| Final Pier-Out Weekend December 10th & 11th |
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| We entered the northwoods at around 5:00 PM and it was already very dark outside. Duck's was agreed upon for food. Table 5 proved to be a good location in that it was close to the soup without being to far away from the Christmas lights that decorated the walls. |
| Even the outside of Duck's was lighted for the holidays, as was much of Crandon. |
| The court house square was very bright |
| As were many residences. |
| The house in the SE part of Crandon on a dead end road was as spectacular as ever. |
| This guy greets you as you enter the path of light. |
| There must be tens of thousands of lights. |
| There was even a herd of reindeer done in lights. |
| On Saturday the last pier was lifted from the 34.7 F water. The final lake level measurement is 7.5 inches above the nail, the highest ever for this time of year since the inception of the nail. Watch for shrinking shorelines next spring. |
| The water was crystal clear and frigid. With little chance of catching a run with a passing ski boat, I did not spend much more time in the water than I needed to. |
| The sap-cooker is full of wood for this springs maple syrup run. One of the two secrets to award winning syrup is the wood (without it burning under the cooker the sap just sits there and freezes (the other secret involves the empirically derived, closely guarded ratio of sap to mice but I digress...)). |
| The roads less traveled are in ugly shape. The frozen slush has made them slippery and bumpy. More snow will make them better, flatter. |
| When we left, the lake was still open. Wabikon is froze over. With temperatures predicted on Monday to be 8 F, it won't be long until Lucerne is solid surfaced. |