On Wisconsin!

This past week, Linda and I returned from a wonderful week spent in the state of Wisconsin, a place that neither her nor I had ever visited.  The trip took us through six different states and covered over 2,000 miles, and it was a trip that exceeded all of our expectations in terms of joyful and fun experiences.

The main purpose of the trip was to attend the wedding of my great-nephew, Patrick Sproule and his bride, Emma Holly.  The wedding took place in the town of Oconomowoc, WI, and the setting could not have been more beautiful.  We had a wonderful time celebrating the marriage of Pat and Emma (is there any occasion in life happier that a wedding?), spending some time with them and with other members of the extended Sproule Family, Pat's parents, Kevin and Carol, and Kevin's sister and brother, Karen and her husband Chris Pike, and Bill and his wife Stephanie, and all of their children, my great nieces and great nephews, nine in total.

Patrick and Emma made one terrific looking couple, but it is not my place to post photos of them on social media, I will leave that up to them.  Take my word for it, though, they are one handsome and beautiful couple.

I will, however, post this photo of Linda and I taken at the reception.

I will share this moment from the reception.  When it came time to introduce the wedding party at the reception, the DJ played "Renegade" as he made those introductions.  Those Pittsburgh people in attendance began to yell and cheer and wave their napkins over their heads.  The other two-thirds or so were no doubt wondering, "What the hell is this all about?"  Way to go, Pat, for hatching this idea.

********

When we knew early in the year that we would be going to Wisconsin for this wedding, we decided that we would make a mini-vacation of the trip. So, without going into too great detail, here are some of the highlights.

To break up what would have been about a ten or eleven hour trip, we stopped on Thursday and stayed at the Four Winds Resort in New Buffalo, Michigan.

This is an absolutely gorgeous hotel resort and casino.  Our room was as nice a room as any hotel we've ever stayed.  I managed to win fifty bucks playing blackjack, so that paid for our dinner there.

From there we drove to Delafield, WI and the Delafield Hotel.  The hotel was located within a ten minute drive of all wedding venues (post rehearsal dinner get-together, the Church, and the reception), and it was beautiful and comfortable.

For dinner on Friday we went to a pizzeria/sports bar and watched some of the Packers-Eagles game....

....and we had breakfast in Delafield at an absolutely terrific place called the Lumber Inn, where we were told that T.J. Watt always comes to when he's back home in Wisconsin.  The town of Delafield, by the way was wonderful.  Looked like something out of a Hallmark movie, and we both wished that there was a similar place in proximity to Pittsburgh that we could frequent.

On Sunday, we left Delafield and made the thirty minute drive to Milwaukee where we spent Sunday and Monday.  On Sunday, we strolled the Milwaukee River Walk, visited with famed Milwaukee resident Arthur Fonzarelli, and had dinner at a great downtown restaurant called Onesto.

"The Bronze Fonz"

On Monday, we visited with our Littles pal Steve Ozbolt and his wife Laurie at his business, Emerald City Catering.

In case the term "Littles" is unfamiliar to you:

(Littles (definition) - A community of people from throughout the United States, and, indeed, all over the globe, bound together by their devotion, a devotion inexplicable to non-Littles, to a Washington DC based Podcast hosted by former sportswriter and Pardon The Interruption host Tony Kornheiser.  Also often referred to as Loyal Littles.

Steve, better know as "Oz", prepared a nice welcome for us....

As a happy coincidence, New York City Little Louis B. Crocco, better known as "Chuck" from the Chuck and Roxy team that hosts the Loyal Little Podcast, was in Milwaukee in his capacity as Stage Manager for the touring musical "Waitress" and was also able to join us for lunch at Emerald City as well.  It turned out to be a great meet-up of Littles in  the Wild from three different states.

That's Chuck in the blue shirt, and Oz on the right.

We spent late Monday afternoon and evening walking around the terrific Public Market in downtown Milwaukee, where we enjoyed a Wisconsin specialty, Beer and Cheese Curds:

Delicious!

All in all, we had a terrific time, and really enjoyed Milwaukee.  The people there were just terrific, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We were left with one more special day in Wisconsin, but that day deserves a Grandstander post all of its own, so watch for that one in the next day or so.  A hint as to what that day involved can be seen in the photo below.