Monday, January 29, 2018

Hiking across Devil's Lake


I hope my readers had a good weekend. Travalon and I started ours by cleaning for an hour again on Friday morning – that has been working really well for us! The place is definitely starting to look good! In the process of cleaning I found an insurance refund check for a small amount, but it was enough to buy us brunch that morning! It was a beautiful morning, but once we finished brunch at the Fair Oaks Diner, it began to rain. We went out to Sauk and observed eagles again, then we went to the Union for a short walk, since the weather had cleared up again. You could get your picture taken with Bucky Badger, so we did, and then we went into the Alumni building and discovered my picture in yearbooks three years in a row! I won’t say when they were from, but let’s just say another millennium. Travalon was surprised at how thin and blonde I used to be. We walked up Langdon Street and down State Street, then we went home and used a gift certificate to have dinner at Mariner’s, enjoying their special Restaurant Week menu. In the evening I met Jilly Moose and Hockey Girl at the Chocolaterian, then we went to Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace, but they were unexpectedly closing so they gave us coupons for free margaritas at some future date. The others were hungry, so we went to Dobhan and I had chai, and then a free refill, and then I had some trouble getting to sleep.

Saturday Travalon and I went on a hike on the boardwalk in McFarland again, since it was such a gorgeous day, and a poodle that looked just like Rodney came running up to say hi to us. That made Travalon’s day! We went to the downtown Parched Eagle to try their sour beer, and we got hooked on this silly game called Klask that is like table hockey…? I am not sure how to explain it, but it was so much fun. We had a quiet evening at home watching the movie Network, which is very weird but totally engrossing.

Yesterday Travalon and I went to a jazz brunch at the bar where we get tacos and play trivia, and we had so much left on our gift card from winning at trivia that brunch was practically free. The food and the mimosas were delicious, and the music was wonderful too. We went to St. James to meet Cecil Markovitch, the Single B-Boy, Rich, and his Brazilian housemate for a spaghetti dinner; Travalon and I just had dessert since we had already eaten. Then Cecil talked all of us but Rich into going to Devil’s Lake for a hike across the frozen lake. First we stopped in Sauk and saw eagles – lots of eagles! Cecil and the B-Boy had stronger binoculars than Travalon’s, so we got a really good look at them. The surface of the lake was very slippery with the thin layer of new snow over it, and I fell down once, so Travalon suggested he and I go back after crossing about a third of the lake. The others did the whole length of the lake, then we all but the B-Boy went to Salvatore’s Pizza Pies in Sun Prairie for dinner. Travalon said he was glad he tried hiking on the frozen lake once, but he hates winter and will not be doing it again. I can understand that – it was quite cold yesterday!

Famous Hat

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