Bayfield and Madeline

Matthew and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary on Thursday, October Ninth. Matthew has been insisting that this will be our Golden Anniversary. I keep saying although it feels like 50 years sometimes it doesn't really work like Golden Birthdays. Semantics, I suppose. At any rate, last weekend, we did something we've never done, ever. We had my mom and dad watch Isaiah and Anna for the entire weekend and we actually went out-of-town. Three and a half hours away! This was a major accomplishment for me. I did a lot of praying last week that God would grant me strength and trust. Believe me you, this was an anxiety attack waiting to happen. I did it though. My mom helped a lot, she followed my requests on everything to perfection. Thank you, mom!

As the title suggest, we went up to the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. We spent the day Friday in Bayfield, WI and took in all that is Apple Fest. Apparently Apple Fest is one of the biggest festivals in the entire universe, or something like that. Due to the fact that it was Apple Fest there was no room at the inn for Matthew and I. We ended up staying on Madeline Island, one of the Apostle Islands. There is no bridge, one takes a ferry over to the island, it's about a 20-25 minute ferry ride. I believe the distance is 2 miles, or 2 1/2 miles.

Well, Friday we left our house at about 8:30 and drove up to Bayfield. We ate lunch at the Rittenhouse Inn, it's a bed & breakfast that is open to the public for breakfast and lunch. It was very yummy. I'm happy we made it in time. They have a small window of time in which they serve lunch. It was well worth the early departure time.


(outside the Rittenhouse Inn)

After we ate lunch we walked down to the Apple Fest shindig. There were tons of neat craft vendors, apples galore, music and people watching. I was still very full from lunch but Matthew couldn't resist an apple brat. Had to have one. I tasted some of the apple mustard he put on the brat and it was pretty darn good. We found some goodies for the kids and ended up getting some pottery for ourselves. We always admire the pottery while at craft fairs and never get any, not this time. We found a beautiful serving plate with a bowl for dip and a little dip spreader, knife type of thing. Later, my mom told me that pottery is the traditional 9th wedding anniversary gift. I think I knew that subconsciously but thought it pretty neat that we broke down and bought the pottery.

(near the marina in Bayfield, enjoying Apple Fest)



When we had finished wandering the streets of Bayfield it was time to hop on the ferry and travel over to Madeline Island. The ferry service has a bunch of ferries and the the boats leave, for the most part, every 1/2 hour. It's very convenient and easy to plan when you will come and go.

(this is the ferry that was going to Bayfield as we were traveling to the island)


We checked into our little rental house that we would be staying at and were delighted to find out we'd be on the other side of the island. Matthew and I both thought we'd be in town, La Pointe, but found out we needed to drive about 9 miles to the other side of island and would be staying right on Big Bay. Although it was cold at night, in the 30's, we kept the windows open a bit to hear the powerful waves crashing right outside our door. I'm used to the gentle little lapping sound of little lakes or rivers. Not on the shores of Superior, man oh man, were they loud. Lovely.

Saturday we stayed on Madeline and enjoyed hanging out at Big Bay town park. It is a beautiful park.



(this little foot bridge spans an inlet of water from Superior into the park)












(standing on the bridge looking inland)








(standing on the bridge looking out to Superior)










(hee hee, our initials in the sand)



(Matthew took this footage on the beach. My little kick at the end was me saying don't film me.)


Sunday we were up at 6am to catch the 7am ferry back to Bayfield. We had a super time but were in a major hurry to get home to our babies. God had a beautiful display for us on the boat ride over. The steam was rising up off the lake and it made for an amazing sunrise.

Happy Anniversary, Matthew! I love ya a ton.