1997 Manitowish Waters Vacation Page

• Voss' Birchwood Lodge, Box 456, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin 54545, (715) 543-8441
• Greer's Pier, Manitowish Waters, (715) 543-8456
• Ham radio info (2 meter): 144.33 simplex, repeaters: 145.43- Tomahawk, 145.13- Sayner
• How to find us...a clickable map.

Wednesday, August 14, 1997

• Jeff Schramm wimps out and cancels at the last minute and gets slammed. The "slamming" continues throughout the week.
• Dave Helland heads north for family business in the San Franscisco area...he'll head east on Sunday.

Friday, August 15, 1997

• Bruce, Evie, and Mark head east to the Twin Cities, then drive to Esko, MN (outside of Duluth) to spend the night with the "Duluth Lightners".

Saturday, August 16, 1997

• Bruce, Evie and Mark made it to brother Marty's house in Esko, MN (near Duluth) last night. They all slept in and are now doing the "vacation thing"...nothing. Check out the photos.
• Bruce, Evie, Jenny and Mark made it to Manitowish Waters at 6:20pm. Found the "party boat" soon afterwards.
• The Voss Lodge duplex (Clearview East/West) is great. Two kitchens...we can go two days before we have to clean up.
• The girls immediately put on their swim suits and jumped off of the foot-bridge.
• Evie and Jenny failed to follow Dave Helland's Manitowish vacation rule #1...eat whenever you see food...or starve. At 10:00pm the girls told us...we're hungry! So, we went to the local road-house and ate hamburgers to loud (but good) live music. (Steve told the girls: Don't ever come to a place like this unless it's with your father!)

Sunday, August 17, 1997

• We all slept in...it was raining this morning. Bought food and are about to head to CWA (Central Wisconsin Airport) to pick up "El Davo"...since we aren't convinced that Jeff will! Weather's gray, but it stopped raining.
• We got Dave...he was late...thanks Jeff!
• Made BBQ outside the duplex...check out the photos. The girls held a poetry reading that evening while we BBQ'ed outside the cabin.

Monday, August 18, 1997

• Found an active phone jack in the bedroom of Clearview East...bonus! Fixed up the Web page...weather's great. We have definite plans for dinner: We are trying to eat before midnight tonight!
• Moved the BBQ to the Bayou Queen (pontoon boat) and went cruising in the afternoon. Greer's daughter Carlin joined us. Ended up at a sandy beach. The girls went swimming. Weather was fine...broken low clouds with just enough sun.
• Dave Helland made chicken "catch-a-torry". We actually did eat before midnight...10:00pm.
• The girls told scary stories after dinner...complete with programs.
• Took a few more pictures.

Tuesday, August 19, 1997

• Made the morning run to the bakery (Michael's) for their 16-oz muffins...maybe the're only half-pounders?. Worked on the Web Page again and checked the e-mail. Dave Fuller sent us an especially useful link if you need to process any mice.
• We BBQ'ed outside the cabin in the rain...chuck roast, mushrooms, zucchini's, green onions, potatos, and garlic bread. After dinner, Steve BBQ'ed up some "dessert meat"...it was good. (Because of my initial misspelling of dessert on the Web Page, this also come to be known as "desert meat".)
• And, of course, we took a few more pictures.

Wednesday, August 20, 1997

• Heather had to go back to work at dawn. Dave Fuller is due in today. It looks like we're in for a rainy day.
• Marty Lightner arrived with Dan (his son) and Greg (Dan's friend friend) at noon. We bought pork chops...plus a bunch of fire-crackers. The kids went swimming...but it looked cold.
• We made a field trip to find a Manitowish coffee cup for Dave, but the UPS strike fouled up his plans. We did find a giant loon.
• The weather stayed rainy most of the day.
• Marty BBQ'ed his famous Lightner pork chops. He had to head back to Duluth (with Dan and Greg) at 9:00PM.
• At 10:00PM Dave Fuller (finally) arrived.
• Around midnight Steve and Pete fired up the BBQ and grilled the pork loin...second night for the new concept: "dessert meat".

