Vacation: Part 1 - A Walk Down the Bike Trail in Waterford.

From 6th grade on, I grew up in the Village of Waterford, about 25 miles south of Milwaukee - out in "the sticks". There's a bike trail that runs 10 miles into Wind Lake. So, the day after I arrived home, I headed out on a 6-mile walk (round trip). It was around 80. Gorgeous day. Lots of fields and barns. Well, that is the country, ain't it?

(Wait! There's more...)

Old Norway Church (1843). It's only used for special occasions now (there's a new church to the left). It was the first Norwegian Lutheran congregation in the state of Wisconsin. I ran into two sister planting flowers on their parent's and brother's graves and got to talkin'. Their brother just got back from Vietnam and got killed by a drunk driver. Makes one sick.

This was the oldest gravestone I could find, dating back to 1795.

You can see the statue to Col. Heg and his memorial plate in my Memorial Day post. We used to come up to the park a lot when we were kids to see the Civil War Reenactments.

Col. Heg's boyhood home. OK - time to turn around and head back home.

Oops. Almost stepped on this baby painted turtle. As big as a half dollar piece if that. I picked it up off the bike trail and set her down on the other side out of harm's way. Right away when I got home, my dad and brother (founding members of the Izaak Walton League) asked, "What direction was she facing when you picked her up?" (if they're facing west you take them to that side of the trail) and Jason said, "Why didn't you bring it home?". Liberals.

Got a mile or two to finish here, so I best kick'er in high gear. It's almost been three hours since I left. Mom's probably worried. As a matter of fact, she called me to see where I was.

Mothers.