Motel Hell Part I

It's the luck of the dice when you go from one motel to the next, not knowing what you'll pay. Sure. We could have made advanced  reservations, but my husband doesn't like to be tied to some schedule when he travels. So, we just get to a town and hope for the best.

If you've never stayed in a motel/hotel, I've gotta say one thing, you get what you get no matter what you pay. You get a bathroom, bed, TV, and maybe you'll get a refrigerator/microwave, and a window over the parking lot. Some motels include the usual "continental" breakfast. As if the word "continental" is something special. You get bad coffee and stale donuts at the very least. Other places will give you a hot breakfast, actually prepared by someone. Usually this is some sort of fried meat, maybe potatoes, scrambled eggs that look like something from a M.A.S.H. unit, and lumpy oatmeal. There could be waffles, there might be pancakes, it all depends on what the motel is willing to fork out (it's not "free", you've paid for it).

My experience is, you sometimes get lucky. Luck in finding a place to eat nearby (dinner and breakfast), that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Our first stay was in Eagle River, Wisconsin. We try and find the "Ma & Pop" style motels, because, usually they don't cost much--around $60-$70, tops. Plus, you can usually park right in front of your door. This is good for when you have a lot of heavy stuff to haul in, as they are usually only one-story deals.

We found a place called "Edge Water Inn", it was right off the river, next to a restaurant that we went to the last time we stayed in this town years ago. When we got out, there was only an old Golden Retriever laying under the patio table in front of the office. She was friendly, and came right up to us. When we saw the note on the door saying the person in charge was "relaxing" on the dock out back, we wondered how to get there. No fear, the dog, being as smart as most Goldens, walked to a narrow opening through to the back of the motel.She waited for us to follow. And we found the middle-aged, rotund woman down a flight of steep steps in a lounge chair on a deck off the water, blowing up some sort of individual rafts.

We asked if she had any rooms available. She had two double queens--"maybe". Well we wanted to get that confirmed. She finally got up, saying she had a family reunion and there weren't many rooms left, said something about apartments too. We noted that there were rooms down below the main rooms facing the river, and those must have been the apartments (or suites). Eventually we got a room, near the end, away from the office and all the "family reunion" stuff, and got settled. We realized we had a door to the back deck, and this is where we spent some time relaxing that evening, watching the boats go by.

We paid $94.00 after tax, and for that money, I'd give the room itself a 3, since it needed dusting, but otherwise clean. But the view was a 5. However, the place really needed some up-keep. We didn't lean on the railing, as it was a bit wobbly, and could have used a coat of paint. The decks were rather worn, and should have been stained, and a few boards should have been replaced. Up-keeping on such a place should really be #1 in priority, especially where railings could fail. But this was an older couple, neither of which looked energetic enough to make beds, let alone some of the up-keep needed.

Their reunion commenced as promised, and even though she said we could join them, we aren't that interested in other people's relatives. Thank you. It was a good thing they pretty much contained their partying on the outer-most deck, shown below.

The restaurant next door is called White Spruce, and can be pulled up to via boat, much like this motel. They have a beer garden on their deck. I remember it from last time, but since it began raining, and there was thunder, they didn't seat anyone outside. Bummer. As usual, more than enough food was served. Salad is always first, and it was very good. I had eggplant Parmesan, and Dennis had something called "smoked meatloaf", which he didn't care for. I think my husband could have been a food critic. He really missed his calling.

Getting back to our room, we had difficulty navigating through the stations on the TV. This was Direct TV, with a thousand and one stations, and I do believe you need a PhD in order to understand how to use it. We wound up watching a Harry Potter movie, and could not find any news stations anywhere, not even in the morning.

Even though motels say they have coffee in the morning, they don't have coffee until they've rolled out of bed and made it. We resorted to our old standby by getting into the truck, and finding a gas station store, which always have coffee and some sort of sweet rolls. Plus, we needed ice. 'Nuff said. We got down the road heading for Land O' Lakes, and wherever the road takes us next.

It's beautiful country up this way, and I like it because it doesn't get boring (like 200 miles of Illinois and more than 300 miles of Iowa). I'll be back with rest of trip and Motel Hell Part II.

Eagle River and Where to Eat

Hi, all. Well, as you may have gathered, my husband and I went on a road trip north. We needed to just get away, and although we live in the country, we needed something to look at besides corn fields, and our own park.

