Day 8: Minnesota Bound

So we packed up the Outback and said goodbye to Chicago. Goodbye for now at least. Our gear and our gear's gear seemed to have babies this week and we were brimming at the seams, insisting we actually packed LESS this year than last but once again we were amazed at the amount of stuff we travel with. One of these times we'll get it right. Anyway, it seeemed to take FOREVER to traverse the outer fringes of Chicagoland but finally we made it to Wisconsin and the scenery started to get progressively more beautiful. One stop along our way was a place we've been reading about for years. A suburb of Madison, Middleton Hills was this quaint, suburban/rural development with Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture. It was really interesting. We took three photos there- one of Zoe along this wonderful elevated walkway through this giant marsh in the middle of the community, and two of the housing.

Another fun adventure we had was stopping at The Cheese Chalet along the interstate. Of course we all know Wisconsin is proud of its cheese, this place certainly was no exception. We tried and then purchased 15-year aged cheddar. WOW. Talk about strong. It was like doing shots. Only they were cheese shots. Yummy yummy stuff. We rolled into Elk River late that evening and the next leg of our vacation was off and running.