Going “to Sea”

On Saturday (September 21) we moved south along the coast to a little fishing village called Bayfield. I decided to take the weekend off from my book editing, and arranged for us to partake of a traditional Wisconsin “fish boil”—whitefish chunks cooked in an iron cauldron over an open fire, along with whole onions and red potatoes, served with coleslaw and local fruit pie. Booked a night’s stay at an old inn (in business as an inn since the 1860s), that also houses the restaurant that offers the outdoor fish boil dinners. Bayfield is the main access town for the Apostle Islands national park; it’s a sleepy old fishing village turned touristy—now has lots of shops and cafes where once there were just fishing camps and fish processing (and logging) operations. 

The Bayfield docks with the beautiful town in background.

This area has a LONG history! First the Chippewa/Ojibwe tribes, who are still here. We drove through part of the reservation of the Red Cliff Band of the Chippewa—they have a new casino and it looked pretty busy when we drove by. Then the French fur traders and Jesuit missionaries showed up in the 1600s. The missionaries gave the islands the name that we use today—they couldn’t see all 22 of them, but there is one spot where you can see 12 islands, hence the Apostles… Then as the fur trade died off, and the British and then the Americans took over up here, fishing and logging became the main industries. Wisconsin’s primeval forests were pretty much logged off by the 1950s, including most of these islands. However, a couple of the farthest out islands were not logged and still have virgin forest with huge trees. The rest have not been logged since the 1950s and are all covered with trees again, just not the great big ones.

We strolled around the little town and the docks on Saturday afternoon, and booked a boat tour of the islands for Sunday.

Booking our Sunday morning cruise.

The season is winding down—we’re hitting the tail end of it, as “the gales of November come early” around here. But luckily we’re having beautiful sunny, fall weather right now. We go back and check into our room—the Cowboy Room, complete with a real Western saddle on a stand in the corner! It’s old and rustic (furnishings are reminiscent of Olde Surber Station) but has a very comfy bed and a half bath, with shower down the hall shared by several rooms. About 6 pm we go out to watch the fish boil operation—nice setup for a campfire—the fire feels good as the evening turns nippy. The food is delicious—I don’t think I’ve had fresh whitefish before, only smoked. It’s very mild and meaty, not fishy at all. The apple crisp with ice cream is the perfect ending touch.

Whitefish, red potatoes and onions boiling away while I'm sipping wine and staying warm by the fire.

We almost had a good night’s sleep but were rudely awakened about 2:30 am by a couple in the room next door (sounded very young) slamming their door and apparently continuing an argument they had been involved in, in full loud voice. We could hear every word. This can be a problem with staying in these old inns and B&Bs, we’ve found—the walls and doors are thin and it’s the luck of the draw who else is staying there, and sometimes you end up with some very rude people, as in this case. Fortunately they apparently exhausted themselves after about an hour and we were able to get back to sleep.

Had a delicious Eggs Benedict breakfast and coffee downstairs in the restaurant and headed out to catch our tour boat. The tour of the islands was about 3.5 hours; the boat captain and tour narrator (doing double duty!) was a woman who had grown up in Bayfield. She had lots of local color stories to tell, in addition to the history of the area and the park. Great and scenic tour. There was lots to see: bald eagles and an eagle’s nest, ruins of fish camps on the shores, amazing wind and water carved sea caves in the red limestone cliffs of some of the islands, beautiful old lighthouses from the 1800s. The national park was formed around 1970, and now the islands are preserved for all to use. Anyone can take a boat out to any of the islands and hike, camp, kayak, explore, whatever—truly public resources. 

Devil Island lighthouse and sandstone caves.

Raspberry Island lighthouse and dock

Lake Superior is known for its shipwrecks and there are a bunch of them in the area, several being historic old ships. In fact, the tour company offers another tour of the shipwrecks in a glass-bottom boat. Saved for another time…

We had lunch at our inn (more chicken and wild rice soup). Wild rice is a very big deal up here. It’s a nutritious annual grass that grows in lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota and is harvested about this time. Bags of it are being sold at seemingly every service station and small grocery. The local tribes harvest a lot of it in their tribal waters. The harvest is regulated by the state and only Wisconsin residents can harvest it, in a small boat less than 17 ft long and powered only by “muscular power” using paddles or poles. Wooden flails are used to bend the grass stalks over the boats and gently tap them so the seeds fall, some into the boat and some into the water to reseed for next year. How totally cool. Will bring some home for souvenirs. Let us know if you’d like some wild rice.

First Street Inn and Greunke's Restaurant

Another long and fascinating day. This place has a lot going for it. Now we’re ensconced in a campground on the outskirts of Bayfield and I’m buckling back down to my book editing work—got a schedule to keep!