I had the chance last weekend to spend some time with some of my friends from my previous job. We’ve been talking about it forever and finally one night this summer on the golf course – we made the decision to just make the time to do it! So last weekend was the day that we set up to meet and we really had a good time.
The weekend started off by talking my friend who was driving into stopping in at this farm for what was called an Open Barn. I can’t lie, she was surprised but she was also a good sport and did it. I couldn’t remember if she was ever on a farm before, but then she said did milk cows when she grew up, and she had to milk them by hand. At first I thought she was making this up, but then I found out that she wasn’t. So this Open Barn was a local farmer that has computerized milking equipment that he was showing the technology to the public. What made it so unique was that no people are needed to do the milking. The funny part of getting to the cow barn was to catch a ride with these two kids. They were two boys, about the age of 10, and had a gator. My friend and I hopped on the back of it and off we went to the barn with our feet dangling off the back. Well, we were trying to just hang on if you want the truth. I think these two kids were trying to see if they could get us to fall off, but not get into too much trouble. We didn’t fall off, but we came close. I was really impressed with the whole milking set up, but you could about imagine how impressed my friend was! It was a long way from milking the cows by hand. When we were leaving, we started looking for the kids on the gator, but we saw that these two boys found two 12 year old girls instead – they looked a little relieved. When we left the farm, our heads were full with the thought of how this could possibly be the way of the future. It really looked like something from the Science Fiction movie. Once we started driving, we could still smell cows. We figured out it was us, so we sprayed ourselves down with perfume. I knew that I was carrying this big purse for something.
So once we got to Wisconsin, we met up with another former co-worker and spent the night with good food and a lot of good laughs. Then the next day we took a tour of the factory where some of our products that transferred from our old facility was being built. It was fun to see it again, and it sure brought back some good memories.
Off we started for home, but first we wanted to make a stop at the town Trempealeau, to get some of their famous walnut burgers. My friend has never been there before and I had, but it’s been some time ago, so I was game. I’m not sure my friend liked them as much as I did, but if you are in the area you should really try one. The reason that they are so unique is because they are made of walnuts with no meat.
Testing out the local food
Walnut Burger
The restaurant in Trempealeau, Wisconsin
After a fun weekend with friends, it definitely makes you remember all those years of working together and sharing both the good times and bad times can make friendships that can last for a very long time. I was really glad that we took the time to get together again.