Camping

We were down in Madison this past weekend for a wedding of one of our former middle school youth group students from when Beth and I lived in Eau Claire. It was fun to see a few of the people from our church back then. Congratulations, Sara & Mike!

We stayed with Beth's sister and got to hang out a little with two of her brothers and their families (we had another wedding to attend in Iowa as well, but we also needed to see some of Beth's family this summer). We enjoyed the farmer's market and time outside.

From there we finally got to go camping (we didn't get to at all last summer). It was Nils' first since he was really little. They both loved it and did well. We pitched our tent at Devil's Lake State Park outside Baraboo.

The weather was great for camping--but a little too cold to enjoy some swimming. We did a lot of hiking instead. Our first hike was to see Balancing Rock and Devil's Doorway. The path to the top where the balancing rock sat was only .4 of a mile long, but it was 500 feet up. The boys did most of the way by themselves, though, and really enjoyed it. They were in awe of the rocks, the spiders, the "caves" and everything else along the way up.

We finally made it to the top and saw Balancing Rock. The view was spectacular. The boys found a nice rock chair to lounge in.

We hiked along the top of the ridge, over to the Devil's Doorway and then started the 500 ft. descent (this time in .3 of a mile) down the Potholes Path.

Later that afternoon, we did a short hike to see Elephant Cave and Rock. We discovered that it's not really a cave, and you had to use your imagination to see an elephant (as Nils was trying to do). But again, the views were great and it was nice to to have time together.

Now to get all the clothes washed, put things away and get the house clean for guests arriving tonight!