Blowing the Horn About Siren

Siren, Wisconsin was half wiped out by a bad ass tornado back in 2001. On my birthday, and even more particularly, the first day I began professional work as an Archaeologist. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good or bad coincidence.

I've been working in Siren on and off since 2006. I'm pretty fond of this project, the sites, the roads, the middle-of-nowhere bar-n-grills... However, I'm not getting to "live-up" Siren as fully as I'd like to. Siren's a long drive from Madison, and we've yet to spend a whole week here. On top of that, I got nailed with the flu. Fuck the Swine Flu, what was with that media hype? This flu hit a lot of people hard, and I gotta say, it was NO FUN.

So, this is an entry using a post-flu, partially post-Memorial Day memory.

Any trip to Northwestern Wisconsin warrants a trip to the Norske Nook for PIE, yeah, OLE!! That's "Oh-lee" not "Oh-lay" for you non-Scandinavian heritage folks). We're fond of the Osseo location. Just stop in. I-94, Exit 88, follow the signs. Eat pie. It's award-winning gooooooood. I have to remember to get the Root Beer Float pie next time I see it on the menu, nothing has topped that yet! Here's some White Chocolate Strawberry pie for you to drool over.



There's a place in Siren called Yah Butz that we've had our eyes on for the past few field seasons, but the darn place never seemed to be open. The shop reads 'BBQ and ice cream', has to be good, right? Well, turns out they're open Thursday-Sunday (don't quote me on that). We finally made it in, only there's no cooked food! They sell "take and heat" ribs and their homemade BBQ sauce, amongst some other things including delicious, delicious ice cream. You can sample the sauce. I bought some, only I don't usually grill on my own, so who's up for grilling with some Big Butz?


By the way, what IS that thing?

When in Siren, we usually stay at the Lodge at Crooked Lake. It's very lodgey. Big rooms, lots of taxidermy, some nice common areas to hang out in, a bonfire pit and BBQ, and a great view of the marsh from the north-facing rooms. The rooms have fun names. The first week, I was in "Lumberjack". Last week, it was "Bear Paw". There's also "Dancing Wolf", "Ruffed Grouse"... you get the picture.

Tuesday was Chelsea's first day back for the field season. Our crew may now possibly be at full capacity for the field season. After dinner and having enough of the desserts, we girls took a walk on the Gandy Dancer State Trail that hooks up behind the hotel. We didn't get too far because of mosquitoes, twilight, and the front desk clerk's warning of bears, but it was cool. The beavers love this trail. Check it out, they're trying to impale bikers who fly over the handles...






There was a CD on the beaver lodge. I wonder what album it was?

And finally, this his how we rock it. With a game of LIFE, missing half the pieces.