back, cottaging

Back from hiatus which was actually a nice vacation with a couple buddies out in Utah for a camping/hiking weekend in Zion National Park which was awesome. Definitely more to come on that. Speaking of camping...

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This past Memorial Day weekend, a group of friends that we have a yearly camping tradition with decided to upgrade ourselves from camping, to cottaging. Rather than tent it out in the wilderness like cavepeople, slaving away on a weekend that is supposed to be for relaxing, and remembering, the group felt that it was time. Time for the 30+ year olds to move up the food chain and rent a cottage full with the standard camping necessities like beds, showers, hot tubs and 42" HDTVs.

We rented a little cottage up in Poynette, Wisconsin near Lake Wisconsin and immediately any regret of the decision to upgrade was long forgotten. Kirsten and I arrived first out of our group and was welcomed by the owner, Dave, who was doing some work on the cottage next door which he also (recently) owns. He was great and made us feel very welcome. He has done an incredible job fixing up the cottage to be the rental property it is today. It sits on a little river that leads into Lake Wisconsin. He really thought of everything in regards to what a seemingly well prepared group like ours would forget when camping. Cottaging 1, Camping 0.

The weather was great all weekend except for a brief period of downpour on Saturday night. That only lasted a half hour or so though so no biggie. Saturday during the day was gorgeous so the guys packed up the sticks and went golfing. It was a shorter, yet very difficult, course nearby. Cottaging 2, Camping 0. Also, we did a little fishing off the dock most of the weekend and while the "other" Derek caught numerous, I stepped up and hauled in a couple beauties like the one pictured. I think something was wrong with our camera though, because I swear this one was like ten pounds and at least a foot longer.

Sunday we went to a nearby winery called Wollersheim and went on the tour which was pretty neat. I had heard of the winery before (it's the sister winery of Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg) but I didn't expect it to be as nice as it was as far as the buildings, grounds, etc were concerned. At the end of the tour they of course have a tasting (Cottaging 3, Camping 0) which they picked 4-5 wines off the list to pour and talk about. Pretty standard. But then after that was done, the guide went back up to the top and went through ALL the wines they had there for anyone who wanted to try them. No explanations this time, just tasting. Pretty sweet. The winery also served as the backdrop for our group photo for the weekend. (Notice Kirsten's little belly on the far left!)

So while camping always holds a place in my heart, the cottaging weekend sure was a great time. It just provided a lot more things to do which was great. A little something for everyone. I love camping, but the cottaging trip was a fantastic time.