Wisconsin, Wedding & the Windy City

Just recently returned from our visit to USA for my son Alan's wedding to the lovely Laura from Wisconsin.
Luckily we travelled back before Stormy Sandy hit the east coast of America and wreaked havoc.
So this blog post will cover our trip to Wisconsin and the Wedding, I'll save our visit to Chicago for another post (in case I bore you too much in one post).
When we first arrived in Wisconsin we stayed in a hotel in Sun Prairie, near Madison (the capital of Wisconsin) for a few days before moving 50 miles north to a little cottage on the shores of Green Lake.
The cottage was lovely, being decorated in the 'beach hut' style with lots of neat and quirky touches that made it very homely and relaxing. It was on Lake Shore Drive and the picturesque Green Lake (the deepest inland lake in Wisconsin) was only a few yards away. Here are some photos to illustrate my point:


Our Cottage on Green Lake

Lakeshore Drive in the Fall

Green Lake

Another plus point of staying in this cottage was Reilly's Pub which was at the end of Lakeshore Drive, just a 5 minute stagger home. It had great food, good service and lovely Wisconsin beer............it was only proper that I sampled the local produce on a few occasions.
My sister Florence and her husband Danny had travelled over from Alloa and were also staying nearby. They were sharing a condo on the adjacent Lake Puckaway with my other sister Mary and her husband Steve. Florence and Danny had come over to USA a few days earlier and stayed with Mary & Steve in their home in Maryland before travelling north to Wisconsin.
The condo they stayed in was very roomy with balconies, double garage and a lake-side patio, a bit too posh for me I'm afraid. Here is a photo (their condo was on the far right):


The Condo at Marquette, Lake Puckaway

Although the condo was posh it was 1980's posh (and I don't think it was retro!). This was confirmed when Steve found a couple of drinks cans in the patio area which were definitely pre-90's, maybe even pre-80's as they were before ring-pulls were invented (apologies to those of you who have never encountered drinks cans which needed a tin-opener):


Real Draft Beer in a Can?

I thought diet soda was a recent fad? How can it be draft beer if it's in a can? These are some of the questions that trouble me and keep me awake at night!!
Whilst we were in the Green Lake area we had a few trips out to local places such as the nearby town of Princeton, where we picked up some provisions at Piggly Wiggly's and explored the many antique shops (I say shops but these were mainly folk's houses which were jam-packed full of curios, trinkets and junk!) My sister Mary loves to browse amongst these type of shops and picks up a few bargains which she then sells on e-bay (She may live in Maryland but she's still Scottish at heart).
Here are the girls after a good afternoon's browsing:


Moira, Mary & Florence outside Antique Shop

The real reason we were in Wisconsin was the Wedding and it was approaching fast. We had done the 'meet the parents' bit on the Wednesday night and on the Friday we had the rehearsal at the church, followed by a grill-out at the beautiful farm house of Laura's parents. At the grill-out relations from both families who had travelled to be at the wedding got to meet each other, which is a traditional American way of doing things, and I must say it helped to find out 'who was who' prior to the wedding proper.
After the grill-out we dragged Alan back to Green Lake with us so that he could spend his last night as a single man away from the melee that was happening at the Bride's house. Needless to say I had to take him along to Reilly's for a few beers to calm his nerves, luckily it was still open and when I enquired they said it would be open until 2.30am. We did not stay that long as Moira phoned us at 1am to find out if we had fallen in the lake or not!!
The day of the Wedding arrived and we were up bright and early (brightish and reasonably early) and jockeyed for position in the one and only bathroom in the cottage for showers, etc. Needless to say there were the usual last minute hitches: like Alan's new kilt not having the tacking stitches removed; my hire kilt being at least two inches too narrow (or was I too fat?); and Moira debating whether to travel in her fascinator or not!!
Anyway we finally got washed, fed and dressed and ready to head south to the Wedding:



Moira & Alan at the Cottage

So we all piled into the car and headed down the 73 to meet the Groomsmen at their hotel as arranged the previous night. Unfortunately the Groomsmen were staying at different hotels and I chose to arrive at the wrong one, they were all at the right one. Luckily we had left in plenty of time so we quickly re-arranged to all meet outside the church...........panic over!.........well almost I hadn't a clue on how to get to the church from the hotel we were at!!.........Thank god for modern technology as Alan quickly logged on to a GPS site on his smart phone and guided me safely to our destination with time to spare.
Everybody was arriving at the church in their best togs and it was pleasing to see that not only Alan and the Groomsmen had made an effort to wear the kilt but the other Scotsmen attending had done likewise:


Men in Skirts!

