Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: Eight dove in the water for the "Big Swim" across the lake. There were 5 first timers. Most afternoons in the summer you will see heads bobbing across the lake for anyone brave enough to do the "Big Swim" The trusty boat spotters staying close to the swimmers in case anyone needed to jump on and to keep other... Read more

Excerpt: After 3 days of rain it was time for some activities outside of the resort and the 4 walls of the cabin. Antiquing in Ironwood at Dan's and everyone found something they could not live without at a good price and then it was off to The Black River Road and Potowatomi Falls. Sarah was happy to be outside... Read more

Excerpt: It has been a very wet and soggy 4th of July. Fireworks and Ski show in Minocqua canceled two nights in a row due to heavy rain. Folks have been having fun regardless in the rain. Nothing was stopping Rich from grilling hamburgers flood or no flood. He would have been grilling in a boat if needed The spirit... Read more

Excerpt: The pre party get together waiting for Gloria and Rich to arrive for their surprise 35th anniversary party. Do you think 7 bottles of wine would be enough? A very surprised Rich and Gloria arriving back from dinner with their family Eric, Alaina, Sarah and little Amelia who planned the party without their knowledge. Way to go Kim and... Read more

Excerpt: First day of vacation, first cast and first fish. Abigail Hebert fishing with her dad Charles, caught her first fish on the first cast. Dad is a little jealous that Abigail has caught a fish bigger than he has so far and Abigail is not sure she wants to go swimming in the lake if this is what she... Read more

Excerpt: Reading on the internet we came up with a recipe for poison ivy eradication. The ingredients for 2 potions were purchased Troy trying out the 1st potion. If you smell vinegar around the resort stay clear you are close to the poison ivy. 1 gallon vinegar, 1 cup salt, 1 tbl spoon dish soap. So far we have seen... Read more

Excerpt: What in the world is going on here? All I know is Steve and Troy took my camera and told me they took some pics. I believe it involves a trip to Steve's Swamp for a pole of some kind for Eagles Nest. What this develops into and will the police pull over Steve's car remains in question. How... Read more

Excerpt: We have a brand new BBQ restaurant in Minocqua in the old Baker's House building. We stopped in last night for quite a dinner featuring a few different sauces, Brisquet and pulled pork. For out family of 5 we came out at 35 dollars and that included feeding a 15 year old 48 hours of cooking on the real... Read more

Excerpt: This sounds naughty, but to a muskie fisherman I think it makes sense. One of our guests Charles Hebert has an online tackle store and has these lures on sale. I question where they got their name, there has to be a story behind these lures. So if you are a muskie fisherman or anyother fisherman that spends too much... Read more

Excerpt: Sometimes it is good to take a walk about and see what is new at the resort. Dave Black Senior walking with Craig to see the new roofs and other things that have been completed this year. Dave spent til the mid 60's with his brother Craig keeping the resort up with their parents Millie and Maynard til he... Read more

Excerpt: 3 am came around and a lot of banging happened on our deck. I jumped out of bed ran to the window to see what obnoxious raccoon was paying us a visit. The visitor was a bit bigger, hairier and black. I tried to catch a pic of our visitor but my flash kept going off in the window... Read more

Excerpt: I had a special delivery from Springfield Illinois brought by Linda. Michelle Tunget sent up some of her extra special chocolate chip cookies. We have been trying for years to get Michelle's recipe but she is not sharing. I thought maybe she would have included the recipe after all these years but it was not in the bag. Maybe... Read more

Excerpt: Troy noticed we were missing a boat for a few days. Most of the time when a green boat goes missing we get calls from neighbors as everyone knows a John Deer Green Boat belongs to the resort. Big Bertha has not been painted and no calls came in. It had wandered all the way to Bueana Vista on... Read more

Excerpt: Howard and Jean Berchtold arrived to enjoy their 34 summer at Black's Cliff. They started coming in 1977 and enjoyed many a canoe trip in the 70's with Trudy down the Tomahawk river with their kids. Now they come each July enjoying 2 weeks with their kids, grandkids and now great grand kids. Here in June they came up... Read more

Excerpt: The Eastern end of the Black Family arrived to enjoy a week in the Northwoods. Dave and Bonnie spent the week introducing Ellanora to all sorts of new sights in the woods. They took a trip to The St Germain Flea Market on Monday returning with some yard art that will be turning heads in Washington DC. The St... Read more

Excerpt: We found some time to head up to Black River Harbor on Lake Superior. The Harbor is about an hour and 15 min or so from the resort. Head up to Ironwood take a quick stop at the coolest cheapest antique store in the Northwoods at Dan's Antiques, grab a quick lunch at Subway to take up to the... Read more

Excerpt: Any ideas on what bird this is, Troy is not sure. Some type of warbler Close up of the mystery bird In other news, Birchwood was the winner of a King Bed upgrade. We managed to squeeze this King in the big bedroom along with the twin. A bit of space is missed in the bedroom but most folks... Read more

Excerpt: We had quite a storm blow through and afterwards an amazing rainbow appeared a complete on and a partial one, but I could not fit it all in my camera lens. There is a 2nd rainbow forming in front of the original bright one. Wish I had known there were rain drops on my lens while I was shooting... Read more

Excerpt: That fresh country air can be detected through the resort right now. A great week of fishing by everyone in the resort has one result..... a dumpster full of fish. Troy has put bleach, vinegar, baking soda and now the last resort, tarping the dumpster trapping the Ode to Fish smell in the dumpster. This is 95 percent successful... Read more

Excerpt: This is the only picture needed today to prove THE SUN IS FINALLY OUT! I believe the gloom set in June 5th or so and it has taken this long for the sun to return. Everyone will be soaking up some much needed vitamin D today For the fishermen out there I had this pic sent to me from... Read more