Still no more wedding pictures (we're getting them this afternoon), but that won't detract from me telling about our honeymoon, since I didn't have a camera. The battery died and wouldn't accept the recharging I tried to give it the morning that we were to leave. I rummaged around in the closet and found my old camera. It charged fine and I could view the batch of old photos on the display screen, but the shutter wouldn't open to take pictures. Sigh.
You'll have to go to the Canoe Bay website to see a few pictures. It's an idyllic retreat in Chetek, Wisconsin on a private lake. They think they're all that, too. No children are allowed, for example: they cater to adult couples. And although the website says they're somewhere in Chetek, it doesn't give directions, or even an address. They only disclose that information after you've made a reservation.
The first thing to hit you upon driving in to the secret resort compound is the architecture. All buildings were gorgeous examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School of architecture and design, including the sumptuous landscaping. (Ever the housing critic, Katie pointed out that they skimped on some of the fixtures in the cabins, and even a postulant such as myself recognized that true Prairie design would have included much cooler windows and stuff, but it was still quite stunning to have such an artistic and attractive architectural theme running consistently through all the buildings on the property.)
We drove there on the Monday afternoon after the wedding weekend. (The morning and early afternoon were filled with cleaning the house and opening gifts. I guess I knew that the housecleaning would take time, but I was not prepared for the amount of effort the gifts would require. Gifts are supposed to be about getting something for nothing, right? But the gift-giver actually gets the last laugh because they don't help out with unwrapping and unboxing or with the waste management issues, much less in dealing with the where-do-I-store-all-this-china-when-I-already-have-three-dozen-place-settings-in-three-other-patterns-that-also-need-to-be-prominently-displayed-behind-glass issues.) We started by checking in to our cabin and having a drink on our porch, which overlooked the lake. A deer was eating foliage very near the path and let me get within a few feet before bounding away. (The place was replete with deer, it turned out, and we had numerous sightings over the three days.) Then we went to dinner at their fancy on-site dining room that serves only the resort's guests. We had a lovely five-course dinner that night and again on Wednesday night in front of massive bay windows overlooking the lake. (The dining room closes on Tuesday nights, sadly. We were forced to go into town to eat at a restaurant that also had a very nice lakeview but utterly horrible food.)
In the mornings, we would wake up to a delivery of our continental breakfast with a large bowl of fresh fruit and still-warm muffins. During the day, we would relax while exploring the resort. I greatly enjoyed the eponymous activity: canoeing in the the bay. The crystal-clear waters of the spring-fed lake allowed unhindered views of the fish swimming through the water lilies. We also enjoyed relaxing in the library, which had an incredible array of interesting books and many idyllic spots overlooking the lake to just sit and read. I started with Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track: The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman, then moved to the fascinating and controversial Freakonomics, and then on to the Pulitzer prizewinning Team of Rivals, which (as a Civil War buff) had been on my must-read list. Katie (in her style) chose a huge stack of books on house architecture and design which fascinated her for hours.
Our favorite part of the whole trip, though, was The Honeymoon Tick Contest. (And though I say "our," it would probably be more accurate to say "my.") We were warned upon checking in that the ticks were exceptionally numerous this year. This upset Katie, as she believes that tiny bloodsuckers such as ticks and mosquitoes find her exceptionally succulent. She firmly believes that biting insects consciously decline alternative sources of mammalian blood in order to suck on her sweet, sweet veins. As a biologist, I don't see how Katie's good taste (speaking literally, of course) could have driven the evolution of biting insects, which took place hundreds of millions of years ago. Rather, I believe that Katie's persecution complex has grown from the massive welts that arise on her skin when an insect bites her. (Quite unfairly, I have no obvious inflammatory reaction to any insect bites.)
Ever the scientist, I thought we might test Katie's hypothesis about arachnid attraction. I proposed we hold a contest to see whose body lured more ticks over the course of the honeymoon. The rules: (1) Each tick was to be counted as soon as it was discovered. Finding a tick on the other's neck and trying to lure it onto your own body before they notice is prohibited. (2) We each had to stay together and to do the same basic things during the visit. Sneaking out at 2 a.m. to go streaking naked through the forest underbrush is prohibited.
With the rules established, Katie leapt out to the early lead when a tick attacked her on our first walk down to the lake. I tied the score on the walk back, but she pulled ahead when we discovered another tick crawling on her when we got back inside the cabin. The next day was rather uneventful, but Katie still managed to attract two more ticks, pushing the score to 4-1 in her favor. I did some major catching up on the hike we took along the resort's several miles of trails that wound through the forest. I collected four ticks to Katie's one! And one of mine had even embedded itself in my calf! I had to extract it along with a chunk of skin using a sharp pair of tweezers! We went neck and neck over the next day. The score stood in a 7-7 tie as we packed our bags to leave. I was preparing to make my case to the international sporting board for the Honeymoon Tick Contest that the highest number of embedded ticks should count as a tiebreaker when I looked down at my arm to view the glorious sight of one last tick trying lovingly to nestle itself in my arm hair. I went outside the cabin to find Katie and show that I had triumphed with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory.
I really can't wait to have children. Just think of all the fun experiments I can do on unassuming young babies!
