Up North

There's no question that life in Northern Wisconsin is definitely worlds away from the hustle and bustle of life in DC, and as much as there are things I tease Gretchen about in that regard, in reality that's mostly a good thing. When she was growing up and spending summers at their cabin, her Dad would drive up from Madison on the weekends and at a certain point when he was driving through the North Woods he would talk about crossing the "tension line" where the stress of the work week would disappear. With the exception of the stress of fighting off vicious mosquitoes (which, truth be told, we have plenty of here too), it is a much more relaxing up there. For example, our week consisted of...

Gretchen doing lots of grilling:



Stopping to pick up the newspaper at a gas station that also sells bait (unless the leeches are used for medicinal purposes):



Going for a boat ride:



Eating at places where Mädchen wanted to walk around and "see reindeer" on the wall and wave hello to them:



Playing on the dock:



Interacting with the local fauna:





And spending a quarter or two on some genuine excitement at the Rhinelander Airport: