Mammoth Hike Challenge 2026 Kickoff: Delafield

 

Today we had a very relaxed morning, and I did a lot of DuoLingo. It was a very palindromic day for me on there.

Eventually Travalon and I headed to Delafield for some "trail magic," which is stuff you can do to get "bonus miles" in the Mammoth Hike Challenge. We have always legitimately hiked the whole thing, but this year I will be gone one weekend, and also we have to do forty-six cumulative miles. That is six more than when we started. Our first stop was Blue Collar Coffee to get (more) caffeinated (we had coffee at home), then we had someone take our photos in the big yellow chairs. We do this every year.

We also went to the outdoor clothing shop, where Travalon bought an Ice Age Trail T-shirt and we got two-for-one energy bars, and then we had our photo taken with the Mammoth.

We went to Guiseppe's Pizza for a discounted lunch (coffee was also discounted), and this page from a coloring book made me laugh.

I know it says "Hello Spring," but am I the only one who sees "Hell Spring"? Plus the pizza flowers are killing me. Then we went to Voodoo Brewing and bought a cup (sorry, forgot to take a photo) which supports the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and so we got a free pour. Like last year, we chose an incredibly delicious sour in a beautiful green color. This photo is a little misleading, because it's not the cup we got but one of their own glasses, and also sorry, we had drunk most of it before I thought to take a photo.

It kind of tasted like grape soda. So good!! There was an official Ice Age Trail event there, and we bought a book and a patch so they gave us a raffle ticket, but the drawing was at two and you had to be present to win, while we really wanted to hit the trail. We drove down the road to Lapham Peak, but by then it had warmed up so I had to take off my Lapham Peak hoodie. (I still had on my Ice Age Trail bucket hat and last year's Mammoth Challenge T-shirt.) The weather was perfect. Here are some photos from our sun-drenched afternoon on the trail.

I had pulled a muscle in my back picking something up off the floor in the pizza place, but fortunately I felt fine during the hike. Since then I've been walking like a hunched-over old lady. Hopefully this issue is resolved by tomorrow, which is usually true for me when I've pulled a muscle in my back. After all that hiking, we went to "Dupeyville" to watch trains, but we waited for forty minutes and never saw one. We decided to head back to Delafield, stopping in Hartland which is another Trail Community... and then we heard the train! We went to a park where we could see it, and Travalon made a video of the tail end of it. I'll provide screenshots later, since this post already has so many photos, but this one is so cool that I have to include it today.

My regular readers know how much I love single eyes. Maybe it's because a bunch of people on my dad's side are named O'Sullivan, which is literally "one eye" in Irish. Suil = eye and amhain = one, which is pronounced "sool - awan." After that we went to the Hartland Library, which was already closed, but did you know they also have big yellow chairs for you to sit in and take a photo to post on social media? I didn't, but now I do.

Then we went back to Delafield and had sundaes at the local ice cream shop. Mine had peanut butter cups and little pretzel balls and pieces of chocolate chip cookie and whipped cream and hot fudge on it. I'd say I earned it with that hike, but no way did I burn that many calories! We headed home, but the sun was shining right in our eyes, so Travalon was having trouble seeing where he was going. We pulled over at a rest stop, and by the time we finished powdering our noses, the sun had set.

Now that the Cubbies are out of the picture, I am all in for the Brewers. They are playing right now, and Tiffy and our other college friend are there. Tiffy sent a photo.

The Cubs won it all ten years ago, which is a while now but not like their previous drought when they were under the Curse of the Billy Goat. The Brewers have never won it all, but maybe this is their year. I can now cheer for them with a clear conscience.

