Governor Dodge State Park, August 10-14, 2009

Today I feel "under the weather."

I don't often give in to feeling funky. Today is different.

Seems like a good time to catch up on organizing our latest trip.

Our first destination of this camping trip was Governor Dodge State Park, in southwestern Wisconsin. This is a large, 5270 acre park

with deep valleys and high bluffs. The park is a popular destination.We were surprised to see so many people in the campground during the middle of the week.

We had a big, open sunny campsite, so we were glad to have a spot to set up the rain fly to lend some shade to the picnic table.

Queen Anne's Lace, also known as Wild Carrot, blossomed around the edges of our site.

We toured the New Glarus Brewing Company on Tuesday morning.

This brewery has been in existence since 1993 and just recently moved into a new facility built to resemble a Bavarian village on a hill overlooking the town. The new brewery is built to accommodate touring patrons and is a very impressive operation.

Their beers are sold only in the state of Wisconsin.

By far their most popular selling label is an ale called "Spotted Cow."

Their "Wisconsin Belgian Red" is also a very popular ale that has won awards world-wide. It is brewed using cherries from Door County, Wisconsin.

I believe a few examples from this brewery have made it home to Inver Grove Heights. I can't be certain of their storage location in our house, however (in case Nick and his friends ever read this post).

We came back to the campground after doing some local food shopping and fired up the Weber "Q" and enjoyed a nice alfresco dinner.

On Wednesday we met Jayne and Tom at the International Crane Foundation near Baraboo, Wisconsin. This organization was formed in 1973 on the site of a horse farm and is the only place in the world where one can see all fifteen species of the world's cranes.

The Gray Crowned Crane from Africa was very beautiful and one of our favorites of the day.

However, watching the Whooping cranes was impossible to top.

I am so thankful Jayne and Tom recommended we meet there. Awesome.

Our primary reason for visiting this area with Jayne and Tom was to tour Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin 600 acre estate near Spring Green, which includes his home and School of Architecture.

The tour began at the Visitor Center, located across the highway from the acreage.

Our first stop was at Unity Chapel, which was one of Wright's earlier designs. The grounds around the Unitarian Chapel include the family cemetery, including Frank's grave. Oddly, his remains were moved from this site by his third wife.

The estate includes the School of Architecture. A rather odd combination of public and private use exists at Taliesin, as there are architecture students and faculty living on the estate during the summer months while tours are led through the preserved national historic site.

We actually stood and watched architecture students at work in this facility.

Much of the estate is in extremely poor repair and the preservation process is slowed by a serious lack of funds.

We walked by the famous Romeo and Juliet Windmill, designed by Wright when he was a teenager. It helped to provide electricity for the school his aunt's ran on the acreage.

Next stop was the barn which now houses people instead of animals. Someone even sleeps in the tower.

But the true gem of the tour is the house.

We were able to walk through the interior but were not permitted to take pictures.

Despite the poor condition of the building, it is still incredible.

Taliesin translates as "shining brow" which refers to the hillside into which the house was designed.

The house has a tragic history, being the site of multiple murders committed by a deranged servant in August, 1914. Included in the seven who died that day were Wright's mistress and her two children. The murderer set the house on fire.

I read several book before the tour about Wright's life leading up to this tragedy. "Loving Frank" was my favorite book on the subject. I appreciated the tour much more with the background the readings provided.

Wright rebuilt the home immediately after the fire. It burned a second time in later years and he again rebuilt. The entire structure now is in danger of collapse unless major repairs are completed within the next decade. Millions of dollars are necessary to preserve the estate. We all had the impression there is much more work than is possible to keep this historic site open and available to the public. I am glad we were able to see it before it is gone forever.

Jayne and Tom joined us after the tour for dinner at the campground. The next day they headed back home and we broke camp and moved to our second destination.

Look for another posting soon!

Abby's Wedding August 8, 2009

Greetings! We have been on the road to various locations the past two weeks.

Although our daily schedule was altered, somethings have remained the same.

Our first jaunt of the past fortnight was to Battle Lake, Minnesota for the wedding of our niece, Abby and new nephew-in-law, Ryan. Abby is the daughter of Marlys and Paul, my sister and brother-in-law.

Abby and Ryan live in Arizona, where they are both college students. Abby's sister, Lisa, has covered their wedding beautifully on her blog. I won't even try to compete with her coverage! Good work, Lisa.

Our family was asked to contribute musically to their ceremony.

Paul, Nick and I worked together to perform the liturgical music. Suzanne played Handel while the parents were ushered into the church. It was great to see her at the keyboard again as she is an accomplished pianist. Paul works the camera, so I don't have any pictures of Nick and Paul playing guitar. If I find one from the family, I will edit this post!!!

My sister-in-law, Rose, played the processional (an original composition) and recessional. Just thinking about her music makes me emotional. What an artist!

She was watched quite closely by her beautiful granddaughter, Meredith.

These life-stage ceremonies become more and more important to me. It is too seldom we get Suzanne and Nick together with us for more than a few hours at a time. Family is important to them and they looked forward to seeing the McDougall clan.

