Today’s Splorin’ was a little difficult to plan out because of a workshop that Tammy had to attend for 4K in the morning. Usually we’re on the road early (before sunrise now) and ready for hiking by 10AM. Because we could not leave Eau Claire until noon, we decided to hit two of the smaller state parks that just wouldn’t be big enough for an entire day of hiking, but were close enough that we would make it there and back in just half a day. Tammy didn’t have to be to school until 9:30am so we were actually able to make it to the farmer’s market in Phoenix Park before leaving!! Definitely not as many vendors as during the summer, but we managed to come home with some brussel sprouts, eggplant, and zucchini. We also had time for breakfast after we left and we wanted to go to a place we hadn’t been before, or at least hadn’t been to in a while. We picked 29 Pines Restaurant, just off of highway 29. The menu is HUGE!!! Quite a few different kinds of omelettes and they all sounded good. When we asked about our preferred side salad instead of toast or hash browns, the waitress seemed skeptical, but she was able to pull it off for us. Unfortunately when Mike said he wanted the same as Tammy, meaning a salad, she brought the wrong omelette to Mike, even though she clearly wrote down his own omelette choice. Strangely enough, she brought the salad after the omelettes. Mike was able to eat his salad while waiting for his chosen omelette to be made and Tammy actually got to eat both together which she prefers so it worked out well. All-in-all not a bad place, but we think they were just a little more busy than expected on a Saturday morning. Our eavedropping focused on the table of younger-than-we-are-used-to guys who may or may not have had a few morning cocktails before they arrived. They had a lot of fun messing with the waitress, but she took it in stride. We also do not think the couple behind us ever got the ketchup they requested right after we ordered. 😦
After Tammy’s meeting, we were ready to hit the Splorin’ open road at 11:30AM. Our first stop was going to be Merrick State Park just north of Fountain City, WI. Since Tammy’s grandparents were from Fountain City, we’d been there a million times before wso we knew the route well and thought the drive would be completely uneventful. Luckily it wasn’t!!! Mike has loved having Google Maps provide directions, rerouting us, etc. On our way Mr. Google decided to have us take a Buffalo County backroad highway instead of going the way we have every other time we have driven to Fountain City. We got to see some gorgeous scenery that we would like to see again once the trees start changing colors. However, sometimes Mr. Google just doesn’t have all the information he needs. It wanted us to turn onto “Lover’s Lane” at one point which would take us almost straight into the state park. Alas, Lover’s Lane is a private road that has a bridge covered in foliage at one end and a big iron gate at the other. Thanks Google — we took the long way around.
“The Plan” had us hiking 2.5 miles or so at Merrick and then heading off to our second destination for the day. The hiking trails at Merrick are so small they are not even named. So, we began at the nature center on what Mike figured to be a 2 mile or less loop that would take us back past the park office and around to the North Campground before returning to the car. Our experience last week at Big Bay State Park where we encountered NO BUGS had us hopeful that the bugs were done for the year. So, Mike decided not to do bug spray, and Tammy, kind of reluctantly, said she wouldn’t do any either. Luckily, Mike was smart enough to put the bug spray in his pocket (just in case). Well, less than 1/2 mile down the trail the bugs were eating us pretty badly. We thought we could tough it out — but we had to stop and put the bug spray on! Boy, that stuff is MAGIC!!! Immediately the bugs stayed away. We still had the itchies from the ones that already bit us, but the rest of the bugs beat a hasty retreat.
Something we noticed this day on the hiking trails that we haven’t seen as much before in our Splorin’ days — mushrooms. We encountered many different kinds throughout the day. There we several places where it looked like strings of mushrooms were growing– must have been dead trees underground or something. Mike has started enjoying taking pictures and and these mushrooms were perfect subjects — he has always loved photography and is usually pretty good at framing the shots, etc.
The trail took us up into the campground. We had to walk down the road a bit and Mike was worried that we would not be able to find the trail again because there weren’t many markings at all. Eventually we saw a sign saying there was access to the water and when we decided to give it a try — there was the trail as well!
It led us quite a bit farther than Mike expected and several sections were right along the railroad tracks. We had two trains pass us, one we couldn’t see at all and the other when we were right beside the tracks. They sure are loud — but, we’re used to them having spent so much time in Fountain City. We had one more short trail to do at Merrick this one led us to a couple of places where you could take steps down to the water — we were able to get our selfie on there, and then we were ready to hit the road.
