Sorry that I haven't blogged in so long. To make it up to you, here is a very long blog post with photos and videos. Travalon and I had a five-day weekend, and we started it on Thursday evening by going to the Mezz and sitting on the balcony. Friday Travalon and I cleaned, then we went downtown for a few hours and had lunch at a food cart, and then Travalon had to work for a couple of hours while I met Hockey Girl for dinner on the Monona Terrace.
Saturday Travalon and I took the Merrimac Ferry on the way to Devil's Lake, then we climbed up the Pothole Trail to the top of the East Bluff. It was so steep that I was sure I couldn't get back down that way, and someone told us the other side was even steeper, but there was a CCC trail that was supposedly more gradual. This did not turn out to be true, but it was a new trail to me, so it was an adventure. In the evening we were going to watch a Cajun band with Hockey Girl, but for some reason the concert was canceled, so we went to Common Ground and played Scrabble (I won), and then we saw a really fun group at the Harmony Bar that was called something like the Mad City Jug Band. They played a lot of 20's music and had a great fiddler, a banjo player, a bass player, a washboard player, two guitarists - one with a kazoo - and a harmonica player. So great!
Sunday Travalon and I drove north, stopping at the Packer Pro Shop at Lambeau Field. We went to what Travalon thought was the last state park he had to visit, Governor Thompson State Park, but he found out not too long ago there is another one called Straight Lake that he hasn't been to either. We started at a lake and hiked along a trail with three huge rock formations, but the mosquitoes were really bad and the ticks were unbelievable. I must have found thirty of them on me! As we were driving to Marinette, we saw a bobcat run across the road! Travalon was very excited because he has been really interested in bobcats lately. We had dinner and delicious beer at a brewpub called the Rail House, and then we swam in the pool in our hotel. Our room had a beautiful view of the Menominee River.
Memorial Day we took a walk on the island in the river right by our hotel, which had some historic sites on it, then we drove into Menominee, Michigan and walked out to the lighthouse. We were listening to the 40's station, and they kept having patriotic songs to mark the holiday. It was definitely the right station for Memorial Day! We drove even further north and visited three waterfalls: Dave's Falls, Twelve Foot Falls, and Horseshoe Falls. Can you believe this? On the way to the last one, we saw another bobcat run across the road right in front of us! It's like they knew Travalon was hoping to see them. We also had a picnic at Dave's Falls with leftovers from our dinner the night before. Travalon's brother called to say his mother was in the hospital, so we hurried back to see her, but she was asleep when we got there. The nurses said she was doing much better.
Yesterday we went to see Travalon's mom, and she was tired but was cracking jokes, and then they came to move her from the ICU to a regular room because she had improved so much. Travalon and I had lunch at a pizza place overlooking Fowler Lake, then we came home and got our boat on the water. We went a little way into the marsh and then went a little way into the lake. It had been really hot, but when we went to the Nau-ti-gal for dinner, there was a wonderful breeze. A boat that was docked there was capsized, and when we went to inspect it, two guys kayaking by asked if it was ours. We said no, and we had no idea whose it was. We told the waitress about it, since the restaurant also owns the boat slips, but she did not seem too concerned.
Here are some photos from our various adventures. This first one actually comes from Tiffy, who had a grand adventure in Scotland recently. She sent me this photo of Scots Gaelic, and I can make out a few words, but it isn't exactly like Irish Gaelic. It seems to say something about a public Gaelic room.
During Beer Week, Travalon and I went to the Next Door Brewery and had a beer and cupcake tasting. The cupcakes were vanilla, lemon, lavender, and chocolate. I remember one of the beers was a saison, and one was a stout.
Travalon and I did not actually dine on this car during our anniversary train ride, but another one that was even older.
I went to the Arboretum to see the magnolias and crabapples blooming, and I saw some turkeys too!
In Milwaukee, we saw this cat drawn on the sidewalk.
Here is a view of Devil's Lake from near the top of the Pothole Trail.
On our way up north, we passed this marker in a town called Beaver that noted we were halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
At Governor Thompson State Park, we saw lots of flowers, like trilliums (trillia?), including pink ones that I couldn't get a picture of, and these little purple flowers everywhere.
Here I am in front of one of the rock formations at Governor Thompson.
This is the lighthouse in Menominee, Michigan.
These little star-shaped flowers were all over at Horseshoe Falls.
I am not sure what this pink plant is, but I thought it was pretty cool.
This is a tiny island just down the river from Eight Foot Falls, which was just down the river from Twelve Foot Falls. Neither of these falls seemed to be as tall as their names implied.
This picture is from right by my job. For the last couple of years, someone has trimmed back these peonies just before they bloomed, which seems somewhat psychotic. I wondered if they would let the poor peonies bloom this year - and they did!
A couple of videos of the waterfalls; this first one is Dave's Falls.
This is Horseshoe Falls, which is very hard to get to. You have to take a "state forest road," which is not paved, and then hike on a narrow trail. But the falls are very pretty.
Finally, here is a silly video of Travalon flying our kite.
I have a very cool video of the wings on the Art Museum closing, but it is too long to post so I will have to put it on YouTube and then link it to this blog. Watch for that soon.
Famous Hat
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