Last Friday, we enjoyed a fun day trip exploring Lake Wissota State Park. We bought a WI state parks pass back in May, and I have really enjoyed using it thus far. I would definitely say it is worth the money because there are SO many places to explore! This particular park was about an hour drive for us, and I had no idea how much was there! I really hope to return there and to camp there as well some day. This park has SO much to offer, and I think it is so important to utilize the amazing places in our own backyards that are COVID safe to visit.
I didn't do much research before we left. I can be a bit of an extreme planner, so sometimes I allow myself the FREEDOM of being more spontaneous and impromptu. These little day trips are the perfect opportunity to do so. I briefly looked at the park website and map to see generally what was there, but I didn't plan anything out in detail.
We left our home around 10 am and hit the road. The drive there was BEAUTIFUL--filled with rolling fields, farms, and beautiful scenery. It's also fun to go somewhere you have never been before. During this up and down pandemic time, I find I need that stimulation and ALL of us need a change of scenery every few days.
As we pulled into the park entrance, I quickly realized this is a BIG place with lots to do! I observed they had a campground, canoe rental, TONS of trails (including a wildflower one I would love to go back and explore) and tons of space to spread out and enjoy nature, picnicking, and beautiful Lake Wissota. I had forgotten to download a park map, so we just played it by ear and started driving around.
As we drove around the park road, we saw the lake. It was SO pretty and we decided to pull off at an overlook. We then noticed there was a picnic area and lake trails there to explore. We ended up leaving the car there, putting on our bug spray and sunscreen, and walking for about an hour.
Walking along the trail, we saw so much beautiful scenery and wildflowers in bloom.
And gorgeous views of the woods and lake. You can see it was a perfect blue sky, cotton candy cloud day!
We decided we would come back and go the lake access portion of the trail after we had our picnic because we all love seeing water. We walked about thirty minutes on the lake trail. I was happy that there weren't many bugs at all! We then came to this sign...First time to look at the map that day. :) We decided we would go off on one of the nature trails a little further then turn back around to head to the picnic area. All in all, we walked about an hour. It was very hot, so I really appreciated the trees, the shade, and the lack of hills on the trials we were on!
The picnic area was really nice. Very shady with gorgeous lake views. We really enjoyed having our picnic here!
The park even provided a stand for you to prop your camera on take an awesome selfie with the lake backdrop. We of course had a lot of fun with this!
After our picnic, we walked down to the lakeside to get a closer peek.
The water was so pretty, and there were lots of boats out that day too.
After we left the lake, we were all pretty spent. We decided we would head out and stop at Josef's Bakery in Chippewa Falls on our way home. We visited this wonderful little spot back in March on a date night. I couldn't WAIT to go back. They have the most delightful cheesecake "cupcakes." We all masked up to go in to choose our cheesecakes. I walked out with a key lime. They also have breads and buns there that look phenomenal. This will always be a pit stop for me if I am in that neck of the woods.
All in all, this was a perfect mini road trip day. We were back home by around 2:30 pm and it was such a fun little adventure for us. As we are about halfway through the summer now, I do hope we can squeeze some more park adventures in even up through the early fall.
In the meantime, I leave on Thursday for my first real, flying on a plane out of state trip since last OCTOBER!!! I am prepared and ready for a BIG adventure!