DAY 1-- Here we go!

Saturday March 23-- DAY 1 on the Ice Age Trail--

I had big plans, and plenty of energy ready for the first day! However, I hadn´t expected today to be so non-productive. I am sure that it showed as I constantly stayed 13-17 yards out ahead of the family. I was eager to find the next yellow blaze as I charged down the path. At one point, we were not able to see a blaze when we approached a crossroads, so I trotted down both paths about 25 yards trying to identify something on the trees,

I wanted to park the car where the map showed the road, but it didn´t get re-plowed. We then needed to hike up the snow covered path almost a mile to begin. When we got there, the tower was boarded up. The girls and I, had been excitedly talking about climbing the tower and seeing the horizon. Now, we couldn´t do that either.

I still found fun, though. We slid our way down ice covered rocks, like we were sledding. It was so slippery, that as Jeremy bent over to set the go-pro down, he actually slipped and fell feet first up to the calves in the stream down a two-foot-waterfall area.

As we headed back to the hotel to get dry socks, pants and boots for the girls….I agreed with Jeremy that they should nap. He grabbed them some McD nuggets while I walked the dog. I asked them to close their eyes for just 7 minutes. Wow! They must have been exhausted! They slept for 90 minutes, and then I began to prod them to get up. Jeremy was busy downloading and charging devices. We both ate. And found the next section to hike as we needed to hike a connecting route. We knew that this would not be exciting, so we wanted to get some done this evening yet.

I motivated the girls by saying, ĺet´s look for an ice cream stop¨. They were ready for that! We went on a quest to find a gas station, or ice cream store. We passed 8 stoers, but none were open in mid March. Apparently, we were early for the tourist season in Sturgeon Bay.

As we finished the trail, we came across the Betsy Ross Restaurant. The home-cooking was a relief from the fast food that we had been eating. We drove our two cars back to the hotel.

#IceAgeTrail #Adventure #Hiking #Outdoors #FamilyGoals