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Happy Friday, gentle reader! Full disclosure, this gorgeous sunrise is actually in Iowa, but since it was the early bright of the Wisconsin segment of our epic trip, it made more sense to include it here. This was largely how we rolled, too, finish off one leg of our travels by rising in the cool quiet of the dawn. It raises the potency of the adventure via some unknown alchemy, heightening all the senses.

In New Glarus now, ultimate American soil Swiss Village, utterly bucolic and fetching.

The sweet, sonorous bells made for a more authentic stroll about town. Though, as we learned by chatting up the locals, they are quite the nightmare to live with on the daily, ringing and singing every fifteen minutes. It really is a lot, taken as a whole. Bless them.

Cool buildings, great light and shadows, and some fun eating and shopping, too. We shared most excellent smoked chicken wings and a yummy giant of a pretzel with beer cheese, of course, at Ott Haus, before a stop at the New Glarus Bakery, where we bought Anise Springerli. I have wanted to make these many times but have always been put off by the amount of time and work they require. How grateful I was for someone else’s labor but more so for their deliciousness! They were gobbled right-quick. We also purchased made in Wisconsin maple syrup at The Bramble Patch. Quite exciting, as I never knew it existed!

Usonian Home – Herbert and Katharine Jacobs – 441 Toepfer in Madison

For architecture lovers like us, no trip to Wisconsin would be complete without ogling some Frank Lloyd Wright structures in his native state. The above residence was definitely my favorite of the bunch. The colors are glorious, and I love how the wildness of the prairie garden contrasts with all the straight lines.

Speaking of gardens, Wisconsin had a profusion roadside flowers, which seem to be intentionally cultivated, or at least encouraged, often in staggering heights. I’ve never seen echinacea so tall, nor such a proliferation of blooms of every prairie variety. What a difference water makes in a landscape. It was truly magical!

Unitarian Meeting House

I needn’t wonder how churches of this variety became so popular after the construction of this beauty. Again, I love the contrast, the verdant flat of green roof and spike of sanctuary. Plus, the pattern of glass is gorgeous.

Harold C. Bradley House – 106 N Prospect in Madison

Look at that fabulously detailed cantilever, or is it called something else because it appears supported? I don’t know. I only play architect on this blog. Anyway, I digress, and EEK! How about the curve of the bump out, softness and strength and beauty.

Eugene A. Gilmore House – 120 N Ely Place in Madison

Called the Airplane house, I love the sharp angles and deep shade of the overhangs. What a respite they must be in the heat of summer.

Not a Frank Lloyd Wright but still a quite lovely State of Wisconsin building. The metalwork!

Caught goofing…

Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center

This, along with the soaring capitol building, lies on the isthmus (such a great word) between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona and the last of the Wright buildings we visited. The gardens were alive with birds, bees, and butterflies, and so cheerful, too.

Welcome to Kaukauna! In all honesty, I chose this town because Grandma Tess almost always had a plastic pot of their namesake spreadable cheese in the refridge (her word), usually port wine, sometimes plain sharp cheddar. Her love sparked my own and keeps me close to her in heaven. Besides, there are few better friends for a buttery cracker, in my opinion. No surprise, we bought a tub or three of different brands but similar ilk on our travels.

Also in the local food department, I have never seen such large frozen pizza sections. We visited three stores in Wisconsin, including two Piggly Wigglies, which was terribly exciting (truly!), as I have only encountered them in novels. Anyway, imagine the longest single aisle of a frozen food section with only pizza, and you’ve got it. An embarrassment of pizza riches, dear peeps. A kindly lady ran into us, almost literally because I was so flabbergasted, and we explained our behavior. Her laugh at us was pretty hale and hearty!

Of course we bought one, a Brew Pub Lotzza Mozza with sausage, and darn it if it wasn’t the best frozen variety we have ever had. Super cheesy, perfect crust. How do they do that?! Oh, and the lady we ran into earlier? She lent us her Pig Card at checkout, so we wouldn’t have to pay full price for our treats. Another fine example of Mid-West Nice.

Finally, the bridge, green, and flowers are at the 1000 Islands Environmental Center, a delightful oasis of birdsong and babbling water.

Get ready for Michigan…

McCook, Nebraska was our first delightful stop on our EPIC Summer road trip. All told, we drove more than 2800 miles, with quite a few early mornings to get them done. A lot, lot, but so fun, and BEAUTIFUL. We love you, America.

McCook is home to some great buildings, charming features, and Sehnert’s Dutch Oven Bakery, which I cannot recommend more highly. Very kindly service, great sandwiches, and delicious donuts! Woot.

Omaha!

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is a stunner spanning the Missouri River. It takes walkers, who “Bob” across into Iowa, and back again. What a welcome get out the wiggles jaunt, after a long stretch in the car.

There’s a cool sculpture park on the Iowa side. This is made out of aluminum pie and roasting tins, or at least covered in them!

Iowa is delightfully hilly!

Elk Horn, Iowa is home to this fabulous collection of architecture of all sizes!

Des Moines namesake river and State Capitol of Iowa, facelift in progress.

Fort Des Moines, the birthplace of the capitol.

Our first Mid-West bar experience at the High Life Lounge (The Champagne of Bars) did not disappoint! Very old school decor, with awesome bar signs from the from the 60s and 70s, Mid-West nice service (so VERY), a namesake beer for Greg, of course, and crazy good fried cheese curds and deviled eggs. The ultimate!!

