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Saturday, June 30, 2012

CAMPING - High Cliff State Park, Wisconsin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR OLDEST DAUGHTER, ERIN!!!   
This is her first year of being 29.  It's up to her how many more 29's she will have.   


We took Erin and Mark and the grandkids out for dinner last night, and had a very nice time.  It was so good to see the well-behaved grandkids in a sit-down restaurant with proper manners and good behavior to enjoy a meal out.  I am so appreciative of  the good parenting skills that all of our kids have with the grandkids! Even baby Clayton flirted with the waitress and made gentle cooing sounds while we ate.  And Chelsea gobbled up as many sauteed shrimp as she could muster.  We topped off the evening with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday and a delicious decorated cake, complete with candles.  Ahhhhh


Also we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on Thursday.   Yes, fifteen years of being married to my best friend, and looking forward to many, many more!


After a very busy week... we loaded up the motorhome and headed out for 6 days of relaxing "Working Vacation".  Yes, some of us have to work, so I am going to be adding to my sock inventory, and maybe even spin up a few skeins of yarn if I feel like it.  I am wayyy down on sock inventory and need to get at least 100 more pairs in my online store.  I have a number of packages to mail on Monday from sales of my items in my Etsy store.  This is how I can work and travel at the same time!  My items are featured on line, and once they sell, I just pop them into packages and ship them out at the next nearest post office.    Steve is also going to be doing a little "work project" next Tuesday, but I can't say any more on that subject yet.  So this is a "Working Vacation"~

About 10 am we headed 60 miles south of our house down to High Cliff State Park, just east of Appleton, WI on the NE corner of the large Lake Winnebago.  This lake encompasses a large portion of the eastern side of Wisconsin between Milwaukee and Green Bay.

History

Wisconsin bought the land for High Cliff State Park in 1956 and opened the park in 1957. Even before High Cliff became a state park, the land had a rich natural and cultural history.

Earliest times

The Niagara Escarpment, often called "the ledge," was formed by the settling and hardening of limy ooze at the bottom of the Silurian Sea, which covered much of Wisconsin nearly 400 million years ago. Later, the flat-lying dolomite was tilted downward to the southeast by earth forces, leaving its higher western edge exposed at the earth's surface.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago, nomadic Siouan Indians built effigy mounds in what is now the park. There are four panther-shaped mounds, two buffalo-shaped mounds, conical mounds and a linear mound.
As long ago as the 1880s, this area was noted for its breathtaking views of Lake Winnebago.

Quarry years

Photo of general storeFrom 1895 to 1956, a limestone quarry and kilns to extract the lime from the stone were operated here. Workers drilled holes in the stone and used dynamite to blast it loose. The lime extracted in the kilns was sent throughout the Midwest for use in plaster and cement and to apply to soil to reduce acidity. Other limestone from the quarry was used for brick mortar and crushed into gravel. Horses pulled dump wagons of limestone to an area above the kiln until 1946, when they were replaced by a dump truck.
As many as 40 people worked at the operation, including drillers, a blasting specialist, stone crushers, teamsters, barrel makers, laborers and a blacksmith. Many were recent immigrants from Hungary. In its heyday, the lime industry supported a small "company town" consisting of 16 houses for workers, a store (including a post office, telegraph office and company office) and a tavern, all owned by the Western Lime and Cement Company. All that remains today are the store and ruins of the kiln.

(that was copied from the website)



It was a pleasant drive down from Oconto, even through the crazy construction of Hwy 41 around Green Bay.  I am glad to announce our tire pressure monitor system kept us safe the whole way (read 2 blogs back about our flat tire on our Tracker... the puncture is now since repaired under the road hazard warranty)

We pulled into the park about 11 am, but our reservation didn't start until 3pm.  The ranger at the gate said he didn't know if our site was vacated yet or not, but we could roll through the campground to see.  Nope, the folks were still on the site, but said they would be out about 1-2pm. That was fine, we drove over to a nice big parking area by one of the hiking trails and hung out for the morning, making up a late breakfast.  We had the generator running with both rooftop AC units keeping us cool.  We even took a little nap!

Later we unhooked the toad and I drove back up into the campground to see if our site was ready.  Yep!   I called on my cell back to Steve on his cell, who was waiting with the motorhome.  Ain't technology great?

