Three Days by the Lake

We left Rhinelander at 9:30 on Saturday morning. We drove through Green Bay and picked up lunch at Arby's, then zipped down 43 to Glendale, Wisconsin.

We arrived at Bill & Annemarie's at about 1:45, unloaded our luggage, and reloaded for Irish Fest.

Bill & I dropped off the women and children, and headed downtown to park the cars. When we got there, we visited for a bit with Paul & Marrianne and Mark & Alice. Soon, they had to leave for Uncle Mark's 50th high school reunion.

We did arts and crafts, watched Irish dancers, tug-of-war, saw an interactive play with Sister Bernie and her Bingo. We played environmentally educational games and watched currach races. We saw parades of clans and family reunions, and heard all manner of Irish music.

Paul & Marianne returned, and we ate corned beef and potatoes fair-style (although we won't name names, some ate Italian and Greek foods.)

We finished the evening watching a gay comedian/storyteller talk about his Irish Milwaukee upbringing. (And a walk back to the cars.)

Sunday began with Annemarie & Jacob going to an early Mass at their parish's sister parish, where Annemarie helps out. The rest of us went to an 8:30 Mass at a nearby parish.

We drove (surprisingly easily) to Miller Park in order to catch some batting practice. We planned to tailgate after the game, with Paul & Marianne coming for supper. Except for Roger Clemens, everything went well.

Bill suggested that the wind might be right for a sailboat excursion. So Bill & The Ronyak's (performing nightly at the Eagles Ballroom) drove back to the lake. The wind was almost too light to sail, but we got to see the sun set behind the Milwaukee skyline from Lake Michigan.

We played a board game at Scobey-Polacheck's. And after the kids went to bed, the adults visited.

The next morning, the kids played outside and swam on their lake. I read and looked up a few geocaches for our drive to Green Bay. We went over to Scobey's for a picnic on the screen porch, and headed North.

We stopped in Knellsville, a village mostly erased by the freeway, in Ozaukee County. We saw the War Memorial at Sheboygan City/County. And the Visitor Center at Manitowoc City/County.

Dave & Nicky fed us in Green Bay. I helped Dave install his new refrigerator's ice-maker water line. We packed up Mary Baxter for a week Up North. And ice-cream at Marty's in Birnamwood rounded out a nice three-day vacation.