Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary

Brian and I celebrated our 10th anniversary at a couples resort in Wisconsin called Canoe Bay.  My parents kept the girls at their lake house for the couple days we were gone.  While we had a nice time away, I have to admit that we were a little disappointed with the resort and the other activities we chose to do (horse and carriage ride and massages).  For example, the horse and carriage ride was not romantic at all.  They advertised taking a carriage ride down a country road...one would think it's a road less traveled, right?  We rode along a paved road (because the carriage wheels are not good for off-roading), being passed by several cars along the way, and had to carry on a conversation with the owner who loved to talk.  The resort had pretty views and nice landscaping, but it was a far cry from the elite status that it thinks it should be.  When almost all of your hiking trails have spots where water collects resulting in a muddy mess (one trail completely impassable), why wouldn't you consider wood chips in those spots?  When your guests realize that their boating time is limited because the boat is slowly taking in water (and all 3 flat bottom boats did the same) and then doing absolutely nothing about it when they politely let you know is not good.  If you ask on your registration form if your guests are celebrating anything special, is an acknowledgement of an anniversary that difficult to express when they check in?  

A disappointing getaway isn't going to ruin what matters most anyway!  We have each other and 10 years of God's abundant blessings (including the two most important ones...our girls).  That's hard to top!

We stayed in a cabin with a screened porch.

View from the screened porch.

From the screened porch looking in.  The stove was not hooked up.  Since they have a "restaurant license", they cannot allow their guests to cook on property (this is their nice way of saying that we must eat at their restaurant or drive 35 miles to the nearest one).

The floor to ceiling windows along the one wall were really neat, except that they provided a perfect inside view for the couple staying in the cabin next to us.  Thank goodness for blinds, but they made the place feel really small when they were closed.

Bathroom 

Queen bed

Fireplace and TV.

Picture of us on the porch.

View of the cabin from the main driveway.

Makeshift "lanterns" along the main driveway.

Canoes, kayaks, and flat bottom boats for use on the lake.  We laughed along with a guy who tried to get into a kayak to go fishing.  He dumped himself in the lake the first time and finally got his balance after the third try.  His wife was sunbathing on the swimming deck completely oblivious...for which I'm sure he was grateful (well, except when he had to probably explain why he was soaking wet from head to toe)!

A wooden bridge out to a small island where the swimming deck was.

We took a walk along a trail near the lake and came upon a group of does and two fawns.  We were probably within 30 feet of them.  This is one of my favorite pictures of them.

With their mom.

This doe was eating vegetation right outside our cabin window the next morning.

Entrance to their flower and vegetable garden.

Lots of different vegetables...carrots, green beans, zucchini, etc.

Standing on a rock on a hill overlooking the huge garden.

Pictures of the many different flowers and wildflowers growing in their garden and on the property.  Very pretty!

Starting out on a hike.

Hiking when the mosquitoes are horrendous is not advisable!  It was like we didn't even have bug spray on!

One of the lakes along the hiking trail...Mallard Lake.  The water was like glass!

I thought this looked like the face of a bear from the side.

Another lake along the hiking trails.

The trail went all the way around this lake.

Fishing on the main lake.

Brian caught a couple nice-sized large mouth bass.

He caught about 9 or 10 in one day, so he was in fishing heaven!

View from the boat looking at the swimming deck and lodge (houses a library, fitness center, and a few rooms).

This painted turtle was sunning on a fallen tree.  He jumped in when we got too close.

Beaver dam

I was very excited to get these pictures of a Kingfisher.  There were about 4 or 5 of them flying around the lake.  I got this one in flight.

This was as close as I could get.  They flew away as soon as they felt you were getting too close.  I think I need a longer lens! 

Picture of us in front of the main lake.

This brought a big smile to our faces on the morning of our anniversary.  My mom texted me this picture of the girls and the card they made us.

Our horse and carriage ride.

The carriage is mainly used for weddings.

Their miniature Australian Shepherd loves to go for rides on the carriage.  She was a very cute dog!

Nice views of farm land, but no red barns, unfortunately.

This lonesome stallion at a nearby farm ran alongside the fence as we passed.  He was wanting to say hi!