Wisconsin Wedding

Wisconsin Wedding

June 2 – 8, 2021

It was great being back in Omaha to see our friends and family, but we were also excited to start living in our RV again and to test out our recently installed upgrades. We also had a wedding to attend, so we said our goodbyes and headed east. Our first stop was a campground just north of Iowa City.

Sugar Bottom Campground is a big, US Army Corp of Engineers managed property with over 200 sites, but only a handful have full hookups. Luckily, I was able to snag one by booking as soon as reservations opened up for our date six months prior.

The campsite is located right on Coralville Lake.

The next day, while Charlotte was working, Izzy and I headed downriver to check out the Devonian Fossil Gorge. The gorge is low area next to the river that was created and then deepened when the river flooded over the top of its spillway in 1993 and again in 2008. The force of the water removed large amounts of soil and rock and exposed a layer of ancient marine fossils.

Most of the gorge was dry exposed rock, but there were some low spots that were full of water that was supporting quite a bit of life. There were lots of plants and algae, but also water insects, tadpoles, frogs, crayfish, and small panfish. Izzy found all of this much more interesting than the tiny fossils.

After walking through the gorge, we went over to check out the business end of the dam.

Izzy did a good job exploring with minimal whining, so we went out for a treat after that. Our lack of freezer space means that we never keep any ice cream at home, so we’re always looking for a good excuse to hit up an ice cream parlor.

After just two nights, it was time to hit the road again; this time to the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin.

We were staying at William G. Lunney Lake Farm County Park, which in a lucky coincidence, happened to be next door to the wedding we were attending. This park did not have full hookups, just electric, but thanks to careful site selection we were able to stretch our hose from our site to the water spigot which made filling our freshwater tank convenient. But with no easy way to empty our tanks, we used the campground shower house for the first time in our RVing journey. Luckily, it was a newer building with large, private, and clean shower rooms.

The next day, we met up with Charlotte’s parents and uncle who made the drive from Omaha to attend the wedding. We started out at a cool park near their hotel so Izzy would have something to do. She loved the playground, but when lunch time rolled around she had a very hard time saying goodbye to the friend she had just made 30 minutes prior.

After lunch it was time to head back to get ready for the wedding. When the time came, we were able to walk from our RV to the site of the ceremony and reception at the Lussier Family Heritage Center. With the sun shining bright, it was a warm but lovely outdoor ceremony with a beautiful natural backdrop.

After the ceremony, there was a very fun reception with dinner, dancing, a fire pit, and plenty of Spotted Cow.

The next day, we ventured out to see a bit of the city. We started out at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, which is huge, very well designed and kept, has a fantastic variety of plants, and is free to visit.

After exploring the gardens, we stopped at a diner for lunch.

After lunch, we headed to a nearby park on the shore of Lake Mendota. Izzy had fun on the playground, while Charlotte and I went for a walk near the water. It looked nice, but something nearby smelled awful.

Izzy then went over to the hotel to go for a swim before we all went out for dinner.

After dinner we said our goodbyes to MorMor, Grandpa, and Uncle Ken, since they were driving back to Omaha in the morning, while we had two more days left in Madison.

Izzy and I spent one morning back over at the Heritage Center for an organized kid’s story time and scavenger hunt.

That evening, we had some entertainment in the campground. Apparently this campground is of very few in the area and is reasonably priced for tent campers, which means that some interesting characters check-in. The couple across from us were not living the #vanlife, but they were living in their van. A guy several spots down the road was likely homeless, and certainly on drugs. He kept shouting angrily at people, causing quite a disturbance in the otherwise quiet campground. The couple across from us very nicely invited him to share some dinner, but he didn’t appreciate their generosity and had some mean things to say about their food. Eventually the police were called. More shouting ensued as they very patiently tried to avoid having to arrest this guy. Our neighbors across the street did not help out and were heckling the drug-addled dude from a distance. Eventually the cops had to haul him off. The camp host ended up having to take down his tent, which led me to wonder when he would be back for his stuff. Luckily, we didn’t see him again.

The next day we went back to the park with the cool playground because Izzy had spotted their splashpad. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate.

Of course, the whole point of a splashpad is to get wet, so a little rain didn’t stop Izzy who still had a lot of fun. On the other hand, I was not enjoying standing around under a mesh sun shade which didn’t block the rain, but merely slowed it down a bit. Eventually there was a bit of thunder off in the distance which was excuse enough to head out.

After that it was time to head out of Madison, but tune in next time as we continue our adventures in Wisconsin. See you down the road!