there's no place like gnome.

We spent the first weekend in August camping at a new-to-us state park: Blue Mounds State Park, between Madison and Dodgeville. (Fun fact: the only WI state park that has a pool – and a super nice pool at that.) We adore the drift less region of Wisconsin and were charmed to find this was in it.

The weather was delightful; no need for the air conditioning all weekend. It felt like fall was upon us and it was absolutely wonderful. We had fires at night and had to wear sweatshirts. Sign me up for more of that. (It’s me. I’m the girl who is absolutely over 90 degrees.)

We hiked, exploring the park, and spent time exploring some nearby towns. Mount Horeb was particularly enjoyable. (It felt like Wisconsin’s version of Decorah – my beloved college town in NE Iowa.) We had lunch outside a cafe and walked, looking for trolls. We learned that Duluth Trading Company is headquartered in Mount Horeb, so we stopped at the store. (Dog-friendly! Einstein shopped for skivvies.)

We also visited The Shoe Box, a giant shoe store that was part of more than one childhood family trip. (Also dog-friendly! The dogs were troopers as Dave found a new pair of running shoes.)

This state part has music in their amphitheater every Saturday night in the summer. We went to check it out but didn’t stay too long; Einstein was a nervous nellie. But we were there long enough to get caught in the Instagram story of Midwest Munchers. (I had spotted them sitting across the aisle.) Can you see Einstein staring at you?

Afterwards we went to the Mount Horeb Culver’s and met their troll.

Other summer happenings:

We went to a Kenosha Kingfish game with some friends and it was super fun. It was a stormy night but somehow the storms just skirted the stadium.

The dahlias have started to bloom! Finally! Slowly but with lots of buds to watch. Turns out I have these teeny tiny purple pompon ones that I didn’t even realize I bought! I am so tickled by them. And the larger ball dahlias, also pictured below. They rank pretty high too.

We’ve done a little kayaking and have had one day at the beach. Masterpiece’s Sanditon on the PBS app has my television attention and we started making our own yogurt in the Instant Pot to go with our homemade granola. So, you know, life is pretty exciting. Let’s see what the second half of August brings.

The tomato hornworm.

Gross.

Gross.

Gross.

These green giants will decimate a tomato plant if not found promptly. I’ve had them in the past. Two. Maybe three in a season.

I picked 16 (SIXTEEN!) off my tomatoes tonight alone.

Now, when I say ‘picked,’ don’t be fooled. I don’t touch them. Heavens no. I cut the branch they are on and delicately take the branch to dispose of these green gross things. Removing hornworm + pruning all in one step. (That’s what I tell myself.)

There was one that was the biggest I’ve ever seen – the size of my middle finger, I swear to the tomato gods.

They look very similar to the tobacco worms we confronted in the tobacco fields as kids. You know, the ones my Dad would throw at me while working in the fields. Turns out those are considered hornworms too.

I didn’t love those then, and I don’t love these now.

Gross.

Gross.

Gross.

The things we do for fresh tomatoes.

(Apparently they turn into a moth that’s an important night pollinator or whatever so I don’t kill them. I just move them far away from my tomatoes with their own personal little tomato branch. A snack for the trip. Plus, killing them? Ew. I don’t want to imagine that squish.)

We spent Fourth of July weekend at the best campground – Hillside Springs. There is no website and, sorry, you can’t make a reservation.

It’s my brother’s farm, in the town where we grew up. He installed camper hookups behind one of the barns, complete with lights, a fire pit, and river views. The cattle are our neighbors while camping.

Bonus: My sister-in-law runs a little bakery stand out of one of the out buildings. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast? Sure. Cheesecake to take home with us? Yes.

The cost: Dave mowed a pasture (which was more fun than actual work) and I pruned tomatoes in the garden. (Also fun.)

Following the camping trip, we welcomed a week of visitors. My sister and my brother-in-law stopped at our house on their way home to Indianapolis from their own camping trip adventure in the UP. My mom came over too and we had a nice dinner looking out over the marina.

They left and then dear friends from seminary came with their three girls! Joel and Melissa and I became besties our senior year of sem. Our other friend (Pastor) Paige and I took the train out to Montana, oh, three times or so, where they lived at the time, to visit and attending a continuing education event in Glacier NP.

Their three girls are no longer toddlers (!) and they requested some time in the kitchen – they wanted to make cake pops and French macarons with ‘Auntie’ Lindsay. Done. We packed a lot of other things into essentially a day and a half – a stop at the lighthouse, a beer garden, the Sprecher Brewery Taproom, Culver’s, and Aldi. (Aldi? They’d heard of this mystical store but don’t have them out west!) We had fun catching up like it hadn’t been nine years.

Flower garden update: Snapdragons snapping. Yarrow yarrowing. Globe amaranth globing. Dahlias: still to come. They don’t normally bloom until August. Anticipating their arrival!

We’ve been home now for almost two weeks and the trip feels like it was a dream. Like, was that even real? We’ve gone back to work, back to routines. I write this while camping at my brother and sister-in-law’s farm. (It’s quite the sweet – and free – campsite. It’s raining so we’re hanging out in the camper. Dave plays video games; I blog. Dogs sleep.)

