So, we went up north for New Years...

This update will likely be short, but sweet. Hopefully.

So, on Friday evening after Jen was finished with work, we picked her up, filled up on gas (we luckily* were borrowing Matt's parents car) and headed out to a clear I-90. It stayed clear for about 12 minutes.** Once we were in Wisconsin, the roads were getting slick and snow was falling on a somewhat regular basis. Needless to say, it was a bit nerve-wracking. Once we were fairly close, and on a 2 lane highway, I was happy - after a little over 5 hours, we were almost there. And then we see brake lights ahead of us. A whole long line of them. Did I mention we were on a 2-lane highway? We saw no one coming from the other direction. We probably sat stationary for 15-20 minutes. Doesn't really seem like a lot, but it sure does when you're sitting on a road, waiting to move. I guess there was at least a 2-car crash, as we saw the tow truck towing 2 wrecked cars in front of us. Anyway, eventually we made it - Matt's parents waited up (of course) and even had some sort of chili cheese dip warmed and waiting for us. (Keep in mind this was sometime after 1AM, if I recall correctly).

The next morning, Matt's parents made us breakfast & after Jen and I learned to snowmobile. I'm pretty conservative with it, as I was afraid I'd fall off if I went too fast. *** As Jen and I were "learning" we decided to take them into town and have a beer. Beers were $1.75. Awesome. Anyway, it was an odd experience just pulling up into a parking lot and parking a snowmobile. **** Inside the bar, we found many others dressed in the same snow pants, huge winter coat as us. There was even temporary shelving set up for helmets. We had a beer & then headed back.

Most of our time was spent either in the cabin hanging out (90210-watching), out on snowmobiles, or somewhere in one of the towns at a bar. I had my first Wisconsin cheese curds (both the deep-fried and non-breaded varieties), we went antique shopping (I'm sure Matt loved that), and we watched Illinois lose in both basketball (Tennessee St at home) and football (USC in the Rose Bowl).

Back up - did I mention we brought Steve up with us? It was an interesting experiment, to say the least. After some confirmation from Dr. Bob (Matt's Dad) as well as other family members that have taken cats up there, we decided to pack him up and take him. He doesn't like being in his crate very much, so for the first 5 minutes or so, he was whining pretty bad. :( Once up there, we kept him in the bedroom we were sleeping in, as there were 2 dogs up there. We knew he'd likely stay in there anyway, under the bed, but we didn't want to take chances that they wouldn't get along. After 2 days, the dogs were gone & Steve started to show his face. He'd do his own exploring, making sure to walk into every room - for what, I don't know. As silly as it seems, I was pretty happy seeing him out and walking around. Even at home, he usually stays secluded when we have people over, so it was nice to see him out with Jen being there. By the last day, he came out quite a bit. Yay for Steve!

Ok, so back to the rest of the trip... New Years Eve, we went to the local butcher and bought steaks for grilling. Matt's parents had leftover lobster, so Jen and Matt had that in addition to steak (too weird texture-y for me). Matt grilled up the steaks & spargus - it ended up being really great (despite a grill covered in snow). We finished eating, cleaned up & had a few drinks before heading out to the Shamrock Bar for NYE festivities. Once at the bar, we quickly snagged a couple of seats right at the bar and drank cheap drinks most of the night. I think we collectively spent no more than $50 or $60. Awesome.

It was a really fun time spent up north & I hope to plan a trip with our friends this summer. It's a 6-hour drive & summer weekends are usually pretty busy for most, so it might be tough. Would definitely be fun, though.

*I say "luckily" but the car didn't handle very well in the snow. It did a great job at ensuring we make it up there, but once there, it was tough to get around.

**It was probably more than 12 minutes.

***I did fall off one night. I wasn't driving, Matt was. I was on the back, he took a turn pretty quickly, I was catapulted from the vehicle. I didn't get hurt.

**** Even more odd, being first -time riders, Jen and I didn't know snowmobiles do not go in reverse. So, when we first saw the lot, we drove right up to the pile of snow that had been removed from the lot. Everyone else was nicely lined up in the lot. I didn't want to drive in there, out of fear of doing something wrong or crashing into something. Whoops.

Oh, and just kidding about this update being short.

Here are some pictures from the time up there: