“Taring” up the Midwest

Prior to Saturday, the closest my son Charlie’s girlfriend Tara had been to Wisconsin was Northeast Philadelphia.

So, when the New Jersey native agreed to venture to the west side of the Great Lakes, we knew we had to convince her that the state Charlie has been calling #heavenonearth really is worthy of the hashtag. Perhaps you’ve been following her journey on Charlie’s active and well-hashtagged Instagram account under #Taringupthemidwest?

In four days, she tasted every type of cheese we offer, from squeaky curd to 10-year old cheddar; she even went nose-to-nose with a calf on a dairy farm. She went Up North and downtown, enjoyed an evening float down the Oconto River and an afternoon swim in the North Shore pool.

She ate walleyed pike and sipped a brandy old-fashioned sweet. She learned to play Sheepshead during an intense lesson on our dining room table and talked sports smack around the campfire at our cabin.

As much as we had fun introducing Wisconsin to Tara, we appreciated even more the opportunity for Charlie to introduce Tara to us. She’ll be taking a few mosquito bites back with her when she and Charlie head back to New York today, but she’ll be taking our best wishes with her as well.

We’re already looking forward to Taring up the Midwest round two, the winter version.

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I’d been whining a bit about being the last in the family to meet Tara, so I was thrilled to be able to spend some time with her.
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Charlie captured this very special moment when Tara bit into her first fresh cheese curd. Please note the farmer selling fresh picked corn on the cob out of the red pickup truck in the background. Wisconsin rocks!
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We took her right to the source of all that Wisconsin cheese.
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Charlie made sure Tara had a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet
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And he took this selfie in front of our cabin Up North. #NoFilter
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Most of the family was on hand to meet Tara in Wisconsin.
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Although Katherine couldn’t make it to Wisconsin this time, she did show Tara around Chicago, including this stop at Kingston Mines, a favorite Chicago Blues joint.
Grandma Tara and Charlie
Last night, before her sheepshead lesson and after her deep fried haddock, Tara also got a chance to hang with another Wisconsin legend (though Cincinnati raised), Grandma Peggy.

 

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