I took  a mini road trip the other day to a place I'd never been. It was 5 hours up through Wisconsin to Door County. Now, I have to preface this by saying I agreed to take the trip with a friend and her 9 month old to go visit one of her friends and her 2 month old. Yes, I made a conscious decision to do this because I love my friend and her baby and thought it would be really fun. It turned out to be a case of "live and learn". I learned that it's not fair to sit a baby straight up in a chair in the back seat of a car for 5 hours and expect her not to make a sound. I also learned that 9 months is a turning point for a baby and unfamiliar surroundings really aggravate them. And if they're aggravated, they let you know with a long series of whines which could last up to an hour straight. If you're like me and don't have children, you hope to never hear one of those sounds again for the rest of your life. Plus, 9 month olds are active and need to be under constant supervision because they push and pull and eat everything they can get their cute little hands on. So, I determined what we really needed was a playpen. Yes, a big playpen so the baby can safely play and sleep and not have to be watched so mommy and her friend can drink wine in peace. And I'm not talking about those dumb pack n' plays that are the size of a 2 x 2 prison cell. I mean a REAL playpen like I had growing up. Those cages must have had 10 feet of play space and could fit several babies comfortably, or uncomfortably depending on how exhausted the mother was. Back in the day I know my mom put us in there and tossed in a few toys so she could go off and smoke her cigarettes while frying up a whole chicken (that was when cigarettes and fried chicken were good for you). Ok, there's no way for me to know if that's really what my mom did with her playpen freedom because I was a baby. But, after my experience, I can only hope my mom used that opportunity to have a few belts. Anyway, the point is, I see a real need to bring back those big playpens so I'm planning to start a new line of baby goods called  "Barren Spinster".  I'm sure the things will be flying off the shelf. 

Because we had babies with us, I didn't get to experience too much of Door County. But, we did get out to do a few things. We were on the Bay side which is made up of a bunch of little towns on the water with a large Scandinavian influence. Flags are flying proudly, stores are selling viking hats and people are living in Swedish-style cottages. There's a restaurant called Al Johnson's that sells Swedish pancakes and the wait staff parades around in these traditional Swedish outfits.  I think I was about as Swedish as anybody who worked there.  And here's the thing, I've been to Sweden and I never ran into anyone in a restaurant that spoke with a Wisconsin accent. So, it was difficult for me to get into character and really believe I was in Sweden when our waitress greeted us with "oh yeah, and how are ya today?" Plus, this place had live goats grazing on the grass-covered roof. Traffic slows almost to a stop while people stare and take pictures of these poor goats.  Where is PETA? I mean I personally think wearing a warm furry coat made from dead animals is much less offensive than forcing a goat to live on the roof of a fake Swedish restaurant. And, I couldn't figure out how they get off. If they fell they would be splattered all over the parking lot.  Then there would be a bunch of little kids in plastic viking hats screaming their heads off.  Now that I think about it, I may have to add an animal line of playpens to my Barren Spinster collection so these goats can graze safely. 

Today's EiPod: "Grazin' in the Grass", Boney James