Classic Fall Weekend in Eagle River Wisconsin

Fall colors close to their peak, weather warm, So Steve and Pam took us on a self-guided pontoon-boat tour around the Eagle River area.

We assembled a picnic lunch from the local grocery, and climbed onto the pontoon.

Boathouse at water level, family living quarters above

The boathouses were mostly built in the late 1930's, and now, fortunately many have been lovingly restored to their original condition by their owners.

Nowdays owners are not allowed to build new structure at water's edge, but they can maintain originals, which most of them do.

A boathouse neighbor to Jervises. Most likely built in 1930s when Chicagoans began to discover the beauty of the Wisconsin North Woods

This is a summer residence, not a boathouse

This Frank Lloyd Wright house is kind of jarring, but so reminiscent of the 1950s for me.

Down-sized steamboats have gained a following recently. I spoke to one of the skippers who told me that fellow steamers get together for rallies, occasionally, and enjoy the distinctive sounds of the steamboats together.

The hulls look to be about 15 feet long, and the steam boiler seems to be situated in the middle. Most of the ones we saw that day had permanent-looking canopies overhead, providing shade to passengers.

Kind of interesting hobby, and a bit of a diversion from customary motorized outboarding, but not as romantic as sailing for sure.

Comments

lil' mama said…

Looks so relaxing! Great pics Papa!

December 1, 2009 at 3:18 PM

Hilary said…

A great history lesson! Warm boating weather seems like a long time ago now that it's getting cold!

December 3, 2009 at 12:25 AM

Spring in a bottle

Sal and I both like tulips, so while winter still has a loose grip on Minnesota, we're enjoying some "bottled freshness". I remember planting tulip bulbs with my Mom when I was a kid growing up in Massachsetts I can still recall the frangrance of the bone meal that we always poured into the hole before pressing the bulb gently into place. I think they might be my favorite flower.

The Gentle Smith Matriarch

We met in 1966 when she was 18 and I was 22. We began dating soon afterward, and as I recall never disagreed on much. Our childhood homes were 3000 miles apart and we loved Minnesota and each other, so we got engaged in July 67, married in December and moved into a house with a teenage foster daughter. This was followed by , Daughter 1 the following September, Daughter 2 three years later, Daughter 3, a year and a half later, ..and eventually Son, 3 years later. There were also about 15 different short-term teen-foster boys in those years. The gentle matriarch has worked her whole life, hard. I went to college nights for a few years, she worked outside the home part-time while the kids were growing. She spent frugally, loved lavishly, and has always cared first and foremost about her family. She is a gentle giant who has brought love, fun, discipline, imagination, good food, and artistic, creative homemaking to our big family....and as I write this she's preparing for Easter Dinner...

Collaboration cheesecake

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PTCPapa

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