Wisconsin Part 2-"Up North"

During my visit to Wisconsin, I kept hearing people talk about "Up North". It was cold enough where we were in the south part of the state, so I wondered what it was like up there! We took a road trip so I could find out. There are a lot of small communities peppered across the northern parts of the state. Some are typical little farm towns. Others are incredible communities that were founded a long time ago and have grown thanks to the help of people who had a vision of building a great place for their kids to grow up! We stopped in Black River Falls where there is an incredible community park. There was a playground, a fishing pond for kids, an amphitheater, hiking and walking paths, a skate park, and a pool! It was really cool. This statue was created to thank the family that had helped create the Community Foundation that has allowed them to build such a cool place. Sprout and Bird and I decided to go for a little hike so they could give me a taste of "The Northwoods". They explained that we were just at the very south edge of them, but that it would give me an idea. There were mostly pine trees but there were deciduous trees too, especially near the top of the hill. We saw lots of birds--little wrens and sparrows and chickadees! We even saw a little falcon in an open grassy area. I tried to get a picture but it flew away when it saw us.

After our hike we went out for lunch. We ate near a cheese factory! Did you know that 90% of the milk produced in Wisconsin goes to make cheese? With more than a million cows in the state, that's a lot of cheese--over 2 billion pounds! I guess now I understand why when people go to Green Bay Packer games, they wear cheese shaped hats. I mean, I kind of understand. Lots of cheese means lots of cheese statues, of course! Check out the size of this mouse! After our hike and my climb up the cheese statue, I was exhausted! Bird and I slept all the way back home.

The next day it was time for me to head to Ohio, but it was the last day of April, Grilled Cheese Month, and I was in Wisconsin, so SproutsMom made me a grilled cheese sandwich with some great Wisconsin Cheese. It was delicious! I had a great time in Wisconsin, but I was excited to continue my journey and anxious to head back home before long. Bye, Wisconsin!

Wisconsin Part 1-The Farmer's Market!

In April I got to visit the Cheese State--Wisconsin! SproutsMom and her family were my hosts. They said the first place we had to go was the Farmer's Market in Madison. It's one of their favorite places, and they said it would show me some of the great things that Wisconsin has to offer. The market runs all year long, but this was just the second week it was back outside, in it's normal spot. The market takes place right around the capitol square in Madison. (Madison is the captitol of Wisconsin, in case you didn't figure that out!) The capitol building is huge! See it behind me? There are pretty walkways and gardens all around the building, and the market vendors set up their stalls around the wide sidewalks on the outer edge. There's grassy lawns that people sit on to visit and munch their market buys. It was cold when we went though, so mostly people just hurried to get what they need and get warm. SproutsMom took me to their favorite vendor, an organic farm operation called Harmony Valley. Their farm had a lot of damage in the rains and floods last year, but they got lots of support from the community and stayed loyal to their mission of providing healthy local food, and they're still here! They are really nice too. They let me stand on their table. It was early in the season so they mostly had root crops like those parsnips and dried foods like the chiles behind me. SroutsMom said that soon they'd have spinach and ramps, and in a few months--all kinds of stuff!

But veggies aren't the only thing we found at the farmer's market. There was honey, jams, cheese (of course!), meat, eggs, plants, and flowers. I can't believe there's so much to eat from so close by! There is another thing the market is famous for: baked goods! I got to share a chocolate cream cinnamon roll with Bird. We ate it on one of the beautiful stone benches around the capitol. It was a delicious end to my visit to the Madison Farmer's Market in Wisconsin.

Back from the 'Nati!

Whew! I was stuffed in a box and shipped back home to my mom before I got a chance to write about my visit to Cincinnati. Fortunately, I'm pretty sneaky and the computer is free, so here goes...

The big highlight of my visit to Cincinnati was my visit to a real roller derby game. A lot of people think roller derby isn't played any more. Well, they think wrong. For the past several years, leagues have been springing up across the United States. These leagues are mostly for women-only and play on a flat track instead of the banked track that was used in the past. You may think playing on a flat track would be less exciting, but it's actually pretty cool because skaters wipe out a lot in the corners. There are plenty of great crashes to watch.

My host, Kitschy, plays for the Cincinnati Rollergirls, which is Cincinnati's flat-track roller derby team. Kitschy can play every position, but she normally is the Jammer (that's her in black in the photos to the left and below.) A jammer is the speedskater that earns points for her team. She has to skate through a pack of blockers (4 from her team, 4 from the opposing team) while trying to keep the jammer from the other team from scoring points. Every time she passes an opposing player, she earns a point. But it's not so easy, because they're trying to knock her down while she's doing this.

All rollergirls (that's what you're called if you play women's flat-track derby) and roller derby staff have "skate names" that they use. These are made-up names that they have printed on their jerseys. They're usually funny and sometimes violent. Kitchy's skate name is "Roseanne Scarr" because she likes Roseanne Barr and will scar you if you get in her way. ;P But my favorite skate name belongs to CRG's best jammer...Sadistic Sadie. Sadie must be really good because she also skates for Team Awesome, which is a derby team that is made up of 14 of the best skaters from throughout the nation.

Here are a few photos of me with Sadistic Sadie. On the track, she's just as mean as she looks, but she was really nice to me and even said I was her "Mini Me." :D

I also got to make a few announcements with Collier Mama, who is the announcer for all the CRG bouts (that's what a game of derby is called...a "bout"). And I even went to the penalty box. I can't remember what I did but Fireman Bill is a referee, and he doesn't look very happy with me. :P

But my favorite photo from the bout was when I got to pose with the kids from the Powell Crosley YMCA's Double Dutch team. The were the halftime show, and they were really excited to pose with me! And I was just as excited because they could do some really cool things while jumping rope. :D

Shoot! Someone's coming to use the computer, so I have to go now. But I'll be back to show you a little more of my adventures in Cincinnati.

<3,

Sadie