Vacation Reflections, Chapter 2: You're not from around here

I realized after I finished my post the other night that I forgot to mention a few things about TJ.  He really is a homebody.  He was homesick even though he was traveling with his entire immediate family.  Every day, he spoke of how much he missed Katie and Willoughby, how much he missed our house, how much he missed his grandparents, etc.  The last day of our vacation, he got downright frustrated.  Just before we left for home, he snapped, "I don't see why everyone is talking about how great the Keweenaw is!  I like West Michigan better!"

Now, on to today's post:

When we arrived in Wisconsin on the Badger, it was later than we anticipated (the wind had been working against us the entire way).  It was about 2:00 before we found a McDonald's and got the boys some lunch.  All 3 of them had Happy Meals (although TJ gets the bigger kids meal now) and drank Sprite with it.  Now, may I remind you that we live in Michigan.  We don't drink soda.  We drink POP!  Bill and I finished our meals and I was encouraging the boys to finish up.  They were tired, cranky, and starting to bicker with each other.  We were a bit crowded in our booth, so since I was finished, I was standing at the end of the booth while I started to clean up.  At the next booth over were three guys in their mid to late twenties.  I wasn't paying much attention to them and I didn't think they were paying much attention to us.  One of my kids asked if they could bring their drink back to the van.  I said, "No.  No pop in the car.  Finish it up here."  I noticed the guys start to snicker and one of them said, "Heh heh!  She said 'pop'!"

So, I did what any self-respecting woman in their mid-thirties does.  I gave them my professional Knock-It-Off-Because-I'm-A-Mom look.  They grinned right back.  Turns out they were quite friendly.  One of them observed that we weren't from 'around here'.  I confirmed that and said that in Michigan, we drink pop.  They chuckled again.  One of the guys then asked me if we use the term 'water fountain' or 'bubbly fountain'.  I told him neither one, they are 'drinking fountains'.  He nodded thoughtfully and said that was better than a bubbly fountain.  We then spent a few moments laughing at a few Minnesota and Yooper terms.  Finally my boys were done and we were on our way.

I kept thinking about that term 'bubbly fountain'.  I've never heard that before.  I'm trying to picture a six-foot, 250 pound guy asking where the nearest 'bubbly fountain' is.  I don't know if I could take that seriously!