Adventures With Nancy: Lac du Flambeau, WI

Keith and Kathy welcomed us with open arms to their lake side home on Crawling Stone Lake.

We had visited them here after doing our Door County tour ten years ago. Can it really be TEN years?? It was a July visit then and much warmer which invited us more enthusiastically to dive into the water. Now - at the beginning of September the air and the water have a bit lower temperature, and we continued to have rain for our first day here. And now that there is sun and no rain, the wind has taken over.

The morning after our arrival, Keith and Kathy took us out for breakfast to a unique spot. It is very difficult to do this place justice with words -- or photos for that matter! Had Susan and I been either driving or biking by this place we would never have known it was a restaurant.

How could you know?

About 30 years ago a family bought this building on a hope and a prayer that they could make it a successful business. In the 1930s it was an active resort and once a "hideout" for some Chicago mafia criminals (they say Frank Capone used this place to hide form the Feds).

Getting a little closer we see that maybe it could be lodging of some kind,

Looks a bit like "knock three times and give the secret code"!

Breakfast was superb at the Lake Placid Inn, and had some attractions of its own. First -- you had to sign in. In season there is an endless line of hungry people waiting for a table. On Labor Day, they served 280 for breakfast!!

Keith stands near the sign in board.

Then there's the menu. I have never seen a menu that tells you what they DON'T have. Here they have NO English muffins, NO poached eggs, NO basted eggs, NO credit cards accepted, and NO splitting.

Our waiter Michael, son of owner and cook Denise, added yet more color to this place. He maintained no expression, spoke in a monotone, and efficiently moved about the room not wasting any steps as he placed a napkin here, a glass of water there, silver on this table and carafe of coffee on another. He was in motion the entire time and entertained customers with his commentary. One could think that Michael may have Aspergers Syndrome, but most likely he does not. This is his character to keep people entertained during his waiting of the tables.

Micheal

Keith and Kathy drove us around some nice back roads before returning home which is when I geared up my bike for a solo ride. It was, to use an over used word, delightful. Almost no traffic, flat roads, quiet and calm, and lined with trees.

Tree lined road leading from Keith's driveway

The public boat launch at the large Fence Lake. Keith says the lake will be completely frozen and you can walk all the way across to the other side.

When Susan and I were here ten years ago we paddled the kayaks through the channel from Keith's lake to Fence Lake.

The channel between the lakes.

The other side of the channel

Along my route I passed this large field of catails that I found interesting.

While I was on my ride, Susan shared lots of fish things with her cousins Keith. They had a fine time going through some of Keith's old fishing tackle as well as looking at (some of) Susan's fly collection. She gave Keith a few of the flies she has tied and he was impressed not only with the number of (boxes) of flies, but that Susan knew the name of each one.