Our next destination was Mill Bluff State Park in Camp Douglas, WI. We’ve driven right past these bluffs hundreds and hundreds of times on I-94 and have seen the signs, but have never stopped before. Once again “The Plan” said there was just two trails here — one that had 223 steps to the top of Mill Bluff (Tammy was looking forward to that trail – baha!) and another which was a short distance to the north that went around a couple of other bluffs. It turns out there was actually another trail, aptly named “hiking trail”. The “hiking trail” looped around Mill Bluff and then dumped you at the bottom of the steps up the bluff. Going around and looking up, we were very worried about what the climb up the bluff would be like. While 223 steps sounds like a lot, looking up it was easy to think that it would take a LOT more than that to actually make it to the top. The beginning of the steps does not look that bad.
But what you don’t see yet in that picture is where the steps start to go steeply uphill. It really wasn’t that bad to make it to the top, much to our surprise. We thought it would be a much longer climb. And the view from the top was amazing! These bluffs used to be islands in Lake Wisconsin during the last ice age and the entire area was covered in 60 – 80 feet of water at that time. We were 120 feet above the base of the bluff.
Tammy was worried much more about the climb back down the steps than the climb up, but we both survived. Thankfully there was a hand rail because on the steeper sections it was difficult.
We made it back to the car and headed of to the north side of I-94 to find our last trail of the day.
Upon arrival at the parking area, we met a mom and two daughters taking pictures. It looked like they were maybe taking senior pictures, and when we got out of the car they asked if we could take some pictures of the three of them Mike happily agreed, snapped a hundred pictures or so, and we then headed down the trail. This was a neat trail and was created as part of a Boy Scout’s Eagle project. It was a 1.25 mile loop that would go past a couple of bluffs (which we couldn’t really see due to trees and overgrowth). We did see some very pretty flowers and sumac that were turning red.
Part of the trail was through an open field that we swore we should have seen deer in — but, we’ve decided we’re just jinxed for deer lately. There were some pretty cool dead trees throughout the field.
We ran into some standing water on the back side of the loop that had quite a few mosquitoes hanging out around it. Since we had not reapplied our bug spray, they were starting to get to us. We have a thing for flowers (if you could not tell from all the pics), we came across some flowers which we had never seen before. They were just about ready to pop open — but strangely enough they were on the end of a big vine.
When we were finally making our way into the end to the end of the trail — with our car in sight — Tammy gave a little gasp of surprise. She had come across a snake: here is a picture of it:
But, just seeing a snake is not the interesting part, what is interesting is the size of the snake:
That ended the wildlife sighting and hiking for the Splorin’ day. Now #SupperClubSaturday!!!
Since we would not be showering, we thought we’d stop at a truck stop and get cleaned up as much as possible. We had body wipes (think adult version of diaper wipes) to clean the bug spray off but we had to get changed too. While Mike can easily do that in the car, Tammy needs a bit more room (and privacy). Normally, we try to get reservations ahead of time so that we do not have a long wait after a long day of hiking, but the supper club we were going to, Stones Throw Supper Club in Hatfield, WI, would not take reservations for groups under 8. We were a little concerned since we were an hour later than our usual 5PM. But when we got there at 6:15PM we had no trouble getting a table. There were several UTVs in the parking lot — like 8 in a row. You know you’re off the beaten path when there are more of those than cars in the parking lot of your local supper club. But, what can you expect from a town that has this as their population sign:
It was also on the back of the servers uniforms. We had a delicious shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. Mike has his usual (which was very tasty!!) with mushrooms and onions on the side. Tammy had a cedar plank salmon which was also very good. Unfortunately the “mixed vegetables” we ordered instead of potatoes were carrots, peas, corn, and green beans — we really were only able to each the green beans out of it. But the mushrooms and onions were enough for both of us to count as a vegetable! What took the longest was our drinks. We didn’t get our cocktails until after we had eaten our appetizer and started on our salads and the refills took time too — oh well. They were incredibly difficult cocktails to make (no, not really — whiskey/diet coke and gin/club soda). All-in-all dinner was awesome! Our waitress, Robin, was very sweet and recognized our “no/low carb” lifestyle and that we are trying to be healthy. It was a real family place — the busboys/girls were definitely very young and probably somehow related — or at least we hope so. It was also very loud so not much of a chance to hear any conversations. But we did make some observations. There was a couple with an older woman (probably a grandma”) at the next table and she was just so cute having her beer with the family. When they brought out her prime rib, they had precut it for her so she was ready to eat. Tammy just wanted to give her a hug!
Thankfully we only had an hour drive home after dinner. Not for us, but thankfully for our “little hitchhiker” that hung onto the hood the whole way home!!! We still have no idea how he held on the whole way. It was kind of fun watching him — when we would slow down and go through a little town he would walk around a little bit, or turn sideways. But when we would pick up speed out on the open road he would turn and face forward (or stare at us, we couldn’t really tell which direction he was facing).
Even though it was an abbreviated day with lots of driving in between hikes, it was another successful Splorin’ Saturday.
Splorin' Saturday 