Your hosts during your stay at The Acanthus Inn are Walter and Judy Backlund.

Walter is an accomplished chef who has owned two French Italian fusion restaurants one in Sturgeon Bay and one in Hurley, WI. He has worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years. In addition, he has worked as a florist, in set design, as a stage hand, in construction and as a hard rock miner. He has owned and operated two antique shops and continues to have a love for fine art, quality furnishings and antique lighting which is evidenced throughout the Inn. Walter has completed degrees in both Nursing and Psychology and currently works as an RN on the Spinal Cord Injury unit of the Milwaukee, VA Hospital.

Judy has worked as an RN in ICU for over 20 years. She has six years experience as a recovery room nurse and currently works at Froedtert Hospital doing sedation in radiology. She graduated from St. Scholastica Nursing School in Duluth, Minn. with a BS in Nursing and has traveled extensively since. Her hobbies are downhill skiing, gardening, caring for her bunnies and interior decorating. Judy has done all the decorative stenciling and creative sewing that now grace many of the Rooms in the Inn.