Moominmama's Adventures

  Wherein Moominmama visits the Apostle Islands and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to see how erosion shapes the sandstone in interesting ways... Water turns out to be one of the most artistic forces of erosion on earth, and the sandstone formations along Lake Superior are a fine example.  The best way to see the formations are by boat, which means Moominmama was back on the water, recovering today from a six-hour journey in a sea kayak. As tired as I am, it was great fun to travel under arches and into caves carved by the water into these ancient sedimentary deposits.  Photographs can make it hard to show scale, so I invite you to look closely at the lower right area of this photo. Barely visible is the kayak of our leader, Colin, inside this colorful cave at Pictured Rocks. The cave also extends further back than it appears. This national park gets its name from what looks like paint along the cliff faces, which is the result of minerals leaching through the sandston...

In which Moominmama learns the difference between marshes, swamps, fens and bogs -- and that the best place to enjoy Wisconsin is on open water... Moominmama is hesitant to recommend northern Wisconsin in June as the mosquitos, ticks and flies own the place. But with plentiful maple, birch, pine and hemlock, it must be splendid in the fall and winter. And for a cross-country skier, this place must be a dream. Moominmama spent a week in the Chequamagon-Nicolet National Forest near Cable, a town with a lovely log cabin public library where I went to work several mornings.  Cable is also the starting line for the American Birkebeiner Nordic ski race, modeled after a similar race in Norway. Skiers start in Cable and end in Hayward, more than 30 miles away through the woods During the summer, the many trails double as a place for running, hiking and biking. Heading out on foot, however, made me a target for the hungry mosquitos despite repeated re-applications of bug repellent.   O...

Wherein Moominmama pays her first visit to Wisconsin, enjoying the isthmus that is Madison before heading north into the woods... The Wisconsin State Capitol is smack dab in the center of Madison, a city with lakes on either side. The land between the two forms an isthmus, a word that, until now, Moominmama had no experience with beyond a spelling challenge. The dome is made of Vermont granite, the only one of its kind in the U.S. and the largest such dome by volume. It was built in 1917 to replace an older building that burned down, and the city spreads out at its feet with roads that extend like rays from its center. State Street is a mainly pedestrian walkway that extends for many blocks with shops and restaurants on either side, connecting to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.  From the Capitol, it's also easy to walk to either of the two lakes and to view them from terraces, a big one on Lake Monona which also serves as the city's main conference center, and on th...