Blog Block

If you follow this blog, then you know I haven't posted in a while. I am suffering from "Blog Block." Good intentions to blog daily are overcome by a lack of words. I think the block is coming from starting a theme and feeling the need to carry through on telling the story of how we got to Cedaroma. I promise that I will tell that story, as the words come to me, but will have to intersperce the blog with other such interesting tidbits that I find throughout the day/week/month. Without further ado, let me begin todays post:

Ah, Instead, why don't I start all new tomorrow?

Somewhat Accidental Property Search

We did get to the Milwaukee area the day of Katie's dance program at the Pabst Theater and enjoyed watching her 15 minutes of fame in the 2 and a half hour production. Amazing energy! The next day we left and headed right back up north. This was during that heat wave that lasted from June through August and Racine was not a comfortable place to hang out.

Marge and Jim have their summer home in Indian Shores on Lake Tomahawk and we went there for a spell. There is great debate as to where "up north" starts and while I am no expert, I will say that the weather seems to change just after Merrill, perhaps at Tomahow but definitely a bit before Rhinelander. The humidity drops out, the sun gets sunnier, the winds quiet down a tad and the terrain becomes north woodsy, leaving the dairyland behind.

After five days of swimming, fishing and casinoing, Victor made a road trip to St. Louis to visit his Mom and stayed a week. In that time we taught Goose to swim and enjoy fishing. He loves all of it and is very entertaining to us humans watching his personal growth.

When Victor returned he and I and Goose took some great day trips, Boulder Junction, Presque Isle, Phelps and as intended by realtors the world over, we noticed certain properties for sale. Lake front, cottages, restaurants, saloons and so on. Several vacant. And so the first call was made! A day later, we were officially "just looking" at the different opportunities. One of our favorites was a foreclosure property with exceptional lake frontage, a few cabins and a big bar/restaurant with stage. Very exciting but very closed with a lot of work needed. When we mentioned we loved the property, but needed to find one that made some money, the agent headed us over to Cedaroma Lodge. "This one makes some money." What he really meant is it's a break-even property right now, but you are smart kids, you will make money at it. It was open and operating, everything in fine working order, good bones they say. With Marge & Jim we took the boat and spent a day on Little St. Germain checking out the fishing and taking photos from the lake. Only thing missing was that bar/restaurant bit that Victor wants/doesn't want/wants/doesn't want...

We look very closely at a few more properties in Vilas County and in the next week head south to continue our extended road trip. Our first stop is Chicago where Victor's sister lives in a stunning condo apartment at Lakeshore drive and the river, just across the street from Navy Pier. A really neat place to hang out in the big city.

On the drive down we talked about all the properties we saw and our obligations to Groveland and the Hotel Charlotte and what we saw for our immediate future and down the road. In the course of the 6 hour drive we successfully wrapped all that property search business up into a nice package, tied a string on it and put a note that said, open in 5 years and filed it away at the back of the brain closet  nearly filled with other things we are going to do some day.

That package didn't stay wrapped up in the closet very long, but that's the next post.

From Groveland To Cedaroma

Did I tell you how we ended up here at Cedaroma Lodge? I don't think so.

You know we were at the Hotel Charlotte in Groveland through March, 2012, just under 9 years, when we sold it all, (Hotel, Restaurant and the six vacation rentals) to Doug and Jenn, a young couple with big dreams. Our plan was to just take a long extended summer trip around the USA visiting friends and family and just being out of Groveland for high season. Lot of adjusting to do after 9 years. A complete life style change.

We ended up hanging out in Groveland longer than anticipated and had to buy another condo so we had somewhere to live as the condo we were in was on the vacation rental market and our first guests of the season were coming! Sillily, just two weeks after buying our new home, we hit the pavement for that extended road trip. We could have just packed up earlier and not worried about having a place to call home, but no. Not for me. I like to know where my bed is, even if I am not in it.

We took the long way at a fast pace stopping in Boseman to drop off an antique wall clock with Jim and Ruth. There was a pleasant symmetry to visiting the prior owners of the hotel as we had just now become prior owners ourselves.

