Tourists

Michael and I played tourists today.

We went over to the International Crane Foundation in the morning, and spent a couple of hours there, walking the trails and looking at the cranes.

Around noon, we headed into the Dells for lunch -- Famous Dave's -- and then wandered up and down Broadway poking into the tourist trap shops. Michael looked at this and that, and I spent my time passing the time of day with the shopkeepers.

The summer crowds are gone -- the schools in Illinois now start in the third week of August -- so the shopkeepers were happy to see us, and we them.

As always, I was a bit stunned by the amount of bric-a-brac on sale in the Dells. Two or three stores have nice stuff, but Broadway is mostly t-shirts and schlock. I remember a time when the whole town had a half dozen stores selling tourist items, and I never can quite believe what Broadway has turned into in recent years.

Two hours on Broadway was more than enough for this year. Way more than enough.