Madison got socked in with snow today. About an hour into my work day, the “powers that be” decided to close the college because of the storm. I felt like a school kid who had the day off because of the snow.
Tag Archives: Landscape
Indian Summer or The road to Winter
Today (where I live) the sun was shining and the temperature was in the low 60’s. I was lucky enough to have the day off and I got to thinking… this could be the last gasp of Indian Summer. I did have chores to do around the house, but they could wait. I decided to take a drive out to Governor Dodge State Park, which is about 40 miles west of my house.

Looking for Autumn
It was such a beautiful day today, I decided to head out with my camera and find some signs of Autumn.

A broken camping trip
This past week I headed up to Northern Wisconsin to camp at one of my favorite places, the Northern Highland – American Legion State Forest.

Effigy Mounds National Monument
My favorite part of my camping trip last week, was a visit to Effigy Mounds National Monument. Located across the Mississippi River (in Iowa) and about 15 miles north of Wyalusing, Effigy Mounds National Monument has over 195 mounds built by native peoples between 750 and 1,600 years ago. These earthen mounds probably had a strong religious significance for those who built them. Probably a means of connecting the people to the land, the spirit world, and their ancestors. In fact, some were used for burial purposes.

Camping at Wyalusing
This week I went on my first camping getaway of the year when I visited Wyalusing State Park, near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Wyalusing is located on the bluffs overlooking the spot where the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers come together.

San Francisco travelog
Yesterday I returned from a trip to San Francisco, where I attended a users group conference for the catalog software my library uses. I was able to take some free time in between the conference programs to see some of the sights.

Winter beauty
Even though Spring is just days away, we’re still getting snow in Wisconsin. I woke up this morning to see everything wearing a beautiful coat of snow. Here’s a picture I took at work today of the snow covered woods behind the library. As proof that beauty is fleeting, the trees were bare again in just a few hours.

Camping at Peninsula State Park
Yesterday I returned from a camping trip to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. One of the reasons I like to go there is the park has 20 miles of the best biking trails in Wisconsin. When you bike along the lakeshore and through the woods on those trails you can understand why Peninsula is one of the most popular parks in the midwest. I was fortunate to have excellent weather while I was there and was able to hit the bike trails every day.
North woods camping
Last week I went to my favorite place to camp in Wisconsin, the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. For me, there is nothing like getting away from it all and camping in the north woods. There you’ve got fresh air, beautiful scenery and wildlife (like bald eagles and loons). Below is my favorite picture from this camping trip. It was taken at a lagoon along one of the best nature trails in the forest, the Star Lake Nature trail. This spot is one of my favorite scenic places in the State of Wisconsin. Can’t you just smell the fresh, pine scented air?


