July 24, 2012
In any trip there will inevitably come a day when you awake
and the excitement and sense of adventure you had every other morning seems to
be sleeping in a bit longer than usual. Perhaps it is just taking a few days
off and will come back again, but usually it signifies the adventurer is
growing weary of the nomadic life and wants to head for home. For all of us,
with the possible exception of Owen (who at this point probably only knows this
nomadic lifestyle), that day came today.
We woke up early, packed up the tent and were on the road
before 9:00, a new trip early. Owen fell into his morning nap right away, as
always, but soon Haifa and Zaid joined him. After a long 5 hours on the road we
finally stopped at our new campground. For some reason, I was unable to find
the energy to even take the tent and poles out of the bag. It took me about an
hour to put up the tent, as I took long breaks after every step of the way. The
thought of taking the tent down again tomorrow and then putting it up in the
afternoon proved to be too much and so we have decided to make tomorrow an
extra hotel night.
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| Zaid and I relaxing by the riverfront at our campsite in Brunet Island State Park |
Our feelings about being on the road are in no way meant to
be a judgement on the state, or people, of Wisconsin. Wisconsin, for me at
least, has been a revelation – it is a wonderful State, full of beautiful and
varied landscapes and the nicest people way have had the pleasure of meeting at
any point on our stay. We drove from Superior to Brunet Island State Park, just
North of Eau Claire yesterday and had a long day driving to Potawatomi State
Park on the western shore of Green Bay on Lake Michigan today. Both of these
State Parks have proven to be wonderful places, located in Boreal Forests and
staffed with the friendliest and most cheerful Park Rangers of all parks. The
Ranger at Brunet Island gave Zaid an explorer’s package, complete with a Smokey
the Bear stuffed animal, which Zaid eschewed his usual Duck (Ba-Ta) for. Zaid
got to keep the activity books, and a few supplies, but had to return Smokey
for another child to enjoy later.
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| Zaid throwing rocks into Green Bay on Lake Michigan |
The drive today, while long and draining on us all, provided
a wonderful change of scenery from the Western edge of the State through the
city of Green Bay and into the Michigan Lake zone. Along the way we passed through a number of
small towns with familiar names: Owen, Abbotsford, Wittenberg (the last name of
family friends), Caroline (my mother’s name), Denmark, Luxembourg, and
Brussels. It became quite an interesting game by the end, trying to guess where
in Europe we would end up next!
We had planned to stop for lunch at a park in Green Bay but
were forced to change our plans after we exited the city without having seen
even a city bench to rest on. Green Bay is, by FAR, the most blue collar city
we have passed through on this trip. You could see the poverty come out at you
from the moment we entered the city until we exited out the eastern edge. It
makes me quite curious to see Detroit and the surrounding ghost towns.
Tomorrow we are planning on a scenic drive down Lake
Michigan to Port Washington, just North of Milwaukee. The area promises
numerous sandy swimming beaches and sounds like just the kind of relaxing place
we need to re-energize ourselves. We are still very excited about our 3 nights
in Chicago and fully expect to get a second wind as we enter the Windy City. I
hope Chicago holds a big enough wind to keep us going for the 3-4 days we have
planned to get from there to Toronto.
Well, that is all for now. I head back to my amazing
Wisconsin beer (they have great beer here; it is not just a myth). Tonight it
is Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale by New Glarus Brewing Co. (one of the top 10
breweries in the world last year).
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