At the tail end of the trip, we had one more day and night in Barcelona. We get kicked off the ship pretty early so they can clean and welcome the new batch of cruisers by lunch time. We taxied to our hotel to ditch our luggage and then set out into the city. But it was Sunday. And a lot of things did not open until noon on Sunday.

We found a cafe (specializing in focaccia bread – how fun) and across the street a different cafe that serves basque cheesecake. (This was Dave’s goal for our last day – to find basque cheesecake. Check. By 9:30am.) After that, we twiddled our thumbs. Now what?

We were tired. It was getting hot. Our hotel room wouldn’t be ready for quite a few hours still. Enter the hop on, hop off bus tour.

And it was here I learned something about Dave – apparently he loves hop on hop off bus tours? He was giddy with excitement as we rode the double decker around the city. There was an audio guide that explained the sites and it afforded us the chance to see SO much more of the city.

We got off at the beach which was so busy (again – Sunday) we couldn’t even reach the water. We ate a crusty ham sandwich (which we will try to recreate at home sometime because they’re so good), found a late lunch place off the beaten path and rode back to the stop closest our hotel.

We checked into our hotel, cleaned up and went to meet up with Dave’s brother, Matt and family for one last drink. They had one more day in Barcelona too and had spent it at the aquarium. They had an early flight and so were staying near the airport. After saying our goodbyes, we headed back into the city, found a spot for paella, and called it a night at our creepy Shining-esque hotel.

On Monday, we had a little time to take one last stroll through the city before boarding the bus to the airport. We strolled … and found an Aldi! (This had been one of my trip goals, as I remember going to the Aldi in Dublin and loving it.) We bought some coffee and chocolate, and had we been staying longer, would definitely have bought some bread and other fun things. The coffee we bought is in capsule form for our original Nespresso machine. The Aldis in the states don’t sell their own brand of capsules but it’s what Europeans use for their espresso at home; we thought this was pretty cool.

And that’s it, folks. We went to the airport, ate just one more ham sandwich, and had a direct flight home. Since then, we talk about how Barcelona was our favorite and we’d love to return; maybe a tour of Spain? We joke and say we’ll go back when La Sagrada Família is complete … so probably never. (They’ve been saying it will be complete in ten years for the last fifty.)

Our one stop in France was a quick one – the first tender boats were running at 6:30ish, last boat back was 1:30. Our ship anchored away from shore so our tender ride lasted about 10 minutes before docking at the port.

Dave and I wandered around. The main goal: find a patisserie with fancy desserts and French macarons. Success? Kind of.

We wandered into old town, struck once again by the charming rambling streets. We found fancy chocolate croissants and espresso across from a local market.

We, tragically, had little luck finding a place that had rows and rows of macarons. Sigh. Granted, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to explore. We did, however, find a McDonald’s. And guess what? McDonald’s in France have macarons! And you know – they were lovely and full as macarons should be. (McDonald’s also sold poutine-like French fries. We did not try.)

We walked uphill to a cathedral that overlooks the town and port. More charming streets. Endless charming streets. Bakeries with piles of freshly baked bread. Gelato. Cheese! So many delicious things that we would have bought and ate if we stayed longer.

And this is it, folks. We came back to the ship, ate some lunch at the buffet and then came to our room to shower/pack. We’ll go out for dinner tonight, see a show, and then tomorrow by 9am we’ll be off the ship. Another 28ish hours in Barcelona after which we’ll time-travel home. (We are ready. It’s been amazing in lots of ways but we’re ready for routine and dogs and flower garden and lower temperatures and less people all around.)

We stayed overnight in the port of Livorno with another day to explore today. Originally, I had thought we might take the twenty minute train ride to Pisa today but in true European fashion, there is a train strike (as happens occasionally, planned and known in advance). It began last night and runs until tonight.

With no train and, honestly, a desire for a low-key day, we stayed in Livorno. There was a local shuttle from the cruise port to the city centre for 7 euros. Done. Sold. We were on board by 1030 after sleeping in and a nice breakfast on board.

The goal: cafes, a nice lunch, and some shopping/meandering. Brother-in-law Matt and wife Lisa joined up partway through for lunch and what followed. We drank aperol spritzes and ate pizza. Dave bought some cherries at a local produce market. We consumed coffee in espresso form (And just look at that cube-croissant-pistachio thing!) and frozen form. We shopped at a local grocery store for pistachio butter and unique pasta shapes. (Ohmygoodness, the Italians love pistachios. And I’m on board with all of that. That pistachio coffee I had in Naples, aka the coffee I will think about forever? I’m thinking it may have been made by adding some pistachio butter; must try.)

We’ll be leaving port shortly. Dave and I have reservations at the steakhouse on board for dinner. Tomorrow: Cannes, France. A tender port. We have to take a boat from our boat. (Last day! And then one final night in Barcelona before flying home to be reunited with these goofballs who have – no doubt – been keeping my mom and stepdad good company.)

Another day, another port, another train.

