I found myself on a work trip in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, ostensibly learning about where Lumi Experiences leads cross-country ski trips but also keeping an eye out for interesting things along the way. Time was very limited for side shenanigans which meant I had to take my chances where I could get them.

We'd just eaten stacks of pizzas at a regional Italian joint when I declared, "I am going to get a cool drink on our way back to the bus!" There were a number of street vendors hawking stuff in town and I was confident that although I was full and didn't need a drink, I was going to experience it nonetheless. Unfortunately, the drinks shed was closed. Lucky for me though, a snack tent was still open! My colleagues scoffed. Wasn't I about to pop from eating an entire pizza?

I sidled up to the tent and gave my best impression of someone who doesn't speak any Slovenian. The young gentleman behind the counter spoke good enough English, and I ordered some pancake/elephant ear type thing and told him to "put whatever you'd put on it for yourself." We got to chatting as he worked about where I was from and the conversation went something like this:

"I'm from Michigan! We have lots of snow."

"They have a famous city, yes? Car City?"

"Ah yes, Detroit, the Motor City! I am a long way from there, near the Great Lakes."

"Which one?"

"Lake Superior, the biggest one."

"There is a shipwreck there? With a song?"

AND SO, despite personally being revolted by the Midwest's infatuation with The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I, Nathan Invincible, sang (unprompted) the opening stanzas to the classic Gordon Lightfoot track to the bewilderment and joy of the Slovenians and Italians who had gathered on the main street of Kranjska Gora that evening. 

Right around then my order was up, a mini-pancake dessert slathered with nutella and a deep fruity jam. 

My colleagues were mortified by both my singing and the platter of food I'd just ordered and refused to try it. Their loss, it was heavenly!