WISCONSIN

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Beautiful Wisconsin, if a word can describe a place. I took the drive from Toronto, after attending the tennis, to see a good friend of mine who lives in a small town in central Wisconsin.

I picked up some fireworks along the way, between Detroit and Chicago. Months ago, when making plans, i had come across some websites in Canada and the US selling fireworks, which was exciting for me being an Australian, where fireworks have been banned since i was very young. I knew i would have to find the opportunity to let some off, and now that i had a big bag full of them, nothing would stop me.

It was a long drive from Toronto to Owen, Wisconsin, where i would meet up with my good friend Jenny. I decided to avoid the traffic in Chicago from my first experience with it. My new GarminFone GPS Android phone told me it would take half an hour longer to go around, but i think in reality it might actually have been quicker. Certainly, it was less stress. The drivers in Chicago are nuts. The limits are 60 and 70mph, or up to 120kmh, but people do not go that slow. Slow! Yep, you heard that right. 120kmh is slow in Chicago. You will get raged off the road if you go that slow and it happened many times when i first set down on US soil. I thought going around was a better experience, and i was right. As well as being able to go at a pace i am used to, though admittedly 120kmh is a bit faster than usual, i was able to enjoy the folding scenery as i moved from Indiana to Illinois, to Michigan and then into Wisconsin. The thing you notice most about arriving in Wisconsin is the marked increase in the number of farming communities. It is known as the Dairy state of the USA, and you can get every type of cheese, milk or ice cream and anything in between that you can imagine.

I arrived at CWA airport in Central Wisconsin, where i had planned to meet up with my good friend. She was as pleased to finally meet as i was, and it was clear our friendship would thrive from day dot.

She had generously offered to let me stay with her family for my visit, and i warmed to the town of Owen immediately. It is a town with a significant Amish community as well, and you will see Horse and carriage and Amish markets on the sides of the roads in various places. Amish people do not believe or make use of worldly technology. Seeing how they live can be described as 18th or 19th century society, though they do ride bikes, generally the younger amish, but they will not drive cars, and only in an emergency will they accept a ride in a car from someone else, and perhaps not even then.

Jenny and i had a week of camping and adventuring planned. Actually Jenny planned our trip. She has Native American ancestry and she thought it would be a good idea to have her show me some of the culture and history, and i was much looking forward to it. We went to Madeline Island on our first nights out, which is rich in Native American history. It was a perfect night, and we did some fishing and swimming. The full moon was out which also made for some nice photography. Probably a good thing since i would not describe myself as a great photographer, but the pictures turned out pretty well. We moved to another campsite on the second night, and had dinner at the local Casino, yep, on the island.

We went to the Apostle islands the next few days and this was an amazing place. We hired canoes, and paddled across the lakeshore to the cape of the bay. Some of the wildlife there included cranes, squirrels and eagles. The strange thing about the lake is that the floor is made entirely of rock. There is no sand, dirt or mud at all, and no weed either (only in the small estuaries of the island. Not at all like what you would expect back home. This lake was also HUGE. It resembles an ocean more than anything, since you cannot even see the other side. Jenny told me that one side went all the way to Canada, and on the side we were on was the USA. This was lake Superior, and i was in awe at its absolutely massive size. What i thought was the other side was just one of the larger islands it contains that encompassed my view from the beach where we were staying. I am not sure of the exact statistic, but the lake is something like 200 miles wide. Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie are all very large North American Lakes.

A funny thing happened on the way back, although it was not funny at the time. We expected to have ample time to get back before sunset, but the closer we came back to the shoreline, the more we realised we had no idea where we were. My navigation skills do not usually fail me, but this time they did, and epically. We ended up asking for directions, in the canoe, off the back of someone's property dock, who told us we had missed it by about 3 miles. Way to go Tim! After telling Jenny i knew where i was going, it was a little humbling to hear that.

We were all buggered, so i decided they should go and walk on foot on the shoreline road, and i would row the canoe back. We were laughing about it in the morning, especially since this time we took a guided tour on sea kayaks. Much better!

I'd never been sea kayaking before, and it took a little getting used to. Once you get the hang of it, you are amazed how fast you can travel in them. It also did my scrawny arms some good. We investigated the sea caves, which were little more than small carvings out of the bedrock against the shoreline where the waves hit with greatest force. We found out later that there are many other sea caves around the Apostle islands. We found a place to stop and do some cliff diving, or rather, dive bombing. I thought i might be the only one doing it, but Jenny made me look like a second class citizen. We had a lot of fun, and did not get lost on our way back this time.

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Photos

local convenience store
Owen-Whittee