Thursday, August 21, 1997

• Pete got busted by the "Lodge Police" (Audry) for yesterday's fire-cracker action (thanks Dan and Greg!) when he checked his messages in the morning.
• Yesterday's photos are now available for your viewing pleasure.
• We went to the toy store...and the food store. Evie found Beenie Babies. We also found a giant fish.
• It was cold and windy most of the day. In the late afternoon the girls went swimming while Pete and Dave Fuller raced their radio-controlled sail-boats. Also, a lot of keyboarding was going on.
• Steve made BBQ'ed chicken for dinner...Kim (his neighbor) joined us. (No dessert meat this night...too much chicken.)

Friday, August 22, 1997

• Weather looks promising!
• The Manitowish Attendance Police formulate a greeting for Jeff, the missing vacation club member. (Thank you Bart Simson.)
• Lot's more photos are available for viewing.
• The weather was excellent...spent the day BBQ boating on the Bayou Queen.
• At 4:30PM Steve helped Greer and Kim order new computers from the PC Club in San Diego.
• The girls ran amok with a $20 bill and the Greer's Pier stuffed doll vending machine. (It's a coin-operated crane with which one can pick up stuffed animals and drop them in an exit slot.)
• Kim joined us for BBQ'ed chicken appetizers around 9:00PM. At about 10:00PM Steve started dinner...his famous "chili-like" Hungarian "Ghoul-lash" (chili?)...we ate at midnight. (Dave, Mark and the girls had soup long before dinner was started!) Steve's "chili" was worth waiting for!

Saturday, August 23, 1997

• Bummer...checkout day.
• Dave H. made a run to Michael's for muffins.
• Weather looks good for the second day-in-a-row.
• Checkout time was 10:00AM...we were out by about 11:00. (Audry said that was OK). Total cost: $1793.50 (including the $200 deposit) for one week...well worth the investment.
• A few more photos from yesterday are available for viewing.
• The Daves (Helland and Fuller) are spending the night at Kim's place before their return to civilization on Sunday.
• Mark, Bruce, Evie and Jenny headed back to Duluth to visit with Bruce's brother's family. It rained off and on the whole drive back, but the weather held after arrival in Duluth at 3:00PM.
• Brother Marty had to move a "salty" (an ocean-going ship) in the Duluth harbor...so we visited The Depot in downtown Duluth. (It's a railroad museum.)
• We finished out the day with pizza and a video...Fargo. The film reminds one of Pulp Fiction...with more blood. It was filmed in the immediate area.
• After Pete, Bruce, Mark and the girls left, the remaining Daves took the pontoon boat over to Steve's boathouse. They ate the previous nights barbequed chicken for lunch with "an awesome mixture of chile garlic paste and barbeque sauce". It started raining so they moved the boat over to Kim's dock. Steve slept, DF took a drive, and DH "computered". They hit the Highlander for dinner.

Sunday, August 24, 1997

• The Daves headed south on Hwy 51 at 7:45AM, with Dave H. being dropped off at CWA for his flight home.
• In Duluth, Lori decoded the famous Lightner pork chop marinade recipe for us.
• Metaflow's Web server was down...no upload of new stuff.
• Bruce, Mark and Evie are off to the Twin Cities to catch a 4:40PM flight back to San Diego...then it's back to work for Bruce on a 6:20AM flight to SFO the next morning.
• Mark, Bruce, and Evie made it back to San Diego...on time. It's hot and muggy...but it's great to be home again. More pictures when Bruce get's back from Intel bashing at Hot Chips IX...probably on Wednesday.

Wednesday, August 27, 1997

• 300+ accumulated e-mail messages were waiting for Bruce this morning...don't expect those photo updates today! Dave Fuller promises to send in his electronic ones as well. Stand by for the upcoming release of the 1997 Manitowish Waters Uneeda-Rest interactive CD-ROM!
• Pete laments that we have to wait 12 months for more fun. Bruce suggests a mid-winter retreat in warmer climates...San Felipe, Baja California? Dave H. concurs: "Let's teach the North Woods weenies about Baja! They need to eat shrimp tacos and drink cerveza...."

Thursday, August 28, 1997

• Dave Fuller sent in his digital photos from Manitowish Waters.
• One can now view a "clickable map" of all of Bruce's original, unedited Manitowish vacation digital photos.

Sunday, November 9, 1997

• We finally found Jeff!

Last updated Tue Nov 11 18:20:44 PST 1997 . All photos copyright ©1997 by Bruce Lightner. All rights reserved. All opinions expressed here are solely those of the author, Bruce Lightner, and not those of his employer, Metaflow Technologies Inc. Click here to view full disclaimer text.

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