America's Dairyland

Wisconsin. I had a better time than I anticipated (I was kind of dreading this trip beforehand) but it's also been sort of grueling. Each day my family has attempted to complete 1-2 main activities: go to the Paul Bunyan logging museum! go to the free zoo in the park! go to the "Watermelon Festival"! and the like. This light load of planning was then added to by frequent restaurant/fast-food meals. Being in a fairly rural state, our drives from one thing to another were generally quick trips on empty highways. We just haven't been doing... much, in my opinion. The last couple days have left me feeling really irritable and bored at times.

There was the admittedly disappointing ordeal of the Washburn County Fair, on Friday. It was pretty much as I expected in size: a few compact rides (tilt-a whirl, small ferris wheel, carousel), a few carnival games, some little food stands and of course, the barns where animals were being displayed and judged. I had a nice corn dog and some really good funnel cake with strawberry drizzle there, and I thought the animals I saw were great, but I really stuck out like a sore thumb. I was the only black person I saw, the only person of color period, and I have hairy legs and short hair and generally appeared unlike other women in my vicinity. I felt people's eyes on me. Plus, I was way too shy to shove my way into the tiny bleachers to watch the show ponies be ranked, or go up to dart games alone. For the most part, I ate and observed. I appreciated the ubiquitous Western attire of many attendees, especially the boots. I really think you cannot get cooler than one of the girls who rode and herded in the junior cattle competitions- they wore braids, plaid shirts, and perfect dust-brown cowboy boots that peeked out from under their jeans.

I did really enjoy the city of Eau Claire, which we've been staying in the outskirts of for most of the trip. It has a cute downtown area that winds around a beautiful river, as well as a college district leading up to the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire which sits kind of to the edge. Students were floating down the river in inner tubes and rafts while we walked through the campus. Nearby, there's a headshop called Trucker's Union that's been around since the 60s or 70s. It's infamous for smelling strongly of incense and being a kind of counterculture landmark. It was very much my kind of place, and I got a crocheted shirt there (it smells of incense, too).

Wearing the shirt from Trucker's Union in front of Perkins

On a kind of whim, we went swimming in Halfmoon Lake, also close by. It had a small, dirt-sand public beach which led into a swimmable area of this lovely body of water circling a small island (on which the Paul Bunyan museum resides). It was green all around: trees and forested cliffside. And the water was cool and clean, aside from the natural debris of tree branches and weeds. I had a fantastic time, especially considering how little luck I've had swimming at Brooklyn and Queens beaches lately. I am an ocean lover but the waves have been INSANE. There were only sweet, breezy waves on the lake. I felt peaceful and buoyant, and I got to experience the strangely strong bond my sister Dru and I seem to develop when we go swimming together. She and I are like best friends in the water, no clue why.

The 7/11 or Wawa equivalent in Wisconsin is called Kwik Trip, and we've stopped there a couple of times for snacks and drinks. Kwik Trip currently has this big promotion for bananas at 29 cents a pound, and for some reason the billboards and digital ads have become really funny to me. Otherwise it isn't too notable. As a convenience store enjoyer, though, I had to mention it.

Gnats are terrible here. Insistent and tiny and just diving after your head and hair. Especially in Eau Claire. There's nothing about the climate that should make this the case (in fact, it has been much cooler and less humid here than in NY throughout the trip) but still they're stubbornly present. It's infuriating because if I am walking and not actively noticing any bugs, one will appear in the corner of my eye, and I will at first doubt I really saw anything. Then I will see many bugs, one by one, flying just out of my periphery. All of them are small enough and fast enough to be visible only momentarily, so it makes me paranoid and a little delusional. But it's real. 

The Motel 6 we're staying in has visible black mold inside the air conditioner. And I feel icky being here. I'm tired of my family. But... for our final dinner, I had a delicious pot roast melt sandwich with creamy tomato soup on the side from Perkins. And yesterday I saw a beautiful deer with huge, soft-looking horns. And though I didn't get to see it, I know there's a lake and a road called Ripley somewhere a few miles off, and a town called Spooner (like my first cat), and I know tomorrow I will see dozens of dairy cows and pretty horses on either side of the highway. So although I'm in desperate need of alone time and I dread my 7+ hours of travel tomorrow, I feel okay. I loved Minnesota, and Wisconsin isn't too bad either.