Resort Life Archives - Page 2 of 13

Docks are in!

The spring ritual of putting the docks in took place in snow showers. It never fails, whatever day we schedule for docks the weather turns nasty. The guys braved the snow and cold temps to get the docks ready for this weekend.

There were snow showers on and off all day.

Lodge dock going in.

John supervising from the boat 🙂

This is usually where someone gets wet. The lodge dock sits in the deepest water.

Beach dock going in.

One of the 78 sections of dock being lifted into the water.

The sun tried to peek out for a little bit.

The loons were keeping a watchful eye on what was happening.

Enjoying a bowl of hot chili after being in the cold water.

We’re ready for you to arrive 🙂

Docks are in!whitebirchvill2019-01-25T21:31:52+00:00

Journeys’ Marathon 2015

The 19th annual Journey’s Marathon took place this morning with the start line at White Birch Village. It’s a fun morning for us. WE enjoy all the activity and seeing the runners get ready and their families here to support them. Be sure to check out our Facebook page as I posted a couple videos from this morning.

7:15 AM the start line banner goes up.

Stretching and warming up for the race in the rec building.

Gathering for the start of race at 7:50 AM.

7:59 AM the race is about to start.

By 8:23 AM everyone is gone.

Journeys’ Marathon 2015whitebirchvill2015-05-09T11:36:14+00:00

A beautiful day for canoeing!

Last night after a full day of spring cleaning John and I went canoeing. What a beautiful night it was. The temperature was 75 degrees with wind to keep the bugs away. The water levels are high in the flowage/Bob’s Lake and the water plants haven’t started yet, so we could get around easily. We were entertained the entire time with all the wildlife. Enjoy all the photos.

Water, wonderful water!

We saw several mergansers.

Neat bunch of pine cones.

The beaver dam at the back end of the flowage.

There are a lot of new branches and logs in the dam. The beaver have been busy! That is White Birch Creek flowing. in the distance.

There are a lot of new branches and logs in the dam. The beaver have been busy! That is White Birch Creek flowing over the dam. The creek continues flowing into White Sand Lake.

The view of the flowage from the beaver dam.

Two swans was the special treat of the night. We happened to be out canoeing as they were migrating through.

It was fun watching the swans and goose.

It was fun listening to them trumpet.

An active beaver dam.

The opening to Bob’s Lake with mud hens swimming.

You can tell we were in a marsh with all the red-winged blackbirds flying around.

Looking at the shoreline where the our nature trail is.

We were able to navigate along the shore line where our nature trail is. This is the view of the bog area that you can see from the nature trail.

A muskrat lodge.

The view of the wedding site from the water.

Mama goose laying on her nest.

Great view of the Fish Hatchery. Look at all that water flowing!

Ended with a great sunset from the deck of the Barn.

A beautiful day for canoeing!whitebirchvill2015-05-03T20:56:08+00:00

Getting ready to turn water on!

The snow piles are just about gone. Yipee! But there was one left in the main parking lot that was getting in the way of turning water on. So John decided to help it along 🙂
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Last snowbank on the property. Can you guess where it is.

Getting ready to turn water on!whitebirchvill2015-05-02T16:10:16+00:00

Spring is in the air.

After taking pictures of Charlie today, I took my first hike around the property. What a beautiful day; the sun is shining, the snow is melting and the birds are chirping. It’s time to start getting cleaned up for all our guests to arrive 🙂 We can’t wait to see all of you.

I enjoyed my stroll on the nature trail!

View from bird watch station #4

View from bird watch station #4

View from bird watch station #3

View from bird watch station #3.

There are still a lot of snow banks around the property that need to melt.

It would be a noisy nights sleep in the Fish Hatchery right now with all the rushing water.

View from the pergola.

White Birch Creek is flowing well this spring.

View of the flowage from Hwy K.

The ice is melting fast!

Spring is in the air.whitebirchvill2015-04-11T16:39:58+00:00

Dock Day – Sign of a season ending

The docks have been taken out and stored for another winter season. Thankfully the weather cooperated. It was supposed to be cold and rainy, but the sun was out which helped the 35 degree temp feel not so bad.

The boat station getting ready for the journey to the beach.

The crew didn’t do a very good job navigating around the tree and pulled the end of the station off.

Almost there.

