Me in front of the ice castle in Eagle River, WI.

Me in front of the ice castle in Eagle River, WI.

OK, which of these three things doesn’t belong? If you said outhouse races, you’re right!

How does any of this fit together? Read on to find out. This post is mostly non-quilting, so fair warning.

We now have a 24-foot boat sitting in our driveway. Cool, huh? Andrew has been diligently searching for a boat online, and he found one in St. Germain, WI, which is about three hours from here. Considering that he was looking at boats in downstate Michigan, Ohio, New York, and other far-flung locations, I was relieved that the trip to pick it up would be comparatively short.

We went to get the boat on Thursday. Of course, it took all day to drive down there and come back. But it was a pretty drive, one that we’ve made before on the way to Minneapolis.

On the way home, we stopped at Eagle River, WI, for some dinner.  While driving through town looking for a place to eat, we noticed what appeared to be an ice castle!  Of course, we had to check it out.  It’s not every day that you see something like this.

It was late in the afternoon, so the sun was at the perfect angle to light up the ice castle and make it glow.  It was COLD, but we had to walk all around it and take lots of pictures.

We rested up Friday in preparation for…

The first corporate sponsor! Here's Charmin's entry.

The first corporate sponsor! Here's Charmin's entry.

…the Trenary (MI) Outhouse Classic on Saturday.  Trenary is a little town of about 400 people about 30 miles south of Marquette.  To raise money for the town, they have outhouse races the last Saturday in February.  Believe it or not, people come from all over to see the outhouse races.  We saw license plates from Nebraska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, as well as from Michigan.

Of course, the biggest news was that Charmin sponsored an outhouse in the race.  A major corporate sponsor, for the first time!

The other big news is that the outhouse races are now international, as well, with two racers from Japan who participated.

It was cold and windy, but the crowd was well-supplied with beer, along with hot coffee and hot chocolate.  Potty humor abounded, and poor taste was the order of the day.  A good time was had by all!

Have I actually managed to do any sewing lately?  Surprisingly enough, the answer is yes.  I finished  the quilt-as-you-go baby quilt yesterday, and today I started a new strip quilt.  So far I have two strips done, one that’s 9″ x 45″, and one that’s 5″ x 45″.  I’m going to make the strips different width, and then join them with sashing to finish up with a baby quilt about 36 inches wide. Quilt pictures will follow, hopefully tomorrow!

In the meantime, here’s a video from yesterday’s outhouse races.

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Filed under: Neat Things In Marquette

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