And we're off!

Welcome to my brand new blog site! After 30 years as a published writer and journalist, it's about time I launched my own project. The core of this site will be about my fantabulous Northwoods life. The love of my life, Doug, accompanies me on most of my adventures, though travel is not his thing.

The topics will vary but will center on snowmobiling, critters, Northwoods Wisconsin events, my travels, and the things that make day to day living pure joy! There will be lots of pictures, some flashbacks, loads of friends and our two feline children, Softey and Tyler.

So if you are curious about life in St. Germain, hop on board. I promise you won't be bored because life up here never is!

Stillwaters' Karen Altamore and my Doug

This first blog is about a sport that has been a passion for the last 40 (OMG!) years. Yup. I'm an old fart. But somehow nothing has been able to slow me down. Karen is the co-owner of Stillwaters, a very popular restaurant and bar in Star Lake, WI. She and her hubby, Chuck, parlayed their restaurant management skills and made this a very popular snowmobile destination.

We headed to Stillwaters a week ago Saturday. Unusual for us as I avoid snowmobiling at all costs on the weekend. Locals tend to graciously leave the trails to the tourist trade and tend to hit the trails on the weekdays.

However, Saturday is the one day the Snowmobilers Breakfast is served and I wanted to introduce my French Toast lovin' honey to the crispy delights of the deep fried version. It has been quite a long time since I had last dove into the sweet crunchy entree'.

As expected, Doug loved it. We had arrived early and successfully avoided the crowds. We were rewarded with time to visit with Karen, an unusual opportunity as the place is usually jammed with snowmobilers.I was tickled to discover that Karen worked for Foxy, the owner of this establishment decades ago. Oh yeah, we got the real McCoy toast. And I did frequent the Star Lake Inn as it was called in the day.

We both ordered the small serving which included a choice of meat - sausage or ham, scrambled eggs and two pieces of the generously-sized French Toast. It was the perfectly sized serving when you have to ride bumpy lakes. It was a real bargain, too! Only $6.99! There is an AYCE of the French Toast option for $11.99.

OK, I should have waited to eat until after I took the picture!

Again, great luck smiled on us as one of my most favorite people in the world, Dawna Covert bounced in to start work. What a great morning.

In a heartbeat Stillwaters was jammed with snowmobilers and we hit the trail home. In less than two hours we went from being solitary riders to a nearly non-stop flow of oncoming traffic on oh-so-smooth trails. This particular weekend was President's Day weekend and the area filled with out of town snowmobilers taking advantage of the three days.

So concludes my first blog. Would love to hear from you and your experiences up here!

Wishing you a great day and loads of happiness!