We spent several weeks in La Crosse, Wisconsin, spending time with Justin’s family. He’s posted those highlights here.
After La Crosse, we headed back across Wisconsin to a small town an hour outside Green Bay. Zeb’s Gramma flew into town and we met her at her brother’s home for five beautiful days.
Tom and Mary live on a beautiful beach lake. We happened to reach them just as the weather cooled down. It could not have been a more serene setting.
We spent the first day playing with cousins, eating yummy food (they had a plethora of yummy gluten-free foods just for me!) and enjoying the water.
The next day was much the same: tubing, boating, playing in the sand, hooping, eating, chatting.
The third day was spent in one of Justin’s favorite places: Lambeau Stadium! We toured the stadium, inside and out. By far the most memorable part was walking through the players’ tunnel. As you start to walk down the door opens, you hear insane cheering and the announcer introduces “the team”. It was hilarious and exciting to have a taste of what the players must experience as they come out on the field.
The fourth day was spent on the lake again. This time we also did a bit of birding and actually saw a American Bald Eagle! I can’t describe how beautiful and majestic this bird was; a very powerful site to see. Zeb had even seen the nest on an earlier boat ride; apparently the nests are about 5 feet in diameter!
The day to leave came too soon. I was worried that Zeb would have a difficult time saying goodbye, like he did in Nashville. But he was impressively calm. Perhaps knowing we would see her again in a few short months for the holidays helped…or maybe, as he said, he’s just getting older. Either way it’s amazing to see so much change in him these past few months. He’s just such an amazing kid. 
More photos from our time on the lake can be found here.
Current Location: Heading into Decorah, Iowa today through Saturday!
I'm Tara Wagner, life coach and creator of the Digging Deep process, where I coach women out of survival mode to recreate their lives and families.
Oh my goodness! We used to live just 20 miles west of Decorah. George and I fell in love and got married there, and lived the first three years of our marriage there, and had Eli there. It’s a wonderful place–even without all those good memories. The Oneota Co-op in Decorah was our co-op, and our hangout and it is amazing. You will find a lot of like-minded people there–music, solar-powered homes, organic farms, etc. Wish I could join you there, but alas you’re still about 5 hours drive from me…:)
I grew up right outside of LaCrosse and my husband is also from LaCrosse. Small world. I take my boys back every summer for a month. It’s absolutely lovely that time of year and I miss it! Blessings on your travels.
Beautiful photos~~Northern WI (or I guess it’s North Central) is so beautiful….but what type of hoop are you using in the 6th picture from the top?!
~~Maria R.
so green and open and just plain fun looking are these pics – bald eagle sightings can be so thrilling – i remember the first time i saw one up here in Tacoma i almost didn’t believe my eyes
Just an idea for future travels, if you want to see a LOT of bald eagles, head up to southeast alaska. You can either drive through Canada and take a ferry from Prince Rupert, or hop on the ferry in Bellingham, WA (takes 3 days that way though). Anyway, I grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska and bald eagles are a normal every day kind of thing there. I never realized how lucky I was to grow up in a place like that until I left. Southeast AK is just beautiful anyway, very wet and rainy all year but mild temps (not too cold or too hot, I miss it!).
Great pictures! We haven’t been boating or tubing in a looong time… Very jealous.
It looks like you had an awesome time! Peace, Angela
I think you may have finally convinced me to take up hooping. I’ve been following along with your adventures for a while (since Renee at FIMBY linked to you a few months ago), and the idea of hooping has been growing on me. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll pick up some hooping supplies.