The girls all washed up nicely as well, so we were all ready to go: (the one striking a pose is Mary's daughter Cathy)


Here come the Girls!

All we needed now was the Bride and her parents, who duly arrived in separate cars (have you ever seen someone driving in a bride's dress?).
I won't go into all the details of the Wedding ceremony but it was wonderfully arranged with flower girls scattering petals, nice music and singing, a lovely love story and other readings, etc. and not all formal and stuffy.....most enjoyable!
I suppose you will want to see some photos of the Happy Couple now, so here the are:


Alan & Laura with Doug & Mary Ann



With the Bride's Family



With the Groom's Family

With the Groomsmen & Bridesmaids



Contemplating the Reception Party

Wedding formalities over it was now time for the reception (well in an hour and a half's time it would be). Which gave us plenty of time to head to the hotel we were staying in overnight (there was no way I was driving an hour and a half back up to Green Lake after the reception) and park the car, get booked in and jump in a taxi to Madison.
The reception was held in the Children's Museum which was very quirky and most enjoyable, it had a rooftop garden where we were served with drinks before heading into the area where the tables were laid. Laura's attention to detail was evident everywhere, especially the little badges we got with our place settings (the badges had our favourite things on them, mine was a Dipper and Moira's was the Crow's Nest in Anstruther).
The meal was also far from the traditional steak pie and potatoes, it was a selection of tacos, tortillas, chili and various other fillings which you just helped yourself to........brilliant!!....all wedding meals should be like this.
The speeches were very funny, particularly the best man's (Ally, he's the one with the beard & kilt) and I even made a speech in broad Lowland Scot's whilst wearing a 'See You Jimmy' hat (as did all the other kilt wearers). The good folk of Wisconsin must have thought we were mad, but they applauded us warmly anyway.
Meal and speeches over it was time for the dancing, this is when I realised that the people of Wisconsin were much like ourselves, they all liked their beer (or wine) and most liked to dance.
We rounded the evening off in the traditional way with Runrig's version of 'Loch Lomond' where everybody, Scottish and Wisconsinish, got up and danced until they could dance no more.
A great time was had by all, unfortunately I have no photos to back this up as I had left the camera in the hotel, so you will just have to take my word for it.

The next blog post will cover our trip to Chicago

Take care,

Teddy Edward

Ascent of Minch Moor

The day I decided to walk up Minch Moor the weather was a lot different than the previous day when I tootled along the Tweed in lovely sunshine. This time it was dull, grey and cold with spits of rain blowing in the wind, nevertheless I soldiered on.
To those of you who are Munro-baggers the ascent of Minch Moor would be a stroll in the park but for a mere mortal such as myself it was a fair hike up a hill. Standing at 567 metres (that's 1860 feet in old money) the summit of Minch Moor is not even a Corbett (hills between 2,500 and 3,000ft) never mind a Munro (hills above 3,000 feet).
Anyway I parked up at Traquair village hall and made my way along the track that forms part of the Southern Upland Way. Being a bit cold with the threat of rain I was suitably dressed in my fleece and anorak, however after fifteen minutes of walking uphill I had to stop and shed some clothes as I was so hot.
When I stopped I had a look back down the valley towards Innerleithen and even at this height the view was pleasant (although I did get strange looks from the cows in the field):


View of Innerleithen

I continued on my walk until I came to a stand of coniferous woodland where I was pleased to see a small flock of Goldcrests flitting about the branches. I heard them before I saw them as they have a very distinctive, high pitch call that some people have difficulty hearing.
Any sighting of them was fleeting and there was no way of getting a photo of them, especially since I only had a small compact camera with me. These compacts are great for fitting in your pocket but when you are trying to photograph wildlife the time taken from pressing the button to taking the picture is just too slow and what ever was there has gone.
A little further along the track I came across a rustic wooden bothy where I stopped to have a bite to eat (hungry work this mountaineering):


Love this Bothy

As I sat munching my pieces and supping my coffee I enjoyed the lovely view from the veranda of the River Tweed winding through the valley below...........bliss!


