When you’re used to jetsetting to foreign lands, the nearly four hour flight from Los Angeles to Chicago seems like an easy hop, skip and jump. But, to make it the rest of the way to the middle of northern nowhere, it’ll take another 3-4 hours. There’s always a dilemma for how to make the 2nd half of the trip. Should you risk life or limb by taking a connecting flight at O’Hare on one of those small propeller planes that looks like (and feels like) its controlled by some guy on the ground with a remote control. This will take you to Madison, WI where you’ll still have to drive another hour plus. Or, do you just rent the car at O’Hare and slip and slide on snowy, icy roads for three hours. We choose the over the river, and through the woods, land route.
The highlight of Alex trip was walking Grampa’s three dogs in the winter wonderland. In rural Wisconsin, the mailbox can be a ½ mile walk down the driveway, and another ½ mile back up the hill. This is a long walk for a two-year-old forced to waddle in a snowsuit being tugged along by a beagle and two Labradors. It’ll be another year or two before Alex can make a snowball or a snowman, but he loved watching the snowfall -- and that was worth the trip.
