Our "Little" Weekend Excursion -Part Eins

We've heard some and read some about the Apostle Islands ever since we moved to Wisconsin- like that it was great for kayaking. So...we thought we'd finally go check it out.

WOWEE! We had an incredible weekend!

I did a little research on the internet regarding what to do there and most importantly- where to go eat. Sometimes it just pays to do a little homework before going on a trip.

We drove to Bayfield on Friday morning. It took us seven hours to get there AND the bonus is that we didn't have to drive through nasty Chicago traffic! We didn't have any plans other than a reservation at Wild Rice restaurant on Friday evening and that we wanted to go tent camping. I think we really lucked out. We got there and got one of the last two campsites at Dalrymple Campground and we booked a boat cruise around the Apostle Islands for Saturday evening.

We could NOT believe our eyes when we first saw Bayfield. We were instantly transported back to Port Townsend, WA - but minus the long flights and annoying airports (and worse- airport food!). It looked just like a little seaside town. It was a pretty bay surrounded by lovely homes, a cute-as-a-button downtown and sail boats galore. Not bad for only a seven hour drive!

See? Doesn't this look like something you'd see at the ocean???

Ava eating VANILLA ice cream at the Hurricane Hut (can you believe she chose vanilla???). She was so pleased to be eating her own ice cream cone too!

Annika enjoying some interesting ice cream creation at the Hurricane Hut. I never could figure out what flavor she got (it was called Spumoni but I don't think it really was that).

After setting up our camp our first order of business was eating dinner at the fabulous Wild Rice Restaurant. I can't say enough good things about this restaurant. It truly is a five-star establishment with unique & fresh cuisine (and minus the snobbery- always a plus in my opinion). Not at all the sort of thing I've come to expect from the Midwest. Their kitchen is enclosed in glass so that interested customers can watch the chefs cook. I LOVED that. Annika and I watched them for a little while before one of the employees asked if we wanted a tour! YES PLEASE!!! All-in-all it was worth the seven hour drive just to eat at this restaurant. I could go on and on (the building and the landscape work is very interesting too) about Wild Rice but I'll stop for now.

First order of business on Saturday morning was eating breakfast at the Egg Toss Bakery Cafe. I'd read glowing reviews of this restaurant as well and they weren't making it up either.

After breakfast we got some sandwiches from a place called Wild by Nature Market and headed out to Meyer's Beach -a sandy beach recommended by a NPS agent. It was a little bit of a drive from Bayfield but soooo worth it! We spent hours there combing the beach for interesting rocks, swimming when we were brave enough to jump into the very C-C-C-COLD Lake Superior, watching kayakers come and go and just generally doing lazy beach activities (like burying small children in the sand). There was also fireweed growing along the beach. Oh! How I've missed you Fireweed!

Annika and Ava playing in Lake Superior. The water was a little too chilly for them to swim in.

What fun! Getting buried by Daddy at the beach!Cool rocks.

This is fireweed. Isn't it pretty?Proof that I went swimming in Lake Superior (it really wasn't that cold).

Mark's way of getting into a cold lake- run screaming into it! Oh boy, was it ever refreshing!