Visits

So I have hosted family not once, but twice in the last week. First, my grandparents came down from visiting the family farm a week ago for lunch. They brought with them my great aunt and uncle whom I had only previously met a few times and we met with my second cousin at lunch. My 2nd cousin is actually a 20-year Sheboygan resident so it seemed appropriate to my grandparents that I meet her. It was nice to see them. Funny that it took them visiting for me to actually take time to walk the shops on the riverfront.

This weekend my mom, sister and one of their friends came to stay with me from Saturday through today. I took them on a whirlwind tour of the Sheboygan area on Sunday. This included the Kohler Design Center (think of a showroom/museum of Kohler products--my third visit), the Kettle Morraine with stops at Parnell Tower (see picture) as well as a few other viewpoints, and the state beach which is beautiful with soft white sand and a gentle drop-off perfect for wading. They took the day yesterday to visit Door County (the finger that sticks off of north-eastern WI) which I have yet to visit. It was nice to see them without the drive, but it was odd to have three people sharing my apartment with me.

I will actually be returning home for a visit over Labor Day weekend. This will be the first of 3 trips home over the next several months with Thanksgiving and Christmas visits following. I have purchased an I-PASS for my truck to save on the hassle of the tollway around Chicago. Now I won't have to stop for the annoying toll booths or worry about having change. With the amount you are required to start with on it I won't have to recharge it for a while. The only downside is that it is a box that you mount behind your rearview mirror so that won't be very attractive. Oh well.

Also this last weekend was Lakefest. This is one of the largest of the many festivals in Sheboygan. Ed and I went down there for a while on Friday evening to see what was going on. It was interesting. There were a lot of people three sheets to the wind, predominantly over 30, all rocking out to some oldies band. There was also the typical high school groupie crowd wandering around lost. It was a large crowd all things considered and I am sure there was enough beer consumed to keep a dorm building happy for weeks.

Besides the oldies band there was a good blues band playing in a different pavillion. The band was the Groove Hogs (I am listening to them as I write on my Rhapsody account). The (new) lead singer looks like he is in his mid-twenties but has an awesome voice to sing the blues. The crowd in the tent was smaller, but more amusing. A drunk old guy was dancing with an invisible partner for a long while and there was some middle-age woman in stretch pants with a ballerina dress over it who was also dancing on her own for a long time--both were hilarious to watch and, I am sure, well-inebriated. I'll probably try to go see the Hogs play again. It actually looks like they will be playing at the House of Blues in Chicago in September (according to their website) so that might be worth going to. We'll see.