Today did not start promisingly, when I woke up feeling so lousy that I could barely move. I couldn't make it to Mass, and I hardly had the energy to make breakfast, but Travalon said we could do the Art D-Tour, and I thought, well, that's in a car so okay. Both my neighbor and the Dairyman's Daughter had talked this event up: it's a free tour of the Driftless Area in Sauk County, stopping at various places to see art, shop for produce, or admire antique tractors, and what a beautiful time of year to do it. So we went to the little bookstore in Spring Green to get the map and some coffee, and that perked me up enough that I was able to climb St. Anne's Hill in Plain to get to the shrine. That was the equivalent of twenty flights of stairs! according to my phone. There was an amazing view, and Travalon brought his good camera.
This is looking down at St. Luke's, the Catholic church in Plain, which has an amazing fish fry Fridays in Lent.
There were Stations of the Cross going up the hill.
This is the inside of St. Anne's Shrine.
Here I am heading back down the hill. Up was hard, but down was scary! This is beyond the steep part - at least they did have a handrail.
Look at these gorgeous autumn colors!
And this cool terraced hillside!
Then we drove along the path, admiring the artwork and the beautiful topography of the Driftless Region.
The path was a figure eight, but we only did one-half of the eight. There were forty stops, and we saw twenty. One was a park in a town called Witwen, where the Hispanic Knights of Columbus were selling tacos and tamales and Mexican street corn. We also got some fresh kale at another stop, and we had it for dinner tonight. So delicious!
On the way home, we stopped at the Springfield Hill segment of the Ice Age Trail. It's a loop that goes around a pond and up a hill into some woods.
We saw this beautiful kingfisher, but just as we got it into perfect focus, it flew away. Please enjoy this photo of it not quite in focus.
We also saw this interesting tunnel, but we didn't go in it. Next time.
This building used to belong to an early settler named Fred Hahn.
Here are a couple of shots from the hill.
We kind of hurried, because I thought my band had practice today, but Hardingfele did the hard work of going there to find out, and nope - no practice. I was running late after the hike, and she texted me and said don't bother showing up. Anyway, now we have 3.7 cumulative miles toward our 40 on the Ice Age Trail. We went to evening Mass, then I prayed one of my new Franciscan rosaries in honor of St. Francis, since today is his feast day, even if it is overshadowed by Sunday. (I tortured Travalon by praying the other one on the drive home yesterday.) Tonight at Night Prayer, the Dairyman's Daughter said she had only done half the D-Tour herself, and we met up with our neighbor at the stand selling the fresh kale, so I will have to find out if she did the whole thing. We did pass a guy on a bike who had stopped to consult the map, and I thought, man, that's really hardcore - biking the D-Tour! Speaking of bikers, as we were leaving the park with the taco stand, the people in front of us dropped a bill on the ground. I think it was only a dollar bill, but before I could pick it up and run after them, a motorcycle almost ran me over so that he could swoop over and pick it up. Talk about a jerk! Just like the guy who flew a drone right over the boat when Tiffy, Travalon, and I took the Devil's Lake Tour. Captain Katy said, "Times like this are when you wish you had a gun." Why are there so many jerks out there? At least most people aren't jerks.
Famous Hat
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