Weekend at Charlies

Jon and I have just returned from a "quick" jaunt to Charles' house to continue building our bar. The drive is about 5 1/2 hours across the state of Wisconsin nearly to the upper peninsula of Michigan. There isn't an interstate within 2 hours drive of his house, and when you finally reach it, you just drive under it. Though there are a couple of stretches of four lane highway that moves nicely, it's mostly two lanes through National Forests and tiny towns. It can be a beautiful drive, but it's can also be mind-numbing. But it pays off in the end - we've never been sorry to have made the trip - to work on the bar or otherwise.

The bar is coming along quite nicely to say the least. Charles mentioned that he is surprising himself with his talent - I knew he had it in him. But to think he is building an 18" front bar and a 12" back bar - both of which must be transported 5 1/2 hours back across the state of Wisconsin to their resting place, it's an amazing feat.

He had already built the majority of the back bar before we arrived so our work was pretty much just sanding and staining. On Sunday we put the back bar together so Charles could continue working on the top portion (which is obviously absent from the photos). We are planning on putting three sections of stained glass across the top (which he is building) and mirrors between each section. All in all, we are thrilled with the progress and can't wait to see it all together.

Keep your fingers crossed.