Duck Blind

Thursday night we kept with two time-honored Wisconsin traditions - baseball and beer. Fil was generous enough to take us not just to a Madison Mallards' game, but a Mallards' game in the Duck Blind. The Duck Blind has all you can eat and drink, so of course we had fun. Meaghan joined, too, and we all stuffed our faces and drank heartily.

I started and ended with Great Dane Crop Circle Wheat (big yum!), and Amanda and Meaghan stuck with Blue Moon. We ate BBQ pork sandwiches, chicken sliders, cheeseburgers, gyro brats, brats, hotdogs, fries, potato salad and coleslaw. It was all really good, especially for stadium food. If I had to choose one, I wouldn't, I would want a gyro brat and a BBQ pork sandwich.

The Duck Blind is definitely worth trying, and since Fil won the tickets in a raffle, it was all free, free, free! An extra special thanks to Filomena! And to Meaghan for joining. As for the Mallards - who cares? I looked at a yellow pole all night.

Brewer Game #1

In the first of two scheduled trips to Miller Park, we went with Michelle and Tim to watch the Brewers play the Washington Nationals. The Brewers won 7-5, but we didn't really go for the baseball - we went for something to do on a Wednesday night. It was a fun night. Michelle was kind enough to drive, Tim was kind enough to navigate, and, hey, large Miller Lites were only $7.50! We met Amanda's family's friends, Patty and Dan, and they were alright.

For the boxscore and video and audio highlights of the game, go here.

To view all of our photos from the night, go here.

Camping at Rocky Arbor

Last weekend, Josh and I went camping at Rocky Arbor State Park. It was our first full weekend endeavor together and the first time either of us had been camping in many years. Rocky Arbor is in the Dells area, about an hour away from Madison, close to other popular state parks like Devil's Lake and Mirror Lake. Surprisingly, setting up the tent on Friday night was pretty easy, and a campfire followed shortly after.

Our mornings consisted of sleeping in, eating cereal with fruit for breakfast (a new activity for me!!!), and going to Starbucks for coffee, yes, that's right...Starbucks. We vow never to do this again on a camping trip...right...

In the afternoons, we explored. We intended to find a little known area called the Dells of the Wisconsin River State Natural Area. Naturally, we got lost, probably due to the map not drawn to scale and Josh's poor sense of direction. We ended up on the other side of the Dells and ran across Mirror Lake, a destination we were planning on reaching later that day...so we stopped there first. We hiked around, checked out the rates for canoe rentals, and tried to scope out some good campsites. After this, we looked at a map and figured out how to find the State Natural Area from Mirror Lake. This time we successfully found it (...and ran across the Chula Vista, which it turns out, is located in the boonies of the Dells), ate lunch, and started our hike. This area turned out to be one of our favorites for the weekend. The trail took about 20 minutes and ended at a small sandy beach on the Wisconsin River. We explored around for quite some time. I discovered some footprints in the wet sand, probably mink? Josh took some time to hike around the rock formations off the trail. This area would be great for picnicking for the day...we hope to do this sometime...

Keeping our loyalty intact, we did end up hiking the one-mile trail at Rocky Arbor. We almost died of a massive mosquito attack, so the hike was a quick one, though the trail was ridiculously beautiful.

Each night ended with a campfire that included cheesy hotdogs over the flame, perfectly brown, gooey (or burned, in my case - thank you, Josh, for eating those...) marshmallows for s'mores, and some inventive salami sandwiches. We topped it all off with Rocky Arbor Champagne = Bud Light in 16 oz cans. Classy? I think so.

Overall, a weekend well done. We got to relax and enjoy each other's company, while at the same time, we still had enough activities planned to keep us busy the whole weekend. We already have another camping trip planned in late August...stay tuned to see if I survive the pit toilets at Wyalusing :)

To view all of our photos from the weekend, go here.

Mirror Lake

Sunday afternoon we went to Mirror Lake and did the usual day trip stuff. We got lucky with the weather (it was supposed to rain) and it turned out to be a beautiful day. When we got there, we hiked the Eastern Loop and then had a picnic lunch. After Amanda was done stuffing her face with spicy cheesy bread, her friends arrived and we rented a canoe for the afternoon. Mirror Lake (map) is kind of strange and seems much more like a slow-moving river than a lake. It's actually a man-made lake and has numerous inlets that can be explored. In addition to canoeing, the day included some beach bumming, playing catch, and a very disappointing trip to Culvers.

Welcome to Big Yum...

We (Josh and Amanda) like to have a good time. We like camping, concerts, movies, hiking, sports, eating, shopping, exercising, and so on and so forth. Being active, trying new things and traveling to new places are our passions, and Big Yum is the place where these activities - and countless others - will be chronicled.

Big Yum will not only chronicle these activities, however. It will also serve as a useful tool to those who would like to engage in similar activities, as we post what we learn from our experiences so that others can also execute successful activities. If a campground is in a terrific location with top-notch amenities, we will let you know. If a restaurant serves over-priced food with undersized portions, we will cry foul.

So, let me be the first to say "Welcome to Big Yum!" And please, feel free to visit us in the future for information that will help you plan fun activities, or stop by just to see what crazy shenanigans we've been up to. Oh, and if you're wondering about the name "Big Yum," it would take too long to explain, so just roll with it. And for the record, "Yondering" was our first choice (damn you Wander'n Dude in the Phillipines!!!).