Zebra Mussels

I had to take pictures of the zebra mussels we keep catching. I was using nightcrawlers as bait. The one picture shows a part of a nightcrawler thats left from the mussel attack. The other picture just shows the float -- the mussels have the hook. They clump together around a small rock or something and when food comes by they clamp on to it. We've learned that when we feel something on the line and you pull it up and it doesn't fight then its got to be zebra mussels.

People who skin dive have to be very careful. Many of them try to grab on to a rock under the water and don't realize its covered in zebra mussels. They get nasty cuts because they have very sharp edges. Even when you do catch a fish -- many times if the line comes in contact with these razor sharp mussels while your bringing in your fish -- the line gets cut.

We celebrated our 33rd anniversary -- laughing as we clean toilets and think about how we started out doing minimum wage jobs and now here we are again. We love being out and about in the campground and have met lots of nice people. We even got an anniversary card from a couple that are camping here for a month. We met them at the bathhouses (while we were cleaning)and have found them to be very interesting -- and I guess they liked us enough to give us a card. We are gearing up for Labor Day weekend and then it is supposed to get much quieter. YEAH!

My Fish

I finally caught a nice fish. It was a 20 inch small mouth bass- beautiful fish and it was very fat. I caught a 21 inch small mouth bass on Mille Lacs but I don't think it was as fat so I'm putting this fish as my biggest ever. What a relief to catch something nice after so many nasty exotic species.

The picture of the island- Horseshoe Island - is the island in the background where I caught my fish. We were fishing there because it was more out of the wind and the waves were less than 2ft. Out on the bay itself the waves were over 3ft so we didn't even try to go out there.

I love showing the big boats ( yachts) in one of the marinas in Sturgeon Bay. I also love the way they are working on the old bridge in Sturgeon Bay. We haven't figured out if they are fixing it or tearing it down. They use small boats like the one hanging in the air to work on it. At the end of their shift they hang the boats in the air - I guess to keep them safe over night.

Campground - Cabins, etc

We spent one of our days off fishing, of course. The weather was perfect and it didn't matter that we couldn't catch the fish we were seeing on our graph. We found a beautiful sandy beach area along the shore of an island where you could swim around and enjoy the water. Many boats were taking advantage of it.

We also had some friends come visit for a few days and they got to enjoy one of the rustic cabins we have at the campground. I have more pictures of the campground -- the playground which is huge and has basketball and a huge volleyball area as well as the usual playground equipment. The other picture is of the office building. You can come in and sit and read, get on your computer with free WIFI, buy some gift or store supply or play in the game room.

I also took a picture of one of the "deluxe" cabins. The rustic cabins have a bed, small frig and tiny heater. The deluxe cabins have a kitchen and bath. The cabins here are very popular. Some people who started in a tent and got drowned out when it rained have ended up "upgrading" to a cabin to stay dry. I understand that the cabins are a little cheaper than even the cheap motels here in Door County. You have to remember there are no chain hotels or motels. They are mostly smaller inns and they are all busy and on the spendy side.

Smallmouth Bass

We've been fishing our hearts out on our days off and its paying off with Jim catching some really nice smallmouth bass. These bass were 19 inches long and really fat. You can see their bellies kind of hanging down. He caught 4 of them over two days -- very nice but they all had at least one sore on them. Not sure if that is from a virus or another fish or from another fisherman's hook. It doesn't matter to us since we don't eat them or want to mount them as trophies. We finally have started seeing other walleye fishermen and got to talk to some who seemed to know their way around the local waters. They had caught a 24 inch walleye and they were fishing the same areas we were. They told us that the northern part of the Door County isn't known for great quantites of walleye caught just qualilty fish -- meaning you don't catch many but what you do catch is usually good size. Who knows we may only catch one or two walleyes but it sounds like when we do they will be nice.

I only caught the usual gobies and zebra mussels. Oh well.

I tried to get a picture of all the little "Flying Scott" class sailboats in Eagle Harbor. There was a race going on while we were fishing. It was part of a week long regatta where kids learn to sail and then get to do some racing. They just go in a circle but they have to do it in what ever wind and waves come up.

EEA Oshkosh Airshow

Jim got to go to the EEA -- the biggest private plane airshow in the country that is held at Oshkosh, WI every year. The owners of our campground offered to take him with since they were going. I had an appointment so I couldn't go with but that was ok. I knew Jim would enjoy it enough for both of us. They spent the day watching airshows and looking at miles and miles of different planes.

Jim saw every kind of small plane he has ever flown or ridden in and which are now "vintage" planes. He got to see the newest, largest passenger plane the A380. It's so big it has two levels. Virgin Galactic was there to show off the plane that will carry their "space shuttle" into the air and then it launches the shuttle into orbit once up in the atmosphere. It was interesting because this is the firm that is building the "Spaceport" in New Mexico close to where we stayed last winter. The spaceport will be where this plane and "shuttle" will take people who can afford it up into orbit.

The owner of the campground is interested in buying an ultralight sport plane. So he was looking at the Remos brand of planes that he's checked out to fly. The one in the picture is on floats. Jim looked at the "real" airplane on floats -- thats the one he would prefer to fly.

There were constant airshows. He took a picture of some incredible synchronized flying. There were many different airshows going on at once and yet all under control. Just an amazing sight and too much to see in one day.