On our way to Wisconsin

At the last minute we decided to take off for a few days and head to northern Wisconsin, Tomahawk specifically, (near) where I once lived when I was but a wee thing. Unfortunately, it is a 10 hour drive (and that is without pit stops) and we couldn't face the idea of doing the whole drive in one day--so that meant 2 days trapped in the car together on the way there AND on the way back-shudder! Here is the first stop a BP/Marathon gas station. Simon loaded up on coffee and everyone (but Thomas) made use of the facilities. About 2 hours later, we were at each others' throats and so decided another pit stop was in order. Simon and Frederick trotted along the beach while Thomas and I dozed in the car. (Well, I dozed while Thomas discovered that he could use his laptop in the car--Super Meat Boy, the adventures of a skinless, meat cube. Yes, it is disgusting to watch.) Here Simon and Frederick are going to the beach: Frederick trots along the

shore:
Big rocks everywhere; there is even one in the hotel pool (with signs plastered all over it which read "Do NOT climb on the rock!"--why do they have the rock centered in the pool if one isn't allowed to climb onto it and then jump into the water?). More beach: Finally we made it to the hotel and the best part of all, the hotel pool: Here is downtown Escanaba: Simon and Thomas headed out for a diner to rustle up some dinner while Frederick and I stayed back in the hotel room and made the room cozy (and Frederick doodled with his new markers). They ate here and were disappointed that it was NOT filled with ne'er-do-wells and outcasts but instead the usual geriatric Michiganders. Simon came back and said to me, "You have GOT to go take a drive 'downtown'--you will NOT believe what a podunk place this so-called city is." If he is appalled with this, what is he going to say when he sees Tomahawk, a town that boasts a mere 3,000 people and (according to Wikipedia) its biggest claim to fame is that it sent off a troop of volunteers during WWI? (Oh, yes, and Einar Ingman, a native of Tomahawk, did come home from Korea with a medal of honor for valor--so there is that.)