Leaving Montana we raced through North Dakota and Minnesota taking the northern route to Wisconsin. We were on a pace to catch my niece, Amy's, dance recital. We spent our first night in Wisconsin at the Aqua Aire in Minocqua, a little motel we had found online and visited last winter as a potential investment. We loved the location!

This post is turning out to be the long way to how we ended up at Cedaroma Lodge, so instead of writing a novel in a single post, I will start again another day where this leaves off. Stay tuned!

Not an award winning photo, but it shows that we have some snow history!

This is the classic Groveland photo, Special Photography by Terri Metz

While we sold dozens of clocks from our collection, we kept our favorites!
When we are all set up, they will grace walls around Cedaroma Lodge

The ebb & flow of winter

Ready! We are ready for winter to strike us with her cold, bury us with her snows and peril us with her icy surfaces.... But no, she comes drops a few degrees and a couple of inches of white and then flits away leaving us wanting for more. Next week we are expecting spring like temperatures of 51 degrees on Monday. That after waking up in the teens these last handful of days. I suppose this just makes us better acclimated to handle the brutal blizzards likely to follow. Below are some photos I of Cedaroma Lodge from the lake on my first Ice Walk. Next week, I will share photos of the first blossoms (kidding!)

Where the footprints stop, I did NOT fall through the ice.
I turned on my turbo pack and flew back to shore so I could take this cool photo.

 

More this year winter UP NORTH photos sprinkled throughout the Cedaroma Lodge website.

Up North Everything is Different!

Life is different up north, Wisconsin. We get up when we wake up. We get to work after our third cup of coffee and we love pretty much everything we do. We are amazed daily at the wonders of nature. I feel we are truly living right in it. Very unlike Groveland where I lived in the Hotel Charlotte and more of my wonderment came from people and the amazing things they do rather than  nature's offerings of awe.

Today, oddly, after a warm, (40 something degree day) we woke to a smooth sheen of ice across the surface of the lake. Why mild last night and not the frigid one before? Nature simply wasn't ready. When I went out with my camera for my daily dose of morning photos, I turned back to the cabin and only to see little embers dancing across the ground. But no fires lit! How could this be?

But most of all, Victor and I are in near total sync on everything. We have become both partners and best friends. It's quite lovely. And Goose? His transformation from the fat, lazy barky, hotel-dog-mayor has been as entertaining to us as watching the elements of nature change.

The firee look of the ground is pineneedles backlit by the rising sun. Who knew?
(Click the picture to see the fire dancing pine needles in bigger version.)

Ice on the lake today. The lake and the sky are both brilliantly blue

There it is, Really Blue Sky!

One would never have called this dog frisky before!

 

Come see the up north difference for yourself! www.Cedaroma.com

Waiting for Winter

Everyone warned us about winters in Up North, Wisconsin and now we wait for it, thinking we are ready. We have had several teaser days with the weather down in the teens, but nothing sustained. The lake started freezing and then unfroze. We even had beautiful sunshine yesterday. And so we wait.

The first thing we did to prepare was check out all the thrift stores for winter wear. We each found jackets that both fit and we liked, priced right and that will seemingly keep the cold out. The first day it dropped below 40 degrees with a little wind, Victor wore his new used jacket out to the Casino. Guys at the bar laughed at him, "Little ealy for the big one isn't it?" He hasn't put is on since and asked me last night, with temps in the 20's if it was okay to wear his winter jacket. I giggled. Since when has Victor cared what folks thought of his dress?

But we are ready! Bring it on!




Winter at Cedaroma, Up North Wisconsin

Come wait with us at Cedaroma Lodge, St. Germain, WI

Home Schooling

I feel like I am in school again. I guess that is what happens when you want to do something and don't know how. You can either let it go undone, hire someone to do it for you or learn how to do it your self. My brain is on overload right now. Look what I learned to do today:


View Cedaroma Lodge Map & Local Icons in a larger map



You can see the map on our Cedaroma website with directions too.

Now Victor cooks just for me!

Dining up north, around Cedaroma? We have discovered some great places to eat near here and in another post, I will talk about my favorite spots. More often we enjoy our meals from Cottage #7, over looking  the lake.

What a treat these last weeks have been as we start to establish little regular things in our day-to-day life. Victor, as he is most qualified, does all the cooking. Lucky for me! I have been presented with the most amazing meals, though the portion sizes are still too big. (I think he misses the huge kitchen at the Hotel Charlotte, and all the staff to clean up after him.)

