Big Bay Town Park – Madeline Island, WI

Travel offers so many opportunities to enrich your life. Being open to the opportunities to experience the culture, eat the food, and talk to people can change the way you see the world. The rewards come from acting like a native. Stay off the beaten tourist paths and look for opportunities to talk to people and experience the lifestyle.  Of course along the way we can fuel our passion for photography by capturing the landscapes, culture, food, and people.   

Recently my wife and I jumped at an opportunity to experience a very different destination right here in the good old USA. As we all know there must be a million places in the US that offer us a life-enriching experience. We found Madeline Island, Wisconsin is certainly one of those uniquely beautiful places. Visiting this Great Lake Island in the Fall also opened up so many photo opportunities.  And my photography passion during our week stay was really pumped up by attending Brenda Tharp’s Creating Expressive Nature Photographs workshop at the Madeline Island School of the Arts.  The school is in a beautifully restored dairy farm situated mid-island in a lovely prairie meadow. A fantastic facility for a workshop, and Brenda’s eye for unique images left her participants with many new perspectives.

Madeline Island with its miles of sandy beaches and hiking and biking trails is the only inhabited island in the 22 Apostle Island chain. The Apostle Islands are just off the coast of Wisconsin in Lake Superior. The island is named after Madeleine Cadotte, daughter of Chief White Crane and the wife of fur trader Michael Cadotte. The Ojibwe and other natives lived on Madeline Island for hundreds of years. About the same time that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, a mission was established at LaPointe, the only town today on the 14 mile long and 3 mile wide island.  Currently, 256 people call Madeline Island home year-round but many seasonal visitors jump on board the Madeline Island Ferry to experience the island’s unique history and natural unspoiled environment. If you ever get to Northern Wisconsin, be sure to visit Madeline Island. You will not be disappointed.

Travelling as often as you can off the beaten tourist paths will truly enrich your life. And I hope wherever your journey takes you the Remarkable Photos will always be yours.

Chuck