My family and I just returned from a weekend up North in Wisconsin, and a wonderful time was had by all.

One of our activities was a pontoon boat ride up and around the Chain of Lakes area. It too was wonderful — relaxing, good friends, good family, good times.

I was used to seeing boat slips along both sides of the water — who wouldn’t want a boat in a world like this? Those lucky enough to have waterfront property dotted the coastlines with speed boats, pontoon boats, and fishing boats, along with wooden decks scattered with chairs and swimming tubes tied to the dock.

Your typical summer landscape.

Yet exploring new territory opened up new vistas, including some structures that surprised the heck out of me.

There were boat slips the size of small apartments. I don’t mean covered garage-type boat storage — I mean …

and … 

and … 

Now, this isn’t Miami Beach or Malibu. This is an area where the closest town has a population of 1,712 (add an additional 500 during tourist season), with the closest big town/city coming in at 8,374. Not earth-shattering populations.

It’s woods up here, dotted with few farms and lots of summer cottages. It’s retired income mingled with supper club fish frys and downtown craft fairs twice a year.

These boat garages were way out of sync with the rest of the scenery, which made me wonder — who were these people? What kind of work did they do to have shelters for their playthings that rival the size of many apartments?

The houses up the hills hidden behind the trees were just as incredible. There was this … 

and …

and …

It’s at this point that I always feel I need to add a disclaimer — I am not picking on these amazing buildings. I’m sure the people who own them are hard workers and/or smart business people and/or inherited the house from wealthy forefathers. The houses themselves are no different than those in upper class suburbs around the country.

I just wondered what they were doing here — on Cranberry Lake or Catfish Lake in northern Wisconsin.

I guess I daydream enough to wonder what anyone of wealth does with their money. Are these houses merely summer homes? A place to “get away from it all” for the rich and famous? Do they walk down to their brick four-car lakefront garage and wonder if they should take  their Donzi 43 ZR former “Miami Vice” movie boat or their Bennington QX Line pontoon boat for a spin? Do they shuffle off to country clubs and high end restaurants with lakefront views and use the private airports to get around?

Or do they shop at Piggly Wiggly and go to Dairy Queen like the rest of us? Do they wander over to the Mud Creek Saloon or The Tiny Tap for a Point Beer and cheese curds or make small talk with the local fishing guides and antique store veterans like the townsies do?

Being solidly lost in the middle class, I can’t help but wonder what I’d do with too much money and all the time in the world to spend it.

But then it’s back to reality, fishing in our 16 foot aluminum bass boat with its dings and dents, happy for what I have, leaving my membership in the  Millionaires Club for my next life.