Well, it’s been quite a while since I posted an update. Today is the perfect day to do a little writing that isn’t work related. It’s raining a freezing rain outside right now – forming icicles on the bird feeder right outside my office window.
Yesterday was a beautiful day here. The sun was shining, the birds were out and you could almost smell spring in the air. Somewhere around noon Melissa and I decided to head out for the afternoon.
We had heard about a restaurant / café in a nearby town that we wanted to check out and we wanted to do a little hiking. Melissa found a park outside of Spring Green called Tower Hill State Park. There’s a tower built on the top of a bluff that they used to make lead shot in the 1800’s. The park includes 5 or 6 hiking trails.
Tower Hill State Park Info – CLICK HERE!!!
We had a nice drive over (it’s about 30 minutes or so South East of the house just south of the town of Spring Green). The route we decided on took us through the town of Avoca. (The town we had one of our first “vacations” in back in 2008). As we got closer to Spring Green the road, which had been pretty straight and level, started to get nice and curvy and hilly.
When we got there we located a map, paid our fee to the little box, bundled up and headed out. The only bummer was that we didn’t have our favorite hiking companion with us. Alas, it will be a couple of months until we can take Keeper hiking again.
It was just cold enough that the snow that is remaining had a nice icy crust on it – at least the snow that wasn’t in the sun. You could walk on top of most of it without falling through. The hike was an easy one and took us up the bluff, around the building and then back down to the river where we discovered the tunnel that they would bring the lead shot out of to load on barges.
As we crept into the tunnel all we could do was hope that there were no critters inside. Luckily there weren’t. I can honestly say that I had visions of a bear coming tearing out at us.
Anyway, after hiking around for a while we toured the area for a bit by car and then headed into town for a bite to eat.
What we found at the General Store was awesome! We stumbled upon a band playing to a pretty full house, a great beer selection and…. We finally found a place that had great coffee! Hallelujah! Hard to believe that it’s 30 minutes to the nearest ‘fancy’ coffee. But I was really, really happy to find it! It’s pretty crazy that the major town near us doesn’t even have a coffee shop.
Fresh Ravioli-oes!
We had a nice leisurely lunch, listening to the band and flipping through the paper and various magazines before heading home.
Once home we got busy cooking a homemade shrimp and goat cheese ravioli. Yum.
All in all it was a magnificent afternoon exploring the area – both indoors and outside.
The General Store in Spring Green, WI
P.S. – The Eagles have been actively working on the nest across the river from us. After spending some time with our neighbors yesterday morning (Thanks for the awesome card & toy for Keeper and muffin bread for us Frank and Jerri!) we found out that the Eagles are preparing to lay their eggs in the coming two weeks or so. We get to see them almost every day. It’s a tremendous privilege. We’re trying to get as much on film as we can. Unfortunately the zoom lens comes up just a tad short. We’ll keep posting them as they come up though!
My Year in the Country 