Lake Wisconsin Adventure

I hope my readers had a good weekend. Friday evening Travalon and I met at the Union Terrace to listen to the Cajun Strangers, then we went to the Dane Dance on the roof of the Monona Terrace. I wasn’t sure what sort of music the main act was playing, but it was a famous band – Heatwave! Remember them from the disco era? They had huge hits with “Boogie Nights” and “Groove Line,” and they did both songs, and some other stuff, while volunteers handed out glow sticks. It was so much fun to dance to all that disco music while everyone had different color glow sticks - mine was green and Travalon's was blue.

Saturday the Rosary Ladies got together for coffee and the rosary, then Travalon and I took the atlas and an adventurous spirit and left to find where the Yahara River joins the Rock River. First we went to a beach called Troll Beach in Stoughton that he was supposed to go to for work the day before, but one of the kids on his van was misbehaving, so they were late and the bus had left without him. We didn’t have swimsuits with us, but we will have to go back. I think the thing that most predicts how well a romantic relationship works out is if both people have similar levels of curiosity, and Travalon and I are both extremely curious, so we enjoyed following the Yahara down to the Rock River and then checking out a lake we saw on the atlas called Gibbs Lake. Since we didn’t have swimsuits, we hiked along the shore, but we will definitely be back to swim! Then we returned to Madison to watch the Forward play the Richmond soccer team; they lost by one point, but we still had a great “flocking” time. (Their symbol is a flamingo.) Afterwards we went to the Avenue Bar for ice cream drinks.

Yesterday was the most fun of all. Right after Mass we drove to the Moon Valley Resort in Merrimac to take a boat cruise on Lake Wisconsin. It was somewhat like a Betty Lou Cruise, on a big boat that could hold maybe thirty people. We had a picnic lunch while enjoying the beautiful scenery; Lake Wisconsin is surrounded by hills that almost look like little mountains, and in one bay there was a sizeable island where people apparently camp. We also saw the Merrimac Ferry going back and forth in front of us. Afterwards the skipper asked if we were going to explore the area further, and we decided to try driving around the lake. This seemed easy enough when we consulted the atlas, since you could follow Highway U up and Highway V back down, but Highway U was closed partway up so we had to take an alternate route that was further from the river. We stopped in Portage at a beautiful park with a fountain and a gazebo, then we followed V down and stopped at Hooker’s Resort (which is for sale) for a root beer overlooking the Wisconsin River. I hope whoever buys it keeps it just the way it is. It is so beautiful – what a shame if they tore it down to build condos or something. We tried to go to St. Lawrence Bluff, but the “park” consists of a sign stating the park hours in front of some woods: no parking lot, no hiking trails, nothing. I googled it and found this is exactly right; the park amenities are as follows: “sign stating hours.” It is just a piece of wilderness designated as a park, and you can walk in it if you want, but there are no trails so you would be bushwacking. We continued to follow Highway V, and we had dinner at a place called Fishtails along the side of the bay with the island in it. The previous weekend when we had gone swimming with Tiffy at Crystal Lake, we tried to show her the road around the lake, but it was shut down due to flooding, so we took a right turn and discovered another lake. Travalon wanted to hike alongside this lake, so we went there and found the hiking trail was flooded. Two guys who were fishing told us it was called Fish Lake, and there was a third one called Mud Lake, but the road to it was flooded. We followed their directions and found the third lake with the flooded road. Then we tried coming at it from the south, but the road that way was flooded too. We will have to go back when all this flooding recedes… 

Since we felt like the one thing the day had lacked was exercise, once we got home we played tennis, or more accurately we hit the ball over the net, or at least tried to. It was getting darker, and some bats were flying around, so I was a little bit afraid we might hit one. Travalon said last serve, and when I hit the ball back toward him, two bats gathered around it in the air like they were curious puppies, one struck it, and they both flew off quickly. I have never seen that before! Travalon said that was definitely a sign that we should quit playing! Who needs bats interfering in your tennis game when your game is already so lousy?

Famous Hat