Anyways, the first order of business after arriving at my parents' last Thursday was to prepare for a trip Up North. Nothing to exciting to report about this. My friends, Julia, Zurab and Yury (Zurab is from formerly Soviet Georgia), had prepared their stuff the night before, and came to pick me up in their car. Since the place we were going to up north is fully furnished, all I needed was a bag with some extra clothes. I took more than I needed.
Arriving in Wausaukee, everything was prepared for us. In contrast to winter months, we could immediately settle in to the place, since it wasn't necessary to heat the building first. During winter, on the other hand, you have to have the old electric heaters running at least 4 hrs before the place is habitable. See my winter travel diary if you want to know more about visiting north country in the winter.
Here you see a picture of the cabin - as you can see, a "real" log cabin.
I've been all over Marinette county, and besides the couple of similar looking buildings that relatives have built, there aren't many homes like this. The logs, besides being rustic looking, are also excellent insulators. The white stuff you see in between the logs is a type of mortar. The original part on the left was built in 1980. The original logs and mortar are still in pretty good shape. The right side was added on by the Pashek brothers, a nearby building company (I tried to google them online, but couldn't find them).
Enjoying some fine food prepared by Julia - the best quiche I've maybe ever tasted - we relaxed during the first evening. The next day was our swimming adventure on Wolf Lake. This featured some muck-walking, to the amusement of all 4 of us. Did you know that the bottom sediment of such northern lakes as this one is composed largely of plant detritus and ground mussels and clams? I happily happily demonstrated the application of mud to myself and others in the group.
I'll spare you the rest of my northern adventures, since they involved mostly me working around the place to "pay rent". Unfortunately my friends had to leave already after 1 1/2 days, far too short a time. They appeared to like it there and I suppose we'll return again. And again unfortunately, I didn't think to take any digital pictures while they were up there ... bummer!
In Milwaukee on July 4th, I got together with my friend and fellow blogger, Steve Schroeder. Besides gambling a lot, he has also surpassed me in terms of blogging volume. Here is a picture of us two taking a break from watching the Brewers and babysitting. Actually, Theresa, Steve's wife, was doing most of the babysitting. I tickled the baby a little bit and coo-ed to him, but I think he was more interested in food. Below you see a picture of me and Steve, followed by Theresa and little red-eyed Alex.
Steve actually did gamble a little on his laptop that day, but didn't appear to win much. Checking his blog shows that he lost $2. Well Steve, you could have blamed me for distracting you from your favorite past time. Then again, I could say you should be happy it was only $2 you lost that day!
During my visit to the Schroeders', we were also entertained by some nice views of the sunset in Milwaukee.
So as you can see, I got around a lot over the weekend and saw a lot of people. That was the main objective. Plus, I never once used the computer (except to help some friends, and my mother, with their questions). I was very pleased with this!
During the return flight(s) to California, I had the opportunity to see my tax dollars at work in the Milwaukee Airport - in the form of extra security staff. These guys checked me for bombs like nobody's business. I got "selected" for a "special" security check consisting of frisking and wanding my entire body. Maybe it was because I presented California ID - I don't know. The TSA guy, after he finished wanding and frisking me, made me take off my belt buckle, and turn up the waistline of my pants! It was so ridiculous. I wanted to yell at the guy but it's like in a bad movie, where the cops have you, and you know if you speak up, they'll only treat you worse.
Don't get me wrong - I don't think those people working for TSA, or cops in general are bad people. It's just that these types of experiences, coupled with things I have heard and read about, like incidents of police brutality in Oakland, only reinforce my opinion that we live in a police state. p.s. I know the girl pictured in the linked CNN article - the article is true.
OK, I went off on a mini tangent. When I start talking about politics, I tend to do that. The next blog will be from California again. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I'll try to pick something good. Thanks for reading! p.s. leave a comment please - it helps motivate me to keep writing.
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