Last weekend I managed two nights away from the husband and kids for a quick trip to Washington Island with my good friend Sofie and our horses. We had a wonderful time.
The weather was predicted to be cold, cloudy with “ice pellets”. Nice.
Actually we lucked out because none of that really happened. For the most part it was sunny and in the 50s and low 60s.
We stayed in a really cool cabin at the Washington Island Campground.
It’s technically a “shelter”, so there’s no heat, but there was electricity with a microwave, mini-frig and a sink with cold water. Luckily we were able to borrow a space heater from the lodge otherwise we would have been a little cold at night.
Here’s the view of the inside. Sofie slept in the top bunk:
And I slept in the loft. It was kinda scary climbing down those steps first thing in the morning. But it did feel like I was in a tree house.
The horses were right down a little path in a pen. We could see them clearly from our cabin window. This is what we woke up to each morning:
The horses were eager, ears pricked forward when they heard the cabin door close and nickered for food. I suppose they aren’t used to depending on humans for food since they are on pasture this time of year. It was nice to feel that connection from them.
The first day we took a nice little ride down the road for a couple hours and then headed back to the cabin for steaks, green beans and potatoes on the grill. Then we watched a movie and had some wine, cheese, and venison sausage with crackers. (That’s a lot of food?? Yeah.. but we rode A LOT we can afford to eat that good 😉 )
The next morning we ventured out for a nice breakfast and a special coffee drink from The Red Cup (it’s the place to go for coffee on the island). After that, we played with the horses, packed our lunch and left for a long ride that lasted most of the morning and afternoon.
To avoid the north wind, we decided to ride to the southern shore to the beach area.
We ate our lunch at the picnic table, met some very nice people from Taiwan (believe it or not!). The horses decided to have a snack too and were fighting over grass. Bella was trying to steal it out of Charm’s mouth. They crack me up.
Then we rode in the water and the horses had loads of fun splashing around!
The sky was awesome. There were small rain showers around that provided dramatic clouds and interesting lighting.
We did get stuck in the rain a few times and had to find shelter under some large pine trees in the woods.
Here we are waiting out the rain… but still smiling…
We looked around and realized it was a gorgeous part of woods we were in.. so of course we had to take pictures. Sofie first…
Then Charm and I. The funny part was, I wasn’t too sure about jumping the log on the way out. You see, there was a small hole on the other side and I wasn’t sure if Charm would fling her back legs up and launch me into a tree.. but I decided to trust her and see what would happen.
Hanging on and trusting my horse at the same time! Aaaaahhh!
Was that all Charmer?! I can see she wasn’t too worried.
We made it back to camp and got ready for a fancy dinner out. We went to this place called the Sailors Pub. It was right on the water and served delicious food! Sofie had roasted duck and I had lobster in vodka sauce with some homemade pasta with cheese inside. This place was fantastic and is known for it’s view of the sunset. Check it out:
After dinner we decided to check out a place called the Fiddlers Green. An eclectic place on the northern part of the island.
There, we both enjoyed a Black Velvet.. Strongbow with Guinness on top. We drank our dessert! It was a fun and cozy place to go!
The next morning we decided to drive around the island for a little while to see the sights before heading for home. First we had to stop at the Red Cup again for a coffee and we headed north to the Stavkirke, the Norwegian church on the island.
Here we are!
Then we headed over to School House Beach and had fun with panorama photos!
After one last trail ride, it was hard to say good bye, but we had to get back home to our families.
The horses traveled really great.. especially considering the ferry was rocking and rolling on the way home once we got into the open water. It was really windy.
Till next year!
Savvy Design 