Wausau, Wisconsin

Oh yeah! I've been spending some quality time in the northern midwest of the United States this past week. By way of a business trip, I have been introducing myself to the wonderful countryside of Wisconsin. Now some of you may be thinking that I am being sarcastic here, but I have to say that Wisconsin really is some fine country. I must have the good fortune of being out here at a perfect time. There have been a few mild rain storms that moved through, but generally it has been sunny with a temp in the 70's and very low humidity.

I flew into Milwaukee on Saturday and was met by a good, old friend, Scott. Scott and his family moved out here nearly 4 years ago from sunny California. We went back to Scott's place and he gave me the tour, complete with a backyard fire to burn off some brush. Yes, indeed, in Wisconsin you can burn off brush in your own backyard on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. But, don't you dare burn it on Sundays, or the Wisconsin State Troopers will be visiting you!

I had a great time visiting with Scott and Cathy, Scott's mom, and their three boys. Such gracious hosts...it was fun getting to catch up. I also was invited to join Cathy and the praise team at her church to lead worship this past Sunday. That was a total blessing and really fun. I have never lead worship at a church beside my own. Later that day, Scott took me over to Miller Park where the Milwaukee Brewers play baseball. We were going to go on a tour, but unfortunately they did not have tours on that day. But, I was able to take pictures from a restaurant patio that overlooks left field. That was pretty cool!

The rest of Sunday was spent driving 3 hours West and North to a small town called Wausau. Wausau is a logging town and the drive up here was very beautiful. There is a lot of farm country, but everything is so green right now. In Wausau, the trees are everywhere and it reminds me some of the Northwest. The people here are friendly and I can see the German heritage in a lot of them. They like to drink beer, eat sausages and ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles up here. The crazy thing is that there is no helmet law in Wisconsin, so everyone rides their bikes up here with no head protection. Crazy...

Another fun thing that I was able to do here was take in a baseball game at the local diamond called Athletic Park. Athletic Park is home to the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Chucks are a team made up of college players on summer break and they play in the Northwoods League. The stadium is small and situated right in the middle of a neighborhood. Fans who are brave enough to chance getting the car hit with a foul ball park along the streets on either side of the ballpark. The outfield fence is plastered with billboards touting the local ice cream shop or real estate agent and the smell of cheese curds, hot dogs and cheap beer is in the air. Yes, that is right, I wrote CHEESE CURDS. Now I did not partake in this delicacy, but I understand from one of the locals here that Cheese Curds are fried cheese. Sounds like a coronary waiting to happen...

While taking in the game, you can hear in the distance a train slowly moving down the tracks. About 300-400 people came out to watch these two teams battle. After every pitch, some local kid blares different kinds of music, some intended to annoy the opposing team. In between innings they play goofy games like spinning yourself around a bat and then racing each other in a dizzy state to the finish line...or grabbing two kids from the bleachers, dressing them up in huge, overstuffed sumo wrestler costumes and parading them out on the field to attempt to wrestle...or, my personal favorite, grabbing two dads from the crowd to come out on the field and shove as many spicy hot wings in their mouth as they can in 30 seconds. Talk about indigestion...

All in all, I had a great time here in Wisconsin...but, I am looking forward to getting home to my big comfy bed, my four beautiful kids, and the love of my life...