4th of July in Wisconsin

For 4th of July, we decided to meet Beth and Mike in Iron River, Wisconsin for camping and exploring the CAMBA mountain biking trails - billed as "the premier system of off-road bike trails in the Midwest." We arrived at Twin Bear campground sometime Friday afternoon. It was an interesting place. There were so many RVs crammed into such a small place that you could barely turn around. Our little tent site was right next to the lake and probably the best site in the whole place. Our first (and for some of us, last) ride was an official disaster. The trail was poorly marked and grown over. The mosquitoes and ticks were awful. Jon fell off his bike and hurt his knee right away and I wasn't feeling that good to start with. We got quite lost but we were finally rescued by some friendly young ATV riders who showed us back to the main road. Beth and Mike spend the rest of the evening picking hundreds of ticks off the dogs. The campground had a nice fireworks show and we had a prime spot for watching. Saturday we decided to take it a little easier and explore the nearby town of Bayfield. It was a cute little town. We walked around by the water and found a small dog friendly cafe where we had a nice lunch (or in Beth's case, ice cream) outside. Beth and Mike went biking again when we got back and the second trail was just as poorly marked and the bugs were even worse. I'm not sure we will go back again, but it was nice to spend the weekend with Beth and Mike.