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Taigu Noodle Restaurant with Seabird

 

The map from the dream I mentioned yesterday does exist - you can buy one online - but of course for Alabama they have the Crimson Tide "A," not a Belleek castle tower. I did forget to relate my crazy conversation with our student hourly yesterday: she asked if I would be in the next day, and I said no, so she said, "Oh yeah, you always work from home on Sunday. I mean Friday! Boy, am I off by a few days!" I said on Sunday I was too busy doing Brazilian drumming to come to work, and she said, "That is not what I was expecting you to say!" So we got into a conversation about how when I was in college many moons ago, my Portuguese TA had a unit on travel in which we learned the word for hijacking, and another on signs of the zodiac. She said they had learned signs of the zodiac in Russian (did I mention that her parents are from Transdniestria?), but she couldn't remember how to say "I am a Libra" in Russian, so she googled it... and then she googled how to say "hijack" in Russian. I said, "Careful, they'll put you on a list," and then I asked if she had done the mail or if I needed to do it. She said, "I did it, but I don't know who this is," and she showed me a postcard for an emeritus professor advertising a Baroque concert. I said, "I was going to go to that concert, but it's while I'm out of town for a wedding," and she said, "Of course you were going to go to that concert." I think she thinks I know everything going on in town, which is maybe almost true. If you need to know about Baroque music, Brazilian music, or Irish music, I am your source.

Today Travalon and I walked at Jackson's Landing during our lunch break, then after work I took a long rosary walk before driving down to my old neighborhood to go to Taigu, a Chinese noodle restaurant in the building that used to house the little butcher shop/grocery store I went to back in the day. Travalon came from work and met me, and then Seabird and her husband joined us. Everyone at the restaurant knew and loved Seabird - I felt like I was out with a celebrity! The owner gave us free eggrolls before dinner and free almond cookies after dinner. I kind of know how to say thank you in Mandarin (I'm sure I really butcher it), and that seemed to delight them all. The food was really good - homemade cat ear noodles! - and I said we should come back and invite Hardingfele and her husband, since they live right nearby. Instead of a double date, it could be a triple one. Once upon a time Hardingfele's daughter (who used to go by Rockstar Taylor on this blog) was in kindergarten with Seabird's younger son. Now they are out of college.

Speaking of kids, my coworker became a grandpa today. His granddaughter is just a little peanut - she barely weighed four pounds! She wasn't early, she just wasn't getting any bigger, so they induced her mom. Seems like all the babies are induced or taken by C-section these days. Does nobody have a natural birth anymore?

Here is the poster I mentioned before that Travalon got with his gift card.

There haven't been as many videos on social media with good graffiti, but here are a few screenshots.

And here is some graffiti Travalon found on social media, which I do not think is local:

Hey hey hey! It's Fat Albert and the gang! It's heartbreaking that Bill Cosby turned out to be a bad dude, because I used to love this show so much, and his standup work. Chocolate cake for breakfast!

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Irish Tunes at the Elks Club and Coots on the Golf Course

 

This morning I dreamed Travalon had a map of the United States with the main college team of each state represented, so Wisconsin was red with a badger, Minnesota was maroon with a gopher, Florida was green with an alligator, etc. But I was puzzled because Alabama had my Belleek castle tower.

"What's that for? I don't understand," I was saying to Travalon (since everyone knows Alabama is the Crimson Tide), but just then I woke up and saw it was two minutes until my alarm would go off, so I just got up.

It rained all day. I chatted with a colleague, but she couldn't walk at lunch, and Hardingfele was at some kind of all-day event, so I did a rosary walk in the rain. I debated going to get ice cream but decided against it. I did see some cool chalk art by my building: the British flag, the US flag, the Texas flag, and a very cheerful dinosaur/dragon thing.

I have a couple of cute little plants in my office that were pieces that fell off of plants in the greenhouses on campus. This jade plant is from the Horticulture greenhouses.

This little plant is from the Botany greenhouses.

