Dudes, I know I say that every weekend was the best weekend ever, but this one truly was.
I left work at lunchtime so we could head Wisconsinward and get there by the time the site opened at 3pm. Matt picked me up at my apartment, where I was busily overfeeding the cats so they would be ok til Sunday. We packed up his car and headed to get Cindi, who was on the verge of tears; she’d been working overnights all week, and had only a couple hours sleep that morning. As she exited her building with the first load of supplies, I realized I’d left Miguel’s tailgate open, because there were things in there we needed, and I didn’t want to forget them. Except I did forget them, and we had to drive back to my house to close his butt-door. After some highly-creative packing, which left Cindi wedged in the backseat with piles of supplies, Matt unable to see out half the back window, and me riding with bags between my legs, we were happily and finally on our way. Cindi and I played Interstate Bingo, because we are eight. And since she couldn’t come camping, we had a replacement Wendy to accompany us. The drive was uneventful til we got to New Richmond and the highways stopped making sense. This was concerning, so we pulled into a gas station for a map. We’d lost highway 35 a while back, but this did not stop us from rerouting and continuing to enjoy our journey through the wilds of the Cheese State. Besides, Willis and Katie were already at camp setting up. We arrived shortly after 3pm, met a cute little owl sitting on a post in the rangers’ booth, and drove to our campsite. We had a group site that could accommodate 20 people, so we had a ton of space, and only one group of neighbors across the road. It was awesome. We put up our tents, had some food, then Matt and I climbed up the Eagle Peak Trail to the highest point in the park. We encountered a deer who stood and stared at us for a very long time, old people trying to get it on on top of the hill, and vultures circling over our camp. This did not particularly worry us, however. We spend the rest of the night around the campfire, drinking greenies and grilling many kinds of meat. Or a gardenburger, in my case. Friday night, I nearly died of cold. I discovered that any part of my body not on the Therm-a-rest would cause the rest of me to sieze up in shivers. More frighteningly, Matt was not the heat source he usually is. We managed to fix that the next night by piling on many more blankets, and making creative use of towels and extra clothing. Saturday morning, we awoke to coffee and breakfast in the works. Cindi made up an impressive array of fillings for breakfast burritos, and we hung out for a while before heading off down the Silverbrook Trail. It passes an old copper mine, and ends on the grounds of Silverbrook mansion at a waterfall. We explored the grounds and found a couple springs, one of which was bubbling up through layers of sand. It started raining shortly after our return to camp, so Matt and I decided to wait out the thunderstorm in our tent, finding creative ways to pass the half-hour or so. Later, we all decided to head into town for errands: Willis and Katie for an airbed (the ground wasn’t only cold, it was really hard), and us for New Glarus beer and bar replenishment. Matt and Cindi and I got sidetracked by the Lions Park in St Croix Falls, where we had to play on all the playground equipment and visit the river before continuing to the store. On the way back into the park, we stopped for eight metric tons of firewood, and discovered a mouse running around in the back of the woodshed with a bunch of tiny mousebabies stuck to her side, nursing. Eek. Matt and I took a trail down to the Lake o’ the Dalles, which meant passing a forest full of mystery ducks. We could hear quacking, the sound of what seemed to be billions of ducks, but we couldn’t see a single one. It sounded like it was coming from up in the trees, and there were hawks circling overhead. If anyone can help clear up this mystery of the invisible ducks, please do so posthaste. We returned to camp and played a very long card-turned-drinking-game, and retired to our chairs around the gigantic, roaring fire for the night. OR SO WE THOUGHT. We ended up listening to the KDWB Party Zone (I don’t know, these things happen), which led us to organize our very own dance party on the picnic table. I have no idea how long we danced, but I do know my thighs hurt a lot afterward. Also, we moshed to Avril Lavigne (we were reclaiming that horrible song), and jumped up, jumped up, and got down until we couldn’t anymore. After that, we discovered that our fire was so hot it would actually melt glass. Experiments ensued, and around 2am it was time to sleep. Though it was colder Saturday night, we were better-prepared. The only time I wanted to die was when I realized there was no way I’d make it til morning without peeing, so I stumbled out of the tent in my socks and found the nearest tree. I am seriously classy, not to mention very well-hydrated. On Sunday, we again had coffee and breakfast, then Matt and Jumi and I set off on another hike. This led us up the Skyline Trail to the visitor’s center (where we enjoyed the luxury of flush toilets and warm water), then we hiked back in to the Ravine Trail, one we were very glad we were descending, instead of the other way around. We emerged along the road and walked back to camp. It was only about 4 miles, but there was a lot of climbing involved. We were tired, and happy to flop in chairs in the sun until it was time to pack up our tents and head home. Sigh. Matt and I had dinner on the patio at the Gnome, then went home to lay on the floor. I’m pretty sure I was prostrate from 7:30pm til 10:30am the next morning. Memorial Day, well, it was the best day ever. We had brunch with Cindi at the Local while watching the college lacrosse finals on ESPN, then parked near Riverplace and wandered along the riverfront. We crossed the Stone Arch bridge and walked up to the brand new Gold Medal Park to lay in the grass, and we could hear the noise from the Metrodome as the Twins won. We crossed the river again and stopped to sit in the sun outside Pracna to have a couple drinks, both of which came with pins of achievement. Then we visited the grocery store for a vast collection of fruit and bread, so that Matt could make salad for dinner: peaches, strawberries, almonds, blue cheese, and Meyer lemon vinaigrette. We watched the Stanley Cup finals, followed by some Edgemont to erase the Ducks’ win from our brains. And all of that made coming to work today not quite so difficult. Tonight, we’re holding the opening ceremonies for the Greenie Millennium. There’s nothing quite like making a big celebration of a terrible idea, is there? Happy Tuesday-already, dudes!Jenni