Before leaving for a week in Minocqua, I wrote a blog based on the observation that the town's Website had a "things to do" page that was blank. That led me to wonder how I'd pass a week of "doing nothing" at a cabin in the woods west of Minocqua.

Well, I'm back now and happy to report that I had a great time. Now you can rest comfortably. Heh heh.

Although a lot of people warned me that Minocqua is a lot like the Dells, I was pleased to find out that they overstated it a bit. Sure, there's taffy and the MinAquabats water show and T-shirt stores, but Minocqua hasn't been completely washed away yet.

We spent a week in a great cabin at Booth Lake Landing with Milwaukee ex-pats Dick and Sue Heil and although we took a few trips into town -- mostly to do necessary errands, but also to eat at Paul Bunyan's, get pies from The Baker's House (kids get a free cookie when they knock on the wee door), shop the main street, see the MinAquabats, pet the animals at Peck's Wildwood Wildlife Park and eat pizza (twice) at Monicals in Woodruff -- we hung out at the cabin most of the time.

I was introduced to the joys of kayaking on a mostly placid lake and getting dragged around in an inner tube, and more than a few hours of the week were spent lazing around the two sandboxes with our better third.

We gathered with the other cabiners around the campfire at night, listened to the frogs talking to one another and we gazed up at stars, Jupiter (we think) and the Milk Way after darkness descended. We were, however, disappointed to hear that Dick hadn't seen the aurora borealis in about three years.

It was mellow, it was low-stress and it was pretty relaxing.

We didn't get to the Cheese Board or to Otto's Brat & Beer Garden, as I'd hoped, but there's always a next time, right? Although we saw places selling wild rice and cranberries, which we'd have loved to bring home as edible Northwoods souvenirs, the minute we read on the labels that it all came from Canada they didn't seem like essential purchases anymore.

Even though it's about four hours away, I had two Milwaukee moments in Minoqua. The first came on Oneida Street outside Bubbles Aqua Massage where my son and I ran through the bubbles raining down onto the sidewalk from a bubble machine. A woman passing by stopped and inquired, "Bobby?" It was an acquaintance from Milwaukee who had talked back to my previous Minocqua blog!

The second was when we discovered that the Heils' son manages Papa's Pub and Mama's Pizza on Burleigh, our neighborhood pizzeria! Speaking of pizza, if you go up there, try Monicals' pizza on 51 in Woodruff. The pizza is great and the view from the dining room overlooks the water. But be prepared to wait. Even at lunch when there were just a few tables, the pizza was a long time coming.