The weather report called for an especially nice last weekend in October (déjà vu to the last weekend in September, but we'll take it!). Highs near 60 degrees, sunny, and lows only in the mid-40s at night. Some friends have been asking how the weather is here in Wisconsin- so far, aside from a few cold and rainy periods during the last couple of weeks, the weather has been mild and comfortable. No hard freezes yet (I still have a potted geranium on the patio which is very much alive), and not one flurry of snow. You will read about it when it does snow!

We booked a campsite at Point Beach State Forest, so we could be close to Lake Michigan and get in some more biking and hiking in that area. We camped among the ancient inland dunes and almost had the tent camping area to ourselves since camp trailers were located in another section of the campground.

On Friday evening, we set up camp and took a ride a few miles south along the Lake into Manitowoc (pronounced MAN EH TOE WOK) to check out a microbrewery called Courthouse Pub for dinner. Of course, we had the typical Friday night fare in Wisconsin- fish fry dinner (lightly breaded perch or walleye filets, coleslaw [switching back to the Northern vernacular], rye bread, and some form of potato [i.e., baked, fries, salad]). Even though I have never been crazy about fish or seafood, the perch fish fry is really good every once in awhile- and Scott loves it so much he would probably eat it every Wednesday and Friday night.

On Saturday, we biked the Rawley Point Bike Trail again into Two Rivers and back (12 mi round trip), which was the flatlanders' mountain bike route we had completed in reverse early in September. The trail was not very crowded for a nice day, but things were slow going at times since a boy scout group was doing trail maintenance in several spots. After returning to the campsite for lunch, we hiked a good portion of the Point Beach segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail within the State Forest and found a secret beach well away from the campground area. Scott introduced me to mountain pies for dinner- including pepperoni pizza pies for the main course and apple pies for dessert. So good!

On Sunday, we packed up camp and drove back into Two Rivers. From there, we biked the Mariners Trail to Manitowoc (11 mi round trip), which is a paved multi-use trail right along Lake Michigan. In Manitowoc, we saw the SS Badger car ferry arriving at the dock from Ludington, Michigan, found the lighthouse (which we stopped at briefly on the return trip), and visited the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The museum did not disappoint- it focused on ship and boat building and the fishing industry in the Lake, both of which are a big part of the local history. Interestingly enough, Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built 28 submarines for use in WWII, and we were able to tour the USS Cobia submarine on site (not built in Manitowoc, but acquired and restored for the museum). After the return bike ride, we grabbed some excellent sandwiches at the Gull's Nest Lounge inside the Lighthouse Inn before the 45 min drive back to Green Bay.