June 27 & 28
Camp Brosius, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
- About: Camp Brosius has provided outdoor adventures to families and students for nearly 100 years. Located on the shores of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, this treasured tradition is waiting for you! During family camp, you design your own vacation. Pick from eight different week-long options [accommodating around 100 campers each week] or a Labor Day Family Escape. Your adventure begins on a summer Sunday afternoon of your choice. Upon your arrival, between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., counselors will direct you to your lodging and help you unload your car. Vacation packets will be in your accommodation and include weekly schedules, required forms, and more. Programming is offered beginning Sunday evening. Until then, you may canoe, sail, dock your personal watercraft (if you bring it along), and take advantage of all that the lake-front property has to offer. At 5:00 p.m. you will be served your first home-cooked buffet-style meal. Immediately following dinner, staff will present to you an entertaining vacation orientation. Children will meet their counselors and divide into groups based on age. Afterwards, guests sing, interact, learn Elkhart Lake’s history, and bond during the opening campfire. Camp Brosius is owned by Indiana University and is managed by the IU School of Health& Human Services at IU’s Indianapolis campus. Accommodations are available to the public, including (but not limited to) IU alumni and friends (campbrosius.iu.edu).]
Where we were:
[The camp layout – can you find our cabin, Rappaport?]
[We left home on June 27 for what ultimately turned out to be a 474.7 mile trip in about 7 1/2 hours to Sheboygan. This was our breakfast stop in Chippewa Falls . . . ]
[This has been our regular night over in Sheboygan before we check into camp at noon on Sundays . . . ]
[My roommates, Katie (who from early childhood has played the role of Rita’s granddaughter) and sister-in-law Rita, were concerned that the air conditioning was working too well in our room . . . ]
[The view from our room Sunday morning as the sun rose over Sheboygan . . . ]
[Rita’s night shirt . . . ]
[Kathy Gross, a camper last year, couldn’t join us this year but sent this for Rita . . . ]
[My roomies, sacking it in. For actual sleeping purposes, of course, Rita moved over with Katie while the Super and I shared . . . ]
[Before heading for camp, we always car cruise Sheboygan. A little marine haze over Lake Michigan that morning . . . ]
[We could hear boats “out there” and were wondering how they could see anything?]
[And always be on the alert for the dreaded Cheesehead!]
[Eerie . . . ]
[The Super exiting the passenger side of our car in a mutinous move to become driver while I was photo opting . . . ]
[Lakeshore property on the channel . . . ]
[Blue Harbor Resort . . . ]
[As the haze began lifting . . . ]
[Along the boardwalks . . . ]
[The sign tells you everything you need to know . . . ]
[And the neighboring yacht club . . . ]
[And Monarchs were hanging out at the beach . . . ]
[A boat in the mist? Looks like a scene from Jaws!]
[The public landing . . . ]
[I’ve displayed this in previous years. A wooden shipwreck from days of yore . . . ]
[The beach . . . ]
[Self-explanatory . . . ]
[Generally, our first photo in Elkhart Lake, enroute to the Tiki Bar on Elkhart Lake . . . ]
[Even as a longtime lake person, I always love our opening view here . . . ]
[For a 300-acre lake, it attracts a lot of visitors due to its proximity to Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Sheboygan, and the mid-size cities of Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, and Appleton located on the nearby 137,600 acre Lake Winnebago . . . ]
[Let the good times roll . . . ]
[We stop here every year before heading over to camp at 1:00 pm. It’s adjacent to the town of Elkhart Lake (population 1,000) here, on the NE side of the lake. Camp Brosius is on the NW side of the lake . . . ]
[Mr. Excitement!]
[Why yes, my Tiki Bar lunch is always a Bloody Mary . . . ]
[Walking back up from the Tiki Bar . . . ]
[The Super leads the way through Victorian Village . . . ]
[A couple more views to warm the cockles of your hearts . . . ]
[Heading to the car in the parking betwixt Victoria Village and the classic Siebkens resort . . . ]
[Stopping to enjoy the wildlife . . . ]
[Camp! We beat Katie and Rita, so joined camp staff in greeting them . . . ]
[You are greeted with the Camp Brosius song, as displayed here in a video I took in 2013.]
[Rita broke her kneecap in two a month and a half ago. Still hobbled by it, the 17-year Katie did most of their driving on the 390-mile trip from Nashville, Indiana . . . ]
[For transportation around camp, Rita ordered up a golf cart . . . ]
[The Super enjoyed her role as chauffeur . . . ]
[Our cabin, Rappaport – 3 bedrooms (each with a sink), 7 beds, living room, kitchen, screen porch, bathroom, separate shower – all the comforts of home!]
[The kitchen – we get three meals a day at the mess hall, and yet manage to stock the larder in our “house” (OK, it’s mostly wine) . . . ]
[The Super’s and my bedroom . . . ]
[The gardens down on the mess hall level . . . ]
[End of the first day of camp – the camp fire, right outside our cabin door . . . ]
Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business. ~ Dave Barry
Up Next: Continuing camp . . .
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