Looking For The Hodags!

We are in the beautiful state of Wisconsin to visit my aunt and uncle and my cousin and her husband. They live in northern Wisconsin near Rhinelander and Three Lakes. My aunt (Dad's sister) and uncle are in their 90's and in a nursing home. My cousin and her husband manage Honeyrock Camp, the northern campus of Wheaton College. On Tuesday we flew from Harrisburg to Chicago to Madison. Our flights were great and, in fact, we were actually almost 40 minutes early into Chicago - that must be a record! When we got to Madison one of our fears came true - no luggage. However, about 30 minutes later it was discovered that our luggage had actually arrived before us. Because our plane was so early into Chicago, our luggage actually made an earlier flight to Madison and beat us there. It is interesting just to watch folks who are flying. On our first flight we were traveling with a large family who we think were Spanish. They carried on all of their own suitcases, probably to avoid the baggage costs. This pile of baggage blocked the line to check in while all of their passports were verified and boarding passes printed. Then they somehow beat us on the plane and actually had seats all around us. Their luggage filled all the overhead bins around us, forcing us and others to find other places for our carry-ons. The kids spent their time on the flight playing computer games. Their "crew" again blocked the aisle when passengers were trying to leave the plane. For us it was no problem because our flight was so early and we had more than adequate time to wait for our connecting flight. However the most interesting passengers were a couple near us, probably in their late 20's or early 30's. They spent the entire flight kissing - often "lip-locked" for five or ten minutes at a time. They did come up for air every once in awhile. I guess that is a great way to pass time on a long flight. Dianne thought it was funny. I thought he was lucky. There was also a very pregnant lady waiting for our flight (I guess she had been too "lucky" previously). She kept rubbing her belly and we just hoped that she wouldn't give birth on the flight. I don't think she did - I believe the baby that we heard crying was from another mother and her baby behind us. After a night in Madison, we spent several hours on Wednesday driving to Rhinelander. It was a long but beautiful ride. The first third reminded us of home with beautiful farms and fields of corn. The next third featured rolling hills with trees and beautiful lakes. Then we came to the last third which featured miles of forests and lakes - few homes or towns were seen. And then, in the middle of nowhere, we found Rhinelander. It is a beautiful old town, along a large lake, with a great shopping area, a modern hospital and even an airport - if you can afford the fares to fly there. We will share more of our experiences and reasons for our trip in future blogs. Oh yes, the nickname and town mascot is the Hodag. The Chamber of Commerce says it is an animal that feasts on lost golf balls. We also found that The Hodag is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. In 1893 newspapers reported the discovery of a Hodag in Rhinelander. It had "the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end". The reports were instigated by Wisconsin timber cruiser and prankster Eugene Shepard, who rounded up a group of local people to capture the animal. The group reported that they needed to use dynamite to kill the beast. A photograph of the remains of the charred beast was released to the media. It was said to be the fiercest, strangest, most frightening monster ever to set razor sharp claws on the earth. It became extinct after its main food source, all white bulldogs became scarce in the area. The Hodag became the official symbol of Rhinelander. It is the mascot of Rhinelander High School, and lends its name to numerous Rhinelander area businesses and organizations. A larger-than-life fiberglass sculpture of the Hodag, created by a local artist, resides on the grounds of the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce. Can you tell which one of the figures in the picture is the Hodag? Well, I hope that you don't dream of this fierce creature tonight. I hope that I don't. I wonder what that noise is outside?