Having to skip 6/1/19 to help Ben and Jon move into their new apartment, we were ready to do some Splorin’ on 6/8. It was a busy day and we had a couple of stops to make before we could ‘splore so it was going to be an abbreviated version of our Saturday.
The day started off with one of Tammy’s favorite places in Eau Claire — the Farmer’s Market at Phoenix Park. Unfortunately, so early in the season you really only get to see rhubarb, asparagus, and green onions. Then Mike had to take Coco back to the vet with Carrie for a follow up to check on an ear infection. The infection cleared up, but unfortunately it seems like he lost some of his hearing (or as Carrie likes to say he is just exhibiting his selective hearing — yes, Mike has taught him well).
Sam Trinatopoli graduated high school so we stopped by his graduation party in Osceola — to say congrats and so that Tammy could help a little with food and drinks. Mike did an excellent job of sitting on the front step and drinking Tammy’s wine.
After Sam’s party, we had one more stop to make before Splorin’. Amy Tolzman (“Amy T”) turned 50 and was having a multi-day 50th birthday party on their family farm. We had to stop by to celebrate one of our oldest friends (Mike went to St. Pat’s with her since 1st grade). We got to see and visit with her and her family as well as some Class of ’87 classmates. It was a very fun time!!
We didn’t leave Amy T’s until 5 pm. Both of us were … itching… <insert ominous foreshadowing music here> to go ‘splorin’. Luckily Mike found a little, almost unknown, state park: Straight Lake State Park. The park doesn’t have a lot of trails, but we thought we’d be able to get a quick 1 mile hike in just to say we ‘splored. We arrived and pulled into the parking lot and there were no other cars there <insert more ominous foreshadowing music>.
We only had about 30 minutes before our supper club reservations, so we found a 1 mile trail around Rainbow Lake. It seemed like it would be a great way to to “Splore and Go”. We started down the trail along the side of the lake and right as we were about to make the turn onto the trail around the lake we ran into (almost literally) a HUGE snapping turtle in the middle of the trail. He looked as surprised to see us as we were to see him. After the obligatory pictures of the turtle, we gave him a wide berth and continued on the path.
We then ran straight into MOSQUITO HELL!!!! We have never experienced mosquitoes quite like this. Literally hundreds of mosquitoes swarming around your head, neck arms, torso and legs (if we forgot any body parts there, just assume they were covered in mosquitoes). We quickly learned this was going to be a QUICK hike. This GIF of Richard Simmons will give you a good idea what we looked like as we made our way around the lake.
We made it around the lake in about 20 minutes. We did not stop for pictures, we did not stop to enjoy the view, WE DID NOT STOP! Doing the math, it came out to about 100 mosquito bites per minute. No, we did not have bug spray — we made the decision then and there that no future Splorin’ would be attempted without bug spray <insert ominous foreshadowing music here>. But, we survived and by the time we made it back onto Highway 8 we were able to laugh about it.
The Supper Club Saturday aspect of Splorin’ was going to be at the 5 O’Clock Club in Cumberland, WI. It looked like a quaint little supper club on a lake. Even though we had reservations and we arrived on time, we were told our table wasn’t quite ready yet. No worries they said to have a seat in the bar and have a drink. We were up for that!! The bar was full, so we sat at a table. The bartender came past and said he would be right back. Unfortunately, two other couples came in before he made it back and they wedged their way into the bar and got drinks. Mike finally got up to the bar to order a couple glasses of wine when the host came past and said our table was ready. Oh well…
Shortly after being seated a very large group of 8 people were sat not too far from us. We were desperate to get our order before they did and our waitress was a little slower than their’s, but we barely made it. One of our fun pastimes at Supper Club Saturday is the “eavesdropping” portion of the evening. We don’t really know how or when it started, but we’ve decided that many people live more interesting lives than us (or at least we can make up more interesting lives for them based on small snippets of conversation that we over hear). The table next to us was an elderly couple and daughter who were very good friends with our waitress — every chance she got our waitress would stop by and show them pictures of something that was going on with her family. Definitely small town Wisconsin. The father at the table kept commenting on Mike being “the boss” of the steak and lobster he was having — and he deserved dessert after a meal like that. (unfortunately they did not have any sugar free, grain free, low carb desserts…) The couple on the other side of us (who took our window table overlooking the lake 😉 ) were celebrating their 24th anniversary. Their toast was “To next year on the beach in Hawaii”. Personally, I liked our kids taking us to Vino in the Valley for our 25th much better than Hawaii!!!
Yet another successful (albeit itchy) Splorin’ Saturday!!!
Splorin' Saturday 