And, all eight of us McDougall's were together. That is the highlight of my summer, right there. I hugged every one of my siblings all in the same day.

Thanks, Abby and Ryan, for providing us this happy occasion to be together.

I'll be posting more soon as we have covered some new ground with the North Trail!

Another Month Slipped Past Me!

Hello! Before I know it, the days get away from me. I am able to tell you we continue along the same as always. It's nice to know some things don't change, I guess!

There are some changes in our world, though.

Paul's summer band commitment at his "old school" is completed.

He has dear friends there with whom he taught and enjoyed spending his days in their company.

I also am enjoying my summer job, working with the Eagan Summer Community Theatre production of "Fiddler On The Roof." The rigor of rehearsals is behind us and the production is running through August 1st. It is a very talented cast and I wish my entire family could come to see the show.

We welcomed a new grand niece into the world on July 7th. Hayley Elizabeth was born to Elizabeth and Mike Rohrer on July 7th. They live right here in Inver Grove Heights, so we plan to closely watch this little one grow.

We had a stretch of three days with nothing on our calendar, so we headed out with the North Trail to Lake Louise State Park, located in southern Minnesota.

We had heard LeRoy-Ostrander mentioned on WCCO many mornings listening for those "oh so wonderful"

announcements. Lake Louise is located very close to the Iowa State Border within the boundaries of that school district.

The campground is comparatively small in this park. But the individual sites are large and we settled in quite comfortably.

You can see that "George" the egret carving travels with us. George has been with us since Oscar Scherer State Park in Florida. I am a member of a camping forum and George graces the pictures of our campsites and travel information we share with our internet "friends."

Lake Louise State Park is made up of hardwood forests and once tilled open fields. Although it is not native prairie, there are beautiful fields of wild flowers in full bloom. Brown Eyed Susan was predominant on the drive into the campground.

We had ample room to set up our outdoor kitchen. We generally spend the day hiking or biking and then come back to shower and relax as we prepare the evening meal. There were few bugs, so nothing stood in our way to work outside. The weather was perfect.

As you have seen before on this blog, we love our Weber "Q" gas grill. It is rare we cook a meal without it when we are out camping.

We grilled up a bunch of peppers and onions that first night to accompany a New York strip.

Part of our camping "mission statement" is to explore and enjoy the local food sources. In rural Minnesota, in particular the southern part of the state, we have had great success finding wonderful meat markets. This trip was no exception. We set out the next morning and found Buster's Country Meats outside of the town of Ostrander. This place brought being close to one's food to the forefront. The market is actually located directly in a farm yard. As we walked into the store, I commented that there was a steer in a small pen attached to the building. I almost could imagine the cuts of meat drawn out on the poor guy.

We made our purchases and when we came back out, he was gone. Gulp. That being said, however, it is an excellent market and I wish it was closer to home!

The main draw to Lake Louise State Park for us is its location on the Shooting Star State Trail.

The town of LeRoy was moved from this site after the railroad passed it by. The original grist mill site was turned into a recreational area and eventually became the state park. The original name of the park was Wildwood. A member of the family who donated the pond and mill site to the state was named Louise, therefore "Lake Louise" became the name of the park.

We rode our bikes into the town of LeRoy after we had shopped for dinner.

We stopped and took pictures of the wild flowers along the bike path.

When we arrived back at the camp site, we took out our identification guides and documented the wild flowers and bird sightings we noted during the day. Love that digital camera!

Out came the Weber and that freshly cut pork chop Buster had recommended to us that morning provided us with an excellent dinner.

The next morning we set out earlier, as we knew we wanted to cover at least 20 miles on the bike trail that day. It was cloudy and cool, so we enjoyed our ride through the countryside.

Once again, we made frequent stops to enjoy the flowers blooming along the trail.

Most of the trail goes along farm fields. Most every field was corn with some soybeans as well. All the crops looked great in this part of the state. The untilled edge of the old railroad bed provides a great buffer where the wild flowers grow.

We rode into the (extremely) little town of Taopi where the second smallest post office in the United States is located. Oddly enough, last winter we camped in Carabelle, on the Florida Panhandle where we found the nation's smallest post office. We decided we would not be seeking the third smallest, although we did drive through a town whose claim to fame is "the brightest street lights."

Very quiet countryside......

As we turned around on the trail to head back to the park, we were greeted by a rain storm.

The sky opened up and we rode at least eight miles through a heavy downpour.

Note to self, shop for proper clothing for bike riding. Items that dry in less than 12 hours are quite necessary.

It was sunny back in the park, so we took our showers, hung out our drenched clothing and grilled our buffalo steak purchased at Buster's.

The day ended perfectly, which means a campfire without insects and a cigar for Paul.

This trip is an example of Paul and me at our happiest. We know what we like (and what we don't).

And we remember soooo many days when we had our

and we would talk about "some" day when we could poke around the country, shop the local markets, do some exploring and cook some fine meals. Not extravagant, but it was our dream.

Thanks, Paul. I can't imagine my life without you!

Where do we go next? I'll keep you posted.