A Forray Near the Michigan Border

Son had his second to last game today. I guess the town was only about a mile and a half from the Michigan border. I briefly toyed with the idea of driving across the Michigan border with them just so we could say we've been to Michigan, but we decided to wait until we could take Cheesehead with too.

Hurley was supposed to be about a two hour drive from home, so we had to leave bright and early. I had to make all 3 meals before 10 am this morning. I didn't want to pay through the nose eating out later, eating at home is healthier anyway.

We left the house a little later than I wanted to, but what else is new? I'm used to flying out the door at the last minute. It was only 20 minutes off of the target time so it really wasn't a big deal.

On the way to the game, we drove through Minoqua which we frequent quite often. (It's the site of my favorite fish fry restaurant Tula's.) As the sights and smells assailed my senses I found myself wishing we had left the house early enough to be able to stop to enjoy the festivities. What was going on? Apparently it's some kind of festival called Beef-O-Rama. I'm quite surprised that Cheesehead wasn't aware of this festival.



The town was bustling with activity everywhere your eyes went. During the summer it is a tourist mecca of the northwoods, but this time of year I'm just not used to seeing SO many people! Even during the summer I can't recall seeing throngs of people on every street. There were floats, extra statues that usually aren't in those places, and tents and cars just about everywhere you looked. I saw banners displaying events that were happening throughout today. I was dying to go to a good art fair, I haven't been to one in AGES! There was one right off of Highway 51 so I could only dream and drool as we continued on our way to the game. I kept driving wistfully glancing at the people meandering through Torpy Park.

The smells were exquiste too. Everywhere you drove throughout the town you could smell things being grilled or cooked. Oh man, I sure was getting hungry. Good thing I packed sandwiches so I didn't have to get out of the van with the kids or we may have never left. I reminded son to eat his lunch before we got to the game, Peanut saved hers for eating during the game. It was quite a nice money saver too.

As painful as it was to ignore the fun-filled activity in Minoqua, we drove on. I wish we had put the pads in his pants last night so I wouldn't have had to listen to the complaints about twisted belts. I got a bit annoyed. He has been putting his own pads in his pants for a couple of years now, you'd think he'd be used to it by now.



I tried to distract myself from the whining and complaining by looking at the beautiful fall colors that filled all of the trees around us. Even through the foggy haze and gloomy skies, the colors were bright and vibrant. Brilliant hues covered the branches everywhere I looked. Scarlet reds, blaze oranges, golden yellows, and emerald greens shined through the gloom to lift my spirits and keep me driving on. I wish my camera was good enough to do these trees justice.

We reached Hurley right before noon, the target time for being there. I guess I forgot to take into account that we could cut a few miles off of the map quest directions I looked up. It's a good thing we were there a bit early too since we had a few uniform issues that we needed to resolve.

The day was supposed to reach between 60 and 70, but I was glad that we had brought our jackets with us to the game. The air was wet and humid making even warmer than usual temperatures feel fairly cool. I had also brought plenty of activities to keep Peanut busy during warm-up and the game as well as umbrellas and a blanket. I felt like such a good little girl scout today!

It was another excellent game. I couldn't help but notice as the first half rolled on, how the fog was enveloping the field. You could see waves of fog rolling through the sky like low flying clouds slowly encapsulating everyone. It was difficult to see all of the players through the fog when it reached it's worst. It got so bad it started to remind several of us of those horror movies about fog.



It felt so chilly at half time, several of us headed out to a nearby gas station. We wanted be a little bit more comfortable, if only for a few minutes. I had to buy hot chocolate while I was there the air was so chilly.



By the end of the game the drizzle in the air must have taken some of the fog out of the air and it became easier to see once again. I found myself feeling extremely thankful that we had thought to bring umbrellas.



As we headed out of town we just had to make a quick stop by the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park by their courthouse. The kids were fascinated by the tank and the helicopter that were displayed there. They wondered out loud how the people managed to get into the tank. I said that was a very good question and I had no idea... a ladder maybe?

Even though it was a lot of driving for one day we arrived home in fairly good spirits but too tired to get much of anything done. I think we're going to have a movie night tonight and I'll get some work done tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy