On the Trail of Manny, Sid, and Diego

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, so we went to the church we attended when we lived here in Chicago. Easter breakfast has been a long-standing tradition, so it was nice to have a chance to chat with many old friends and family before the service.

After church, we went back to R's aunties' to pack our bags for a quick trip up to Wisconsin. Then we headed over in the late afternoon to crash the gathering at R's cousin's son's house. (This is his dad's side of the family that we usually see when we come back to Chicago, as well as in Vegas at our reunions.) Most of the cousins' kids now have littles of their own, so it was fun to watch them scramble around the backyard to hunt for Easter eggs! We hung out for a bit after dinner (so much good food!) and then hit the road straight from there. Once on I-90 west, it took us about 2 hours to reach our hotel in Madison, WI.

Our first stop this morning was the Wisconsin State Capitol, which was only about 10 minutes away from the hotel. After parking the car in a nearby garage, we walked over to the capitol, arriving just before 9:00AM.

West entrance to Capitol Square off State St.

We entered the building (no metal detectors, surprisingly), went straight to the information desk in the rotunda to get the state capitol stamp, and then waited for the docent to start the guided tour.

Looking up at the dome and the Liberty mosaic

Justice (left) and Legislation (right)

A school group was here on a field trip, so we joined their tour of the capitol. We went upstairs to the 2nd floor of the east wing to see the Supreme Court. Just a few weeks ago, the state of Wisconsin held an election for an open seat on the court, which garnered national attention because of the financial involvement of individuals and groups from outside the state, one billionaire in particular. Susan M. Crawford won the election and will serve a ten-year term beginning August 1.

Wisconsin State Supreme Court

Next we went to the North Hearing Room. One of the interesting things in this room is the large fossil embedded in the marble wall. In fact, there are several fossils visible throughout the building - there is even a brochure that describes where to find them. The tour ended at this point because the other areas of the building were closed to groups.

Ammonoid

Left to our own devices, we climbed the stairs up to the Observation Deck and went outside to take in the view. But it was grey and cold, so we just zipped around the deck one time. 

Looking southeast down Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd at Lake Monona

In between each of the wings of the capitol are four statue groups which were sculpted by Karl Bitter.

The photos above are arranged according to the compass direction that they face

Back inside, we went through the displays in the 6th floor museum about the construction of the current capitol building. We were also able to get a closer view of the interior of the dome from the Rotunda viewing deck.

Resources of Wisconsin by Edwin Blashfield

Then we stuck our heads in to take a peek at the legislative chambers...

Assembly (west wing)

Senate (south wing)

We exited the building, and before heading back to the car, we walked around the grounds. The Wisconsin statue stands on top of the dome and was sculpted by Daniel Chester French, the same artist who created the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

Wisconsin faces Lake Monona to the southeast

East entrance

We left Madison around 10:45AM and arrived at the administrative office for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Cross Plains, WI about a half hour later. It was added as an official NPS unit in December 2023, so we stopped by here to pick up the passport stamps for the Ice Age NST, Ice Age National Scientific Reserve (affiliated area), and the North Country NST. I'm not exactly sure why the North Country stamp is here because the trail itself is in northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior. But hey, it's an official stamp, so I'll still take it!

The landscape throughout the state of Wisconsin was marked by advancing and retreating glaciers during the Ice Age, forming geologic features such as drumlins, moraines, and kettles. The Ice Age NST covers nearly 1200 miles and is built, managed, and maintained cooperatively by the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, National Park Service, and dedicated volunteers.

☑ NPS Unit #208 (#202 for R)

From here, we took a county road to get to US-12, which brought us to Sauk City, WI. We decided to stop for lunch at Culver's. Little did we know that this was the original location of the very first Culver's Frozen Custard Restaurant. We didn't order any custard but did enjoy our ButterBurgers.

From Sauk City, we continued north on US-12, driving through Baraboo, WI to get to Devil's Lake State Park. Because it is part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve (NSR), we were able to use our America the Beautiful annual pass to cover the $16 out-of-state vehicle entrance fee. The North Shore Visitor Center also had passport stamps for both the Ice Age NST and NSR.

In order to actually set foot on the Ice Age NST and "count" a visit, we decided to hike the 1.4-mile West Bluff Trail. Starting from the visitor center about 1:45PM, we walked along the lake before heading up the hill to the trailhead. Then we climbed many stone steps (>400 ft elevation gain) to the top, where we were treated to scenic views of Devil's Lake and surrounding area as we walked along the bluff.  

Turkey vultures

Turkey vultures soaring over the lake

Looking towards the north shore and Baraboo in the distance

Prospect Pinnacle

We reached the southern end of the trail around 3:00PM, where the descent was more gradual. Then we hiked back on the 1-mile Tumbled Rocks Trail along the west side of Devil's Lake.

The pink/purple rocks are Baraboo quartzite, with lichen growing on them

More turkey vultures

When I was a teenager, our church youth group retreats were spent at the cabins across the road from Devil's Lake State Park. We would often come here to spend an afternoon on the beach by the lake, so seeing this brought back some fond memories for me. 

We got back to the car about 3:45PM, and then drove up towards Lake Delton to check in to our hotel. Since everything around the hotel seemed to be chain restaurants (Wisconsin Dells is a big touristy destination with a slew of waterparks), we decided to go back to Baraboo to have dinner at Mike's Italian Restaurant. The stromboli (R) and chicken parm (me) were pretty good, especially after the hike this afternoon!

75 miles, 1.75h

Trying not to drive angry on our way back to Chicago tomorrow... 😜