The Northwoods Adventure

After a delicious breakfast prepared by Steve at Munro Manor (TripAdvisor Review of Munro Manor), I met up with Maxine for a guided tour of Butternut. Despite how busy she was with Pioneer Days preparations and her family visiting, she squeezed in a couple hours with me!

Maxine showed me where I would be giving a talk to the Third Story Writers Guild at the Park Falls Library that evening. She made sure to take me inside and introduce me to the librarian and have them show me the exact room. It was so thoughtful and definitely helped settle some nerves about my talk.

On our way to the Butternut Area Historical Museum, we stopped off at the first mural dedicated to folks who contributed to the town over the years.

Maxine gave me the highlights of each person’s life. It was amazing to hear about who they were and how much they gave to the community.

Then we headed over to the museum.

This gorgeous building has been around for over a hundred years. They recently renovated the outside.

I loved discovering more about one of their most famous residents, a wrestler named Charles “Midget” Fischer.

The staging was top notch. I almost felt like I was walking back in time and into someone’s kitchen.

More treasures awaited us upstairs.

I highly recommend stopping into this museum. It’s worth every second spent there!

I even got to see the class picture from Maxine’s high school class. And let me tell you she is just as pretty and mischievous looking as she was back then!

We picked up Maxine’s cousin and had a delightful lunch filled with laughs in Fifield at the Kountry Kafe.

Maxine’s cousin had the fluffiest pancakes I’d ever seen.

Later on, Dad and I did a little sightseeing, popping in at The Novel Idea Bookshop in Park Falls.

It was lovely to meet Heidi in person and take a picture with my book on the shelves in her shop! She only had two left from my last shipment. Her shop has everything a book lover could want. Cool knit items that I couldn’t resist. Books about Wisconsin including one by Tess Morrison, who I got to meet at the Third Story Writers Guild event that night. It’s on my TBR shelf.

Then I prepared for my library talk about my path to publication for the Third Story Writers Guild of Park Falls. The writers guild was a great group of people who challenged me with insightful questions about writing and publishing. We spent two hours together and I was deeply impressed by their passion for writing. I hope to keep in touch with them and hear more about their projects!

Big thank you to Anna Maria Hansen for giving me a copy of the Park Falls Herald that ran our interview! And many thanks to Karen Drums and the guild for inviting me to speak!

Afterwards, Dad and I followed Linda to Dick and Joan’s Butternut Resort for a late dinner.

I had a terrific chicken rice soup and battered walleye!

The next day, we spent in Butternut getting to know the area and talking to people.

We met Bill and Cathy at The Feed Store. Cathy showed us around and we had a blast talking with her. The Feed Store is definitely the heart of Butternut.

We stopped in at the museum and met Darlene and Jeannie. Caught up with Maxine a bit too.

We met Hugh Bob Masterson’s relatives and learned his band, Hugh Bob and the Hustle, have  upcoming gigs in NYC. Dad and I plan to be there.

We ate lunch at Jumbo’s–great fishfry.

Later we changed for the Reception being held at the Butternut American Legion. We ran into Jody and she showed us where I’d be doing a small signing that night. Then we went downstairs and met several town officials.

Maxine and Kelly did a terrific job putting together a delicious dinner! The bratwurst was the best I’ve ever had–better than Austria. George cooked them perfectly. I got to eat off such beautiful and delicate Bavarian china! It was a night fit for a queen. I’ve never felt so welcomed or so special in my entire life! And Maxine’s dessert–it was a black forest cake that I cannot stop thinking about!

I got to chat with Kelly and her husband. Several of his high school students came to the reception and talked with me a bit about writing. One is already a published poet–very impressive Carley!

Then I went upstairs to sign books and chat.

We sold ten books and I got to meet with several readers. It was truly an awesome night. I even met a Richter! Heidi and her mom stopped by to say hi. Linda and I talked about her book idea. And Kim and John from the writers group popped in to see me too.