We are now comfortably ensconced on site 107 for the next six days.  The campground is nicely wooded and shaded, with a lot of shrubbery and trees between each campsite.  There are 30amp electric hookups, which is appreciated on days like today where temps were reaching in the 90's again.  We cooked up burgers on the grill, cracked open a bottle of wine, and relaxed in our lawn chairs.  We took a quick stroll around 2 loops of the campgrounds, and we are back to the site for the rest of the evening.   I am a bit worried about Duchess, she stumbled a few times as if she was dizzy and wandering along.  She is drinking water fine, and ate well, and did her "duty" okay.  We didn't overwork her, and usually it's Duke who tuckers out first.  I know she is getting along in years, she turned exactly 12 years old on our anniversary.  I am not ready to lose her yet------


All set up and comfy cozy on our site.  I will add more pics later.  
For now, this is all you need to get the idea???




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19 comments:

  1. Hope you had a very happy anniversary, and I wish you many more years of a great marriage. From seeing you both together, in person, I feel you are so very lucky to have each other.

    I understand the pain of watching your pets grow old, when their eyesight grows dim, their hearing is lost (or becomes very selective), and they stumble or can't get up or down very easily.

    Have a happy 4th. I'm tentatively planning a camping trip for the following week and hope the crowds aren't as heavy as they will be during the holiday week.

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  2. My gosh Karen your 29 year old daughter has finally caught up to your age. How does that work? And most certainly a happy anniversary to you and Steve.

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  3. Howdy 'Great' grandparents,
    Sounds and looks like y'all are having a blast!!
    Fifteen years?? How do you stand it?? HOORAY!!!
    Don't worry about The Duchess; She 'Lady Shelbourne'(Shelby)our 'Sheltie' was 17y.o. when Joyce lay down in the kitchen floor and held her for her last breath!!! She was so sweet natured and loved to 'kiss' everyone!!! You still have years with the Duchess!! Hope your vacation goes well and y'all have a lot of fun!!!

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  4. Don't those working vacations just tire you out completely.

    Congrats on your Anniversary on Thursday.

    Kathy and I are celebrating 11 years today.

    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  5. That's my favorite position! RECLINING! I celebrated by 29th birthday 31 times. I see no reason to stop.
    Happy Birthday to the daughter, Happy Anniversary to ya'll
    Have a great trip and don't work too hard on the working vacation

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  6. Happy Birthday to Erin, may she have many more '29's in her future. Happy Anniversary to the two of you. May you have many more and always in a different place as the years roll on. Lessie (TARDIS"

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  7. Have fun! Good luck on the "working day"!
    Mel & Paula

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  8. Mazel tov to you and Steve and may you share many, many more years together! Living in your Safari will keep you close together ;-) We find it promotes closeness in so many ways.

    Camp on....

    Blessings & Shalom,
    Richard & iona, Baby Snooks, the dog & Jasper, the cranky old man cat
    Full timing RVers in a '95 Ivory Ed, 40' 300 Cummins DP pulling little green toad (2012 Ford Fiesta)

    http://wildgooservers.blogspot.com/
    http://twitter.com/ionaruth
    http://www.facebook.com/ionaruth

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  9. Sounds like you will be having a very enjoyable and more or less relaxing time over the next few days. Hope Duchess is fine.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  10. Once were out of the 100's I will be heading back to the Lake probably have to wait till after the 4th when all the amateurs leave.Adam is starting football practice in a couple weeks so this might be his last week long vacation at the Lake. Tell Steve to have a beer for me. I can't wait to hear about his latest project. Does it have anything to do with nuclear fission? Be safe out there. Sam & Donna. We miss you guys, when you can come on down our way.

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  11. Practicing up for those full time days aren't you?? Congratulations on your anniversary!

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  12. You guys must be much more organized than we were. Here you are days away from closing on your house and have time to lounge around at a campsite....you go girl!

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    1. Yup, only 30 days left till closing! We have most everything either sorted, packed, moved or ready to move... Not much more than a few dump runs to take care of. We have even been setting things by the road with a FREE sign on them.... Poof! Gone...

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  13. Forgot to add... I hope Duchess is okay. My Mom's dog was doing bad about a month ago. We thought he was nearing the end, but the next day he was fine and has been fine every since. Hopefully the same will be true for your pretty girl.

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  14. Those "Free" signs always worked for me, too. Great minds think alike!

    Enjoy your beautiful campsite. Love watching your full time dreams coming true! :c)

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  15. Congratulations on your 15th, Karen & Steve! You have many many motorhoming years to look forward to! Tom & I will be celebrating our 55th anniversary on July 20th -- back at our home in Texas!

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  16. We enjoyed our stay at High Cliff and I did a post about it on my blog, too. Loved their trail system and saw lots of turkey vultures. Say hit to them for me if they're still there! ;) Hope you catch a breeze up there on the cliff, it sure is hot in Wisconsin these days!

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  17. Congrats on your anniversary and many more.
    Looks like a great place to relaxe. Its nice to have hookups when its hot.

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