July 15, 2021 – Apostle Islands Boat Tour
Today we took a three hour boat tour of the Apostle Islands out of Bayfield, WI (which is a beautiful hillside town on Lake Superior). The pictures say it all.
Apostle Islands – Tour Boat 
Bayfield, WI – From Tour Boat 
Bayfield, WI – From Dock 
Apostle Islands – Eagle 
Apostle Islands – Eagle’s Nest 
Apostle Islands 
Devil’s Island – Sea Caves 
Devil’s Island – Sea Caves 
Raspberry Island – Lighthouse 
Devil’s Island – Sea Caves
After our boat tour we stopped for lunch at Morty’s Pub. I had one (or two) of the best Cosmopolitans I’ve had in a long time. The boat captain on our boat tour mentioned that we should try the local Whitefish while we were in town, so Beth ordered fried Whitefish strips (which were delicious), but they had a fried bologna sandwich that I couldn’t pass up (which was also delicious).
Morty’s Pub – Perfect Cosmo 
Morty’s Pub – Fried Whitefish Strips 
Morty’s Pub – Fried Bologna Sandwich
After lunch we stopped in Washburn, WI at one of the lakeside campgrounds we had hoped to get into because they have an Artesian Well. We brought all the empty bottles we could round up and filled them at the well. The water is great and we wish we had more empty containers.
Washburn, WI – Artesian Well
Our final stop on the trip back to the campground was at a local meat shop in Ashland, WI. We picked up some firewood, Filet Mignon, and a Ribeye to cook over the fire. We also grabbed a “true” Wisconsin Bratwurst to try over the fire on a future occasion. When we got back to the camper we brought the cats outside for “Kitty Time” and cooked our meat, baked potatoes, and green beans over the fire. We were very pleased with our meal. Tomorrow we will have to walk 50 miles to overcome today’s debauchery.
Dinner Over a Fire
July 13, 2021 – Frontier Bar & Campground
Today we continued east along US-2 (it never ends) towards Lake Superior hoping to get a camp site at one of several city campgrounds along Lake Superior. None of these campgrounds take reservations. They are all first come first served. I thought the campground we were heading to in Ashland, WI had a checkout time of noon, so we were on the road by 9AM CDT (retirement is a grind) hoping to arrive shortly after checkout time. It turns out that checkout was 11AM and we hit a lot of construction on US-2 (the kind that drops to single lane shared by both directions with flag persons on each end). We arrived shortly after 1PM to a campground full of RV’s. We actually missed the turn down the street to the entrance and the route Google Maps sent us back on was not only incorrect, but it routed us onto a dead end street and we somehow entered past the dead end sign. The first clue we saw was a sign stating “no RV access”. We were only off about 3′, but they blocked you from cutting across from the side street with huge boulders. So, we had another round of detaching the Tahoe in the rain and ended up performing a 27 point turn to turn around in the RV. While I was detaching the Tahoe, Beth found the camp host and verified that the campground was full. They suggested that we try again tomorrow. While I unhooked the Tahoe there was a gentleman on the other side of the nearest boulder who was definitely enjoying watching us disconnect the Tahoe in the rain. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy informing us that we had just missed two empty sites next to him by less than 30 minutes.
At that point we had endured all that our anal retentive personalities could handle of the care free “no need for reservations” lifestyle. The campground host had told Beth about another city campground on the other side of town (not near the water) so she went there to see if there were any sites available and I parked the RV at the local Walmart parking lot to look online for campgrounds. The campground Beth checked out only had seven sites, which were occupied, so she joined me at the Walmart. While I searched for campsites she went into the Walmart to stock up on groceries. I found a campground 20 miles further east on US-2 that had openings, so the cats and I forged on ahead and got a site at Frontier Bar & Campground. Yes, you read that correctly, “Bar & Campground”. Does life get any better? This is even better than camping at a “Trout Ranch“. Why would you even try to get a site on Lake Superior if you knew there was a “Bar & Campground” nearby (gas station with diesel fuel too)? Long story short, we got a great pull-thru site and by the time Beth arrived, the cats and I had setup the camper and had the DISH Satellite connected (from the roof antenna). We were planning to have Taco Tuesday tonight, but couldn’t pass up the “Bar” portion of our “Bar & Campground”. Our waitress (Susan) simultaneously ran the bar, cooked our food, handled the campground (reservations and check-in), and ran the gas station. She also challenged me with movie quotes from “The Outlaw Josie Wales“. Needless to say, we had a good time with Susan and she cooked us some great burgers. We decided to stay here for a week and plan to attend the Friday night Fish Fry at the Bar. After dinner we went back to the camper and brought the cats outside for some “Kitty Time”.
Frontier Bar & Campground – Site #5
