Day 39/40 - The Final Chapter: Manitowish Waters - Manitowish Waters, WI
Manitowish Waters, WI
Manitowish Waters Wisconsin…the last stop of our travels! We arrived in the Northern tip of Wisconsin on Friday afternoon. For having nothing planned prior than 48 hours of the visit, things could not have worked out better. We planned on coming to the area to visit two of our best friends Corey and Jesse. They had recently accepted the positions for running the water ski program at Camp Jorn. Not only did our visit consist of the guys both being on their longest break for the entire summer, Kelsey's parents Dave and Lisa were also in the area, actually the next town over at Lisa’s family cottage.
Making Camp Jorn the first stop in Manitowish, we were greeted by Jesse and his girlfriend Lexi (also the camp nurse) in a Golf Cart as we parked our car. He quickly ran over to us--"Son, I need you to put your hands on the steering wheel in front of you!" I guess he was hoping to take over the camp security position as well!!
We were given a tour of the camp, starting with the horse stable and ending with the Cherokee cabin (the cabin Jesse, Corey and I stayed in when I was 12 years old attending camp myself). Soon after the great tour and stellar off road golf cart driving by Jesse, Corey and his friend Elizabeth pulled into the camp docks after a day of pulling tubers on the camps new Moomba (Nice 2012 ski boat). I can’t begin to express how nice it felt to be surrounded by great friends once again.
We ended up staying in the boat house on Elizabeth’s family’s property. It was a structure with three slips for boats to dock underneath and basically a two bedroom apartment above. She was super hospitable and we are so fortunate to have met such a nice friend. Corey took us for a cruise down the chain of lakes to a tiki bar for drinks, followed by a nice fish dinner. It was a lot of fun spending Friday night boating up and down the beautiful clear blue lakes in the North woods.
Saturday began with the entire group of us sitting on the pier soaking up the wonderful 75 degree weather and particularly warm July lake water. Jesse and I jammed a few nice tunes on the acoustic guitars while the girls chatted and Corey cruised around on a paddle boat (the same style as Kelsey rented in Hawaii).
Just before dinner we headed over for a long anticipated visit with Dave and Lisa at the cottage. To our surprise, it was literally less than 10 miles away. We hung out on the back deck of a terrific cottage right on the lake in the deep Wisconsin woods-- exchanging hugs and stories of our adventure, we had a really great time with the fam, including Lisa’s brother Grieg \and his wife Tanya.
After a very classy dinner at “Smokies Restaurant”, the plan was to catch the Wisconsin Skeeters water ski show on Rest Lake. Corey was actually skiing in the show and we definitely weren’t going to miss that! With an hour to kill before the show we decided to stop in for a drink at The Pea Patch down the road. One beer turned into four games of noncompetitive “competitive” pool. I’m pretty sure we all had an awesome time! (Dave is actually quite the pool shark) Grieg and Tanya were a blast. The intermingling of generations, which Kelsey described as “moving from the kids table, to the adult table”, is really enjoyable for us!
Corey and the Skeeters gave the crowd a wonderful show. He was involved in a five person ski pyramid, a few ski jumps and a big part of the entire show. I was very impressed, and to top it off he had a pair of fractured ribs! (Yes, the wild man with the long hair in the pictures)
After the show we said our goodbyes with the fam and met back up with the guys. The night proceeded with the silliest karaoke session in the up north woods. Corey and I sang Sublime’s “What I Got” and I believe the highlight of the night-- Kelsey and I singing Tom Petty’s “American Girl”…well pretty much Kelsey belting it out and me putting in my two cents every once in a while.
Everything was capped off by a 4th of July caliber fireworks show at a place deep in the woods called “The Spot”. A half mile drive down an over grown country trail, there is a small clearing where the locals hang out. An array of mortars, sparklers, roman candles and rockets ended not only one of the best evenings in the up north woods, but definitely the best vacation/road trip/adventure ever!