Wait, that’s not Greg! My dear friend Bob, who I have known since I was twelve (39 years!!), lives in Iowa and was our most excellent guide, showing us this fabulous Bridge of Madison County, John Wayne’s birth place (two below), a cool stone tower with beautiful view, and Fong’s, where we enjoyed super delicious Crab Rangoon pizza and a ridiculously strong Mai Tai. Yay for friendship!

Winterset, Iowa

Back soon with more adventure!

The late snow kept Pike’s Peak in prime prettiness for days. Another silver lining…

Our girl gets the bestest belly rubs and poses with brilliant iris blooms. She is all that and then some.

The petal parade has begun….

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, twenty-nine years!! It is quite the number, which leaves us both pleased as punch. In celebration, we went to Dos Santos, our favorite taco joint, on Friday, and yesterday I made bouillabaisse and homemade garlic and red pepper aioli (high falutin’ word for lip-smackin’ good mayo) for the day-of celebration. It is slathered on extra crunchy French bread croutons before being delicately dipped in the broth. Every manner of happy tastebud sound follows. We enjoyed it with a bottle of wine purchased on our Missouri vacation last year – Hermanhoff White Lady. It made for one heck of a way to celebrate!

While I labored in the kitchen, the hubster labored in the garden and on our screen door. Juniper is sometimes an impatient little booger when it comes to getting in and out of the house and had made enough of a wreck of the screen that insects could get in, no problema. So we had a heavier duty one installed (by Mullet Screens – a kindly guy who comes round in a van!) and bought the “screen saver” (HA!) to keep further damage from occurring. It needed a little trim, and Greg made it so. It looks quite nice and seems built to last.

All the sprouts tended since January are snug in the ground and looking quite lovely! The stick structure in the middle is made for beans to climb and came from fallen branches in all these terrible winds we’ve been having. I am super excited to think about our summer harvest. Though I won’t be counting any beans until they’re actually off the vine. Now that snow is out of the picture, we are in prime hail season. Oh, Colorado….

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Happy 73rd Birthday to my MOM!!

Rolling along Highway 50 and the Arkansas, gazing westward toward the Collegiate Peaks. With soaring granite walls and the steady rush of the river, this drive is one of our favorite excursions, putting Colorado’s full glory on display: sun, stone, water, sky!

In the awe of people doing what they truly love category: despite what I imagine to be rather frigid temperatures, we spied many a fisher in chest waders out on the water.

Wet Mountains

The sky put on quite the light show as we headed south!

The Mellow Moon was our cozy landing spot, an easy walk to delicious eats at Raisin’ Rye (cinnamon roll, jalapeno & sausage kolache, almond croissant!!), Three Barrel Brewing (Firecracker Pizza, honey kolsch!!), and Chavolos Mexican (carnitas, chile relleno!!). Oh, and a giant-wonderful jar of honey and a bar of bee pollen soap at Haefelis!

It was an equally easy amble from the Mellow Moon to the Rio Grande and all the small town charm. Some large beast, a deer or elk, we guessed, left ample evidence of a hearty roll in the snow. Juniper could not help but to follow suit!

Horizontal snow…

Our trip on Friday was a leisurely three hours, including a stop in Canon City for Indian food at Nirvana and another for marijuana treats in Salida. We are very infrequent flyers and found ourselves agog at the choices! Greg got some Bliss Drops to, as the kindly salesperson put it, have the the equivalent of “three glasses of wine without needing to pee!” I chose Wyld Peach gummies for my annoying migraines. As luck (???) would have it, I did get a migraine while in Del Norte. I could not have been happier. I suffered no headache pain. Woot!

Sunday started as a rather gorgeous, snow coated morning. We made no tracks to rush while still getting on the road at nine. After breakfast in Alamosa (nothing remarkable, sadly), the skies turned, and we inched along in whiteout conditions up and over La Veta Pass (La Veta Loca, as the hubster put it), adding two hours to our normal trip length. Luckily it was beautiful, and there was only one jerk on the road, so it was all good in the end. Life as it should be.

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It snowed!! A whopping three inches in our garden and well before actual fall (two weeks ago already?!), but the timing couldn’t be better, stifling some of our wicked wildfires in the process. Small mercies. Still praying for rain, though. Boy do we ever need it in the West. Such heartbreak at all that has been lost.

Snow day cuddles with the girl. How cute it she?!

I asked Greg to take a picture of me in my new favorite dress, testing the light with a photo of him first. As ever, he had me laughing myself silly! The dress is from Duluth, and possesses a dreamy, pajama type comfort. Stretchy and flattering, with GIANT pockets. I really couldn’t ask for more.

Homemade cherry preserves and a buttered club.

I’ve been eyeing these prickly pears for a time now and decided today was the day to harvest. My first attempt was a FAIL, trying to pick them with a single garden glove. I gave up a third of the way through, with so many needles in my fingers (so aptly named!). Undeterred, I returned with rubber gloves and kitchen shears, and all was copacetic.

Jerks with their boozy habits, leaving bottles all over the town. Made for a nice picture, though. And I brought it on home to recycle.

I did some interweb reading before deciding a simple whir in the Vitamix would do the trick with the prickly pears, adding nothing. I made margaritas with the strained final product. Fresh is best, peeps. My goodness, Y E S ! !

Another oldie! I am a year and a half or so here, on the lap of my Great Uncle Chris. I associate him with Cadillacs, cigars, whiskey and a velvety bass voice. Oh, and love…

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