* Mt. Horeb and Blue Mound State Park

We crossed off yet another Place-To-Go on our Summer To-Do List today. (because you know we're hooked on state parks!)
Today's Agenda?
Mt. Horeb and the Trollway and Blue Mound State Park.
whew. What a mouthful!

Meet Sweet Swill. Yep. That's her name. She's got a pet pig too. And four fingers (that's including her thumbs) and four toes. And a tail. So do all the trolls on the Trollway in Mt. Horeb. The girlies and I had fun "hunting" them down this morning. They're all carved out of wood and they all have names (although I don't know most of them).

Not sure about this troll either...just kinda weird.

We're not sure what this one is called...it kind of looks like she's got a tooth on a stick and has wings....tooth fairy-in-training troll?

The tourist troll. I'm sure you could tell this one.

Kind tourists took pity on me and took a photo of me and the girlies in front of the Gardener Troll. I'm jealous of this troll.....he's got a beautiful garden to attend!

And this is where we ate:

Grumpy Troll Brewery. Awesome name!
We tried the deep fried green beans. Despite the funny faces the girls LOOOOOOOOVED these!

BLUE MOUND STATE PARK.....

Why is it called Blue Mound???? I didn't see any blue mounds....

I love clouds. I remember taking photos of clouds as a child. I still love them.

On top of the West Observation Tower. You can see Belmont and Platte Mounds. Who knows...maybe we can see our house if we have binoculars with us! Ava showing off her new shoes she got yesterday. Also now she understands that when Mommy recommends wearing socks with her shoes to do so! She refused to wear socks while walking in Mt. Horeb and then she complained bitterly that her feet hurt....sigh. Listen to your Mommy!!!!!!
Goofy girls.

Wee bit of interesting, unknown-to-me-before-visit trivia:

And here it is....

Hiking on Indian Marker Tree Trail...Loops between West and East Observation Towers...love the rocks and the ferns!

Where's Ava???? Those are some TALL ferns!

Landscape view...looking over the crowns of trees. Did I mention that Blue Mounds is the highest point in Southern Wisconsin? Probably could see all the way to the Rocky Mountains. Just kidding!

Alrighty...so we walked the lovely trail. We could hear people having a wonderfully fun time in the swimming pool. That's right. I think this is the only state park in Wisconsin that comes with a swimming pool. After rushing back to the car after our hike, paying the small fee to go swimming, getting changed into swim suits JUST GUESS what happened?????

Thunder that's what!

So...everybody out of the pool...and nobody's allowed back in the pool for at least 30 minutes unless more thunder is heard in which case the pool is closed. Well. This all makes good sense but we hadn't even set a single toe in the water. Sigh. They wouldn't even give us a refund. Double sigh. Girlies looking forward to swimming. Triple sigh. I hate making promises that I keep breaking!

I decided to heck with waiting around (it looked like impending rain anyway). We got changed and headed back to Mt. Horeb for ice cream. Only when we got there ...the rain had begun. And oh how it rained! I got soaked running the short distance from the car to the cafe. Fortunately I'd brought rain jackets for the girls. The girls got ice cream and I got a hot chocolate!

After that I nearly fell asleep driving home. Okay...no I didn't but I sure felt like taking a nap. No fair that the girls go to nap in the car!

Dinner...super easy carrot fritters with powdered sugar and cantaloupe. Not exactly ten stars on the Health-o-Meter but they did have carrots! Then some "Mork and Mindy" before bath-time. I love the old shows....so much fun to watch!

I'd better go to bed before I fall over and hit the keyboard! Nothing says "Beauty Sleep" like a keyboard impression on your face!

*This post shared with Hooked on Fridays and It's a Beautiful Life.