Our vacation on the "North Side" in Mercer

Okay, I am having trouble with this picture, so please insert it in the space below as you read. Sorry, I guess I need to study up on this. Anyway, carry on...

We just got back from a week up in Mercer, way up in the north woods of Wisconsin. Tizita calls it the North side, thus my title. I am just trying to remember all the wonderful things packed into one week and my main reason for this entry is to have a way to record those memories with a few photos added, so here goes...

The lake home was absolutely beautiful and there was room for all twelve of us. That is right, twelve of us. Me, John, Courtney, Paul, Tiz, Alissa, Nathan, Kev, Mal, Vikki, Nick, and of course, Marge. It was quite the crew but all went well.

Mallory was our in house expert fisherman. We arrived on Saturday and there were immediately poles in the lake. Mal put worms on the hooks and took fish off for the rest of us. Throughout the week, we continued to fish. Some of us fished from the pier while others headed out to sea to try their luck. Even Tizita got in on the fishing fun. Our rental included a canoe, row boat, swim raft, a kayak, and two sailboats so we had lots of opportunity to enjoy the water.

On Sunday night after a day of swimming and fishing, these six got in the row boat for a three hour cruise. Paul and Nathan each had one oar, but I am told by other passengers that they could not synchronize their strokes very well. At one point, Nathan fell off the bench. Tiz found this very funny. After they were safely docked, we had a campfire, one of many. We used the new huge marshmallows to make s'mores which were not only yummy, but very messy!

(Insert or at least look at top photo here so you can see everyone in the boat)

One of many fun campfires. Here we are roasting our over sized marshmallows from Nathan.

On Monday, we all (minus Lis and Nathan) took a day trip to a beautiful park on Lake Superior for a picnic lunch. After lunch Mal, Kev, Marge, Vikki, and Nick headed back and the Van Aukens and John and I continued on to the Porcupine Mountains where we hiked up to Lake of the Clouds and then to the falls at Presque Isle. Both very picturesque areas. John, Tiz and I are standing by one of the falls.

When we passed the falls, we took a trail that led right to Lake Superior. What a gorgeous spot! We enjoyed wading in the Lake. I had hurt my little toe on a root while hiking in flip flops and the cold lake water felt so good on that toe!

We headed back to our lake home where we enjoyed some gin fizzes made by our in house bartender, Nathan. He and Alissa had their own little area in the house complete with TV, bar, kitchen, bathroom and a beautiful veiw of the lake right out the windows. Those of you who know Nathan know how much he enjoys a bar! His signature drinks are the best. Nathan also made us home made cinamon rolls one day and they were awesomely delicious, too.

On Tuesday, we all enjoyed a shopping trip at the Wampum shop in downtown Mercer. Once we discovered this store we didn't need any other shopping, this place had everything you needed from cheap soveniors with Mercer stamped on them to cedar boxes, moccasins, shirts, and other nicer items too. Truly something for everyone in our group of 12. Tiz found a kid's shopping cart that was actually for sale and she proceeded to push that around and fill it with all the goodies she wanted. I wanted to buy her candy cigarettes like I used to "smoke" as a child, but her mama put the cabash on that one. I did buy her some candy sticks which looked just like candy cigarettes and when she had one in her mouth while sliding down a slide at the park, she looked just like my dad, but I digress.

Anyway after the Wampum shop, Courtney, Alissa, and Mallory took off for some shopping in Minoqua (obviously the Wampum shop was not enough for them) I hear they needed mucklucks and an old time photo. John, Tiz, Marge, and I discovered a little museum where we could go in a real caboose, go in jail and see a school and a barber shop.

After the museum, John, Tiz, and I headed to Minoqua to meet the girls and go to a zoo that came highly recommended from Mallory. Alissa chose to return to Mercer since she would rather twist off her won ankle than go to a zoo.

The zoo was awesome. We had never seen such happy animals!

Mal and Tiz fed the black bears some special bear soda. The bear drank it right out of their hands.

Then it was on to the birds to feed them. We all had a great time interacting with all the animals at this zoo.

That night brought some beers, a campfire, and the end to another fun filled day in the north.

Mercer is the Loon capital of the world and we often saw loons like this one on our lake. We heard them all the time, too.

Wednesday brought a bike ride for John and I. We saw lots of deer and enjoyed a nice lunch in Mercer. More canoeing and boating and swimming for all of us.

We ended that day with watermelon martinis created again by our house bartender. Wow, they were yummy!

Thursday, it was more biking and canoeing. The weather was always so perfect, sometimes a bit of rain in the early morning, but sunny skies all afternoon and evening and the temps were to die for. We did have to fight off mosquitos and mosquito spray became our best friend, but as long as we bathed in the spray, the mosquios stayed away.

We celebrated Nathan's birthday on Thursday with personal pizzas that we made ourselves thanks to Courtney and a frosting bar requested by the birthday boy. We all ate ourselves into a sugar coma and finished the night with a viewing of The Great Outdoors.

Friday, our last day brought a picnic in the park and some more swimming.

Here is our group minus a few before going out for beer and burgers on Friday night.

This is one of many bald eagles we saw soaring over our lake.

Here are Tiz and her papa as they kayaked over to the park on Friday for our picnic lunch. John and I biked over while the others drove.

Here is Tiz enjoying a root beer at the bar with grandpa.

I will end this post with Tiz and her overly done marshmallow. I have so many more photos, but could not post them all at this time. Maybe I will do a few future posts on some of the other photos.

It was a most memorable vacation and besides the mosquito bites we only brought back a ton of happy memories from the "North side."