Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

   This year was, by far, THE BEST Valentine's Day ever!!  Why, you ask?  Because, the Saturday before, my hubby suggested we take a second trip back up to Bayfield and explore the ice caves.  You see, this winter is the first time in 5 years that the National Lakeshore has been open to the public.  Lake Superior is thick enough for walking on.  It's 95% frozen; normally it's about 40% frozen.  We have Mother Nature to thank!  The two polar vorteces (plural of vortex) have been the major contributor.
   We didn't plan for this trip to coincide on V-Day; it just happened.  It was my weekend off from work, and the last weekend before hubby started his new job.  We did have a heck of a time finding a hotel for this past weekend with it being a "holiday" and snowmobilers staying up in the North Woods.  Hubby's not very spontaneous, so I've got to take these moments when they happen, hahaha!  We decided to go for it and make it happen, since it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
   Here are some pictures from our adventure.  I wish we could've explored more, but  we were losing daylight and we had our dog, Cole, with us.  We didn't get to Meyers Beach Road and Hwy 13 until about 3:15, so we didn't have as many hours as I would have liked.

This is the "Crevasse."  The cliffs dwarf us human beings!

Looking out onto Lake Superior from inside "Crevasse."

The northeastern side of "Crevasse."

Eagle Island

   To anyone in the area, I highly recommend checking this out!!  Hurry!  Before the ice melts.  For more information, visit the national park website.  As of Sunday, there have been an estimated 64,000 visitors since the caves opened mid-January!!!!  That's HUGE!!!!!  Annually, they get about 36,000 visitors.  I've read in a couple of articles, that social media, such as Facebook, has been the impetus for this surge of people.  Pictures are getting posted, friends are getting jealous, and people are making the trek to a small lakeside town in northwestern Wisconsin.