Sometimes I Wonder If the World's So Small, Then We Can Never Get Away From the Sprawl

Blogger is being annoying and I can't get it to work very well, so I'm leaving out a bunch of pictures and we'll have to deal with what we have. Sigh.

My birthday weekend was lovely. I feel lucky and happy to have such a terrific immediate family. We took the girls up to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin with us and played and played. We stayed at Wyasuling State Park and it was so great. It was pretty and clean and our campsites were quiet and private.

We got there later in the afternoon on Saturday because it rained up until about three o'clock up there. We got to the park, set up our tents and then went on a great hike with incredible views of the spot where the Mississippi meets the Wisconsin river.

We found a cool cave and had a great talk.

We went back to the campsite where I made quesadillas that we had with the guacamole and de gallo salsa that I made at home and it actually turned out really well.

We heard that they were having fireworks that evening in Prairie du Chien to help celebrate Crazy Days (Hey! they finally named a holiday after me), so we went to Lookout Point to wait for them to go off.

It was nice. There were a bunch of other people waiting and everyone was really festive. Of course, they didn't go off until almost ten o'clock and most of the kids that were there didn't get to see them all, but us old people got to stay for the whole thing.

I slept in in the morning and John went on a long run. When I woke up, I got to hang out in my new hammock and read a book and get some alone time, before John got back from his run and the girls woke up.

We decided to go canoeing and kayaking for our first activity.

The place we went was so pretty and the water was like glass, for the most part.

At one point, John told me he had a visitor. I figured he meant a dragonfly, because they were all over the place. He said, no. He had a snake stow away in the front compartment of his kayak. He slithered out of the hull and started to move toward John. John gently took his paddle and used it to move the snake into the water and he swam away. If it had been me, I probably would have pooped myself. We looked it up later and figured it was probably a black rat snake. I guess it could have been worse. It could have been a water moccasin.

After all of the excitement with the snake, John took us to a hiking trail that led to another cave.

It also had a cute, little, waterfall.

We ended up hiking farther than I thought we would and after that and the paddling, I was starving. We headed to Prairie du Chien for lunch and the girls were sweet enough to pick up the tab. It was very nice.

After lunch we headed to the Indian Burial Mounds.

It was hot and the hike was uphill for most of the first part and I was exhausted from all of the other activities we already did, but it was worth it.

The view was stunning here too.

As long as you were careful enough not to tumble over the edge.

We went to the town of McGregor next. It was adorable there. We hung out with the girls for a bit before they headed home. I was so lucky to get to spend the weekend with them.

John and I went to a Mexican restaurant for a drink after the girls took off. Our bartender was a very nice woman who made us a nice margarita...Or two. Hey! It was my birthday eve.

The smartest thing I did on Sunday evening was order some delicious shrimp and tortillas and rice and beans take-out before we left the Mexican restaurant. The rest of our evening was spent eating and talking and laughing by the fire. It was the perfect birthday eve.