We rode the train into Florence today, a train ride that was close to 1.5 hours. We walked around, ate some delicious things, saw some magnificent sculptures and buildings, but the main event was the pasta making class I had booked months ago.

Lorenzo guided us in making three types of pasta with one dough – two filled pasta and one not. He prepped the sauces and, when it was time, cooked the pasta we made for us to all enjoy.

We visited Rome today and it was what we expected – hot and people-y with cool ancient sites around most corners.

We went in knowing there was way more than we could ever see in one day so we made a basic plan – the Pantheon, Colosseum (from the outside – not a tour), and the Baths of Caracalla (a lesser visited site I learned about through my favorite travel guy Rick Steves). Plus some food and espresso and gelato. With that, we would be content.

And so that’s what we did. We grabbed the train from our port of Civitavicchia; it was about an hour ride into Rome. Figuring out we weren’t all that far from the Vatican, we decided to walk by. It’s free to get into St. Peter’s Square and thought we might do that but were met with long security lines and the square was FULL of people. Our travel companions would send a photo later that confirmed the Pope was addressing the crowd today.

From there, we worked our way down busy streets and cute alleys to the Pantheon, a dome that defied architectural standards of the day. (And stopped enroute in a cute espresso store that was right up my alley.) The dome is as wide as it is high. Much of the marble floor still original, two centuries later; the pillars on the portico cut from a single stone.

We headed towards the coliseum and we both got a little cranky on the way. (Truth.) We found some food and regrouped before taking our photos and continuing on.

At the Baths of Caracalla, we didn’t learn a whole lot but relished the nice breeze and enjoyed a space with very few people. We envision that in its glory, the baths were like a country club; it’s where the people of status would come to soak in the pool and talk politics. Or something. But it was neat and old. Check.

We found some gelato before a brisk walk to the train station. We were toast – seven miles later – and learned that it was either the train now or wait two more hours. Now, please. We even figured out how to validate our ticket this time in the machines on the wall. (We couldn’t figure it out on the trip in and were lucky a conductor didn’t ask for our tickets; an invalidated ticket comes with a fine.)

We were toast … but still had energy after the train ride to find some drinks by the sea in the port city before taking the shuttle back to the boat. I finally tried an aperol spritz, the quintessential mixed drink here. I liked it. (I had two.)

Today we were in the port of Naples, a city Rick Steves describes as ‘gritty.’

Agreed.

We were planning to go to Pompeii but Dave did not sleep well the night prior; that combined with the sun and heat was probably going to make things pretty miserable. So we pivoted and went with plan b – eat our way around Naples.

Five hours and twelve thousand steps later we were tired but with happy bellies. We stepped foot in a couple churches (which, honestly, all kind of blur together at this point, sorry to say). We followed a little bit of Rick Steves’ city walk and saw a city that was very much alive. We made two coffee/pastry stops and a pizza stop. (Naples is known as the birthplace of pizza.)

Once back on the boat we napped before relaxing poolside and taking in the view of the city from the 16th deck. Tonight we’ll join back up with the rest of our crew for a show and dinner. Tomorrow: Rome. (Hopefully. If Dave sleeps well and our train travel plans come to fruition.)

The last couple days we’ve been in port at Ibiza and Mallorca, two Spanish islands. (Though Mallorca has their own dialect of Spanish – a Spanish/Catalan mash up of which I could not decipher, despite my These are the two cruise ports at which we booked a cruise excursion – kayaking in Ibiza and biking in Palma, Mallorca.

Kayaking in Ibiza. Waves that envied that one overnight kayak trip I took with my friend Sara on Lake Superior. No wet suits this time but tandem kayaks and some pretty (okay, really) high waves/swells. The part I enjoyed the most? That part when we were heading back towards the beach.

We stopped at this little cove for a moment to rest and swim if we wanted. But see, in Ibiza, there is this sea grass that it’s known for and the first 10 feet of water was full of this dead grass. Let us just say when we got back to our room to shower, we made a complete mess. Sorry, room steward. (Photo: Dave full of the dried sea grass. He also pulled a fistful out of his shorts pocket!)

Today: Mallorca. We booked a bike tour for the morning which promised to help us explore a bit of the old city. Our guide was great as she led the way. We saw the old palace, a couple gothic cathedrals, and learned the history of the island. The ride was easy and fun until noon came and it became super HOT.

We visited a covenant of cloister nuns – they don’t leave the covenant and have taken vows of silence. They bake for a bakery that’s on site. We didn’t see any of them but did see a ‘helper nun’- a nun who also lives on site but can communicate by speaking – when some of our group purchased from the bakery.

This was the cutest old city and we could have spent much more time wandering its puzzle system of alleys. Our guide said that it’s become a huge tourist destination; people arrive and stay exclusively on this island. They just added a direct flight to NYC to meet the demand.

Following our tour, we headed back to the bus, sweaty, hot and hungry. Lunch was had and now it’s a lounge chair poolside in the shade. (The sun got me while kayaking yesterday; I’m a bit toasty in places.) Tomorrow: a sea day before reaching Italy.