Historical Tour

Saturday, March 18, 2023

When we used to come to Eau Claire when the boys were young (to visit Keith’s parents or for chamber orchestra or to visit friends or whatever – it is so, so strange that all of those reasons except orchestra are now gone), we would narrate everything as we drove around – “That’s where Daddy lived in the basement of a lady and her son,” “That’s where I used to work,” “This is called the Wheee bridge, because Benjamin always yelled wheeeeeee when we drove over it when he was 3,” “That’s where we used to live. Now it’s a warehouse.” Alexander called it “historical tours” and he liked it.

Today we took ourselves on a bit of a historical tour that went something like this: “Which house was Jerry and Barbara’s? That one? I don’t know. It used to be red. Didn’t it?”, “What was over there when we lived in that house?”, “There’s the country club where I was a greenskeeper,” “Remember Gumps? I loved it so much.” Man, do we not remember things. We talked about Gumps for a bit. It was a very short-lived restaurant. I don’t know how many times we went there, and we both loved it, but neither of us can remember what exactly they offered. We have searched the internet for information and only found other people looking for information. If we could remember something specific, we could try to make it. It was definitely a sandwich-ish place – Keith thinks pita, maybe. I remember there was cheese that had been fried – leaked out the side and grilled as the sandwich cooked, maybe? I remember chicken, maybe. I hypothesized today that maybe they were just paninis before paninis were a thing. I feel like there was sauce, but probably only because everything I truly love has a sauce. How do we both miss a place we don’t remember!?

We went out for lunch. It was terrific. Keith had mixed meat fajita – beef, shrimp, chicken, and chorizo all under melted cheese. I had a burrito smothered in white cheese sauce. Really, how could it not have been terrific?

We spent the afternoon at the UWEC student union because we didn’t have anything else to do. It is so weird to go there on the weekend, because it is absolute empty. EMPTY. A tour group came through at one point and I overheard the guide say that during the week it is just packed in here. I have no doubt – between classes killing time or eating – tons of people are probably here. It is my understanding that college is a weekday event in this day and age. People go home for the weekend, or go somewhere, at least. No one is around. I find that so strange, since back in my day (when we walked uphill both ways in the snow in July) you just stayed at school. You had endless time to do your work and sit around and talk to your friends – hopes and dreams and complaints and issues were endlessly rehashed (and just hashed, I supposed) over pizza and popcorn (not a big drinker even then). From the outside looking in, that part seems to be missing from college life – or maybe from everyone’s life. Our electronic toys fill up our time and we don’t interact as much with others.

Tonight’s orchestra concert was a little different than some of the concerts: Keith was very excited about all of the songs. He played on three of the four. There was a guest guitar soloist for the fourth piece. Keith wore his Brazil futbol shirt yesterday (because it has a green ring around the collar) under his green sweatshirt. The guitar guy came up to him and said, “Your shirt (which was just barely peeking out of the sweatshirt) looks like a Brasil futbol shirt.” Keith quickly zipped down a few inches and flashed the logo. Turns out this guy grew up an hour south of Manaus, our last port on the cruise. He was delighted that we had recently been there and was happy to see a Brasil shirt. I always just stay in the green room while the orchestra concerts are going on because there are big TVs showing the concert, and if it’s not my cup of tea music-wise, I can read. Tonight, I was looking forward to the music, but there was no sound coming out of my TV during the first tune. I was disappointed. Magically, the second piece – with the guitar guy – suddenly had audio. I really enjoyed it. The second half there was no sound at all. The sound guys have to flip a switch and even though they were asked to do it, they didn’t. Bummer.