Since the west and everywhere near us was HOT, Dennis came up with the idea of going north. Way north. Like as far north as you can get without either needing a boat or a passport. Thus, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota were the three areas that we decided to hit in a two-day drive.

bald eagle fishing

Once you get into Wisconsin, the change becomes obvious. You find yourself into more tree-lined areas. Heck, even as you drive the trees are between the interstate lanes, north and south bound. It makes the drive more enjoyable.

We saw our first bald eagle after Merrill, Wis. It was mostly cloudy, and the teperatures were in the high seventies. As you may know, we've been dealing with 90's and wicked humidity for weeks on end. We wanted to get away from that. It was as though our get away triggered the temperature change in our area.

And, it doesn't take you very long to figure out the little stop and yeild signs off in the ditches are for snowmobiles all along every road you come to. Yep. That's their second national past time, besides fishing and rooting for their beloved Packers.

Because it is not a very long distance to Eagle River, we arrived by early afternoon. This was an area which was used by French fur trappers to bring their pelts down from Canada, on these huge boats. I was told that these men had to be of Viking build to be able to paddle them because of the furs piled high on the boats, and the boats themselves were like small ships, had to wiegh considerably.

After getting a room in a local Super 8, we enjoyed a short walk, trying to figure out where we might eat. Somehow the whole idea of eating at a "family style" restaurant didn't really settle with us. So, we got into the truck and I had mentioned that I saw something on our little map from the motel a place that sounded interesting. Thus, we went in that direction.

And there it was, the White Spruce Restaurant. My husband liked it's spot right by the river, and the low, old look to it. Come to find out it was the oldest building in town, having been built in 1833. The original was burnt down, and then rebuilt. It was to feed the lumberjacks of the area, and you could just see it in the low roof, dark wood, the character of the place just oozed with abveance you just don't get in an IHOP or Denny's.
We had come into the little place, and found only a family at one table, and the woman hostes was pouring glasses of wine. I watched. OMG! She actually filled the glasses within an inch of the top! Unheard of!

The woman said she'd be with us in a second, and then she came out to us. "Just go ahead and seat yourselves at the farthest table by the window."

We did. Out our window we could see the river. We saw that there were a couple of docks and board walks, and a beer garden surrounded by different levels of shade-loving plants. I noticed that they had toad stools carved out of small tree trunks to add to the idea that it's a magical garden and I hoped to see a gnome. The trees were wrapped with the small Christmas tree lights, and I sat there trying to imagine what the place looked like at night. Probably romantic. Like someone's dream. That is, if you got rid of all the crazy people who might flock to a place like this and ruin it with their partying.

The woman told us that people came in to lunch, mostly, from the river on boats. And you could see people riding past, ejoying themselves.

Our dinner was not exciting, but we did have walleye, a salad, the soup was really good, and the salad was not made with "head lettuce". I would give it a 3 1/2 for quality. The ambience was what got to us. I ordered a white zin, and the woman brought it out exactly as I'd seen her fill the other glasses. It was chilled perfectly. The wine--local--was possibly the very best white zin I had tasted, bar none. Wish I'd written it down.

After dinner we, of course, had to venture outside and have an "after dinner drink". I was thinking Kahlua and cream. I never said this to Dennis, and while I went to the ladies room, that's exactly what he'd ordered. Either he knows me that well, or was reading my mind again. I'll put it at both equally. (Husband gets 10 stars for choosing this place and getting my drink desire correct.)

We were the only ones out on the beer garden, with the exception of the bar keeper. I had to guess he was married to one of the women who worked the place. Maybe an owner, I wasn't sure. But he did talk our ears off. At the end, when we were done with our drinks, Dennis steered the conversation to an end and we meandered down to the dock to simply enjoy the water, the place and to talk.

It sometimes amazes us that we are able to find one place during our trip--a new place--to eat a great meal/enjoy the ambience, take in the local flavor as well. We have found, though, that usually, we never can experience it the same, should we ever go back. But you always do, hoping for a repeat performance of the feel, the atmosphere, and not have anything alter your enjoyment of it.

And, as we strolled to the back entry to our motel, I spotted a deer. And then it was two, and then four. . . up to six I counted. Oh, and there was a male with his velvet coated antlers.

I hope to be back with Day Two tomorrow, if I can. Superior Lake was a new experience for us. It's too bad the weather didn't cooperate.