1, 2 3…..heave ho and up on the beach we go.

The youngsters are exhausted and taking a break ………..

…….while the seasoned veterans keep plugging along 🙂

Floating the sections along…..

…to their winter resting place.

Dock Day – Sign of a season endingwhitebirchvill2014-10-07T14:10:40+00:00

Final voyage……

For all of our long time guests the swimming raft has made it’s final voyage. After re-weld after re-weld the pontoons will not stop taking on water. This raft has been part of the resort since I was a child. I had lots of fun times as a teenager on this raft and it was sad to see it pulled for the last time. A new raft has been purchased and will be put in the water next spring.

John arriving with the boat to transport the raft to the boat landing.

Off they go.

Randy getting the trailer ready for loading.

Here we come.

Guiding the raft onto the trailer.

Teamwork.

There she goes. Thank you for years of fun and enjoyment.

Final voyage……whitebirchvill2014-10-07T13:25:23+00:00

Wedding bells are ringing!

We spent the summer creating a new wedding ceremony site. In 2015 we will begin marketing for fall weddings at the resort. And what a better way to give it a test run than having our son, Brian, and his beautiful bride, Missy, get married at the resort. Brian and Missy met on a blind date at White Birch Village in March of 2013. They came full circle by getting married where they met. It was a beautiful fall day, the 80% chance of thunderstorms never materialized. We set up a large tent on the grassy area behind the barn and had a wonderful meal that the groom prepared. Our staff did a tremendous job working the reception. Wonderful memories were made! It was a perfect Northwoods wedding! Enjoy the pictures.

View of the ceremony site from across the pond.

View from the pergola.

With the 6 inches of rain we got the week before the wedding the flowage filled up with water to create a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony.

We ran power to the pergola so both music and a microphone can be used.

What would a White Birch Village wedding be without a white birch cross.

Ceremony site

Our son Chris walking my parents down the aisle. all the groomsmen wore hand tied fishing flies as boutonnieres that Brian had made.

The wind was blowing as Brian walked us down the aisle.

Missy’s niece and nephew were also part of the wedding party. If you don’t catch by the time you are done looking at pictures fishing was the theme throughout the wedding, which included Jackson carrying a tackle box. For the unity part of the ceremony Brain and Missy tied two cords together using a fishing knot. The fishing knot is a very simple knot that is very strong.

Missy walking down the aisle with her dad.

The bridesmaids.

The marriage blessing. Pastor Rod Hank from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church officiated the ceremony. Sue was so happy to have him here as she working with Pastor Rod at Good Shepherd in Madison.

Dad and I after the ceremony.

John walking grandma Carol down the aisle after the ceremony.

Brian and Missy with us and my parents.

Our three great kids! Proud of all of them.

The start of the nature trail was a perfect site for the tent. all the kids in attendance had fun running up the hill into the woods and sliding down. Kept them busy for hours.

Sam’s Rental in Woodruff was wonderful to work with for the reception tent.

View of the tent from Timberwolfe.

Instead of a guest book all who attended signed two canoe paddles that Brian and Missy will hang on their wall.

Making use of the cotton candy and popcorn machine; the kids enjoyed the popcorn and cotton candy that was served

The kids couldn’t wait for dessert to have cotton candy and had it for appetizers instead. Then had it again for dessert!

Adrian made over 70 cotton candies. He probably dreamt of them that night.

The groomsmen cooked the brats, hamburgers and chicken.

The beverage station. The wine was a wedding gift from one of Missy’s friends. Many different flavors to choose from including tri-berry and cool mint.

Brian and Missy are pie eaters over cake so Brian helped make 16 apple pies to be served along with the wedding cake. He had to use the ovens in Red Oaks, Musky, Balsam Fir and the lodge to get them all baked. Our polish staff got a kick out of the sign because “pie” in polish means dog.

Brian and Missy’s dance.

Mother and son dance.

Carol and Dick getting a dance in.

And to our delight Kelly and Travis are next with an October 2015 wedding!

Wedding bells are ringing!whitebirchvill2014-09-27T13:30:51+00:00

Illinois Outdoors Show and Carrie Z’s Podcast from our Resort

In May we hosted a sports writers event at the resort. Don Dziedzina and Roger Wright from Illinois Outdoors, Inc. were here. The White Birch Village TV Show that was taped while they were here is scheduled to air on Saturday July 19 at 8 AM on Comcast and Insight Cable systems on Channel 138 in all of Chicago, it’s suburbs as far west as the Rock River, the greater Rockford, Peoria, Champaign/Urbana, and Springfield area and NW Indiana and SW Michigan.

