Happy Day of Adventure to You

Last week we celebrated Frances' birthday with a day-long adventure. Since our return from Mexico and Central America--two months ago now--we've both longed for more excitement in our lives. So, with that goal in mind, Frances consulted a road atlas and traced a tentative circular route, we loaded the dog and snacks into the car, and off we went.

Our day trip was reminiscent of a similar drive we took with Frances' mother and dad over 10 years ago. That day we left her parents' home in Roseau, MN, crossed the Canadian border 10 miles north, meandered around Lake of the Woods, and late that evening re-crossed the border into Minnesota. Frances' Dad was a dedicated coffee drinker. Accordingly, we stopped several times along our route for a "snort" of coffee.

This time--2009--we climbed into the same car, a 1984 Crown Victoria that Frances inherited from her mom and dad. Again, we planned to stop at several small town cafes along our route. Unfortunately, we found no cafes. I wonder whether that is a modern-day reality ... Shelley's Smalltown Diner replaced by Cenex or BP or Mobil gas stations and convenience stores.

Our snorts now come in self-serve paper take-out cups. If we wish to find a real sit-down coffee spot or cafe, we must now drive to a metropolitan area where neighborhood coffee shops abound. Along with the hundreds of coffee and tea choices, they offer their own humorous or thought-provoking business name and, often, a cornucopia of gastronomic delights. On our trip, through, we did without.

Soon enough our drive down Hwy. 13 south brought us close to Copper Falls State Park. A slight detour there was well worth our tumbling-rushing-falling-water walk under the sheltering branches of cedar and hemlock trees.

Afterward we pulled out a snack from our own backseat cafe then followed Hwy. GG deep into the Chequamegon National Forest. At Clam Lake we turned onto Hwy. M to head toward Cable, WI and began the final loop, circling toward home. These highway names, by the way, are unique. I teased a friend years ago when we visited her family here that once the alphabet is exhausted, the Wisconsin highway department just doubles up the letters to create an entirely new series of highway names.

At dinnertime we glimpsed a sign advertising all-you-can-eat-ribs at Telemark, a resort and conference center. A quick turn-about delivered us to this well-known resort where we ate our meal in the bar with several other tables of hungry travelers or guests, then made for home.

One person suggested to me when I returned from Central America, "Each day is an adventure if we approach it that way." I'm becoming more and more of a believer in that perspective. Adventure can be anywhere you look. Actually, all you have to do IS look. What you find may stimulate your mind, feed your senses, expand your perspective, and open you up to new people, new situations, and new terrain.