In the Land of Happy People and Cheese – A Photo Essay

Let the Wild Rumpus begin!

Courtney and Kelly are channeling Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are

while playing with the mural my dad painted.

Last week, my family flew back to Madison, Wisconsin. You gotta love their (our) sense of humor. As I was leaving the terminal at the airport, the security guard said, “Welcome to Des Moines!”

They had a monster snowstorm a few weeks ago and the snow was melting. Yes melting. It was a balmy 35 degrees when we arrived.

Everyone took turns walking Charlie Brown Spot.

There was a beautiful park nearby.

My dad came down to breakfast armed for combat while shaking his fist.

We celebrated a birthday. Doesn’t everyone look happy?

The kids wore their party hats too!

We went out another night to celebrate life and

…slurp oysters.

Yes, that is a huge slab of butter on a bread plate.

We had to buy cheese. After all, we were in ITS land. We drove to the Decatur Dairy.

The kids needed their fix.

It really is!

Kind of a small home for a cheesemaker, don’t ya think?

Men of cheese…

On our way back to my parent’s house, we stopped at the grocery store where I found the mother lode of sausage. The man from the meat department asked why I was taking a picture of the sausage display. I don’t think he understood that in Boulder we don’t have huge cases just for sausage.

While I was packing up, I discovered a clove of garlic in a pink bag Courtney had brought Christmas Eve. I was a few cloves low. I brought it to Breckenridge, but forgot to return it. That garlic traveled all the way to Wisconsin! I had to immortalize their reunion as we left for the airport.

Traveling with garlic should keep all those pesky vampires away. Right?

We’ll be back to visit the Land of Happy People and Cheese after the lakes thaw out!

This is an aerial view of Madison, Wisconsin. The State Capitol is located in the center of the isthmus.

When we arrived back at DIA, it was a frigid 9 degrees!

Do you have any travel plans for 2013?