I spent the weekend at a cabin in Tomahawk this weekend with my family. I have never rented a cabin before and I definitely learned a thing or six.

1. Beer and syrup both taste better in the Northwoods. I don't know how this is possible, but it is.
2. Puzzles are not boring. Somehow I have been a parent for a decade but did my first puzzle this weekend. I always passed them off as a time waster for bored people who like busy work, but I actually had a great time putting together all 250 pieces of Spiderman.
3. Always read the fine print. I thought I already knew this one, but somehow, I missed the line on my cabin contract stating I had to bring my own bedding and found myself at the Walmart in Rhinelander at 10 p.m. on Friday. Sleeping in scratchy, new sheets was our way of "roughing it" all weekend, I guess. Hardcore survivalists indeed.
4. You cannot go to a supper club for lunch. "Duh," you say, but I really thought I would enjoy a sandwich and a Bloody Mary or a brandy Old Fashioned midday on one of the supper club patios this weekend, but the few in our neck of the woods opened at 5 p.m. I did have one of the best fish fries of my life at the Silver Birch for supper, however.
5. Car DVD players really are a good idea when traveling more than three hours with kids. Mad Libs and license plate games are fun for about 25 minutes, and then it's that mosquito-bite-annoying question every 12 miles, "are we there yet?"
6. Nature is always a good idea.