A very nice site.

A beautiful Moruning Cloak.

Lake Wissota.

Dayhike.

Bleachers.

Couldn't figure out what sport is played here.

Old Abe Bike Trail.

Our Promethea Moth.

Brunet Island State Park.

Read the full story below:

Friday we drove 3.5 hours to Eau Claire and ate at a restaurant called "Egg Rolls Plus" that had great ratings on yelp.com. We ordered the egg rolls and curry which the reviewers said were good, but unfortunately they were not good at all compared to the Thai restaurant in Madison. Thomas chipped his tooth on the egg rolls and is going to have to go to the dentist soon (luckily it didn't bother him too much this weekend and he almost forgot about it). And luckily he is covered by Megan's dental insurance now thanks to marriage! One interesting thing about the restaurant was that it was next to some Hmong businesses, and Megan is reading a book about Hmong right now.

So we continued on to Lake Wissota State Park (on all new highways that Thomas's GPS doesn't think exist). We had a very nice campsite. It looked like it might rain so we quickly put up the tent, and the rain held out long enough to allow us to enjoy some beer at the picnic table.

Saturday we were in no rush to get going so Thomas worked on his paper and Megan read about Hmong all morning. We went on a lake shore hike but the lake was not as nice as the lakes in Madison. We set off on our bike trip at 3 PM. The trail started out poorly with electrical towers and wires, sun, and fields. Then it went past a big river which was very nice and stayed in the woods for the rest of the way. It wasn't too crowded. We stopped to eat a snack at an interesting place with bleachers and I couldn't figure out what sport the bleacher were for (Can you figure it out from the picture?).

We got the last campsite in the park (after making tons of calls and e-mails trying to get proof of the rule about the parks policy to give bikers a place to camp even if the park is full, we didn't need our proof after all). Megan felt she should have proof because when she called the park, the ranger told her he'd never heard of that rule. But now we do have official proof becasue we printed out the park policy that the DNR sent us.

The park was very nice. It was on an island in a river. All of the sites pretty much have water views (although ours was the swampy little bay view). The sites did not have much privacy. They were big, but the trees on the island were not that thick so there weren't any big bushes for privacy. And there were tons of loud kids everywhere. Our neighbor came over because he'd noticed us coming in on bikes and was interested. He asked if we were biking across that state (we'd also had many other people asking us if we were biking the whole country!). He was a local and said he didn't like state parks because they charge you too much, and he offered us fire wood. He also said he didn't like biking because it hurt his "ass". He was there with his girlfriend and a ton of kids. He said he kind of liked that Lake Wissota State park had walking trails, so he must not have noticed that Brunet Island also had trails. Then we went on a little hike. That night a van full of girls was at the other site next to us and they listened to the kind of music Thomas likes (Outcast and other popular music) and they screamed all night long, like even past quiet hours. The next morning they were gone.

Sunday we booked it out of the campground early because we knew there was a chance for rain. We made it to the car dry in record time and were on the road driving home shortly after noon. We stopped at Subway on the way home and hit a lot of traffic close to Madison (everyone was coming back from "Up North").

Here's what Thomas said Megan missed: Frosty visited us at the Brunet Island campsite. Thomas heard barred owls. The female moth came with us on her third Bike trip. Thomas's highlight was the Mourning Cloak butterfly at the water fountain (bubbler) at Lake Wissota State Park. He has pupae of this butterfly at home.

Our average was 10.5 MPH, we biked 4 hours and 10 minutes, and the trip was 44.1 miles.

Next weekend we are going to the Karner Blue Butterfly Festival!