Note: This is a very picture-heavy post, so apologies for the slow load time!
My husband's family has had a "Great Camp" in Upstate New York since the late 1800's, tucked away in the Adirondack Park. It's a gorgeous, isolated place with a lake, myriad hiking trails, and the most breathtaking views I've ever seen. We have been extremely blessed to spend a lot of time there over the years, and even more blessed to have had our wedding there in July of 2011. 

Most recently, we had the opportunity to make a spur-of-the-moment trip to Camp with my graduate school friends (whom I've missed dearly ever since moving back to Virginia). The driveway alone is a 30 minute drive, so we hardly ever leave once we're up there. It was a lovely, lazy weekend, and I can't wait to head back up that way for Thanksgiving. 

The weekend started off with the obligatory jump in the lake...

...while the more sane of us sipped hot chocolate and whiskey in the 50 degree weather.

During the first day, we spent a bunch of time fishing...

...relaxing with delicious beverages...

...fishing some more...

...and reading.

My husband taught one of our friends how to prep fishing rods...

...while we hung out and shared stories from our times apart.

That evening, we made a huge pot of chicken, sweet potato, and asparagus risotto (recipe coming soon!), and played games/ hung around by the amazing fireplace until we couldn't keep our eyes open.

The next morning, I made hash browns with the beautiful potatoes one of our friends brought from his garden.

(It was a shame that they didn't retain as much of their color once cooked!)

While I cooked, other folks took a walk around the Lake Trail...

...and got a chance to explore some of the local wildlife.

I think it's about time for a whole mess of lake/ house pictures, don't you?

Our last morning there was (of course) warm, bright, and clear.

My husband couldn't resist snapping some pictures of the mirror-like surface of the water, or the morning mist dissipating in the warming sun.

For our last breakfast, we cooked up one of the fish straight from the lake (learning to clean fish has been one of my favorite skills), scrambled eggs with bacon, and leftover potatoes. 

I also had the chance to carve one of the endemic fungus growths (which will harden and keep for years if cared for properly).

We spent time during our last morning playing with the sweetest dog in the world, Kelly:

...and had a friend take a picture of my oldest friend, the sweet dog Kelly, and me (which, hilariously, came out like an engagement picture).

It was such an amazing time, and my husband loves the opportunity to bring friends up to see the place for the first time. 

We can't wait to do it again! Thanks for reading!

- Kaitlin

As promised (a month ago...okay, okay) I am giving you some more pictures and details from the rest of my trip to Wisconsin, which centered in and around Milwaukee!

To Do List:
1. State Fair:  If you are in town at the right precious time of year, you can go to the Milwaukee State Fair!  We were lucky enough to cruise into the state just as the fair was wrapping up, and, because people really are that friendly in the Midwest, we were given two free admission tickets, so BOOM! We were on our way to cheese curds, 25-cent glasses of fresh chocolate milk, Mexican corn in a cup, and all the Miller Lite one could ever desire.  I've been to other state fairs, and this one is definitely, by far, the best.  (No disrespect, North Carolina.)
2. Brewers Game: Now this window of opportunity is bigger; if you are in the area during baseball season, Miller Park is a fantastic excursion.  It's a beautiful indoor/outdoor park that has a really small, intimate feel.  I felt like I was watching the game in a living room of 30,000 people.  Tickets are super cheap, and there are always giveaways and food vouchers (my husband and I each got a $10 voucher for concessions just for stepping in the doors, and our tickets were $14 each for good seats, so we made out like the bandits that we are.)
3. Lake Front: Milwaukee is a lucky city indeed because it sits on Lake Michigan, and the views from the shore are pretty spectacular.  Take the time to go down there, walk around, and take it all in! The Lake is also so enormous, it almost feels like looking out on the ocean.
4. Historic Third Ward: If you are going to go anywhere in downtown Milwaukee, make it the Third Ward.  This is the most quaint little riverside downtown, full of awesome shops and even better restaurants.  It feels chic and cozy at the same time.  Be sure to visit the Milwaukee Public Market while you are there, which is an indoor foodie haven, with stalls selling local goods; you can even grab a whole meal there.

And of course, don't forget to make up your own itinerary as you go.  When you travel, it's always good to stop by the "must-sees," but take the time to explore as well, and come up with some must-sees of your own!

Thanks for sharing this adventure with me, and stay tuned for more!

~Lauren

At the beginning of this summer, my husband Jay and I moved from what we like to call a "food desert". We use that term differently from, say, the northern parts of the Adirondacks, where it is sometimes literally difficult to come by fresh produce; where we came from, it was difficult to find fresh, local, non-chain food establishments. We like food to mean something-- to local businesses, to the chef, to the consumer. 

Thankfully, we moved into an amazing town, Blacksburg, Virginia, with an emerging emphasis on buying and eating locally. Drive 45 minutes southeast of here, and you can even find grass-fed, organically raised bison. I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to eat locally, and to purchase my foodstuffs from folks who really care about their quality. In this post, I'd like to showcase some of the local businesses that Jay and I love.

