On Wisconsin!

I left hot and steamy Chicago this morning to head to Wisconsin -- but not before stopping at a local laundromat to do a load of wash. I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to laundry, and it bothered me that three days of clothes and a dampish towel were moldering in a bag, so I took the time to do it. Just for the record - $4.75 for the wash and $1.00 for the dry.

I then took of and headed northwest, past Madison, WI to a place called Wisconsin Dells. It's a tourist destination to which David Letterman would have applied is favorite epithet, calling it "a hellish carnival of mayhem." Think Branson, Missouri or Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I picked it not for its myriad of theme parks, waterslides, or malls, but because it was a good halfway point between Chicago and Minneapolis and because it had a lot of campgrounds to choose from. I didn't go to a casino or a show, but went to Mirror Lake State Park to kayak.

(not my photo. I didn't trust myself to bring my phone with me, so this an image of it that I copied from the internet).

Let me back up. I have been saying to folks over the last few months that I want to wander and I don't want this trip to be overly planned. That's true, but also a convenient excuse for not doing the research. So when I got up this morning and looked at the blank to day ahead of me, I said (insert mild expletive here). I used the time at the laundry to check things out and make some decisions. I stopped berating myself for being slack...took a breath, and asked myself, what would be fun today? Given the exhaustive list of activities listed for Wisconsin Dells, it was not hard to find something and a quiet kayak paddle seemed to fit the bill.

I don't have a kayak now, but I used to. I liked it, but found moving it around without a truck to be a pain, so I sold it. That was probably 15 years ago. I was a little unsure how easy/hard it would be for me at 59 to jump back in a kayak versus when I was 44, but it was like riding a bicycle and the old motor memory kicked in.

The lake was a narrow series of channels and although there was a significant amount of algae (this is August after all) there were still plenty of clear spots. I looked down to see little fishes swimming about and watched some jump up to try to catch water bugs. A hawk flew overhead, as well as some small diving birds I could not identify. An iridescent blue dragon fly alit on the bow of my kayak and we engaged in a staring contest for about ten minutes, before it got bored and flew away. All in all, a very Zen, back to nature afternoon. Aside from a little upper body ache, I think I did pretty well.

I'm back at camp now and just finished dinner, which was dehydrated kale and white bean stew. I bought this at the Eastern Mountain Sports going out of business sale, because I've always wanted to see if these type of meals were any good. The results? I wouldn't order it in a restaurant, but it beat the hell out of peanut butter and crackers.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Minneapolis, hoping to see the Minnehaha waterfall and the Minnesota State Fair. Will definitely sample the cheese curds! Thanks, Colleen, for the recommendations!!!