Hiking Parfrey's Glen and other Wisconsin Dells Adventures

Craig and I started our Memorial Day weekend early yesterday by taking the day off of work and heading north to Wisconsin Dells. I'm not a fan of the commercial side of Wisconsin Dells, but I do love and appreciate the natural beauty it has to offer, especially its' wonderful state parks.

We wanted to get to Parfrey's Glen ever since we heard about it being the first state natural area, so we started our day there.

The path to the glen offers a beautiful trail, which offers an easy hike, probably best for beginners or families with young children.

Only a couple spots in the trail were difficult to cross and a klutz like me had to be very careful in those areas. I'm still loving my Merrell hiking boots with great ankle support for crossing streams and walking on rocky trails.

Here are some other photos I took along the trail. 

I believe this is the state-threatened round stemmed false foxglove.

 We really want to know what type of plant this is.

At the end of the hike, I tried a new drink that was quite yummy!

I was excited to capture our hike stats on my Fitbit Surge! Not the longest or most difficult walk, but a beautiful one that we both enjoyed.

It was time for lunch by the time we left Parfrey's Glen, so we drove into town to The Cheeze Factory Restaurant, which generously invited us to eat there. More on that in a separate post to come soon!

After lunch, we drove around downtown Wisconsin Dells and got out to walk a little bit too. Craig and I both have always wanted to check out Ishnala's grounds, so we crossed that off our to do list too! It's a famous and favorite supper club in Wisconsin. 

 Craig was most interested in seeing where they filmed parts of the Public Enemies movie.

Then I got some shopping in at the outlets, but since I am being minimalistic about purchases lately, I didn't buy a thing. 

Our last stop in a jam-packed day included a short hike at Mirror Lake State Park. Gotta take advantage of that state parks sticker we purchased!

We randomly drove by this sign and gate, which turned out to be a place I am now obsessed with visiting and hopefully can stay at overnight some day (it's $300 a night with a two night stay minimum). I love local boy, Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and the Seth Peterson cottage on Mirror Lake is a place I had never heard of before yesterday.

What a great day! We're relaxing a little more today and it's great to have three more days off of work!

Lately: Mid-May

I keep making lists of things I want to blog about, but then I don't feel like spending time on the computer. I hope to get around to writing some more substantial posts this long four day weekend, but we'll see. Here is what I've been up to lately.

Flan at El Beso with Craig. I ordered a smaller meal so I could get dessert.

A beer and dark chocolate after a sad day at work. 

Did you do this TIME magazine baby name popularity generator? I can't imagine being an Evelyn or Haley. Laura came up twice, once as my 1890s name and I guess that name seems more "me."

Shiva looking beautiful with freshly cut grass and our bulb flowers in the front yard. They came up purple and iris-like this year. They are canna plants that are usually red and a totally different shape. I need an explanation as to why this happened! 

Pema was fascinated by the mop. I know it doesn't look like it from this photo, but he was. Freshly mopped floors are the best.

New sunglasses from Target (I'm still not sure about them) and our favorite strawberry licorice from Trader Joe's. I sent this picture to Craig to taunt him that I was eating the licorice I had just purchased.

Our library keeps getting more and more magazine titles to check out digitally! This is great news for a magazine hoarder like me. I love that they have HGTV magazine!

Shiva and all the balls. He's been loving them and his "mousey" as he knows it as. 

Walking on my lunch break. It was quite a windy day yesterday and probably not the best timing for a walk in a skirt. Oh and teal toenails are my new fav.

This matcha green tea latte from Trader Joe's is the best!

We rearranged our living room for the first time ever last night. Tanzi and Pema loved it right away. Shiva hid in the other room and meowed at us from there. He's used to it now.

I rarely find new bands that I love and this German one came on Pandora on my way to work this morning. I am a big Paul Klee fan, so it's appropriate that I'd like a band named Klee.

Lunch today. These were delicious! 

Summertime Sadness has been on repeat the last few days. I'm loving the CD in general. 

Another new magazine title that I found. Such great articles. 

Organic Life had a few articles on gardening, which is perfect timing because we (well Craig) planted a few vegetables on Sunday.

I've been leaving out some carrots and the rabbits are enjoying them. I love waking up to see rabbits on our patio.

We biked to a new little free library about a mile from our house. This one is so cute!

Purchasing a roma tomato and a red pepper plant at Stein's!

I've been reading this ever so slowly.

I just found this Mad City Vegan Fest online tonight and am so excited to attend, as long as other plans don't pop up in late June!

Only two more days and then it's a long holiday weekend! We're hoping to hike, eat at a vegan restaurant in Wisconsin Dells and I want to just relax in general. 

Throwback Thursday: 2004

This throwback Thursday, we're in 2004! I was in my second year of graduate school. I moved from this house in Alameda (an island off of Oakland, CA) to the house in the photo below in Berkeley, CA. 

One of my classmates from graduate school had an opening in his house with five other people, so I figured life is short and to try out living with a bunch of new faces!

This was our poster in the kitchen. I remember having lots of conversations about why cow's milk was "bad" and I did go out and buy soy milk eventually. It upset my stomach. This was before almond and rice milk was more popular.

A trip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I frequently visited their galleries and eventually was lucky enough to intern there as well.

Chubbs, the neighbor kitty at my Berkeley place. He was a demanding little fella. My housemate fed him tuna all the time and that only made him more vocal. 

I won Britney Spears tickets off the radio and took my housemate! I look particularly bloated and sick here. This was when I started to get ill with gastrointestinal problems. 

My friends Jenny and Loni came out to visit me!

That Fall, I did the Komen Race for the Cure walk with my friends. Everyone's moms joined in but mine. She was in London and Paris with my dad at the time.

Kim and I at Jazz in the Park in Cathedral Square.

On my way back to Cali, at the gorgeous Salt Lake.

Yosemite with Loni. I can't believe I insisted on driving us there for a day trip--6 hours in the car in one day, especially while driving such windy roads was not a smart idea.

We went to Chicago for a girls' trip that year.

My parents in Lake Geneva. We walked part of the lake and I always love seeing the mansions there.

My favorite bird, Punky (named after Punky Brewster of course). I think she passed away that year or the next. I cried for days. Seriously. Hard to believe a bird can be loved that much, but she was.

Mom at Salt Lake! I'd love to return there someday.

Road trip back to Cali! We could barely see out the back window. Correction--we could not see out the back window. I don't know why I was wearing a head scarf.

Meeting Nada Surf with my housemate and grad school classmate, Jon. It was a pretty cool little concert at the Virgin Records in downtown SF.

Oh, the Golden Gate Bridge. I miss this landmark.

That's it! I can't believe that was 11 years ago! It feels like it was just yesterday.