A nice story about my hometown in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (see my June 29 post):
It's not at all a bad thing for a city when a river runs through it.
It can be unfortunate, though, when a big wide freeway does, as many a city could attest. For many, Wausau is just the largest drive-through community on the way to northern Wisconsin, and viewed only through the windshield on I-39, which we of a certain age will ever know as Highway 51, not an exceptional one. There are mostly the usual suspects - fast-food outlets and big-box retailers - waving hello, and a seemingly endless period of highway construction hasn't added to the welcome.
But it only seems that all of the action is on the edges, where the malls and national chains have sunk shallow roots. There is also life in the city's downtown River District, some old, a lot new, well worth a visitor's time and attention.
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