At the Top of the World

When my husband graduated from graduate school and we moved north to Wisconsin, I used to hear the strangest things. People would say things like, "We're going up north this weekend," or "She has a cottage up north," or "We're going on vacation up north." To someone who grew up in the south and whose only experience was heading further south for vacation, I was puzzled by this heading north. I was young, and I was pretty sure we had moved just about as far north as we possibly could. I was convinced these people must be talking about going to Canada because I didn't think you could get much further north. Who knew I wasn't at the top of the world!

In the last few years, I have had several opportunities to see Northern Wisconsin, and other than the occasional summer day when it is too cold to swim or the occasional winter day when you have to shovel yourself into your cabin, I can see the appeal. It is beautiful!

The weekend at the cabin up north with my girls this past weekend was awesome: much laughing, many movies, yummy food, manicures, long hours shopping, lots of new inside jokes, and yes, I came back refreshed! My mind can think again!

I discovered a little jewel while we were in the Northwoods, and I had to giggle. We stopped to have breakfast at this cute little cafe in St. Germain, WI called the Wolf Pack Cafe. I say "cute little" because you have to wait in your car until one of their eight tables opens up, and then they come to get you at your car. They only take cash, and they only serve breakfast and lunch. (I'm definitely going back for lunch some day because the breakfast was fantastic, and I've read they have incredible burgers.) I had the most awesome Pumpkin Spice Pancakes I've ever tasted - melt in your mouth. They also served blackened Perch for breakfast which sounded pretty fantastic! While I was there, I looked around, and we were surrounded by tables full of men in their snowbibs and tobagans (winter caps for you northerners) who were obviously up to do some ice fishing or snow mobiling for the weekend. It made me giggle, and my friends wanted to know what was so funny. I told them you'd never see people dressed like that in the south to go out for breakfast. They looked a little confused until I explained that people in the south, where I come from, don't need or even own such clothing, and they definitely don't take the snow mobile to breakfast. It really was a bit like culture shock but such a great way to end a weekend with friends!