Here is what my plant app says it is:

After work I went to the Elks Club, where I was soon joined by Celtic Lass. There weren't too many people there this time, and no other Shamrock Club members until Travalon joined us an hour later. There were plenty of musicians at the Irish Session, and I learned today that the fiddle tune that keeps getting stuck in my head is called "Gravel Walks," although I think someone did tell me that before. The flute player came over and chatted with us for a bit too. After Celtic Lass left, I glanced at the golf tournament on TV, which was being played in Hawaii, and was delighted by the adorable chicken-sized birds strolling around the golf course. An internet search leads me to believe that they are Hawaiian coots. I'm not sure how they are different than the coots we have around here, except that they look a bit larger, and they were all milling around in the grass while our coots are almost always in the water. Seeing them made me really want to go back to Hawaii. Is it any coincidence that "coot" almost sounds like "cute"?

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Meet and Greet with Gadan

 

Today I worked on campus and walked with Seabird at lunch. In the afternoon Hardingfele and I went to the campus ice cream shop to try the new flavor in honor of the new Humanities building, but it was closed, even though it was allegedly open until 7:30. Worse, when I got back, I had an email saying I had to complete my performance review by today, but I hadn't gotten it from my boss yet. Then I saw that she had submitted it, but she had also sent an instant message saying don't do it, she accidentally put the information for another employee into my review and the person who could help her fix it had left for the day. So then I was in a bit of a grumpy mood.

After work I drove to the neighborhood around the music club because the Shamrock Club was going to a meet and greet at Atwood Music Hall with the band Gadan. I passed the music club on the way and popped in to use the loo and have some snacks, and my timing was perfect because the singalong group was on break so nobody paid me any mind, since they were all milling about and not singing. The owner gave me a hug and said it was good to see me even if I was just there to powder my nose. Then a bunch of us from the Shamrock Club met in front of Atwood Music Hall. I was wearing my argyle beret, my Shamrock Club shirt, and the new shamrock fanny pack I got free on Amazon with gift cards.

It was so great to see my Shamrock Club peeps! And the band members were a lot of fun too.

You can see we got there before the big crowd, because the place was packed by showtime. The band consisted of a banjo player from Galway, another from California, and three Italian guys: a mandolin player who also played banjo, a fiddler, and a guitarist. They were also joined by the guitarist from Socks in the Frying Pan, an Irish band, who has just moved to Madison, and later they were joined by some young local fiddlers for a set of jigs and reels. Gadan plays both Irish and bluegrass music, and they were so good! And they understand me - just as I was thinking I'd have to sneak out to the loo, they took a break. What timing! I wanted to get a T-shirt and a CD, but there was a long line at the merch table, and it was late, so I headed back to my car.

When I passed the music club, I could see the lights were on inside, and the owner was sitting on a couch, looking at his phone. I tried the door but it was locked, and he looked up a bit, but not enough to see me. I decided to keep going... and just then a train came, so I went behind the music club and watched it. What a wonderful ending to a magical evening!

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Travalon's Haul

 

Today I worked from home, and Travalon and I debated taking another boat ride, but he had a dentist appointment so we'd be cutting it close to his time to leave for work, plus it was windy. We ended up walking on Governor's Island. Here are some photos.

Travalon continues to get things delivered that he ordered with his gift card. He got this poster yesterday.

And also these little Matchbox train engines from the Great Western Railroad in Britain.

Today he got another poster, but it wouldn't lie flat so I'll wait until he hangs it to take a photo. He also got a Chessie the Cat sign.

Today Travalon made a new friend at work.

It's a capybara! Oh, I forgot to mention that he brought home curder burgers from Culver's for lunch. I have one every year - just one, because they are a cholesterol bomb. We also had mint cookie custard. So then on my afternoon break I picked some crabapples from my favorite tree to have some plant matter, only this time I chewed on the magic berries first so the crabapples tasted sweet instead of tart. They were really good that way, but I love them tart too. I forgot to mention that yesterday Hardingfele and I also foraged, eating prickly pear fruit and crabapples on campus.

Here are screenshots of train graffiti from a video on social media of a train that went through town this morning:

It's been a while since the train has been through our neighborhood. Hopefully it comes back soon.

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