Wisconsin Vacation (Part I)

I was lucky enough to be invited, along with any other family members able to make the trip, to a cottage (house) on Spirit Lake in north central Wisconsin, June 16 – 21, 2007. My aunt Stacey and her husband, Joe, opened their doors to 21 guests for a week of relaxation and fun. Not being a big outdoors or water person, I was curious as to how much I would enjoy the getaway. I shouldn’t have even wondered – I couldn’t have had a better time anywhere else.

I was able to hitch a ride, with my bike and way too many bags, in the pickup with my grandparents. It was a shorter drive than I would have thought. We made it to the cottage in about 6.5 hours of driving time; we’d have been there sooner if we hadn’t stopped for a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s – I hadn’t been to a Denny’s in years.

We weren’t the first to arrive, or the last, but it didn’t take long before the fun began. After exploring the disc golf course around the cottage, the steep path down to the lake (and back up), and the inflatable Playstation bobbing in the water and overrun with shouting cousins, I was content to just sit in a chair on the patio and soak up the experience. Not so for my uncle Scott. Scott was aching for a bike ride.

And I did bring my bike. With a reluctant and quick change, I was ready to go with Scott, and uncles Steve and John, followed on scooter by grandpa. Being ready to go and being able to go, turned out to be two very different things, indeed. My bike, with its skinny tires, was no match for the gravel roads on the peninsula on which the cottage hid. After half a mile I gave up. I turned around and walked/rode my bike back to the cottage, swearing both out-loud, and loudly in my head. Gravel!

I calmed down after a bit, and settled into what would become my weekly routine: eat, drink Diet Coke, eat, huff and puff up and down the hill to the lake, eat (there were a lot of snacks out and open on the kitchen counter), and chill out around the cottage watching movies and playing cards.

The rest of the week all blends together…

(Continued in Part II)