The Olde English Faire

Matt saw that there were 2 new letterboxes planted in Oregon, IL.  We were excited to combine this with a day of driving Route 2 along the Rock River - enjoying a beautiful fall day.  We got home from Wisconsin late Saturday night.  Before going to bed, Matt printed up the clues for the new boxes.  You should have seen his face when he realized that these boxes were "hidden" at Stronghold Castle for the "Olde English Faire"!  Not only the excitement of another Faire, but for Matt, Stronghold contains some wonderful memories from many youth group retreats held there.  We shared our plan with the kids the next morning. So after church and lunch, we hit the road.  We were blessed with a sun-filled day.  Once in Oregon, we quickly realized that something was happening - a possible snag in our plan.  The city had closed down Route 2 through town!  We detoured with all the other traffic and were bummed to see glimpses of a parade going through town.  If only we'd known, we would have planned to get there earlier!

Continuing onward to Stronghold, we paid for our tickets and stood in line for the Castle Tour.  While waiting in line, the kids sat in the garden and watched/listened to the "madrigal singers".

Then we were given a wonderful opportunity to bow down to the Queen!

Also while waiting in line, Becki started talking with the couple in front of her (in their late 60s).  They live in Rockford but both were surprised to hear we were from Moline.  The wife grew up one block east of us and the husband grew up in Rock Island, in the Broadway District!  Once again, it is a small world!  The wife shared stories of ropes tied to trees in our ravine for all the neighborhood kids to play on!  I can't imagine my kids doing that now, knowing how unkept that ravine is.

One of our first stops on the castle tour was the library - with the secret passage way behind Will!

Can you imagine having this view at your disposal every day!!  Castle Tower - view of the Rock River.

Will, Alex, Maddie & Becki heading down the stairs from the tower.  I'm not sure who helped who - Becki or Maddie since both are scared of open stairways like this!

After the tour, we headed toward the letterboxes and the remainder of the Faire.

 While Matt stamped in at the first booth/box, I took the kids to the Pirate Treasure Hunt.  Each of the kids received a name:

Katie - Red Katie
Alex - Brave Alex Meatsauce
Will - Growly Will Goodfellow

Maddie - Saucy Maddie Goodfellow

The kids taking the Pirate Oath...

This oath included the typical, "I, state your name" type of humor.  Had the kids doubling over in giggles by the end.  The three adults who ran the treasure hunt did an amazing job!

Time to seek the treasure!  Everyone hopped aboard the pirate ship and went looking for the "x" that marked the spot.  After finding the "x", the pirate asked, "what did we find here?"...Will LOUDLY answered, "a letterbox!". 

They boarded their ship again - Maddie got to be captain.  They were so excited about their bounty of treasure!!

All of the pirates got to pick one treasure from the chest.  Alex chose a plastic dolphin, Maddie & Katie chose rings, while Will chose this skeleton ring!

We found the other letterbox and walked around a bit.  At this point in the day, the front gates were closed and some of the shops were starting to close up as well.  We got in line to enjoy a hayrack ride.  Let's just say that without much rain, that ride was one of the dustiest rides we've ever taken! 

Being goofy!

Heading back towards the gate, Matt found this rubber chicken...

Before leaving, we asked the kids to sit on this stone bridge - aren't the purple trees/bushes beautiful!

 

We look forward to heading back next year - maybe head up early enough in the day to enjoy the Faire and then head in to Oregon to enjoy the Fall Parade!

Time Away for Mommy & Daddy!

Matt & I try to get away, by ourselves, for a weekend at least once a year - sometimes twice a year if we are lucky!  This year, we headed towards the Wisconsin Dells area (Baraboo, WI) for some hiking, letterboxing, eating and shopping!

We left Friday morning after dropping the kids at school.  We headed north a few hours north - enjoying the beautiful, QUIET drive!  We stopped outside of Spring Green, WI to find a quick letterbox.  While looking for the pull off, we drove by The House On The Rock.  This is a place that neither of us have a desire to walk through, but have heard so many things about it - all of our lives!  So, we took a quick detour to see the outside of the "house" and the grounds around it.  Here is Matt, checking out one of the giant urns that lead the way back to the house.  Did you notice the lizards & dragon?

Just a few more minutes up the road we found our pull off for the letterbox.  What a beautiful scenic view (if you look close enough, you can see the Infinity Room from The House on the Rock)!!

We stopped for lunch and then hit the road for Devil's Lake.  We turned in to the park and this was our welcome...

We were excited before...but seeing how beautiful the trees were, we couldn't wait to start hiking!!

Thanks to a tip from a fellow letterboxer, we planned our afternoon by hiking the West Loop first, climbing Balanced Rock Trail and ending our day on the East Loop.  We found all but one box - not for lack of trying though!  Here are some views of the lake/our hike around the lake.

East Loop - we were all the way at the top (above the rock piles!)

We went up, up, up!!

Finally at the top!  See the parking lot below??

Balanced Rock Trail - THE scariest thing I have ever done.  I have a huge fear of heights and also verdigo!  I was trembling at some points of this climb.  Matt was a wonderful helpmate and held my hand when necessary, didn't laugh when I crawled and encouraged me all the way up!  I am proud to say that I climbed this...but I don't ever plan on doing it again!!

This is the trail!

Matt is sitting on the steps of the trail

Balanced Rock

At the Top!!

Balanced Rock is on the left hand side of the rocks

We truly enjoyed our hike and our time together.  The temp was perfect (a bit chilly, but great for hiking!), God's beauty was shining all around us, we had great conversation, found a handful of boxes and the sun even decided to peek out for a while!  I don't think we got bored anywhere along the trail! 

We started heading towards Baraboo to find a few more letterboxes before nightfall.  After dinner, we checked in to our hotel, cleaned up for the night and headed to bed.

Saturday morning we checked out from the hotel around 8:30.  Our plan for Saturday was to do some shopping in OshKosh and to find the few letterboxes in the city.

Our first stop was this little gem!  While driving through the small town of Montello, WI, we saw the waterfall and then this reservoir.   The granite rock was amazing to look at!!

We stopped at South Park in OshKosh to find a letterbox - it was a nice park in the middle of town.  Once again, great fall colors!

We spent a few hours shopping at the Outlet Center.  My main objective was to shop at the American Girl Outlet Store!  We were able to find some great deals for all 3 girls!

Matt's has many found memories of the EAA.  While growing up in Libertyville (north suburb of Chicago), his dad worked for a company that insured the airplanes for EAA.  Every year, Matt and his family would head up to OshKosh for the annual airshow.  Matt loved looking around the museum...while we picked out a souvenir for Will.

One of our last stops for the day was at the Asylum Lighthouse.  It was getting pretty cold and overcast, but we still enjoyed the stop.  It was a nicely kept island and there is something about lighthouses that I love!  We found the letterbox for the lighthouse, but decided to bypass the other box in a different part of the park due to light (lack of) and (need of) dinner!

We enjoyed a quiet, sit down dinner and then hit the road to head home.  It was a wonderful weekend full of fond memories for both of us.