How fun! I had a pen pal once when I was a kid, but she only wrote to me twice. I kept writing (I'm thick like that) and after about 20 unanswered missives, I gave up.
Jane just started her own blog, so go visit her!
On My Way...
To the North Woods of Wisconsin, that is. I'm packin' up the knitting, the iPod, the camera, the corkscrew, the fishing pole and the industrial strength mosquito repellent.
It should be a good time.
It will be about a 2 day trip to get there. The Son and I are leaving early early in the a.m., for Ludington Michigan, taking the 4-hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan to get to Wisconsin. We've taken SS Badger a couple of times before across the lake, but the kids were quite small then. The Daughter is in Florida at a sorority gathering, and she'll fly to Wisconsin on Sunday. The Husband, unfortunately, is deeply embroiled in work, and has to take a pass on this year's gathering. We will miss being with him.
The place that we're gathering is Barker Lake, which doesn't appear on many maps, but is near the tiny town of Winter. There is a lot of outdoor activity up there, to go along with the mosquitoes. Lots of lakes, fishing, and so forth. The original resort and golf course were established in the 1920's by beer baron "Polack Joe" Soltis who designed it as a retreat for other Chicago area gangsters. Such history....
I come from a rather large family-- I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters, and amongst us we have 26 children ranging in age from 8 to 25. So we get together every summer for a week, and again over New Year's. When we are all able to be together with our parents, we number 45 so it's quite a gathering. We've gathered at a number of places over the years, and this will be our first at this location, although it is familiar to many of us.
When I was growing up, we would spend a week each summer at a girls' camp (Camp We-Ha-Kee; I knit you not), because it's pretty remote, and they needed to have a doctor and nurse there all the time. So my father, who is a doctor, volunteered at the camp. The girls in the family stayed in cabins with the campers, and the boys were in the doctor's cabin. As we got older, the siblings would visit Barker Lodge for a round of golf and a couple of beers. By this time I was away from home playing sailor lady, so I've never been there. My parents heard that the property had been sold, gone into disrepair, and then was purchased by someone who is reviving it. So we decided that it would be a good place to go. One of my sisters is there now, and she said it's rustic, and lots of fun, so I'm anxious to get on the road.
Some of the events we envision are a visit to the Leinenkugel Brewery, the ORIGINAL Famous Dave's, and some fishing, chatting, reading, relaxing, and a bit of work on the Mystery Shawl.
I'd better get packing!
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