When we woke up Saturday morning, Tara turned to me and said, “Today is going to be a fun day.” She was not wrong.
It’s been a long time since we’ve gone out exploring. Between the family reunion, yard work, errands, and less-than-ideal weather, we really haven’t had a chance. But wanting to check out the gorgeous Wisconsin fall foliage, and knowing the colors are at their peak this weekend, we set aside Saturday to do just that. We left the house at 8 a.m. and didn’t return for 13 hours. In between, we crammed in a lot of cool stuff.
Best of all? I got AI to plan the whole trip. Bard came up with a detailed itinerary that included how long we should spend at each stop, what music we should listen to during the drive, where and when we should gas up the car, what food we should order, and how big of a tip we should leave. Man alive, I love technology!
(Kidding, of course. Y’all would probably show up on my doorstep with burning torches and pitchforks if I took things to that extreme.)
Our first stop was Holy Hill, a basilica located atop one of the highest bluffs in southeastern Wisconsin.
OK, 1350′ above sea level ain’t all that impressive when you’re used to the Black Hills and Cascades, but the views are sweeping, especially from the observation tower. I braved 178 very narrow stairs (with two-way traffic, no less), and avoided looking down as much as possible because I don’t exactly love heights, but the view from the top made the crowds and dizzying spiral staircase worthwhile. The whole place is beautiful, inside and out.
The weather cooperated nicely. It was sunny when we set out, which really made those trees pop from the tower. But it clouded over on the way to our next destination, Dodge County Ledge Park. Which was great, because it offered perfect lighting for photographing the trees in the forest.
The view from the scenic overlook was absolutely breathtaking. Even better than the top of Holy Hill, if that’s possible.
Both Tara and I brought along our real cameras. I’d grown lazy and mainly relied on my Pixel 6 phone camera for a while there, but have been shooting with my Nikon the past few months. It really does make a difference. My dear wife had grown even lazier with her phone, ha, but she was glad she brought along her Canon and had a great time getting all artistic and shit with it.
Really cool park, and it’s only about an hour from our house. The rock formations were reminiscent of South Dakota. We had such a great time, we could have spent hours there! Actually, we had such a great time, we did spend hours there. But eventually it was time to mosey along. We were only a few miles from Horicon Marsh, the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the U.S. When Dick popped over to our house a few months ago, he raved about the place. Gotta admit, it was pretty cool. The 32,000-acre glacial lake provides habitat for a large variety of birds, especially ducks, pelicans, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, and Canada geese. And, it’s kayakable. Gonna have to look into that next summer.
This woolly mammoth sculpture named Curly is made entirely of rebar. 16,646 individual pieces, to be exact, which would stretch over three miles if laid out flat. Yes, I stopped to count them all. Seven hours and 43 minutes later, with many angry glares and universal tapping-the-wrist “hurry up!” gestures from Tara, we finally pulled out of the parking lot.
J/K, of course. I lost count after 23.
By now we’d worked up an appetite, so we stopped for some appetizers and a drink at a bar and grill in Beaver Dam before continuing west to Ski-Hi Fruit Farm in Baraboo. We loaded up on apples, a bottle of wine, and a bag of hot-out-of-the-fryer mini apple cider doughnuts. Goddamn, they’re delicious.
We continued on to Madison, where we made a long-overdue shopping trip to Trader Joe’s. Our final stop was the Great Dane Pub a block from the capital for a couple of drinks and some grub. We sat in the basement bar, which I swear looks like a dungeon. I am obsessed with their Gochujang Rice Bowl with marinated and grilled flank steak, Korean BBQ sauce, shredded carrot, cucumber, scallion, cilantro, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, and a sunny-side egg. I get it every time we go there.
It was the perfect ending to a great fall day full of adventure and vibrant color. Just what the doctor ordered!
Mark My Words 
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