I mentioned on the Facebook post, Pizza is one of our favorites, homemade, thin crust but we have had some other fabulous dishes too. Let me show you a few:

Home made bead, this is just the rising dough

Ham & Beans

Chicken Florentine with Asparagus intead of Spinach

A Favorite of mine, meaty lasagna

Chops, asparagus & beans

Pizza, thin as can be!

I am pretty sure he is itching to cook again in a restaurant,
and perhaps some day we will travel that path again.
Mean while, I am enjoying all his great dishes.

 

Join us at Cedaroma Lodge, maybe I can get Victor to cook us up
something special one of your nights!

The Snow Falls Today---In California!

Here we are in Wisconsin and all the snow is falling on my friends in Groveland. I wish I could publish a sunny photo and laugh at everyone who questioned our snow-winter sanity, but I can't it is raining here. Stay Safe!

Have a nice snowy weekend friends!

A Day With Dad

The greatest thing about purchasing Cedaroma is the "play time" I have had with my parents, Marge & Jim. Yes, we saw them often and for long stretches while at the Charlotte. We did enjoy each others company; we casinoed, dined and enjoyed a glass of wine a the end of most evenings. But patterns were established and rarely did I venture far from the front desk in my day-to-day activies. Here there are no patterns.

One of my favorite days of our first month here was the time Jim and I took down the canoe and paddled the Southern shore of South Bay. We "discovered" Little St. Germain River, hardly more than a creek with a pond at the end where the dam is. This sojourn was on a beautiful sunny day, late afternoon in the height of prime Autum colors. Let me show you:

 

 

Here we have found the river mouth

It's very shallow, very reflective. The time of our trip was perfect for good photos

We moved from reds to gold and yellow with seemingly a single stroke

Call me silly, but I was sort of freaked by this. Like we could really go "over the dam." Hahahaha!

I loved the little pattern proclaming our intrusion, soon to disappear!

Some photos look as good upside down as right side up

Some time has passed, the sun has fallen in the sky and we are reaching the mouth of the river again

Back on Little St. Germain Lake.

 

 

Thanks trip Dad!

 www.cedaroma.comhttp://www.cedaroma.com

On the Job Photographer

First, the sun came out. It's been awhile, so I think you can imagine my joy. Second, the ice melted back off the lake. Now, I truly am ready for winter, but it will be fun to get out fishing one more time. We are planning to take out the pedal boat and Victor's three foot fishing pole (it's designed for ice fishing, but it's the only one we have.)

Back to my day... Today was the big cement pour for the cottage we are building a foundation for so we can have it warm enough to use for the winter season without freezing all our pipes. I got to be the photographer, yes, I am always the photographer, but today was especially exciting. I thought the Cement truck was going to topple a few times. Let me show you.

No problem, right, we are pouring from the side, all is well.

Ah, trying to get around to the front, ploughed right through the fire pit, into the "forest"
and put his  trough between three trees. It didn't work

Here my friend appears to be driving right over the beam that is holding the cottage up. This too did not really work

Here we made another approach from the back and smashed one of the sand piles, which is okay.
I was certain his truck we going to capsize! This worked a little bit.

Here we tried to get to it by heading almost to the beach. The problem is the cabin is so close to the beach there is no where for him to line up the hose to get the cement to the front of the building.



No, he was not pouring cement into the window. In the end, they had to shovel a whole lot of cement!
Jeff did not like this much





On the Job Photographer

First Snow "Up North" Wisconsin

Today I awoke to a soft, light, white ground cover. SNOW! I knew it was coming, eventually. But had hoped a few more weeks of clear weather for all the work we are doing around here on the grounds, cabins and such. Alas... Bring it on!

I wish I had started a blog when we first got here so folks not on Facebook could follow along with us. Perhaps, now that the snow has started, I will do a few highlight posts from our transition. Maybe just the funny ones!

Well, we are here and ready to go, bring on the snow and the winter visitors!


Our first snow. A tad dreary, I will get some pretty snow
pictures as soon as the sun comes out.



The next day, the ice is full of holes. I said crop circles, someone else corrected me to Crappie Circles