Everyone gets to missing home. Like last year, I didn't go home for Thanksgiving (I generally take an extended trip back over Christmas).

I don't have many photos of my hometown as it didn't seem all that important to take any while I was living there. But I was browsing through photos on Flickr and thought to look for a Wisconsin Rapids tag. Lo and behold, there are digital cameras in the middle of Wisconsin.

And so, to leech on the work of others, a Flickr tour of my hometown:


McMillan Memorial Library. It's right next to the junior high and, so, kind of an after-school hangout. Parts of Google Page Creator were written in this library.


The Shopko Mall. Notice how the storefronts are empty. The area's stagnant economy and the big-box development in nearby Plover, Stevens Point, and Wausau have gutted a lot of the city's retail. Still going strong: the local Super Wal-Mart. I hear there's a new Home Depot too.


The Little Pink Restaurant. I think it's moved a couple of times, but I remember them having really big and tasty loaves of bread.


The city's economy has always been based on the local paper mill. The old industrial barons would put up big mansions by the river—many of them are still standing and beautiful. They're probably roughly the cost of a San Francisco condo.


Downtown. My high school rock band played the coffee house there a few times. I worked a summer as a software engineer in an office down the street. The office was converted from an old department store that went under.



A wedding at Red Sands Beach. It's a public shelter and, now that I think about it, I remember going to a lot of events in that building—company picnics, school events, triathlons, etc.

I'll be back in a month or so.