Port Washington, WI is an attractive and honest town just about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, WI. It is a port to the beautiful and great Lake Michigan. Some of the homes in this little town are easily 150 years old. Port Washington keeps an old world charm that can be quite infectious! Port Washington is home to the annual Fish Day festival, Maritime Days and Pirate Days festival. Port Washington boasts a beautiful (modern) lighthouse walk out on the lake and a historic 1860 lighthouse on the high bluff. If you are a blues fan, Port Washington was once the home to Paramount Blues Records. It was a spin-off from the Wisconsin Chair Factory. The factory wanted to sell phonographs and as a gimmick decided to include ‘free’ records to buyers of the phonograph. The sales weren’t too successful but they recorded some of the greatest blues artists of all times, including Alberta Hunter, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Son House.

This summer was hotter than most.  In fact, in the city I reside, there were multiple days in a row which the temperature far exceeded 90 degrees.  This gave me perfect incentive to finally get out to the awesome rivers that surround my area.  I started out slow by simply floating in small rafts down calm areas of the river.  Eventually, I knew I wanted more.  A group of friends and I finally got up the courage to do some whitewater rafting with a tour guide.  It was quite fun and action packed.  It is now something that I can look forward to next summer.

Every story or sport needs their bad guy-the guy in the black hat that everyone else roots against. The Oakland Raiders are that team in the NFL. The Raiders and their fans have a personality all their own and you need to be a part of it to completely understand it. From Raider legends like Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff and Dave Casper to Marcus Allen, Tim Brown and Howie Long, the team was always stocked with talent and original personalities. Raider’s players and fans agree with owner Al Davis’ theory that “It’s the whole world against the Raiders”. It’s the team you love to hate and the more you hate them, the more the team and the fans enjoy it. One of my favorite moments was before a Broncos-Raiders game and John Elway was being interviewed about the rivalry. He looked in the camera and just said, “I hate the Raiders”.

The past week of my life has been particularly busy, but busy in the best possible way. I have had visits from family members from the other side of the country, as well as having many friends in town for a wedding that I was a participant in. The weather has been ideal for this time of year, so I was able to enjoy lots of time outside, and even took my family to the zoo! Things have been quite busy at work, and all in all, life is just humming right along!