Travalon's Excellent Birthday

 

I forgot the best photo from yesterday: as Travalon and I walked back to the car after Mass, we passed this elaborately decorated house.

He also took some photos of the jeep parade from last night.

This morning Travalon and I had breakfast at Frank O'Dowd's, which is only open for complementary breakfast for guests. They had all the fixings for a traditional big Irish breakfast, including baked beans and scary-looking sausages, both of which we forewent. The doors in the inn each had a crest of some Irish county. Ours was Dublin, which in Ireland is actually called Baile Atha Cliath, which is pronounced "Bally Ah Cleeah" because of course it is.

The room next door had Cork, which is where a lot of my family are from.

Then we drove downtown and found parking right in front of a coffee shop, where we had more caffeine on top of the drip coffee with breakfast. The one thing Travalon had wanted to do for his birthday in Galena was go to the Grant Museum, so we did that. I took pictures of a couple of things I found interesting. First is a cup for men with handlebar mustaches.

Next is a flag that some local women made to be used in the Civil War, but it couldn't be used because the shade of blue was wrong and the arrangement of the stars was really wrong.

I should have taken a photo of a little clay cannon that a prisoner made - it was so cute! Travalon took some photos too. The first one is a mine shaft they discovered in the house.

This is a painting of Lee surrendering at Appomattox.

This is a painting of Grant in the field.

We got a couple of things at the gift shop. Then we stopped by another shop, and I got a crystal while Travalon paid for a little bear with cash. After that we saw Grant's first house in Galena, which is now a bed and breakfast.

We went to find Lake Galena, but it's all private property around it - apparently they don't have the same law as in Wisconsin that every lake must have at least one area of public access. We drove down to it anyway. Here's a photo that Travalon took.

There were nearby waterfalls too, and those were also private access, but we drove back there anyway.

On a summer day that might have been a real risk, but it wasn't even 20 degrees F out, so I doubt anyone was patrolling. 

Our next stop was Scales Mound to see a really old Sinclair station, which wasn't open today.

As we drove toward Mineral Point, we could see what I'm sure were clouds in the distance that looked like mountains, but Travalon asked if it could be a fata morgana, and then I started to wonder myself. We didn't know where we could pull off to take a photo... and then there was a little turnoff for a historical marker. Travalon took photos with his good camera, which I will post soon. I took this with my phone.

We had lunch at the Red Rooster in Mineral Point again, only we didn't have the pasties because they're so filling; we had sandwiches so we'd have room for figgyhobbin, a Cornish dessert that is hard to explain but really delicious. Then we went to Crazy Frank's Flea Market, and I bought a bunch of stuff. Photos soon. 

When we got home, I hadn't gotten much exercise, so I put on the headphones and walked around the house, listening to music. Then Travalon drove me to band practice so he could go to Leopold's to get a book he'd been interested in. They gave him a free drink, a free shot, AND a free dessert for his birthday! Then he wasn't sure he should drive, so I suggested he come in and listen to us practice Christmas carols, but the others decided to call it a night, so I drove home even though I didn't have my license on me. It's okay, we didn't get pulled over, and my bandmates said the cops would understand. At least I am a licensed driver - I've heard wild stories about people who were too drunk to drive getting blind people or children to drive for them. Yikes! But I'm glad Travalon had so much fun for his birthday.

Famous Hat