A Trip to the Country

"We're going to the Amish breakfast tomorrow at 7 a.m.," said our friend Larry as we stood drinking beer and listening to music after my bedtime.  "Not me," I said.  Sleeping in has become my favorite thing about the weekend. And 7 a.m. sounded so early as we talked with friends, the night descended and the music swelled. When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I thought about were the homemade Amish doughnuts Larry talked about.  Larry came and picked us up and we were off to the country.

Blair-Etterick has one of the older, smaller Amish communities. The Wisconsin Amish presence has become the fourth largest in the country after Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. As we entered the breakfast hall, it seemed like we were going to need a secret password. This was a very insider affair.

It was so warm, Mike's glasses steamed up as we walked inside. I instanly felt very young, looking at the older and elderly crowd. There wasn't an empty seat in the little space.

There were cheese curds, sausages, eggs, thick honey and maple syrup and doughnuts.

We sat down next to Elmer Petersen, a big-deal sculptor who lives in the area.  He's responsible for among other things, Eagle Sculpture in Riverside Park and La Crosse Players in Harborview Plaza in La Crosse.  The Amish people were so hospitable and kept coming around with more food.  They host these breakfasts every couple of months and ask merely for a donation.

We walked out over the wintery April Wisconsin landscape. The thing about an Amish breakfast is, you have to eat and then move. You can't sit down or you'll fall asleep.

We went for a hike with the dogs.

Hamlet decided to eat something nasty and vomited twice on the way home. Good times.

We visited with some cows.

We checked out our friend's basketball barn.

And we headed home. This is April in Wisconsin.

But I didn't even care for that day. We ate breakfast with the Amish people. We talked to interesting people, nice people. We hiked in the cool, fresh air with the dogs.
Sometimes you just have to embrace it.