This morning I worked for an hour, but at least all the urgent travel arrangements have been made. Now I just need to make sure they charge the department and not our guests for the hotel rooms. Anna Banana II and Jilly Moose came to pick me up right at 9:30, as I was logging off of work, and we saw a baby crane running across the road but no sign of its parents. I could hear them calling for it from the other direction, so I tried to get ahead of the crane to chase it towards them, but no luck. I hope they find it!
We drove on Highway 14 and stopped in Spring Green to take a short hike at the nature preserve with the prickly pear cacti. Then we followed the highway to La Crosse and went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It's such a beautiful area. A driver offered to take us up the hill, and he took us as far as he could go, way above the church to a spot with the Mysteries of the Rosary. We walked back down the hill, praying the rosary, to get to the church. Here is a beautiful view of the monument to unborn children. I can't decide which photo I like better, so I'm putting them both on here.
Here is a photo of the inside of the church.
We kept walking down the hill to the votive candle shrine. I lit a candle for Travalon's mom.
Here is the whole pyramid of candles.
Fortunately we had snacked on some cheese curds on the drive to La Crosse, because we didn't eat lunch until four. We went to a Cajun restaurant called Buzzard Billy's, and Anna Banana II and I both had the Cajun Sampler with blackened catfish, jambalaya, gumbo, and hush puppies. It was very good but a lot of food. Jilly Moose had a fancy burger and a slice of cheesecake with raspberries.
After that we went to Grandad's Bluff, getting stopped by a train on the way. There were beautiful views from the top of the bluff. Here is what the bluff looks like as you're driving towards it, with a weird cloud behind it that looks like a mountain.
And here are some views from the top of the bluff. Look how much Jilly Moose's camera can zoom in! That's the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker.
These other photos are from my phone, which can't zoom in as much.
On the way back from the bluff, we got stopped by another train on the same set of tracks. We drove back on Interstate 90, and just outside of Portage we saw a rainbow.
When I got home, the sun was just about to set, so I told Travalon I was going out to watch it, and he joined me. Here are some photos of the sunset.
I was surprised to see that the metal loveseat type thing on the dock was missing, and then I remembered the bad storm last night and looked down into the water... and there were the four legs, sticking out. I showed Travalon, and he managed to pull it out with one hand. It had some weeds on it, but we pulled them off and hope the next rain will clean it completely.
There was also a full moon rising, so Travalon took some photos of that. Here are my favorites.
It's funny to go through the moon pictures rapidly, because it looks like the moon is bouncing around like a tennis ball because of where in the frame it is. Maybe I can make a movie out of it sometime.
Speaking of movies, Travalon made a short video of this cardinal.
He was right outside our enclosed porch, and he was singing and hopping around in the trees. Travalon kept talking up this video and saying how much I would love it, so tonight I watched it, and the cardinal was very cute, hopping around in the trees and singing... and then right in the middle of it, Travalon burped really loudly. I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe, because he said he really wanted me to put this video on the blog, so I was imagining saying, "The cardinal is singing his mating song, and listen closely for Travalon's mating call as well." My abdominal muscles are still sore from laughing about it.
Famous Hat
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