Blowing Through La Crosse

When I went to school in La Crosse things like cars or even bikes weren't very common which considering the amount we drank was a good thing. When you needed a lift home—in my case a  two-and-a-half-hour drive by car, you did not want to take the bus—finding a car on the ride board with a heater wasn't a given, but finding a bar with an Old Style sign was.

Somewhere around Gotham I think (do you believe there's a Wayne Cemetary there?)

We'd keep ourselves warm by flirting and stopping at every bar along highway 14 with an Old Style sign. We were not responsible young adults.

Pepin, a charming place full of giant Adirondack chairs and these signs

It was in La Crosse where I met people from Up North-for-real and learned that you could fit a grill and an encouraging amount of coolers on a pontoon while navigating your way from bar to bar with virtually no sense of direction. 

♪ Over the river and across the bridge in the wrong direction we go ♫

I learned about Twins fans (as loyal as Cubs fans with a catchy club tune) and The Cities. And that if you crossed a bridge downtown you were in Minnesota where they mostly say "pop" instead of "soda." So why is it called Mini Soda?

I didn't graduate from there (shock) but I still dream about it. The few times I've gone back it strikes me how big it's gotten and how having never driven there I do not know where I'm going.

My sense of direction is much better on a pontoon full of sizzling meat and iced beer

Which is probably one of the reasons I overshot it, thinking, "Hmm, this looks familiar, but not good familiar."

Right church wrong pew, right river wrong state wrong side

I just realized there are no photos of La Crosse in this post. That's because I was too busy getting lost in rush hour traffic. Yes, they have rush hour traffic there.