  It rained all night Friday off and on so we had to stay inside and watch a movie.  It rained Saturday off and on, mostly ON Saturday afternoon when we could have been at the lake.  This would have been a lot more fun if we had good weather! 

Lake Joy Campground

Sunday, June 29, was International Mud Day!  Didn't know there was such a thing?  Me either, but I know now and I'm always looking for a reason to celebrate something.  It's an annual celebration for this family now! 

We rolled in Sunday, just in time to get boy #2 to his water polo match, switch the gear from ATVs to wave runners and head out Monday morning on our next trip!