On a beautiful, if chilly, weekend in mid-May, a group of Morrie’s Luxury and Artful Living guests drove up to Birchwood, Wisconsin for an overnight weekend on a private island.

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The combination of old time charm with new luxury made for a fantastic driving experience. We met in the morning at Morrie’s Luxury Auto, and after getting everyone settled into their first car of choice, the group headed north. After bringing a few extra cars back to the warehouse, Josh and I were ready to rejoin the group. Not even 30 minutes into our adventure, misfortune had befallen us. A chunk of concrete flew into the windshield of the Land Cruiser, cracking it at the top and spiderwebbing across. Since we were already behind the rest of the group, we continued on our journey, hoping the worst was over. We made it to Hudson, where we fueled ourselves (with food) before later fueling the cars (with actual fuel). Onward!

 

The drive through Wisconsin was filled with many interesting sights to gaze upon, such as cows and fields and truck-campers for sale. Thankfully, I entertained the occupants of the Land Cruiser with my thoughtfully constructed playlist entitled “Road Trippin”. After arriving to Turtle Lake and not immediately heading to the casino, we realized we were missing a car. A few seconds later, we received the fated “help I’m broken down on a backroad in Wisconsin” call. After lots of back and forth phone calls, we were able to track down said car and its occupants. The poor Country Squire had decided it didn’t want to come with us to a private island, and gave up about halfway there. We managed to guide it to a nearby gas station, where we had to call a tow truck to take it home. After many hours of driving, we finally managed to make it to the parking lot of Stout’s Island. We then took the cars one by one to the gas station and made our banks suspicious by charging lots of 4 gallon purchases.

Cars to Stouts Island

Following the short boat ride across the water, we had arrived to the island. We were all given a quick tour of the premises and shown to our rooms, which all had incredible views. Since we were done driving for the day, it was time for our evening cocktails, followed by an island cookout for dinner that consisted of brats and burgers. After once again stuffing ourselves full of far too much Wisconsin food, we were ready for more food part 2 in the form of dessert. The lodge had prepared paper bags filled with marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate so we could make s’mores. The 8 foot long fire pit helped us all stay warm, which came in handy since it was under 40 degrees at that point. At the end of the evening (meaning 11:30PM), we all headed inside for food part 3 and drinks. There was even a roaring fire inside to keep the warmth going. The following day included a laid back morning of eating breakfast and wandering the 27 acres to find photo opportunities. After managing to get everyone back to the mainland, we started the trip back over to Minnesota. Thankfully, everything cooperated with us on Sunday, including the weather. It even got warm enough that most people were able to put the tops down on the convertibles! Although nobody wanted to give up their ride for the day, we made it back to the dealership.

 

So while we wait for the weather to warm up enough to enjoy the outdoor activities, we’ll reminisce on our northern journey to this beautiful private island.