Summer Fun

Once again, it has been some time since my last post...it has been a very busy summer and fall.  Here is a recap of my summer adventures.  

In June and July, I had some opportunities on calm days to fish Lake Superior right here in Duluth.  I got out about five times.  The big lake was a bit goofy this year because of the late spring and lingering cold water temps.  Fishing was overall quite slow, but we did get a couple fish (lake trout and coho salmon) most times out.  Even with slow fishing, there is something about fishing Lake Superior that makes it fun...maybe it is just the expanse of it all.  

A late July trip up to the Gunflint Trail was had with a friend that is a college student.  His younger perspective kept conversations interesting and we had good fishing for lake trout when the weather cooperated.  

In early August, My Wonderful Bride and I met up with some friends after dropping the Wonder Kid off for "Cousins Camp" with my folks.  We and our friends camped at a Wisconsin State Park near Hudson.  We had a lot of fun, despite some car trouble and a trip to urgent care for an eye infection.  We also were not impressed with Wisconsin State Parks.  The sites were overcrowded, the attractions were overcrowded, and, most notably, the restrooms were overcrowded.  We understood how busy weekends can be tough for staff to keep up with, but the toilet and shower conditions were deplorable.  Three facilities serving nearly 200 campsites is not enough.  The bathrooms were not cleaned one time in three days and became quite gross.  Oh well, we still had a lot of laughs.  

Later in August, we joined two other neighborhood families at Fall Lake National Forest Campground near Ely.  What a difference from our previous camping experience!  Fall Lake is compact, but not crowded, the bathrooms were impeccable, there isn't a speck of litter anywhere, and staff was super friendly.  The kids (all three families have only girls) had a great time fishing, swimming, running around, and enjoying campfires.  Everyone had a blast and we can't wait to do it again...in fact, an idea sprouted during the trip that is now growing on its own...more details another time.

My nephew and his dad came up one weekend to fish as well.  We did the always fun drift down a local river.  It offers rapids and smallmouth bass on nearly every cast.  The highlight was my nephew tying into a couple nice channel catfish that really wore out his arms.  

Finally I capped the summer off with a labor day weekend trip with my buddy Chief Many-Little-Bottles.  We took his boat to BWCA motor lake and trolled for lake trout.  The trout were not at all cooperative, but, as always, we had a great time with good food and lots of laughs.  

Our Ultimate Family Camping Kitchen

Motorboat Camping is a Good Change of Pace