We did go paddleboating on Wednesday afternoon, on a paddleboat that looked like a giant rubber duckie. First Anna Banana II and I paddled while Luxuli and Jilly Moose sat in the back, then we switched in the middle of Lake Wingra. Afterwards we walked to Infusion Chocolate and had cold Mayan drinking chocolate. There were supposed to be storms at some point, but Concerts on the Square were still happening, so I thought I might join Rich up there. Travalon, meanwhile, was at a Steak Night at Samba with Cecil Markovitch and the Single B-Boy. The storm did come, so the concert was cut short before I got up there, then I somehow acquired most of a blueberry pie, which I promptly forgot in the car of the couple who kindly drove me to the North Transfer Point to get my car so I wouldn't have to wait for the bus in the rain and lightning. I wasn't too excited about Rich biking home in all that lightning, but he got home safe.
Travalon and I took our boat out for the first time on the Fourth of July for a ride back into the marsh. Here is a photo of my favorite captain at the helm:
We have a new lift for the boat, and it's great! Then we drove to Anna Banana II's family cottage on Lake Ripley, where we joined her, various relatives of hers, Jilly Moose, Rich, Luxuli, and OK Cap. It was a strange day weatherwise, very hot and then sometimes it would suddenly start raining for a few minutes, yet the sun was still out... and no rainbow!?! I enjoyed watching the kids playing in the yard as we sat in the shade, gazing at the lake. After a taco dinner, Travalon and I canoed into the sunset. After we drove home, we found a very buggy spot to watch fireworks on the Tenney Park jetty. We could see Shorewood Hills and Waunakee in the distance, and we had a great view of the Maple Bluff display.
Today the Rosary Ladies took a road trip to Dubuque. First we stopped at the Dickeyville Grotto, which is something you should really see at least once in your lifetime. Here is a small part of it:
It was made by a preternaturally energetic priest back in the 1920's from various materials his parishioners brought him, like seashells and ceramic pieces, held together by cement.
We got to Dubuque and had lunch at Catfish Charlie's, on the patio under the tiki umbrellas where it was about 100 degrees out. (There was a wait to eat inside in the air conditioning.) We were overlooking the water, and now and then we caught a cool breeze. This is the restaurant owned by the same people who run the boat ride Travalon and I took during the Memorial Day weekend. We debated about taking a boat ride but decided it was way too hot. One of the women at the next table took our picture: "I get it," she said. "I'm a girl too!"
Then we went to the Fenelon Elevator, which goes straight up the cliff. Yikes! Here is a photo of the two cute cable cars passing each other.
And here we are in the car! I was at the top of the car so that I had people blocking my view of straight down.
Here are a couple of photos of downtown Dubuque from the top of the elevator.
You know me, with my gene (according to 23 and Me) that makes me more prone to a fear of heights than average (clearly my ancestors were sailors and not mountaineers), so I decided to take the stairs back down, thinking the down elevator might be more scary than the up one. Everyone else took the stairs too, except for poor OK Cap, with her broken foot. At the base of the bluff are lots of cute stores, like a fair trade one, and an Irish one I spent too much money at.
Then we drove to the Mines of Spain and checked out the monument to Julien Dubuque. You may remember my previous picture of the little tower over his grave, overlooking the Mississippi.
And here is what is inside of the oversized rook - his actual grave.
We stopped in Mineral Point on the way back and had dinner at the cute brewery which is also a bed and breakfast, where Travalon and I stayed over the Memorial Day weekend. OK Cap wasn't sure how to text us the picture of us inside of the cable car, so I tried to do it and finally succeeded. My attempt to send the short movie of us wasn't as successful. I think the guy didn't realize he was making a movie instead of taking a picture, so it starts with the floor, and then there's a big bump, and then we all laugh as he finally focuses on us. It was very cute and only five seconds long, but OK Cap's phone said I had to shorten it and reduce the quality, so here is like a two-second movie of poor quality showing us laughing. At least it shows how happy we were today.
I didn't take a picture of this, but on the way home we saw the rainbow we expected to see yesterday.
Famous Hat
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