Last week we went for a drive and short hike to Doctor’s Park, a Milwaukee County Park along Lake Michigan, north of Milwaukee. (If my deleting iphone photos have helped, I might be able to add photos to this post, otherwise, use your imagination.)

Eight Carlsons went on the adventure. We wore masks most of the time since there were many people coming and going, about half of them wearing masks themselves. From the parking lot, a wide asphalt trail lead down to the rocky beach. The five-year-old boy either doesn’t have the quick brain to muscle reaction to jump away from waves, or he genuinely enjoys getting wet to his knees, but he sure has fun.

The beach was loaded with driftwood. But still, there were the rocks. Just like on the Michigan side. Rocks. What fun. I’d left behind my own collection when we sold our house last summer. Time to start a new collection here in Wisconsin. My pockets became sandy and wet. They also made for added workout while climbing up the stairs on the southern side of the beach.

Not very much to report here. It is a popular park, and was short and sweet for us Carlsons. There was family, waves, rocks and driftwood. It was a pleasant little distraction from covid-19 to a little park with a view over wonderful Lake Michigan. We will be back.

(Disclaimer: Seems I’ve used up all my photo space for WordPress. So you’ll have to use your imagination until I figure out how to add them.)

We finally got our 2021 State Parks’ sticker this week, so decided on Friday, with the temperature at 31 degrees, to do some exploring. We went to Scuppernong River area in the southern unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest. OK. It’s not actually a State Park, but a State Forest, and only about 30 minutes from our new house in the Milwaukee area. The last time we were at Kettle Moraine was 39 years ago. We were the lone April campers (tent) in that campground, with our 6-month-old baby, and ice covering our water containers overnight. We do look forward to camping there this summer with the grands in a bit warmer weather. It’s a lengthy park, with loads of trails, so lots to explore in the future. This trip was just dipping our toes in.

Being new to the area (so to speak), our first assignment was to find bathrooms. We went to the Ottawa Lake Campground, where there were several campers set up in the light snow, and located the men’s winter toilet. I walked around the building across the road searching for the women’s. Guess what? It was behind the men’s. No sign until you reach the backside. Ha. At least I found it.

We checked out the trailhead to the Scuppernong River area, across from the campground. It was Carlson-crowded, with 4 other vehicles in the parking lot. We took our hiking stick and poles, and decided to walk to the first bend. The start was entirely ice. Poles and hiking sticks were worthless, slipping at every touch.

But we are always up for a bit of adventure, so stayed along the side of the trail, off the ice as much as possible, until we reached the bend. Then we decided to go to the next bend…and the next. As the trail loop is only a mile and a half long trail, we continued on. We both admitted afterwards we were thinking how to help each other (especially me) if we fell on the ice and hurt ourselves. Normally, Jeff carries a first aid kit on hikes, but since we were “only going to the first bend”, that kit remained in the van. My poles could shorten to be used as splints, but our paracord was all back in our vehicle. Because we took it very slowly because of the ice (as well as stopping for photos, and allowing unmasked hikers pass us), it took 50 minutes to hike through the marshland and over the boardwalks.

I was glad to experience this trail during the winter, to become familiar with it. Thankfully, the trail in December wasn’t all ice. There were sand and frozen dirt and leaf-covered parts to the trail as well — times to casually walk without having to watch every step. Were it summer, though, we would have completed the trail in about 15 minutes — chased onward by the notorious Wisconsin mosquitoes, with our shoes soaking wet from the soggy marshland.

Now that we have our WI parks sticker, we look forward to 2021 adventures in Wisconsin.

We’re starting our 7th week as Wisconsin residents. Jeff grew up in Wisconsin. I taught school in Wisconsin. I thought when I married a Wisconsin man, I’d live in WI for the rest of my life. It took 42 years of adventurous living elsewhere, but now I shall live in Wisconsin for the rest of my life!

Our house is needy, so every day we do projects to make it livable, as well as getting it ready for winter, as well as putting up and taking down fall-winter celebrations and decorations (Halloween, 3 birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).

Because of the pandemic, and being new to this area, and all the zillion house projects to do, we have only wandered off to four nearby parks in these seven weeks. There are 169 county parks in Milwaukee, and hundreds of playgrounds and athletic fields. Most are popular even in the cold. This is, after all, Wisconsin.

Konkel Park is a mile from us and across the street from the police and fire stations. It hosts a Farmer’s Market, May through October, and has several athletic fields and an amphitheater. The paths are nearly all paved, except for a tiny section along a tiny creek going from residential housing to the paved pathway. I see it as a place to take the grandkids in the spring to go kite flying.

There is Whitnall Park in Hales Corners near where we reside, which includes Wehr Nature Center, Root River Parkway, Boerner Botanical Gardens, and several trails including woods, stream, lake, waterfall, and many people. They also have a Winter Wonderland drive through.

Lakefront Parkway on the Michigan Lake shoreline, with views of skyscrapers, Lake Michigan, goose poo, and dead kites in bare trees. Sidewalk “paths”. Crowded. Near the Milwaukee Art Museum and other downtown destinations.

Greenfield Park is actually in West Allis, which used to have parts belonging to Greenfield where we live. It’s off of Greenfield Road. It’s a small urban park with a paved path around a lake with lots of ducks, and includes a small waterfall and a short wooded trail.

So far, all these urban parks have been very easy hikes. I look forward to 2021 when we will get the chance to get out to State Parks with mature forests and fewer humans, and hopefully vaccines all around. Stay safe.

42+ years ago, when I was a teacher in Wisconsin, Thanksgiving meant deer-hunting. It’s still deer-hunting season, but living in a big city, I don’t observe many deer tied to trunks or tossed into truck beds like when I lived in a small town. This Thanksgiving, because of the move, and because of the pandemic, Thanksgiving was about family…and eating.

We moved to Wisconsin at Jeff’s retirement to be near the grandkids. Thanksgiving for the grandkids meant traveling out to South Dakota to see the other grandparents, but this year, COVID-19 put a delay on that. Because family are the only people they or we see here (outside of repairmen or getting WI certified), we have become our own safe bubble.

Thanksgiving morning, it was all about playing together, food (appetizers), a birthday call from Arizona son, and watching “Garfield’s Thanksgiving”.

Thursday afternoon, we drove to the lakefront and took a walk among thousands of Canada geese. (You really want to say Canadian, don’t you? And don’t you remember the day when birds flew south for the winter? And why aren’t more people interested in geese-hunting?) We’d driven there to see Lake Michigan and the skyline. Most of what we saw were green-black tubes of geese feces on the sidewalks, and trying to to find a clear spot to avoid them at each step. The 9-year-old thought it was disgusting. The 5-year-old girl thought they needed a litter box. The five-year-old boy, once in motion (e.g., raising a foot to move forward), finds it difficult to stop any said motion. “Ut-oh” was a commonly heard exclamation from him, with a simultaneous “Oh-no” from his parents.

Once when we stopped long enough to look around, our son discovered an abandoned kite flapping in a tree. Then another. Then another. Without the leaves blocking them, we looked up to see dozens of trapped kites. It was a kite graveyard! One tree had five caught in it. Only at the end of the walk did I finally decide take a picture of the next kite-tree.

Later afternoon was more food prep, including an organic turkey from Michigan, and a Thanksgiving video chat from AZ son (as the grands ran around, yelling, laughing, screaming). So much food! The evening capped off with birthday pumpkin pie and a retirement celebration sip of port.

A grand birthday. A great Thanksgiving.