Day 12

It had sprinkled most of the night so the morning was pretty damp and cold.  I slept in wanting to stay as warm as possible for as long as possible.  I knew as soon as the sun burned all the clouds off it would warm up considerably.

After writing about the day before, I started a triple batch of pancakes and the kids were up one by one from the delicious smell.  We were running pretty low on fresh fruit so I made a mental note to stop at some point and grab more.  By 9:30 we were ready to go hunt down a laundromat.  We were so low on clothes, Laney had to wear one of Ryan's t-shirts!  Luckily, the landromat had the extra-large commercial 4-load washing machines so we were able to fit our giant bag into one load.  I played chess and Trouble with everyone and before we knew it we were on our way.

We stopped by the visitor's info area and got some tips on where to spend our two days, but first we needed ice cream!  Grampa Tony's had some flavors we'd never tried so we just had to stop.  I keep having to talk Ryan out of the playdoh-looking Superman flavor each time. I'm trying to turn her into a eat/drink local traveler but it's hard for ice cream!

Brayden's was gone with in seconds!

Ryan finally settled for Madeline Island Mint!

Next up was the Madeline Island Museum recommended to us by several people.  The front of the museum housed several traveling exhibits while the back held most of the artifacts from the original museum opened more than 60 years ago.  While Laney and I learned about how a canoe was made by the Ojibwe Indians, Brayden and Ryan learned about all the ill-fated ships that had sunk in the area. There was a wonderful display on Ojibwe Indian dress as well as pow-wow history and tradition.

The bead work was incredible!

Next up is always a favorite in every museum we visit - time to dress up!  Laney grabbed the dresses while the other two put on shopkeeper and logger clothes.  The traded and switched and changed about 9 more times before we moved on to the local artifact section of the museum.

This part was almost overwhelming with all kinds of tools, clothes, and machines of the time.  The museum guide even turned on a french-cut lighthouse LIGHT originally from one of the Apostle Islands close by, Raspberry Island.  Laney is still convinced she could live in a tiny cabin like this sailor lived with his wife and child.  I'm all for down-sizing, but oh my.

Next we went in search of a snack before more discovery of the island.  It seems we've made it here about a week too early as every cafe and pub opens for summer hours in about 5 days.  Our only choice was back at the ice cream shop, so I opted to hop in the car and head to the tiny local grocery store.  I knew the prices would be steep, but oh my goodness some things were way higher than the organic prices I pay!  We opted a bunch of bananas and a slushie combine with snacks from the cooler.  I guess we would have to wait until we were back on the mainland to shop.

We headed back to the campsite to go spend some time on the beach before dinner.  The kids had been itching to play some soccer so we brought along the ball to hopefully have a friendly game while we were down there.  There were lots of other people so we staked out a small field and played until there were enough injuries to stop and head up to the wifi to let the kids check their email.

We did our usual Rock Family!

We still had quite a bit of sunlight so we headed back to make a fire for our dinner and change for the night.  We were betting the beach would be empty later.  Laney picked some flowers for our dinner table and we had a delicious nacho feast.  Our boy scout camp cups still come in handy for drinks as well as decoration!

We headed back down to the beach and Ryan met a little friend she named "Penguin" because of the shape of the white spots on his back.  He refused to leave her!

The kids raced back and forth and tried skipping rocks.  I don't know if it's the shape of the rocks or the water or both, but we can't seem to get more than 3 skips up here!  While the kids were playing I finally got my bearings and noticed this would be an awesome spot for a sunrise picture in the morning.  As we settled in and read a few chapters before bed, I hoped for little haze for some great shots.