In order to share with you, I spent an afternoon wandering our local farmer's market (within walking distance of our new home):

Idyllwood farms had some awesome produce for sale:

Jay and I try to shop here weekly, and have purchased everything from yellow squash and zucchini to pickling cucumbers and kale. The produce is always gorgeous, and the conversation flows easily.

Birdsong Farm sells honey and wax-based products, as well as dried-flower wreaths:

 The farm is a labor of love, run by a local schoolteacher and her husband. I have lip balm from Birdsong that I wear every day, and the tiny bear-jars of honey are perfect to add to tea.

Griffin farms, below, is where Jay and I like to spend the majority of our grocery money. As the only 100% grass-fed beef provider in the farmer's market (others grass-finish only), their stock seems to sell extremely well (and quickly)! I really enjoy my conversations with Marilyn, and their products are gorgeous.

Armed with a new butcher and perfect packaging, the cuts are begging to be used. (You may notice that the slow-cooker beef stew recipe I posted used their meat!) I'm really looking forward to the day that they have expanded enough to offer share-sizes.

Finally, Native Spring Farm offers a variety of hand-crafted soaps and bath products, along with homemade ice cream.

They also sell the MOST AMAZING grapefruit "soda" (which is really carbonated grapefruit juice-- perfect on a hot summer day).

If you have places like these near you, be sure to enjoy them and purchase from them as much as you can! It's truly a treasure. I'm sure I'll be sharing more in the near future, so thank you for reading!


-Kaitlin

My husband, Doug, and I are coming to the tail end of our week in Wisconsin; it was a business trip for him, but we like to take these opportunities, in places that normally aren’t high on our list of vacation destinations, to explore what a new location has to offer, so I always tag along.  (Plus I’m a sucker for a nice Marriott.)

I knew that I’d have fun regardless of what we did, but I can honestly say that my expectations for The Badger State were murky. I didn’t know much about what there was to do, what the landscape would be like, what the cities would feel like.  However, several cheese plates and Native American-named towns that I can’t pronounce later, I have fallen for Wisconsin!

Doug’s pesky work schedule kept our activities confined to the weekend and weeknights, but we still managed to see and do some awesome things with our time.

Madison

Farmer’s Market—For the Jeopardy crowd, Madison is the capital of Wisconsin, and also home to the University of Wisconsin’s main campus.  For the hippie crowd, there’s a whole lot of hippie happiness in Madison.  To start with, we walked right into an open air farmer’s market set up around the perimeter of the Capital. There were dozens and dozens of stalls, selling everything from fresh cheese to fresh bread to apples, chilies, carrots, spices, and even arts and crafts. It quickly became apparent to us that Wisconsin is very, very big on buying and using local produce, meat, dairy; local everything.  If you can get there, the market takes place every Saturday through November 9th!

Fromagination—This is an awesome artisanal cheese shop right off of Capital Square.  The free samples abound in this place, as do the local beers, wines, and cheese paraphernalia, but if you don’t fill up on little bitty pieces of Wisconsin’s finest, there’s a small menu of sandwiches and salads as well. I enjoyed a delicious, simple sandwich with local salami and provolone on a nice chewy baguette, and we also picked up some ‘cheese orphans’ on our way out the door.  The people behind the cheese counter are experts, and will steer you towards the cheese of your dreams, (not to mention the wine or beer to go along with it.)

State St.—State Street is the main drag in Madison, and it will take you all the way up to U. of Wisconsin’s main campus, as well as the first picturesque view of Lake Mendota.  This street is packed with nothing but quirky shops, restaurants with sprawling sidewalk seating, and your occasional coffee and tea shops.  There’s something there for every appetite, every budget, and every lifestyle.  It quickly became clear that as far as college towns are concerned, Madison is a bit of a Mecca.

MOCA—Yes, even little old Madison, Wisconsin has a Museum of Contemporary Art. It’s a small venue that only hosts a couple exhibits at a time, but with FREE admission, and a feature on the evolution of American photography from the 1950s to the present day, we had to take a look inside!  The sleek, modern museum was playing host to several weddings the day we were there.

Graze—I don’t have enough words for how brilliant this restaurant was.  The eclectic menu boasts a range of American standards, like chicken and waffles, to such Asian classics as pillowy soft buns stuffed with pork belly and kimchi.  My meal hailed from the Tex-Mex region.  I had juicy, charred slices of pork on a bed of creamy hominy grits with sweet corn and onions poking out, topped off with a pile of watermelon pico de gallo.  It was literally perfect. 
Doug has gnocchi in a lush yet light goat cheese sauce, garnished with tender pulled pork, and both fresh and cooked veggies to round out the dish. Throw in the bourbon gimlet I had to drink and the slice of pecan pie that we split, which was so good it was evil…Graze provided us with an evening our taste buds shan’t forget.

Overall, Madison was a clean, beautiful place, with big city eats and a small-town feel.  The weather was nothing short of idyllic when we were there, which helped, and kept us outside all day, but with the overabundance of shops and curiosities, any traveler with any forecast will find their day heartily filled in this Midwestern capital.

Stay tuned to Little Red Adventures over the next few days to check out the rest of our trip!
~Lauren