Up North

Notes and News

My sis, Billy Goeke and her husband, Dale up North

Thoughts and reflections of life
in Wisconsin's Great Northwoods
(From Billy's point of view, of course.)

If you'd like a taste of life up here, rent my sister's cabins.

We headed up early on Friday as the two of us had not been to the cabin in close to two months. Our plans were not to relax this weekend, but to prepare for winter instead. Hopefully it would be a decent weekend so we can get our list of chores completed.

When we arrived in Hazelhurst, it looked as if our favorite haunts were quite busy. I did not feel like fighting a crowd so we decided to head home instead. When we pulled up to cabin one at approximately 8:00 pm, the motion light came on to welcome us. It is difficult to adjust to the early nightfall. But the temperature outside was a mild 50 degrees and the leaves swirled playfully around at my feet. Ah yes, October up north is such a beautiful time of year.

Once inside the cabin we turned up the heat. It only takes about 10 minutes for the temperature of the cabin to get up to a comfortable level. We unpacked our groceries, turned on the television, and settled in for the evening.

The next morning, we arose at about 7:30 am. We must have both been pretty tired to sleep in so late! Dale put on his work pants and sweatshirt and went outside to cut and stack wood from trees that had dropped close to our yard. Our hunters and campfire guests will be happy to find an abundance of wood close to their activities.

Back at cabin one, Dale began to rake leaves. Such a futile task if you ask me because the trees around our cabin drop a ton of leaves every year. It seemed that every time he carried a pile off into the woods, the wind would pick up and blow half of them back. Oh well, we tried. That is the nice thing about our cabin. Nothing is perfect and we don’t want or expect it to be. At our primary home back in Illinois, I am obsessed with the cleanliness of the house and the manicure of the lawn. Up here, neighbors don’t compete, because it is not important.

I took a long walk about mid-afternoon. I was amazed to find that an eagle had nested on Sylvan Shore next to Lake Katherine. Gosh darn it! I hate it when I don’t bring my camera. The fall leaves up North have pretty much completed their fall cycles and are falling from the trees. Still, it is a beautiful sight to behold.

At approximately 4:00 pm, we cleaned up and made our way back to Highway 47 and then turned right on Fawn Lake Road. Unfortunately, one of our favorite places, Big Bearskin Inn was closed and up for sale. We then decided to head towards our next favorite place, Birch Lake Bar. You can imagine our confusion when we drove past what we thought was supposed to be the bar, but it was not there. Dale thought maybe he was daydreaming too much and passed it so we turned around and went back. Still, there was no sign of the bar with our Ukraine friends.

We then went on to Horsehead Lake Road to go to Second Wind. This was a big beautiful restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. No more, however. When we got there everything was locked up tight. I peered in the window and there were no bar stools, no tables, no beer lights—nothing. It was now around 5:00 so we headed back and turned down Sand Lake Road and arrived at the Hideaway. They open at 5:00 pm and you can sit at the bar, eat upstairs in the log décor or dine downstairs in their formal dining room. We decided to have a few cocktails at the bar. We asked the bartender what happened to all our favorite spots. He wasn’t sure about Big Bearskin Inn, but said that Second Wind had an auction in the early fall and sold everything. He also said Birch Lake Bar burned down in July. They are rebuilding, however, and hope to be open after January 1, 2009. WOW! So much has changed in only two short months!

Dianna at the Minocqua Chamber of Commerce

We met a couple at the bar who also have a cabin they rent out. They have five homes in Harshaw, Wisconsin. They are retired and are able to supplement their income with the proceeds. We chatted and exchanged stories, ideas, and thoughts. Dale and I then made our way to a table. Dale ordered pork chops, side salad, hash browns. I ordered pan-fried walleye, a traditional baked potato and French onion soup. It was DELICIOUS. There were no leftovers, let me tell you!

We then headed back to the cabin and took in a Halloween movie as it is the season for ghosts and haunts. We retired early because we were both pretty tired from working in the yards all day.

On Sunday Dale cleaned up the garage and I cleaned the last of the logs at cabin two. I went for another long walk and then cleaned cabin one as we prepared to leave. Since we actually left later than usual, we decided to stop at “Roughing it in Style” in Harshaw. This is a big fabulous furniture and décor store out in the middle of nowhere. Please note the pictures and if you are up North you will definitely want to stop and browse. They have the most gorgeous items. It made me homesick for our cabin, and we hadn’t even really left yet.

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