Wisconsin
42°30' N to 47°3' N and 86°49' W to 92°54' W
Getting older means realizing that if you see the people you love once a year, if you're lucky, you might get to see them 20 or 30 more times in your life. Time is the only currency we have that we can never get back or make more of, so we spend it wisely. On our way across the United States we decided to spend a lot of time with our loved ones. This is a wild decision after spending a year outside of the country as we returned completely different people with wildly altered world views. Crashing back into old familiar guest rooms and sitting at well-known dinner tables helped us to see just how far our wings have spread. It also helped us to see with a startling clarity just how much we have changed.
After adventuring north with Sara and Aaron, Krystal’s mom picked us up at the Dollar General in St. Germain. We spent the afternoon in beach chairs soaking up the lake for a few more minutes before heading to the Upper Peninsula.
As we all grow older and wiser we have started a tradition of heading to a small cabin on the shores of Lake Superior in the old copper mining port town of Ontonagon. If you have never been to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan we recommend heading that way after the snow melts and after the black flies die off. The rivers casually flow through ancient carved beds, with water stained by the tannins of tree leaves. Lake Superior is the deepest of the Great Lakes and her shores are studded with agates, driftwood, and the crisp air from far northern lands. The western shores of the Upper Peninsula are also home to volcanic rocks named Yooper lights. The presence of sodalite, a fluorescent mineral in the rocks, shines brightly under UV light. We shared the magic lore of the rocks with dear little ones in Hawaiʻi and spent our days on a mission to find some to share. Armed with rudimentary tools and unshakable spirits we totally found a few!
There isn’t a ton to do in Ontonagon, so it is best to space things out. This visit we made a stop at the preserved Old Victoria mining village. A hardy woman of Finnish descent guided us through the straw beds, working phonograph, a wood-fired sauna, and stories of lives lived in the cold and relentless work of copper mining. We missed fresh-baked cinnamon buns in the wood hearth by a week!
The rest of our days were spent reading on the beach, meandering through the forest, and eating great food. We had a grill and were gifted three giant porterhouse steaks. Wow! We also picked up a $1 puzzle at the thrift store and it proved to be really hard. After three weeks of working on it every morning we were able to finish it and it was only missing one piece, which we are sure is on the floor at the cabin. We also did an enormous amount of mushroom hunting and collected chanterelles, hedgehogs, and an abundance of lobster mushrooms. If ever in Iron Mountain we recommend finding Mushroom Matt for a download of epic mycelial knowledge.
From the Upper Peninsula we headed to the booming metropolis of Wausau to spend a few days with Krystal’s aunt Angie, Mark, and their dog who we like to call Muffuletta. Sharing stories of family memories and spending time poolside with cousins made the time speed right past. Aunty Angie was able to share pictures of Krystal’s dad when he was little and added more details to the tapestry of the family history.
We headed farther down state to spend some time with Krystal’s dad. Serendipitously, Aunty Lee was also in town from Oklahoma. Mary suggested photos and everyone agreed!
Our days in the forest of Montello were punctuated with grilled turkey, millions of hummingbirds, and really epic Amish produce. We squared away the guest room, so if anyone is headed to stay things should be a little more cozy. Krystal was able to go with her Aunt Joyce to the Red Granite Correctional facility to spend some time with her older brother. Mary also interviewed Krystal’s dad! We thought the second edition of the family video was ready to roll out, and now we have so much more to add! Dennis and Sandy drove us to Madison for the next leg of the adventure.
In Madison we spent the night at the Governor’s Mansion Inn which was a total score and highly recommended for your midwest lodging needs. We needed a few beers and, we didn’t know it, also some poutine! The capital is gorgeous and easy to navigate on foot thanks to the University.
The next morning found Krystal digging through the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. She unearthed old records for the orphanage where her father was raised that looked eerily similar to the records we found in Palermo for the institute her great grandmother was abandoned at. At the end of the day we are all connected in patterns and ways that are super haunting and logical if we are brave enough to look.
We took the Badger Bus from Madison to Milwaukee and it totally rocked. The agenda in Milwaukee quickly filled up with really wonderful adventures that included visiting the grave sites of Krystal’s Sicilian family; a lovely lunch with Ginger, a second cousin; and meeting up with Aunty Teddy, Krystal’s grand aunt. While in Milwaukee we rented a car from the Enterprise on Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee and it was the absolute BEST rental car agency either of us has ever had the fortune of engaging with. We actually look forward to returning and doing business with them again in the future. No joke.
In the middle of it all was our one year wedding anniversary! To celebrate we headed to a free kayak rental stand on the shores of the Horicon Marsh just after sunrise. We were pleasantly surprised to find a seaworthy tandem kayak, life vests, paddles, and an accessible boat launch. The boat launch was epic! Seriously. We set the boat down, sat in, and rolled it off into the marsh. We had a blast spending some time on the water celebrating a whirlwind of a year.
We made our way to the Intermodal Station and secured two $25 tickets on the Amtrak from Milwaukee to Chicago. We are grateful for the train, but wow does the US have a long way to go in upgrading infrastructure! A clunky bump down the tracks at sunset put us back at Sara and Aaron’s house just in time for some homemade Panang curry. They are seriously the absolute best friends in the whole world. The next morning found us trundling through O’Hare at the crack of dawn for a direct flight to SFO. Next stop: California!
