We had a good viewing of the Super blood wolf moon this weekend. It was clear and very cold.
This was around 10:00 pm CST.
This was around 11:00 pm CST.
This was with my 200mm zoom lens, unfortunately my big zoom lens was back at home.
Super Blood Wolf Moon
A Fun Weekend
It was the girls final day in Wisconsin. They had an afternoon flight from Madison to Toronto/Ottawa via Chicago. We went into Mount Horeb and visited the Driftless Historium, it is a museum of the Mount Horeb area.
We walked around town.
Only in Mount Horeb would you see a horse tied up outside a coffeeshop.
The girls with one of the trolls. Mount Horeb is the Troll Capital of the World.
Angela still had one more item on her Wisconsin farm bucket list. She got to try the zero-turn lawn mower.
I dropped them off at the Madison airport. They had an adventure getting home with delays due to thunderstorms in Chicago, Gillian had a tight connection, but in the end everyone made it back safely. It was nice to have them all here for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving in Wisconsin
Susan and I cooked a turkey with the fixing’s for Mark and Sue. The girls got to try out the 22 rifle. Gillian tried it when she was here in July, so she was an old hand at it.
Mark showing the girls how it’s done.
Claudia lining up her shot with some help from behind.
Angela taking her turn.
Next up was driving the tractor. Claudia giving it a try under Tukka’s watch.
Angela was determined to drive everything.
Claudia on the quad.
Angela and Claudia having a blast.
We made a 24 lb turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, corn that was par boiled back in the summer, and squash from the garden. It was delicious.
The girls with Sue, Mark and Bob (a colleague).
EPIC Tour
On the Sunday, it was raining for most of the day, so we went and toured the EPIC campuses. EPIC is an electronic health records software company based in Verona, WI not far from Mount Horeb. The campuses are located on 950 acres.
They have bikes around the campus for employees to get around.
The architects who designed DisneyLand were hired to design the EPIC campus. Along one hallway were mirrors.
All of the buildings are connected so you don’t have to go outside. The tours are self guided, so if you go outside you can’t get back in, you would have to go back to the front entrance.
This was on the way to the wizardry campus, it was very Harry Potter like.
All of the elevators had some type of theme as well.
Taking a break in one of the lounges.
This was the wizardry campus.
The girls crammed into the phone booth.
Another elevator.
They do a lot of training there and have many large training rooms, each one is themed as well.
There was a Star Wars themed area. Employees can don some gear and work out their differences using the light sabres.
Here is the conference room in the Star Wars area.
There are random things in the hallways.
An elevator going down.
It was a pretty cool place to tour, we only got through two of the campuses, we’ll have to go back and do the others.
Weekend in Wisconsin
I was able to fly the girls down to Wisconsin for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Susan, Angela, and Claudia came from Toronto and Gillian flew in from Ottawa. The plan was for them to meet up in Chicago and then fly up to Madison. Gillian texted me early in the morning to say the flight from Chicago to Madison had been delayed already, when I got on-line and checked I had a feeling that flight would be cancelled. So I called Susan and told her I was driving down to Chicago to pick them up. I picked them up and we made it back to Madison around the same time their flight was supposed to land.
Claudia’s selfie from the plane.
We walked around the Capitol and then down State Street. Some random couple offered to take a picture of us down by the Memorial Union. Afterwards we walked down frat row, it was a football game day and the frat houses were crazy.
One of the frat houses on Langdon Street.
Claudia ready to go for a ride in the ’65 Valiant.
Bass Lake, WI
I was invited up to Clayton, WI for the weekend to celebrate Mark’s birthday. We went to Lynn and Frank’s farm about 4 hours north of Mount Horeb. Lynn is Mark’s mom.
Frank Stone is an artist who started as a stain glass artist and now maining does metal work. He has his studio on the farm.
Frank designed and built the house.
He incorporated pieces that he bought from old buildings being demolished, like this granite staircase.
They have a private lake.
Mark and I did a lot of walleye fishing.
The outside view of the house.
Some of Frank’s art.
Tukka having a snooze on the beach.
Cooler full of walleye.
Bass Lake from Google maps. The house is the brown building to the north of the lake.
The Farm and Monroe, WI
Gillian got to drive the tractor.
Here she is pulling a rock out of the path that Mark kept hitting with the lawnmower.
Next it was the quad.
Then she took Susan for a ride around the yard.
and me.
We went into Mount Horeb for the Art Fair. they close off the main street and artisans sell their wares.
We drove down to the City of Monroe, it is known as the Swiss Cheese capital of the world. There were a bunch of space themed statues.
George Jetson and Astro.
Gillian got to something she wouldn’t do in Canada. Mark showed her how to shoot a 22. She was aiming for a peanut bottle filled with water out in the field.
To Mark’s surprise she hit it a couple of times, you can see the water dripping out the bottom.
Only in America!
My turn.
Downtown Madison
Saturday morning we headed into Madison for the Farmer’s Market on Capitol Square. Here is Gillian with one of the Bucky’s on Parade.
Looking towards the Capitol Building.
Every Saturday morning there is a farmer’s market setup all around the Capitol Building.
A honey seller.
We headed down State Street for lunch.
We did a quick walk inside the Capitol Building.
Monona Terrace.
We drove down to campus. Gillian with the Graduation Bucky on Bascom Hill.
Bascom Hall.
North Hall, it is the first structure on the UW campus.
Looking towards the Memorial Union.
Science Hall.
Memorial Terrace on the shore of Lake Mendota.
Next we headed to the Allen Centennial Garden.The Agricultural Dean’s House, the home of the first four deans of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
William Stovall Building is where I work. It is home to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. The building was built in 1951, the lab has been around since 1903.
Agriculture Hall, it was built in 1903.
Touring the Madison Area
We headed to the Henry Vilas Zoo in downtown Madison. The zoo has free admission all year long.
We also went to the Cave of the Mounds National Natural Landmark near Blue Mounds, WI. We had some time before the tour, so we walked around the grounds.
The cave system is pretty cool.
The caves have been open to the public since 1940.
Susan and Gillian’s Wisconsin Visit
Susan and Gillian drove down to Wisconsin for a visit. It was an adventurous road trip with only a couple of missed turns. The first day we went into Madison and headed to the State Capitol Building.
You can walk out on the observation deck on the sixth floor.
Our selfie on the observation deck.
Looking down from the balcony in the rotunda.
Gillian with a Badger in the University Bookstore.
