Day Off...Woohoo!!!

Joshua and I had the entire day off together and we decided to actually do something about it!!! What I wanted to do was get on our bikes and bike over to a winery, 44 miles there and back. Joshua was up for that the day before but when we woke up this morning, he changed his mind. Boo!!!

But we still went to the winery...by car. We got on the road at 10:40AM, hoping to catch the 11:15 tour. About two miles later, I asked Joshua if he had my ID on him. Nope!!! Neither of us brought our wallets but we did bring money! So we had to turn around and get our IDs. We prolly could have made it, but knowing we lost some time, we decided to get some lunch first then make it to the 12:15 tour.

We went to a small town (Sauk City) near the winery to eat lunch. We decided to forego the usual chains like Dairy Queen, Subway and Culvers and to eat locally. We found the downtown area, I believe, which had a gas station, a few bar and grills and some odds and ends stores. All this in a three short block radius. We decided on a bar and grill called The Press Box. It definitely was what you would expect for a townie restaurant. I settled for something safe, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and Joshua got a reuben with some onion rings and a beer.

After eating, Joshua played a round of Shake at the bar, where for $1 per attempt, you shake a dice can containing 5 dice to get a certain number that's posted for the day. You remove the dice that you roll correctly and you get 3 chances to get all five dice correct. If you can do that, you get the money that has been sitting in the Shake $$$ can from everyone that attempted the game. We lost.

Onto Wollersheim Winery!! We made it to the 12:15 tour with plenty of time. I've been on this tour a few times but it was Joshua's first time!! He was really excited as was I. We had a great time on the tour, learning about the wine making process but especially at the end with the tasting :) Joshua enjoyed the wines so much that we bought a few to bring home to drink. Yum! Can't wait!

Entrance of Wollersheim Winery

Entrance of Wollersheim Winery

At the entrance of the winery

Outside with the vines

Joshua excited to taste some wines

Joshua even more excited with wine in the glass

Enjoying some wine

Joshua's favorite...Port wine that's got 20% alcohol

My favorite...River Gold

Done with the winery...onto the next fun thing! We headed north of the winery about 20 minutes away to Devil's Lake State Park. We got there around 2:00PM and decided to go out onto the lake. Joshua has never canoed or kayaked before and we decided on a two person kayak. Another first for Joshua today! We kayaked around the lake for an hour. It would've been fun to go longer and just be out on the lake and get a tan but my arm were getting tired and I was getting hot from the sun. What a workout for my arms!

View of Devil's Lake on the lake

View of Devil's Lake on the lake

On the lake

On the lake

On the lake

Being silly out on the lake

What's Joshua up to?

Joshua checking out if he can touch the bottom of the lake

"I am king!"

Land ho

Chilling in the kayak

Two thumbs up!

After canoeing, we went hiking. We've been to the State Park before...about 3 years ago or so and we've done some rigorous hiking so this time around, we decided to look for the waterfall trail that we didn't do last time. We got back into our car and had to drive 10 minutes to a lot that was away from the main lake area and very tucked in that we missed the lot the first time.

We hiked through Parfrey's Glen. However, as we got closer to the waterfall, we ran into a guy who gave us some background on the area. The bridges that led to the waterfall got washed out and had to be removed! But onward we went, and we really did hike. Balancing on stones and rocks and traipsing through the creek. A few close calls on tripping or falling but we made it. The waterfall wasn't as awesome as some we have witnessed in the past in the West or Hawaii trip but it was cute. And I really enjoyed the "trail" we had to hike through to get to it.

At the beginning of the trail

Balancing

Being silly

The waterfall...

...looks bigger in the pics than in real life

Check out the tree stump

That's one big tree stump!

Classic pic...on our way back to the car

We left Devil's Lake State Park at 4:30PM and headed back to Madison. We decided we might as well go out to dinner too. So we went to a Peruvian restaurant kitty corner to our apt complex called Pollo Inka. Joshua got Tallarin Verde, linguine mixed in Peruvian style basil sauce topped with beef steak. I got Lomo Saltado, beef tenderloin sauteed with tomatoes and onions in a soy and wine sauce served with pommes frites (french fries) and white rice. So delish!!!! We wanted dessert as well since it looked really good but we had no room.

After dinner, we went back to our apt so Joshua could rest his eyes for a half hour then onto softball! I'm in a co-ed softball league on Wednesdays but not Joshua. So he cheered me on from the sidelines even though he was tired. He was tired?!?! I was the one who woke up early to go on a 3 mile run before the festivities even began and was sprinting around the bases! I even played a second softball game since another team was down a girl! But I was glad he was there to cheer me on.

What an AWESOME day it was!!! Tomorrow, we're going to go golfing after I get done with work around 2 and spend the rest of the day together but most likely it will be more low key than today. I LOVE THESE TYPES OF DAYS WITH JOSHUA!!!