When my friends warned me that the weather was rather cool up in Minocqua they weren’t kidding. I got up at the crack of dawn (just mere hours after a long night by the campfire) and found myself feeling the cold air even though my body was warm and snug in my little cocoon of blankets and coverlets. But I wanted to see the sunrise… so I pulled myself out of bed, tossed on my coat and went out to the dock and “Oh Em Gee” it was gorgeous… and I was so mad that I forgot my camera. Dammit. Ah well.

You just had to see it to believe it, you just had to be there. Eventually I went back to the cabin and snuggled back into bed and played on my iPad (yup still a geek). After another hour passed I decided I lounged around long enough and pulled myself out of bed and took a warming shower before getting dressed and headed to the dock to memorize lines for a show in late-September.

Enjoying the calming air, the glass water… I got distracted and had to take a picture to show just how clear the water was. While memorizing lines I was beckoned indoors for a massive mug of some awesome coffee and a hell of a breakfast complete with grits, bacon, eggs and a piece of toast.

Now I had never had grits before either (you know that whole thing about being a foreigner and all that jazz?) so I was curious as to what was in it. All I remember hearing was milk, sugar, salt, butter and I think cornmeal but in any case it was good… Nom nom nom nom nom, as the cook said

This should fill you up til burger porn this evening.

Oh Em Gee… burger porn, how could I forget? But I am jumping too far ahead here.
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At around mid-August I joined a few friends up for a bit of rest and relaxation nearby Minocqua, Wisconsin. Although I have posted pictures in a previous post and I have mentioned what I did soon after I drove back down to the Chicagoland area from being up north… but this post is dedicated to my feelings of what happened in between… at least over the almost three day trip with commutes included.

I could have easily just drove straight up to Minocqua soon after rehearsal on Thursday evening, but that would mean I would have arrived around three or four in the morning and that was just crazy. Then I thought about wrapping up packing, take a quick cat nap and then head up there early in the morning… but when I was packing I started packing for my trip to Vietnam (more on that in a later post). So taking that cat nap and waking up early went right out the window.

Instead I decided that since I had a meeting that I really didn’t want to delay in Chicago and I had to stop by my parents’ place to unload a few air mattresses from my trunk (again more on that in a later post), it was probably wiser to get a full night’s sleep and get up double check on the packing, have a quick bite to eat and head out the door… Which ended up being around 8:00am to 8:30am. Bah.

After the round of errands and extraneous trips I was finally out of Chicago and on my way up to Wisconsin. Now what I was telling my friends to do is that if there is anything that any of them need that they had forgotten to text, call, FB message, just contact me and I will pick the items on my way up… afterall I would be the last person to join them. So true to form, there was a small grocery list of items that I needed to bring up with me for various people for various reasons. But, I figured to give them time I would wait until I reached the halfway point of my trip to get out of my car, fill up the gas tank and get me some Culvers Custard. Nom nom nom nom nom.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a bad habit of nitpicking on thoughts, issues, problems when I am by myself, alone, in my car. Well on this almost six hour drive none of that happened and that soon became the mantra of the mini-trip itself. The chance to really just relax and be able to leave almost everything behind is such an amazing feeling. Just the drive up to Wisconsin (as well as the drive back) was calming and helped in centering me in so many different ways… especially with the chaos and drama we all knew as life.

I eventually arrived just before four in the afternoon, and as it would turn out my friends took a trip into town and walked around for a few hours… so they were beyond beat. A couple of my friends showed me around and helped me get settled into a cabin that I was able to claim as my own (if only for a few days), kind of made me wished I came in at least a day earlier.
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Several of my friends head to the cabins in Minocqua for a mini-vacation, a kind of well needed and deserved rest and relaxation. But this is me we’re talking about here: since when do I take a break? Now apparently. Unfortunately I had to shorten the amount of time I was with my friends due to rehearsal obligations with a stage production but whatever amount of time I was able to pool I used for the trip.

Another reason I wanted to go up to a little bit of R&R? I needed a break and a new experience is always something that I am up for… despite my outward appearances to the contrary.

After the break are pictures taken from my time up north… I also posted more indepth thoughts of my time there broken down between Day One and Day Two/Three
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