Tweed Valley from Bothy

Suitable refreshed, fed and watered I continued my journey uphill towards Minch Moor. The next stop was a spot called the Point of Resolution. What's that I hear you ask?.......well I'll let you read the signpost rather than have me repeat it:

The aforementioned 'Point of Resolution' sculpture and the heather circles (as viewed through the eye of the sculpture) are shown below:


Resolution Point Sculpture

Through the Round Window

That was enough art for one day so I forged onwards and upwards. After this point the scenery was decidedly moorish, with heather heathland and not much else. I half expected to see Heathcliff and Cathy romping about in the heather........but no!
In fact I saw no-one apart from a couple of mental mountain bikers trying to kill themselves (and anybody in their way) as they hurtled down the hill-side.
Whilst traversing the moor I stopped to observe the age-old custom of appeasing the fairies at Cheese Well..........no I have not lost my marbles!! The story goes that you have to leave a donation of food (commonly cheese) at this freshwater spring to appease the wee folk and they will grant you a trouble-free journey.
As I had no cheese with me I left a corner of my Alpen cereal bar, which I thought was relevant as I was heading to the summit.
Near the end of the moorland stretch I reached a fork in the path where the Southern Upland Way carries onwards to Portpatrick (some hundred miles away on the west coast) but I was taking the right hand fork and heading to the summit of Minch Moor (a few hundred metres away). You can see I had to think hard which route to choose:


Portpatrick or Minch Moor??

One last push up the hillside and I reached the summit of Minch Moor, which was surprisingly in black and white??


The Cairn at the Summit of Minch Moor

You got some terrific views from up here, which photographs don't do justice, however here is one showing the Eildon Hills (or Trimontium as the Romans called their nearby outpost) which are a good few miles away near Melrose:




View from Minch Moor with Eildon Hills in Background

It was cold and windy at the top of the hill and although it hadn't rained yet it did look very dodgy so I decided not to hang around and made my way back downhill.
On my descent I chose a slightly different route and followed the track alongside the Camp Shiel Burn (which was a bit soggy under-foot) which led surprisingly to Camp Shiel. Here I found a beautiful cottage which was only accessible by a rough farm track, but what really fascinated me was some of the old out-buildings which surrounded this cottage.
There were stone buildings and wooden sheds with corrugated tin roofs:


Camp Shiel Out-buildings

There was a creepy summer-house that looked like an old railway carriage:


Camp Shiels Summer-House?

Was that a ghost inside or just the reflection of a poor photographer??
I beat a hasty retreat and walked along the farm track which followed the Fingland Burn. This was a great little burn, fast flowing, gravel-based, the sort you would expect to see a Dipper on (my favourite bird) but I didn't see any.
I did see a tree growing up through the burn, which was strange, maybe the burn had changed course over the years and the tree was there first!!


Tree in Burn

I had to cross a couple of bridges and go through a few gates along this track. It didn't look like a track that was well walked, in fact the sheep gave me a look like I shouldn't be there:


You shouldn't be here!!

I wasn't about to argue with them, especially the one with the horns.
I passed by another cottage which wasn't as nice as the Camp Shiels one and definitely looked like it needed a bit of TLC:


Damhead Cottage

At the end of the track there was a farm and once I passed that I was on the home straight back to Traquair.
Just before I reached Traquair and the end of my journey I noticed some other sheep in a field which didn't seem to have the same aggressive attitude as the previous ones. In fact they were being very helpful by suggesting some lottery numbers for me to use:


Sheep Bingo

Overall I had a briliant walk and the rain stayed off.........result!!.

Take Care

Teddy Edward