Roger’s 23 1/2 inch 6 pound small mouth bass was the success story of the weekend.

For our guests who do not live in these areas you can watch the YouTube copy of the show so you can view at your leisure and forward to family or friends if you wish. Here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJgPLY9yfEo&feature=youtu.be.

Carrie Zilka was also here who has weekly podcasts. Her podcast was so much fun to listen to. Check out the latest CarrieZ’s Hunting, Fishing & Outdoor Podcast Episode 66…..featuring White Birch Village of course! Listen to the on demand radio episode here: http://wwocz.net/ep66/

Carrie had fun catching crappies.

We hope you enjoy these as much as we did. It was a great group of sports writers to have at the resort and we are thankful for their support of what we have to offer for a vacation experience in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Illinois Outdoors Show and Carrie Z’s Podcast from our Resortwhitebirchvill2014-07-13T12:12:24+00:00

Sports Writers Weekend

We had a fun weekend enjoying several sports writers here at the resort. They arrived on Friday and we had a welcome reception for them and then gave them a tour of the resort. Thanks to the graciousness of Dick and Sue Govier we enjoyed a great dinner Friday night at Aqualand Ale House. Everyone enjoyed the two musky flights of craft beers. A total of 16 different beers were tasted. My personal favorite was the Buffalo Sweat.

On Saturday, thanks to the generousness of four of our fishing guides; Bob’s Manitowish Guide Service, Erv Keller’s Guide Service, Marty Clauson’s Guide Service and Mike Errington’s Guide Service, the writers enjoyed a day out on the water fishing our chain of lakes. Each guide took a species of fish and the writers did a 1/2 day with each guide. They fished for bass, walleye, crappies and muskies. They were very successful, hundreds of fish were caught and most released. A few walleye were kept for the writers to take home and enjoy eating. Thanks to the efforts and generousness of Jimmy Dean we ended the day with a wonderful meal at The Guides Inn.

Sunday morning a radio show was taped and a little more fishing was done, but the rain decided to change the fishing plans. The weekend was full of fish stories, comradery, and laughter. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to the stories the writers are going to tell.

Carrie Zilka loves the outdoors, everything hunting and fishing. She discovered the world of podcasts in 2007 and quickly realized there were not many that pertained to the outdoors. She will be doing a podcasts of her experience here at the resort. We look forward to seeing what she has to say. Carrie was very enthusiastic and fun to have here for the weekend. Carrie is part of AGLOW (Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers).

Carrie had fun catching crappies.

Don Dziedzina has been involved with the outdoor industry for over 35 years. He writes for the Chicago Tribune, produces and hosts Illinois Outdoors TV show, co-hosts The fishing and Outdoor radio show, and writes for Midwest Outdoors. Don is also an AGLOW writer. We enjoyed the depth of knowledge that he brought to the weekend. It was enjoyable having him here. Don taped a radio show while he was here with John and the fishing guides. Don was joined by his cameraman, Roger Wright, for the weekend. It didn’t take long for a friendly fishing competition to ensue. As you will see in the following picture Roger came out on top.

Roger’s 23 1/2 inch 6 pound small mouth bass was the success story of the weekend.

Pat Mayo from WBAY Sports came up from Green Bay with his teenage son Ian. It was truly an inter-generational weekend. Pat and Ian had so much fun meeting the guides and learning more about fishing. Ian was a trooper spending the weekend with all the adults. It was a pleasure having them join us. Pat took video footage while here and interviewed John and will be putting together a segment for their newscast. Pat and Ian caught fish, but no one shared the pictures with me so I can’t post them.

The writer from Midwest Outdoors had to cancel at the last minute, which meant there would be a guide without someone to fish with. John had the hard job of filling in. He spent Saturday morning with Bob, the afternoon with Erv and Sunday morning with Mike. He had a great time. Below are the photos of the fish he and Bob caught. I have to say I really enjoyed my walleye supper Sunday night. 🙂

Sports Writers Weekendwhitebirchvill2014-06-05T13:19:13+00:00