Vacation Day 2 - Tingo la Lingo

Today was a nice laid back day. Started out with a few hours of earlymorning Geocaching with my brother Dave (aka Uncle Fun) from 6 am - 9 am. It was a bit drizzly but we fought through it and managed 18 finds. Not a bad days work. Since Shaun and Jennifers wedding was a destination wedding all of us out of towners were staying at the AmericInn in Green Bay. So when Dave and I arrived in the breakfast area it was like walking into a family reunion! We spend an hour and half just hanging out eating, chatting and drinking coffee.

Since we were continuing on with our vacation, there was no rush for us to leave. We hung out by the pool with Dave's family and Julies family. Ending our visit with lunch at the local restaurant with Julies clan. To add a bit of adventure, Culver's car had a dead battery. So out came the jumper cables and we managed to get it running so we could drive to the restaurant. After a bit of proactive parking, Dean positioned himself for a future jump that didn't end up being needed. After lunch out families went their separate ways, Culver's heading home and us heading north to Upper Michigan.

Our destination for the next two nights is Munising MI. The drive north from Green Bay follows the western shore of Lake Michigan's Green Bay all the way to Escanaba MI. A mostly cloudy day made for a dramatic views of menacing sky, and dark angry looking waves. After 3:30 hours of driving we arrive in Munising, a small harbor town on the central UP Lake Superior shoreline and home to both Grand Island National Recreation area and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. After checking into our hotel, we found a local pizza place for a bite to eat.

Hanging out at the hotel

Catie ponders the icy waters

Nik at Munising harbor

Vacation Day 1 - My Cousins Wedding

Today we made the drive from Minneapolis to Green Bay to attend my cousin Shaun Mueller's wedding. The ceremony took place on the shore of Lake Michigan on the campus of UW-Green Bay. It was a beautiful setting, overlooking the lake, amongst the trees. The bride Jennifer Nimitz was beautiful as were all the brides maids. The reception followed at the UW-Green Bay Student Union. For us it was also kind of a family reunion too. It was really fun to have time to visit with many of my siblings, Dad and Bonnie and many of my Uncles, Aunts and Cousins. It was also the perfect starting off point for our family vacation to the Lake Superior shoreline.

Almost Men and Black

My beautiful girls

All dressed up

Posing with the Bride and Groom

Taste of MN?

We had the chance to experience the Taste of Minnesota at Harriett Island in St Paul today. Rich, Sheryl and Jake joined Chris and I on our journey. There where several unexpected surprises waiting for us. First, the ticket office at the main entrance was CASH only! What year is it...1995? They referred us to a nearby ATM to get the needed green. Second, the admission was $30 American! As we reasoned, this is still a pretty good deal considering the chance to sample lots of unique area cuisine for free. Surprise #3, The food is NOT free. Not only that you need to buy tickets in increments of 8 for $5. Tickets! What is this a grade school fair? Surprise #4 the selection of "cuisine" was more county fair quality than the best the Twin City's dinning scene has to offer. Fried Cheese curd, fried pickle on a stick, corn dogs...the disappointing list goes on and on. And to add insult to indigestion the stuff was all way over priced.

As we walked around trying to find the best way to spend the $25 worth of food tickets (non refundable by the way), the other thing that struck us was the thin crowd of people in attendance. Perhaps they all got the memo that this event was not a very good deal. After an hour of wandering, we came up with the best comprimise of overprice with lack of taste and originality. Chris and I ended up sharing a large and greasy Blooming Onion and a sample portion of Crab cakes. Not the culinary extravaganza we were expecting! So from a "Taste" perspective, Taste of MN was a HUGE bust! That is until Sammy Saved the Day!

One of the things that was appealing to Rich was the music lineup. Sammy Hagar was the headliner in a line up that included Lou Gramm (lead singer of Foreigner) and John Waite. Since Rich has been a lifelong Hagar fan, knowing Sammy was going to be on at 8:30 kept us from bailing on the event many times during the evening. Once the Red Rocker came on stage the familiar songs of our 20's and 30's transported us to a time when cost of admission, food and beer didn't matter. After his 90 minute set, we all left the park happy and feeling like we got our monies worth. At least from an entertainment perspective. So from all of us, Thank You Sammy for saving the day!