Hello! It’s me.

We’re taking a few days to do chores. Laundry. Purchasing Beer. Replacing a Water Pump. That kind of stuff. Grandpa helped install the replacement water pump, and you can rest assured that 3:00am toilet flushes are now met with the comforting drizzle of water being pumped out of the fresh water tank. #ourlongnationalnightmareisover

But before we performed a deep dive into boring tasks, we saw a couple of sights in Minocqua. First, it was the world’s largest penny. We used Google Maps to find the site. When we arrived, this is what we saw.

So the site of this big penny was at a museum, the museum was closed, and we had to go somewhere else to see the penny. Fine. We walked two blocks, and sure enough, there it was.

Soak it in, pups! It’s pure magic, don’t you think?

If your bill was $18.51, it would be hard to pass this thing to the convenience store clerk.

Next up was a stop to see Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. Seems every town in the northlands has this or sold this off to a holding company in North Carolina.

I found Mr. Bunyon to be a bit of a brute … so I decided to do something a bit more enjoyable … I scaled Mt. BabeTheBlueOx.

I rode Babe for about eight seconds … credible stuff if I were competing in a rodeo.

From there, it was another mind-numbing drive along a four lane road. I needed oxygen, and I looked for it in all the wrong places.

In Wausau, we stopped for lunch at Rocky Rococo’s. First, Dad wanted to show you what a proper salad bar looks like – two choices of French Dressing – even a lite version for those you who, like me, care about your waistline.

Dad went with the Sausage and Pepperoni and Breadsticks.

When we got to Grandpa & Grandma’s, Mom & Dad fulfilled their chore quota while I aimlessly patrolled the local streets like a teen trying to avoid a patrol car.

And after throwing up all over the bed at 4:00am, I am off to a great start this morning. I hear Dad wants to visit a stereo shop so he can get his SiriusXM problem fixed. Vacations are a lot of fun when you infuse the excitement of a big penny with chores.