This past weekend, the 6-Pack took a long weekend and whisked off to Wisconsin, to visit Byrd's family. Byrd wanted to go home for her little sister's graduation, and she was gracious or foolish enough to bring five tag-a-longs home. As a result, I can cross two more states off my "to visit" list and add them to my "amazing places" list.
The drive to the northern part of Wisconsin took us 9.5 hours, which is a long time if you leave home after 5:30. Now that we've made it there and back safely, I'll let you do the math to figure out what obscene hour welcomed us to Byrd's home. On the way, I had an exciting moment. Triss, Em, and I were riding in one car. We saw blinking red lights in the distance. I had never seen anything quite like it : dozen upon dozens of tiny red dots, winking in and out of existence in perfect unison, covering the land. They confused Triss, Em, and me, until we at last got to a point where the red glow reflect off a white blade that I could see. We were beholding a wind farm at night! I got so excited that I called my sister (the one with the snowman and dinosaur who hate global warming) because she is the only person in the world I know who might share my excitement.
Several hours after the wind farm, we arrived at the log cabin. That's right, dear readers, Byrd lives in a bona fide log cabin, complete with a loft that holds a telescope to look out the skylight and a back porch that wraps around two sides of the house. I fell in love with the house. When we arrived at that obscene hour, I couldn't see much, but the next morning I discovered we were surrounded by woods and the house was designed for someone who, like me, loves to see them. Wide windows let in sunlight, bird song, and fresh cool air. The open kitchen and living room, combined with the loft, gave the whole house an open, airy feeling.
Byrd took us to two bodies of water as well : Lake Michigan and Green Bay. In both cases, the water stretched to such distant shores that in some places it almost looked like ocean -- save for the shadow of land that almost seemed a mirage, the way mountains look when you first begin to approach them. We tried to feed fishes in the Green Bay, but sadly, no fishes came. Instead, we fed seagulls, until we discovered that Byrd didn't like them and they scared Ana. Then I chased them away, making strange noises.
In addition to the 6 of us, Byrd's whole family was there, and her parents, brothers, and sister, made us feel at home all weekend long. Her brothers even cooked us venison burgers Saturday night! I haven't had much venison for comparison, but they were delicious.
Going to someone else's sister's graduation has a high awkward potential, but we slipped in easily and missed the awkward. Byrd's sister spoke as valedictorian and her brother as the commencement speaker, and both spoke well. There were only 23 seniors, so the ceremony was short, sweet, and poignant. Byrd's sister who was graduating was the last of 5 to go through the school. Her oldest brother is my brother's age and her sister is my youngest sister's age, and I kept thinking of what it means to be at the final graduation of the family. So there was a bit of sadness there, that I won't be able to make my sister's. Other than that, I enjoyed the small ceremony.
We celebrated Sunday night with Byrd's family, and then this morning we left at 10 am -- a much more reasonable hour than our previous hour of departure. We took a pit stop at Mars' Cheese Castle (I kid thee not; they have cheese shaped like Wisconsin), passed the wind farm again, and arrived safe and sound at home.
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