The Trip is on Rails Now

We started planning this trip back in November, so long ago that I don't really remember all of the connection details. We do have a very detailed document we will use, but at this point we will just follow the directions we created months ago. This trip is now on rails both figuratively and literally for the moment. 

Wisconsin Pizza Farm

 Nelson, WI

Stone Barn Pizza

Back when we were thinking about moving to Minneapolis, Donna was researching things and reading the local newspaper and found out about Pizza Farms.  A Pizza Farm is a normal farm that sells pizzas during the summer made from local ingredients.  These pizza farms come in all ranges from rustic where you eat pizza on your own chair or blanket with your own utensils and pack out your own trash to more fancy where it actually feels like a restaurant.  Stone Barn Pizza is on the fancier end.  You park in a grass field, walk up to a barn and place your order and then sit at one of their picnic tables, or tables in the barn or out in the field and wait for a very friendly person to bring you your pizza or pizzas and beverages.  

The entrance just off a nicely paved county road was obvious.

You can see our van and Donna getting Francis out of the car off in the distance.

This particular pizza farm will be open until late October weather permitting.

Donna and I had already decided on which pizzas we would get.

The staff was incredibly friendly and efficient.  I had some questions about the beers and they brought the bottles over for me to inspect.  There are also beers on tap.

They have merch too.

Francis loves his bed but prefers sun so we moved him to the sun shortly after this photo was taken.

We sat down with our New Glarus Beers that are only available in Wisconsin.

I got the New Glarus Octoberfest beer on tap.

We sat on their beautiful patio in the shade and waited for our pizzas.

We ordered a Greek with locally raised Lamb, sweet onions, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and olives with an olive oil base.  It was very good but not as good as...

The Supreme with Italian Sausage, pepperoni, sweet onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and green olives with a red sauce and mozzarella and provolone cheese.  This pizza was fantastic!

Somebody wanted a lot of toppings so they took a square from the center.

Francis could not contain himself.  Look at his little nails digging into my thigh.

The grounds were beautiful and everyone there seemed to be having a great time on this lovely Sunday.

We knew that each pizza was made for 2 or 3 people but we didn't drive almost 2 hours to not have leftovers.

We also saved room for ice cream from Madison WI.  Donna got the most colorful one and it was delicious.

We took our ice creams for a hike and showed them some birds and insects.  We saw some beautiful butterflies.

The farm's herb garden was looking good.

Donna found the goat feeder and had quarters on hand thanks to our pinball habit.

Ross, the white goat, got excited when he heard the goat feeder getting fed a quarter.

And went to the fence to meet Donna.

I had to stay 10 feet away because I was with Francis so this is the best I could do.  Norman, the black goat, activated as Donna approached with the goat food.

Donna ended up buying a few handfuls of goat feed so everyone could have some.

We ended up picking up 3 new counties in light purple.  We drove almost 200 miles round trip and we picked up a lot of new highway miles.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Minne Golf, check it out.  We played free mini golf downtown.

Road Tripping Through Wisconsin

Minneapolis, MN

Donna and her black liquorish ice cream at a Wisconsin Cheese Shop (it was GOOOOOOD!)

Chicago to Minneapolis via Wisconsin

Yesterday we headed out of Chicago on our way to camping in Wisconsin on the way Minneapolis.  We set up two 3-4 hour drives so we were able to stop and see things.  It was a great drive and we saw just how pretty Wisconsin is.  

Our first stop was at the Wisconsin border to pick up an official State Highway Map and a Wisconsin State Parks Guide.

This is Bucky Badger, the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin.  

Me and Bucky!

The State had 85 Bucky Badgers made and then had different artists decorate them and placed them around the state.  You can watch a documentary about it here.

Rock County!

Greetings From...Spoiler!  Wisconsin!
(My glasses were preventing me from really seeing my phone for this selfie)

We arrived at Mill Bluff State Park early in the afternoon and had our happy hour after we set up.  It's not an out of the way state park, but it was pretty empty for a Thursday during the summer during a holiday week.

Our Set Up

We made Francis stand on this stump for a photo.

After relaxing for a bit we decided to check out some of the bluffs.

There was a really nice lookout that you could hike to,

with a nice view of the bluffs,

After a great night's sleep, we got up and made coffee and then packed and hit the road.

The Coffee Shot!

After packing up and birding for a bit we headed out.  We had a 3ish hour drive to our Airbnb and we can't check in until 4pm so we are taking our time.  Our first stop was unexpected.  We saw a sign on the side of the road that said something like, "Cranberry Shop and Museum and Cranberry Ice Cream".  We decided to swing by after confirming it was open.  

They were out of Ice Cream so we looked at the Cranberry Wines.

They touted their cranberry bogs as being habitat.

After buying some cranberry wine we hit the road again.  Our next stop was a Wisconsin Brewery.  Donna found Northwoods Brewpub which had BBQ sandwiches.

I saw the pinball machine and had to play it.  It was set on very easy and the right slingshot was broken so it played incredibly easy.  I played 3 balls and then left games on the machine because I could have played all day.

I had to get the fried cheese curds.  They were delicious!

I also got a brisket sandwich with tots.  I finished my sandwich for dinner when we got to Minneapolis.

Our last stop was a cheese shop in Wisconsin, Cady Cheese Store.  We saw another roadside sign that advertised it so we stopped.  It was a great stop!

I stuck my through a thing today too!

All different aged cheddars.  We bought a 15 year.  It's fantastic!

I feel like they were trying to make cheeses in the shapes of the states but failed.  I might be wrong.

We arrived at our Airbnb at 4:15 after diverting to drive by Donna's Childhood home.  She lived here for about a year in the late 70s.  Our Airbnb is great!  It is in a cool area with a coffee shop with pinball about a block away.  We are all settled now and ready to enjoy Minnesota!

This cheese is older than Francis!

We tried one of the wines and it's good in our opinion (we aren't wine drinkers so our opinion doesn't matter much).

We put 327 miles on our Wisconsin Highways Map

We ended up with 1348 Miles in Illinois. 

And now we are sitting at 887 Counties.

That's it for today.  If you didn't read Wisconsin Brought the Brat check it out.  We had beer and Pinball in Wisconsin as well as a brat.