Spider Lake Lodge

We've had a couple of hectic weeks here in the heartland what with weeding, (I finally tamed, or at least brought a semblance of order to the jungle after several long days and one marathon 6 hour session in the garden) having the house power washed and removing everything from the screen porch so that it also could be power washed and painted, company visiting (Mom and my brother, Bill, stayed with us for five lovely, fun-filled days last week) and so Prince Charming didn't want to look at the to-do list for the coming week.

In fact he may have torn up the list (I think he just hid it, that clever P.C. is always hiding things from me).  In it's place I found tickets to a most wonderful North Woods lodge--Spider Lake Lodge.

I've been busy recording everything, for your viewing pleasure when pffffttt.....the camera went out.  I called around to see if someone could fix it.  The beauty of living in this age is that things are remarkably affordable and everything comes with a powerful computer chip built in. The downside of all that is that we no longer have a local camera shop AND no one fixes anything anymore.  You simply go out and buy new.  Since I use the camera all of the time and I've had this camera for less than a year, I wanted to do some research before investing in a new camera.  But lucky for me, the owners of Spider Lake Lodge have taken tons of photos and put them up on the web.  So all the photos here are from their web site.  Hopefully I'll have the camera replaced or repaired by next week!

So back to the Spider Lake Lodge.  It's located in Northwest Wisconsin, near Hayward.

This is not July in Wisconsin, but it is considerably cooler here than the weather at home.  The temperatures while we've been here have been in the 60's with lows dipping into the low 50's at night.  This year it's been incredibly rainy here.  Monday a fierce storm ripped through with straight-line winds and up to 10-inches of rain.  We've run into some road closures due to flooding.  Usually you expect this kind of cool moisture in May and June, but spring is running into the middle of July here in the north woods.

Never fear, Prince Charming and I have been cozy and dry snuggled up to this fire with a stack of good books to read.  Spider Lake Lodge has the best feature of all really good inns, big stacks of interesting and beautiful old books to peruse.  We spent a whole morning sitting by this fire with soft music from the 40's playing.


















Our hosts, Deb Ingstad, Andrew and Caroline Gerdes, lit candles to ward off the gloom of the day.  We could hear the loons calling from the lake.  It was a lovely, comfortable kind of perfection!


Later in the afternoon we sat on this lovely screen porch with a view of the lake.  P.C. read while I painted.




The price of the room includes a delicious breakfast prepared by Andrew, a mean cook in the kitchen with an endless supply of hot coffee and a teriffic and welcoming sense of hospitality.  Andrew has made sure we have a fire to warm us each morning.





















We stayed in the Hemingway Room in a heavenly soft bed.  The lake is right outside those sliding glass doors with a lovely balcony to sit on and enjoy the lake view (bring your mosquito spray, with all of the rain and cool weather, they are thick this year.)



The lake is beautiful. SPL has a canoe which you can take out for a ride.




























The lakes are all linked so you can paddle for a long, long time before you run out of lake.



The wind blew hard as we tried to canoe across the lake. We ducked into a channel out of the wind and had a lovely paddle through water and wood.

 We even got within a paddle length of several nesting loons taking their babies out for a ride. As Annie Dillard writes Prince Charming and I have been "up to our knees in the world" this week.  The world of wind, rain, lichen, moss, pine and oak.  A world full of the lonesome and melancholy cry of the loon, the honk of a goose, the crush of gravel underfoot, and mists in the air. A world of lake lapping at shore, trees blinking in and out of focus as fog rises and shifts, the smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen.

Someone else has buttered my bread this week and it has been delicious.

Wishing you a week of petal, feather, and stone wonder ones.  Take care of each other until next week.