You're in Luck. Literally.

Last week, at the butt crack of dawn, Seth and I loaded up his dad's car and began our epic trek to Luck, Wisconsin. And when I say "we" loaded the car, I mean Seth and Steve loaded the car. This included at least six fishing rods, bags and bags of fishing supplies, clothes, and two pontoons. With the pontoons on top of the car we looked a little hillbilly-ish, but that's just part of the experience.

I slept the first few hours (thankfully) and then dove right into my supply of books. Before we left, I had Debby recommend a few gems to tide me over. I also posted a question on facebook for people to guess how many books I would read over the vacation; so I had some accountability back home.

I started and finished an entire Jodi Picoult book on the way there - 14 hours - while Seth and Steve listened to an i n c r e d i b l y l o n g book on tape. Ugh.

We were greeted with the ever clever sign, "You're in Luck!" that evening. Seth's grandma, Evelyn, was thrilled to see us. She will be 96 in October and is an amazing woman. She still lives alone and drives to town when necessary. She remembers names and details from her childhood like it happened yesterday. The woman is a testament to good Wisconsin food: potato sausage, calico beans and homemade pickles are Seth's favorite's standbys.

One day was spent fishing the St. Croix river. The river was extraordinarily low in some places and Steve and I had to walk the canoe over the huge boulders lurking beneath the water. Both of us fell in. I caught a few small mouth bass (had a doozy of a time getting that bugger off the bottom of the boat), but Seth caught the motherload in the pontoon.

This is little Emma, Grandma Evelyn's dog. She thinks she's pretty tough and helps protect the ol' farm house from any chipmunks who get cocky. Other than that, she's pretty much the boss.

Besides fishing on the St. Croix, we also got out on "Lloyd's lake" and Round lake, where Steve and I caught quite a few Northern (sorry, Seth).

I'm not going to lie to you, it felt pretty good to outfish Seth that first night on the lake. However, it also proves my theory that fishing is more about luck than skill.

This is Seth's uncle, Lloyd's dog, Petey. Petey has the IQ of an acorn, but is a good sport.

One day Evelyn took us into town to check out the "museum". Nearly everything of interest in the museum could also be found in Evelyn's house. There are fascinating, beautiful things up there, and she even showed me several heirlooms that go all the way back to her own grandparents. Pretty amazing.


My favorite part - equally charming and garish - is the wallpaper in the guest room. It just doesn't get any better than that.

All in all, it was a nice vacation. Seth and I were able to spend lots of down time together before he heads off to Pocatello. I read four wonderful books and crocheted half a blanket. I got to know Evelyn a bit more, and I think we hit it off. Also, I was able to make plenty of jokes about being in Luck. Wisconsin.