Some thoughts from the weekend:
The wife and I traveled to the Twin Cities over the weekend--and I can tell you there are a lot of RVs and motorcoaches out there. At some times along Highway 29 and Interstate 94, every other vehicle was an RV towing a car behind it. Have all of those people found stations that are selling gas for less than two-bucks a gallon? Or do they just not care how much they have to pay to fuel up those gas hogs? They must have missed the memo that the economy is "in shambles" and that no one can afford to travel anymore.
You know how everyone is so down on Downtown Oshkosh? Well, compared to downtown Wausau and Stevens Point, we are doing great around here. On our trip back yesterday, I wanted to eat at one of those little pizza places that make everything from scratch and that all of the "locals" love. So we bypassed the chain restaurants along the highway and went into downtown Wausau for lunch. Downtown Wausau is a traffic nightmare. First off, every street is a one-way--making driving a nightmare for someone unfamiliar. Second, all of the streets are super-narrow with angled parking on both sides--so you have to drive at about ten-miles an hour, because you never know when someone might be backing out. And they wind between the big mall, city hall and a park that was hosting some kind of kidfest. After driving aimlessly for about twenty minutes trying to find a pizza place we finally stopped a police officer and asked him for some guidance. He suggested a nearby place--which was closed.
Finally, we gave up and decided to wait until Stevens Point--surely they have a little place downtown that's open for lunch. WRONG AGAIN!! Downtown Stevens Point didn't even have any restaurants that we could find. There was a mall and City Hall and some of the campus and some car repair places and a car show in the park--but no restaurants. Finally, we gave up and had burgers at a place along highway ten. Maybe downtown Oshkosh isn't so "dead" afterall.
And one final thing: All of you fans who rallied at Lambeau Field Sunday demanding the Packers bring back Brett Favre--you all need to get a life. You probably couldn't get five people together in Green Bay to rally for preservation of constitutional rights or clean drinking water--but Brett Favre gets a couple dozen people on short notice. I'd be willing to bet there will be a couple hundred there next Sunday. Just let it go people. Spend next weekend reading Don Quixote--or at least the Cliff's Notes version--and learn the lesson contained in that book.
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If people can afford the gas for those vehicles it's really none of your business, Jonathan, and they don't need put downs from you. You also intimate our downtown is doing great because two other cities' downtowns are a problem in your book. Hardly a standard to measure ourselves by. How about all those dozens and hundreds of downtowns who are doing better than us? It's nice you're content with something less than mediocre. Unfortunately, that won't impress too many people.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I also traveled north for the weekend, and he made a similar comment about the number of people with RVs, out to eat, etc, and said the same thing: how can the economy be in shambles when everyone is doing all this expensive stuff?? I reminded him that most of the people pulling RVs, eating out at resorts, etc. are retirees who have planned well, saved, and are now reaping the benefits of frugality. In another 20 years however, you won't see that as much. Even as the younger people inherit their parents "wealth", they will blow it all on impulse purchases, etc. Some may spend it to finance a portion of their kids' college, but the generation that taught us all to save is all but gone. The cottages and things obtained by the depression era will never be appreciated by the young, because they don't want to work for anything.
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