Merry Christmas and happy new furlough...

Kenny looks wistfully northward as he drives us at dusk on the first day of this year's annual holiday pilgrimage north for Bragg Family South.  We had him take over to get more interstate driving experience for our novice driver--even though he's had his license for over a year now, he doesn't have a ton of experience behind the wheel.

With a government shutdown looming, we headed north the Friday before Christmas, vowing to not let the impending furlough negatively impact our visits.  First up--Michigan.  Below is a picture of one of the many intense games of hearts played by Hope, her dad (back to camera), and Kenny (Stephen played only a game or two--you can see his enthusiasm!):

Stephen was much more into climbing some of the spruce tree's in Rich Pruden's front yard...even getting his "Bumpa" to join him at one point:

No worries, y'all--he wasn't but a few feet above the ground, and those spruce branches are quite strong!  The picture below shows Stephen in his new element:

We also engaged in another family tradition--the walk around the yard, to see how Rich's extensive plantings have done...  The eastern white pines pictured below actually came from a place Hope worked at over 20 years ago--they were leftover seedlings from a study on disease resistance being conducted in northern Wisconsin:

We went to visit a cousin of Hope's on Christmas Eve--Beth and one of her younger cousins (with a little help from Stephen) put on a brief play they wrote based on the story of the Grinch:

They also spent time opening gifts, and we had an excellent meal with Hope's cousin Chris (not pictured), his wife Sung, and their daughters (Alexandria and Isabella):

Christmas dinner was held at Hope's cousin Kevin's (and his wife Amy's) house.  Below, Hope and Beth discuss something of great significance while Hope's aunt Mary Ann Pruden:

Four brothers, pictured below, from left to right:  Kevin, Rich, Doug, and Dave Pruden:

A generational difference--some of the Prudent cousins, mostly plugged into their electronic devices:

(I'm not sure what Beth is grimacing about!). 

We also used our proximity to Canada to cross the border later that week to downtown Windsor (across the river from Detroit) to visit a small "poutinery" (poutine is Canadian comfort food made with French fries, cheese curds, gravy, and sometimes other ingredients).  After returning to the US, we drove down to Toledo, Ohio, to continue with another fairly traditional practice of visiting the Libbey Glass Outlet store and then going to Tony Packo's for their chili dogs and side dishes:

You may recall that the TV show "MASH" had a character name Klinger (played by Jamie Farr) extolled the virtues of Tony Packo's food, and they had some shipped to their location in Korea.  In addition to their special Hungarian-style sausage, Tony Packo's serves a number of other treats.  Famous people come from all over to eat there, and many sign hot dog buns that are preserved for the business:

The buns above are signed by many of the MASH cast members.  Below, Kenny digs into his dog with gusto:

Our ultimate destination in Toledo was to attend a Toledo Walleye minor league hockey game.  Below, Kenny watches their remote control mascot drone as it gets ready to fly by before the game began:

The Toledo Walleye are a farm league team for the Detroit Red Wings, and so the hockey we watched was very good:

(especially since the Walleye won!).  After spending a week with Rich in Michigan, we drove up to northern Wisconsin to spend the next week at my parents' home in Rhinelander.  Below is pictured the pine stand on what is now property that Hope and I own, having purchased it this past summer from my parents:

While in Rhinelander, we visited friends and family, and made our annual trip to the Houghton, Michigan, area (where Hope and I attended Michigan Tech).  Below is an old mine shaft near Houghton, a former copper mining region:

Right across the road from the Quincy Mine is another favored stop--Peterson's Fish Market, where we always pick up great smoked fish (and other delicacies):

Peterson's is on the way to Calumet, Michigan, where we pick up Cornish pasties at a place called Connie's Kitchen.  After a quick campus visit at Michigan Tech, we headed back south towards Rhinelander, stopping in Alberta, Michigan (about an hour south of Houghton).  This is the location of the Ford Forestry Center, where Michigan Tech has a forestry camp for its students (and where Hope and I started dating all those years ago).  Now, they have a small shop run by a now-retired Ford Forestry Center employee named Dave Stimac, who sells his handcrafted birdseye maple products (and other items; http://www.birdseye-connection.com/).  Below, Dave regales Hope and the kids with stories:

and here Mom poses by one of his birdseye maple dressers:

We spent a fair amount of time hiking around the property in Rhinelander, giving the mild weather.  Below, I took Kenny on a swampy adventure one day:

(Kenny is standing on a frozen creek!).  I also got Hope into the swamp on an unsuccessful Hodag hunt:

she found her Hodag in a more captive environment in town later that week:

All too quickly our time up north came to a close...but not before we had a chance for some quick visits with my siblings.  First was a visit with my sister Lisa and her family in western Wisconsin.  Below is a painted cow outside of a butcher shop we visited en route:

I now realize we didn't get any pictures of Lisa and her family...we did visit a niece of mine in that same area, and here is the picture of the backs of her two young boys playing with Beth:

After our visit with Lisa et al., we drove down to near Madison, Wisconsin, and had another excellent dinner at Bistro 101 (https://www.hoffbistro101.com/), the restaurant run by our chef brother-in-law Mark Valaskey:

If the server standing next to Beth in the picture above bears a striking resemblance to Beth, it is because she is my sister Laurie, who sometimes helps her husband with the operation of the Bistro.  Joining us is my brother Bob and his gal Nancy.

We are now back in Arkansas, and I am doing blog posts and puttering around the house waiting for my part of the federal government to get back up and functional.  We had a chance to visit many friends and family, and greatly enjoyed our trip...but are glad to be back to our routines.