5/19-23/2006 - Paw Paw, MI

There's a little ditty
They're singing in the city
Espeshly when they've been
On the gin, Or the beer
If you've got the patience,
Your own imaginations
Will tell you just exactly what you want to hear...

Oom-pah-pah!
Oom-pah-pah!
That's how it goes,
Oom-pah-pah!
Oom-pah-pah!
Ev'ryone knows.
They all suppose what they want to suppose
When they hear...oom-pah-pah!!

To tell you the truth, I've never fully "got" that song. But if you're trying to figure out in which city they sing, it is surely Paw Paw, MI.

According to the city's website,

"Paw Paw is nestled in the heart of wine country in central Van Buren County, the Paw Paw area provides an idyllic setting for raising a family or relaxing through retirement. The village has several popular restaurants that draws [sic] patrons from miles around; it also boasts one of the few surviving small town movie theaters in the area. In the center of town is beautiful Maple Lake which features an outdoor amphitheater on it shores which is host to many concerts in the summer and fall. Maple Island offers picnic facilities, a beach and a recreational park."

I'm not much of wine drinker and I'm not ready for retirement, so I think that I will head off to Maple Island to picnic. Happily, Wikipedia furnishes more details:

The MapleStory world is a set of explorable continents in the MMORPG MapleStory. There are three main continents common to all versions in the MapleStory world: Maple Island, Victoria Island, and Ossyria Island. There are also two subcontinents common to all versions in the MapleStory world: Florina Island and Ludibrium Island.

In the JapanMS version, there is an additional continent called Jipang which is based on Japanese culture; similarly, Fairy Tale Village is based on the Korean culture. There is also a Peach Blossom Island accessible only to the ChinaMS, MapleSEA, and TaiwanMS versions where traditional Chinese marriages take place.

Dongfang and Formosa are continents exclusive to ChinaMS and TaiwanMS versions respectively.

There are also event towns, such as Happyville, which is available to players only during the Christmas season.

In addition, Premium Road has been made available to KoreaMS, JapanMS and ThailandMS; it can be accessed only if the player is connected from a real-life Internet Cafe which has previously made contracts with the local programming staff of MapleStory.

Well, heck. Why didn't I go to Happyville to begin with?

73,100 incredibly virtual steps today. Cheers,