Sunday, July 18, 2021

Pontoon Boatride on Lake Mendota

 

This morning Travalon and I got up late, so we went to the church near us, but they have a new pastor now. The one I really liked must have gotten assigned to another parish, and I have no idea where. I was never even quite sure what his name is, but the Dairyman's Daughter might be able to help me find him. (She works for the diocese.) We went to the Nau-Ti-Gal for their delicious buffet brunch, and then we walked off all that food with a vigorous hike on Governor's Island. Then we took the $5 pontoon boat ride out onto Lake Mendota. It was an absolutely perfect day. Here are a few photos; Travalon took a ton, so I will post more tomorrow.

These first two are actually from our hike on Governor's Island. Here is the party that is always going on during beautiful summer days in Three Foot Bay.


This is a view of downtown, including the Capitol, from Governor's Island.


Here are a few photos from our boat ride. More tomorrow, I promise! This is the Governor's Mansion.


This is the old Rennebohm Mansion.


See the green line on Maple Bluff? They say that is the ancient bottom of the lake.


And this is a loon! It's apparently been here all summer, hanging out in Warner Bay.


This crazy-looking contraption is a buoy marking the deepest spot of the lake, about 82 feet deep. It has all sorts of instruments on it to measure wind, water temperature, water chemistry, etc. The Limnology Department runs it. I have heard they call it "David Buoy." So there you go - limnology humor.


Here's a closeup of David Buoy.


Lots of sailboats were out today.



This bizarre-looking building is WARF, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The drug warfarin is named after it. I have been in a conference room on the top floor, and the view is amazing!


This is the UW Foundation building. I have been on the top floor of this building, and it also has quite a view.


Here is the Carillon. Sometimes the guy plays concerts. I heard he was retiring, and I tried to get Kathbert to apply for his job. How cool would it be to say, "My job? I'm the UW carillon player"?


Here you can see the Memorial Union Terrace and the Red Gym.


This ugly building is Limnology. Looks like they got a swanky new red boat - their old boat (the one that once gave us a tow) was a little steel-gray thing.


This is Science Hall, period. (There is a period at the end of its name written on the front of the building. Seriously. Check it out sometime. Nobody knows why, either.)


Here is the Red Gym, the other most beautiful building on campus.


This is the old ice house at James Madison Park. It dates from when Mendota was considered a pristine lake (hah!), and they used to ship the ice all the way down to New Orleans in the days before refrigeration.


After that I had band practice, and then Travalon and I had a late dinner sitting on the dock. The sunset was really interesting because of all the smoke in the air from the forest fires out west. I took this photo with Travalon's good camera.


My neighbor texted me this photo she took of it while out on her boat.


And this is from when Travalon went to Oconomowoc yesterday. They also have a beautiful lakefront area, and I love all the colors in this photo.


Tune in tomorrow for more photos from our boatride!


Famous Hat


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