We went South!

Fabulous day today. We took a road trip South with another family, their daughter is also an only child, also loves horses and make-believe and adventure and her parents are fun to talk to, interesting and generally awesome. We had originally planned to go to the Morton Arboretum but seeing as it was raining and 40 degrees we opted for an indoor option and headed to Dubuque, IA to the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. It was a lovely scale for a one day visit, interesting and overall very pleasant. Kristi, the docent we ran into most often, was one of the highlights. She clearly delighted in all of our questions too. We saw fish, experimented with erosion, found things on maps from space and giggled at the antics of a Bufflehead duck.



On our way home we simple had to stop at an attraction we saw advertised in the museum lobby. The Dickeyville Grotto is quite a place. Built in the 1920s by a Catholic priest as a "monument to God and country," it is a truly astonishing conglomeration of rocks, fossils, geodes, glass, dishes, shells, even gear shift knobs. Some of the rocks were STUNNING examples of their type. It was totally worth the 5 minute trip off the highway.

By the time we finished there we were starving, Scott knew of wood-fired pizza place on our way home so we stopped in Mineral Point, WI at Cafe Four for a spectacular dinner and riotously funny conversation.

We dropped off our friends, took Evie out to the farm to prepare for tomorrow's shenanigan's (don't forget to check the blog tomorrow) and came home to collapse.

A day well lived!