Father's Day Weekend Getaway

A few of the blogs before this one explained some of the areas we visited while camping in Prairie du Chien. The following photos are random photos that were also taken on our trip. The trip was very relaxing and it was nice to spend some quality time with my family.

Farms of Southern Wisconsin

On our drive home from Prairie du Chien to Mukwonago in the southern part of Wisconsin, I took these following photos of farms. I was also able to capture a couple of shots from a wind turbine farm about a half hour our of Praire du Chien. Farmes and rural landowners have started to benefit from wind power in Wisconsin. Developers typically pay a royalty to landowners of about $2,000 per year per turbine which take up about a half-acre of land. This is great help to farmers who depend on the ups and downs of crops and dairyproducts.

Boylan Bottleworks

The Boylan Bottleworks was founded in 1891. For more than a century, Boylan has formulated and produced authentic soda, regardless of price. Many bottle companies over the years compromised their original recipes and cut costs by switching to corn syrup and plastic bottles. In their recipes Boylan uses pure cane sugar, which enhances the flavor and thick glass bottles to ensure freshness and the proper levels of carbonation. Their flavor formulas use extracts and essenses. The Boylan Products include Birch Beer, "Soda-Pop", Seltzer, and "The Natural Find." I had the privilege to purchase the Rootbeer flavored Boylan Pop at the Prairie Villa Rendevous, the taste and smell was very unique and helped create the historic feeling of the festival. To find out more information about their products and where you can purchase your's, visit http://www.boylanbottling.com/ (Photo's taken June 17th while Camping in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin)

Prairie Villa Rendevzous

Every year my family has taken a trip to the Prairie Villa Rendezvous held during Father's Day Weekend in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Due to certain events, I was not able to attend this festival for the past couple of years, and it was very exciting to back with my family in this area. The rendezvous steps back in history to life in the Mississippi River village and encampment of the 1840's. Old fashion tents and teepee's are constructed and participants in outfits from that time period help to recreate a time period that had no electricity, no TVs, no running water, no indoor plumbing, and no computers. The festival is scattered with vendors offering food and goods for sale, as well as demonstrations of traditional crafts such as blacksmithing, pottery making, weaving, cooking, bead making, and much more. Entertainment includes games, story telling, music, and contests. During the first couple of visits to this rendezvous; my sister, Jessica, my mom, Bonnie, and I always got our hair twisted. These twists are very different from the ones you get in Florida because the woman actually glues them into the hair which lets them last for several months. We also always order Indian Bread: my sister and I get the regular with cinnamon on top and my parents get one with taco toppings. We also always visit a women that makes fresh squezzed lemonade and I always make sure to at least have one old fashion root beer.

Stratocumulus Cloud

A Stratocumulus Cloud is part of a group of clouds characterized by being large, dark, rounded masses, and usually in groups, lines, or waves. These clouds are larger than altocumuli and are at a lower altitude near 2,400m (8,000 ft). Weak convective currents create shallow cloud layers because of drier, stable, air above preventing continued vertical development. Stratocumuli clouds rarely produce precipitation, but when they do it is usually in the form of light rain or snow only. However, these clouds are often seen in front or at the end of bad weather. They help to indicate storms to come in the form of thunderheads or gusty winds. (Photos taken on June 18th while camping in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin)

Unique Tombstone

The grave marker for Thomas Toberman in the historic Prairie du Chein Evergreen cemetery has a lot of speculation about the stone and its origin. One speculation is meteorite. According to an article published in a local newspaper the marker is a meteorite that fell as a fireball on Toberman's farm. The second speculation is a rare stone formation that can only be found in two or three places in the world (St. Croix valley in Wisconsin, China, and possibly a place in Arizona). The theory it is made of limestone that eroded into its current shape by swirling vortices of water. Along with this story it states that Toberman discovered the rock in the St. Croix River valley while working there as a lumberjack. Before dying, Toberman requested that this unusual rock be placed as his grave marker in the cemetery. The permission was denied by Evergreen cemetery board because it was not a "real" grave maker. Mysteriously though the rock showed up in the cemetery the following week. (Photos taken June 17th while camping in Pairie du Chien, Wisconsin)

Mississipi River Sculpture Park

This park is located on the scenic Upper Mississippi River byway in Prairie du Chien, WI adjacent to the Lawler Park on St. Feriole Island. This park is a "hallmark cultural destination of national and international appeal." At this point the statues include Black Hawk, Dr. Beaumont and son Israel, Victorian Lady, and Julian Corer Voyageour, but more than two dozen life size bronze statues are planned for this park. The sculptor of these status is Florence Bird a resident of Wisconsin that embraces beauty and its abundant history. To learn more about this park visit, http://www.mississippiriversculpturepark.com/ (Photos taken June 19th while camping in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin)

Fuller Photo Collages

I design these collages with all my photo projects. Many people like to give these as presents, use them in cards, or even hang them in their own home. Depending on the photographs taken, I usually only do one or two of these collages. I designed these two collages in my Microsoft publisher.

Photocritique Theme Day: Artsy

The theme for Saturday June 5th was Artsy. The critera for this photo was anything edited by colorizing, watercolor, sketch, and etc. For my photo I took a picture inside of an Iris. I then opened it up in my adobe photoshop elements and added a watercolor filter. Afterwards I opened it up in picnik.com were I added a redish tint.

Kuller Family Portriats

Photo shoot took place at Whitnall Park in Hales Corner, WI on Monday June 7th. The kids were such a joy to work with.

Mukwonago High School Graduation

The Mukwonago High School graduation ceromony was held Sunday June 7th at the Elm Brooke Church. The Class of 2010 included 450 students The Valedictory Speech included each one picking one trait that started with each letter of Mukwonago. One student who was not able to make it the cermony due to a tradgey this winter, her diploma was presented to her family members. Before and after the ceremony, my sister had me following her around to take photos of her and her friends- I felt like her personal photographer.