No love for the lumberjacks

Check out the story in today's New York Times about how the 50th anniversary of the Lumberjack World Championships didn't get much love this year from national media, unlike years past.

The low prize money explains why Sarah and I spotted competitor with tattoos of their sponsors, like Stihl. That better come with a lifelong paycheck!

Guess I'll stick to my day job and not pursue a life as a lumberjill.

More Lumberjack World Champs Pics, Videos

Check out those quads!

Logrolling...

Women's boom run (run across logs in the water)

Letter to my future self

Dear 65-year-old Christina,

In honor of my 100th blog post and the reflection that accompanies every good vacation, here are some thoughts to consider about how to spend your retirement.

FYI, you're too old to be a geisha and you don't like camping enough to be a legit lumberjill, but I think you have a real chance to become a stained glass artisan (consider mosaics, too). Maybe focus on amazing stained glass valances, like the one above you saw during the drive back from Hayward, and specialize in themes inspired by your Japan travels, i.e. cherry blossoms and the like.

Also, please fill in the gaps for any states or continents not visited (feel free to skip Antarctica). And, master something more sophisticated than When the Saints Go Marching In on the piano. I'd love, love, love it if you took on violin too.

Love,

Your 30-year-old self

You don't see these in Cleveland...

Lots and lots of woods and log cabins...

It seems like so many people in Wisconsin are endurance athletes (not that snowmobiling is an endurance sport) that thrive in rural isolation.

Just in Hayward, I noticed two combo bar/wildlife museums. WEIRD.

This muskie, more than four stories tall, is home to the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. You know you want to read about it...

Rural dining

My two new favorite meals: fried cheese curds (duh) and lumberjack cakes (sausage-stuffed pancakes).

Based on recommendations, Sarah and I scored great meals at Mooselips Cafe in Seeley near her family's cabins (and our only source of Internet) and Good Thyme, a gourmet restaurant in a Victorian house in the middle of nowhere (see pic of our fried cheese curds and sweet potato fries appetizer). Yum!

Learning to share

Would you like to hold my toad?

"Roughing" it

On our trips, Sarah and I usually cover quite a bit of ground. This weekend we’re turbo dieseling it in her retro, supercool Mercedes wagon. As soon as I saw it in the airport parking lot, I knew it was Sarah’s because it suits her perfectly.

We’re “roughing” it in her aunt and uncle’s isolated cabin…no street lights, no Internet, no cell service, no curtains, but lots of bears and these weird fisher creatures Sarah’s been creeping me out about. The cabin is new and beautiful, and it’s located at the mid-point of the Birkie, one of the best cross-country skiing race (lots of Sarah’s family participates each year). It’s so nice we can stay here, particularly since it’s a short drive to the Lumberjack Champs.

Today we’re hauling Turbo Diesel to Bayfield where we’re going to take a boat on Lake Superior and explore lighthouses. Then back to Hayward tonight to meet up with some of Sarah’s cousins and explore some of the combo bar/wildlife museums (I can’t even begin to explain this Wisconsin phenomenon.)

When I grow up, I wanna be a lumberjill

So, I know that before I left for Japan, I wrote that I really want to train as an apprentice/old lady geisha. I still do. However, I’ve also decided that I would like to be a logrolling Lumberjill.

Sarah and I went to the 50th anniversary of the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wis., and it was incredible. Tix were $10 for an up-close-and-personal view of lumberjacks and lumberjills from all over the world who competed in a number of events. My favs are logrolling (duh) and the 90-foot climb. I have a video of the latter below, but I can’t figure out how to load it vertically, so turn your head sideways when you watch. (Do not count on me adding videography to my list of aspirational careers.) My camera battery died within the first 15 minutes (#$%*), so I have other videos and pics to load of events from Sarah’s camera once we head back home and snag her cord.

There are 114 professional competitors, and 20 of them are locals from Hayward. There’s even a logrolling school here (!). I started drooling when Sarah told me that her Y offers classes (sadly, just for kids). I even met one of the former champion logrollers who's a friend of Sarah’s family.

At the competition, there was a logrolling tank near the stands, and I gasped when I saw it. However, it was barely in the 70s, so I was not diving in with jeans (and a gaggle of kids who could probably cream me). Maybe someday…

I'm not a cheesehead, I'm a cheesebelly

Please don't be shocked, but I am craving lettuce. I've consumed A LOT of cheese.

Cheesehead Summer

Last night, Phil(!) and I booked a trip to Milwaukee to visit his grad school buddies. They've stayed with us twice over the past four years and yet we've never been to visit them in Howards Grove.

That trip falls on the heels of my lumberjack vacay with my friend Sarah in Hudson/Hayward, so I'm dubbing the next couple months as my Cheesehead Summer. Cheese curds, mmmmm!

I'm down with vacationing in the Midwest during our warm months because you can't beat the weather. And, let's face it, California, Vegas, the southern hemisphere, etc. is made for November-March visits anyway when it's cold and gray in Cleveland.

We'll actually only be in Milwaukee proper for a day, so if you've been, please send some ideas on what to see and do. I'd love to know of a great lunchtime spot, cool brewery to visit, galleries, shops, etc. Someone mentioned a Frank Lloyd Wright house that I want to look into. Suggest away!

Lumberjack vacay

Woo hoo! Just booked a trip to see my friend Sarah, who lives in Hudson, Wis., and works in downtown Minneapolis, Minn. Sarah and I haven't seen each other since our San Francisco meet-up last Labor Day weekend.

The weekend I'm visiting is when the Lumberjack World Championships are scheduled in Hayward, Wis. I'm absolutely fascinated by logrolling (ESPN covers it), so I'm really hoping we can watch some events while we chomp on cheese curds.

My flight cost me $5 since I used my miles, so this trip is definitely recession-proof. And, Sarah's cousins have a cabin in Hayward since they participate as competitors, so we most likely can stay with them.

This should make for an absolutely hilarious weekend! Someone find me a flannel tank top, stat!

Time to go sharpen my ax...