Greetings from Hayward, wish you were here!

Hayward, Wisconsin. Home of Cal Johnson and his world-record musky! Also, home of the American Birkebeiner and the Lumberjack World Championships.

Sounds like fun, no?

When you live in Minnesota, cities like Hayward are where you go to get away for the weekend. The whole "up north" concept was a new one to me...up north to people in Joliet is Gurnee. Or, at the very furthest, Lake Geneva. Neither of which offers much in the way of lumberjacks or muskies.

When you ask a Minnesotan what their plans are for the weekend, you will almost always hear "Ah, well, ya know - we're headed up north to the lake." To Minnesotans, "up north" is pretty much anywhere you drive for the weekend. And "the lake" means the lake where they have a cabin. You never get the name of the lake, it's just "the lake."

Minnesota is a weird, weird place.

Since I am not one for cabins, and I strongly prefer swimming in a pool, the whole "up north" thing has not really caught on in our house. Unfortunately, our options for a quick weekend getaway are limited. And Nate and I are big on the weekend getaway. Since our schedules are hectic and we often go days without seeing each other, we've made traveling together a priority.

And one of our very favorite places to go is Hayward, Wisconsin.

No kidding.

For our first anniversary, Nate and I decided to try out a little B&B in Hayward. It's a quick two hour drive from Minneapolis, and the place was on the front page of Minnesota Monthly's issue featuring the Top 10 Awesome Inns. Why not give it a shot?

Oh. My. Goodness.

The McCormick House has become our very favorite place to visit. It is a breath of fresh air, as far as B&Bs go (no frills, no lacy stuff), and it's up north in location only. Nary a moose head to be found. It's a beautiful victorian house, restored in a way that preserves the old, but welcomes the new. It is essentially the exact house I would like to own, from the huge front porch to the sweeping staircase and historic fireplaces. They have a beautiful english garden, plush outdoor furniture, a bright green lawn, and a tranquil pond. It's like living in Restoration Hardware, or Williams Sonoma. Absolutely dreamy.

Nate and I went back this past weekend, and we had a lovely time — we shopped around Hayward, spent some time alone with our feet in the water at a secluded lake, ate at two really good restaurants, stopped for ice cream, spent hours lounging outside (me with a book, Nate with a crossword), played croquet, watched the sun set with a glass of wine in the hot tub, watched a movie in bed, and just enjoyed being together.

It was the perfect weekend "up north" for this not-quite-Minnesotan girl.