You'll have to go to the Canoe Bay website to see a few pictures. It's an idyllic retreat in Chetek, Wisconsin on a private lake. They think they're all that, too. No children are allowed, for example: they cater to adult couples. And although the website says they're somewhere in Chetek, it doesn't give directions, or even an address. They only disclose that information after you've made a reservation.
The first thing to hit you upon driving in to the secret resort compound is the architecture. All buildings were gorgeous examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School of architecture and design, including the sumptuous landscaping. (Ever the housing critic, Katie pointed out that they skimped on some of the fixtures in the cabins, and even a postulant such as myself recognized that true Prairie design would have included much cooler windows and stuff, but it was still quite stunning to have such an artistic and attractive architectural theme running consistently through all the buildings on the property.)
We drove there on the Monday afternoon after the wedding weekend. (The morning and early afternoon were filled with cleaning the house and opening gifts. I guess I knew that the housecleaning would take time, but I was not prepared for the amount of effort the gifts would require. Gifts are supposed to be about getting something for nothing, right? But the gift-giver actually gets the last laugh because they don't help out with unwrapping and unboxing or with the waste management issues, much less in dealing with the where-do-I-store-all-this-china-when-I-already-have-three-dozen-place-settings-in-three-other-patterns-that-also-need-to-be-prominently-displayed-behind-glass issues.) We started by checking in to our cabin and having a drink on our porch, which overlooked the lake. A deer was eating foliage very near the path and let me get within a few feet before bounding away. (The place was replete with deer, it turned out, and we had numerous sightings over the three days.) Then we went to dinner at their fancy on-site dining room that serves only the resort's guests. We had a lovely five-course dinner that night and again on Wednesday night in front of massive bay windows overlooking the lake. (The dining room closes on Tuesday nights, sadly. We were forced to go into town to eat at a restaurant that also had a very nice lakeview but utterly horrible food.)
In the mornings, we would wake up to a delivery of our continental breakfast with a large bowl of fresh fruit and still-warm muffins. During the day, we would relax while exploring the resort. I greatly enjoyed the eponymous activity: canoeing in the the bay. The crystal-clear waters of the spring-fed lake allowed unhindered views of the fish swimming through the water lilies. We also enjoyed relaxing in the library, which had an incredible array of interesting books and many idyllic spots overlooking the lake to just sit and read. I started with Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track: The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman, then moved to the fascinating and controversial Freakonomics, and then on to the Pulitzer prizewinning Team of Rivals, which (as a Civil War buff) had been on my must-read list. Katie (in her style) chose a huge stack of books on house architecture and design which fascinated her for hours.
Our favorite part of the whole trip, though, was The Honeymoon Tick Contest. (And though I say "our," it would probably be more accurate to say "my.") We were warned upon checking in that the ticks were exceptionally numerous this year. This upset Katie, as she believes that tiny bloodsuckers such as ticks and mosquitoes find her exceptionally succulent. She firmly believes that biting insects consciously decline alternative sources of mammalian blood in order to suck on her sweet, sweet veins. As a biologist, I don't see how Katie's good taste (speaking literally, of course) could have driven the evolution of biting insects, which took place hundreds of millions of years ago. Rather, I believe that Katie's persecution complex has grown from the massive welts that arise on her skin when an insect bites her. (Quite unfairly, I have no obvious inflammatory reaction to any insect bites.)
Ever the scientist, I thought we might test Katie's hypothesis about arachnid attraction. I proposed we hold a contest to see whose body lured more ticks over the course of the honeymoon. The rules: (1) Each tick was to be counted as soon as it was discovered. Finding a tick on the other's neck and trying to lure it onto your own body before they notice is prohibited. (2) We each had to stay together and to do the same basic things during the visit. Sneaking out at 2 a.m. to go streaking naked through the forest underbrush is prohibited.
With the rules established, Katie leapt out to the early lead when a tick attacked her on our first walk down to the lake. I tied the score on the walk back, but she pulled ahead when we discovered another tick crawling on her when we got back inside the cabin. The next day was rather uneventful, but Katie still managed to attract two more ticks, pushing the score to 4-1 in her favor. I did some major catching up on the hike we took along the resort's several miles of trails that wound through the forest. I collected four ticks to Katie's one! And one of mine had even embedded itself in my calf! I had to extract it along with a chunk of skin using a sharp pair of tweezers! We went neck and neck over the next day. The score stood in a 7-7 tie as we packed our bags to leave. I was preparing to make my case to the international sporting board for the Honeymoon Tick Contest that the highest number of embedded ticks should count as a tiebreaker when I looked down at my arm to view the glorious sight of one last tick trying lovingly to nestle itself in my arm hair. I went outside the cabin to find Katie and show that I had triumphed with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory.
I really can't wait to have children. Just think of all the fun experiments I can do on unassuming young babies!
Dude, love the tick story :) But both Craig and I are at a loss to figure out how you can be a "postulate" (short of inventing your own very unique form of mathematics)...perhaps you mean "postulant"?
ReplyDeleteYes, my memories of Catholic Sunday School seem to be shadier than I knew. "Postulate" seemed right at the time, but my dictionary says that I actually did mean "postulant." Thanks for catching it! I've corrected it in the post to prevent other people recognizing my ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI believe the "chunk" of skin is hyberbole.
ReplyDeleteYou write very well.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you, Melora. Do I know you? :-)
ReplyDelete