my other favorite boys

Ahoy,

Upon visiting Chicago this time, I also wanted to show Madison to the RRS. So after he landed at 1am, I whisked him home to feed him the whole lobster and clams my parents had prepared for his arrival. We left horrifyingly early in the morning for an unusually traffic packed trip to Madison. I blasted the best of my pop music/boy band records on the way there. I'm sure he was delighted.

Upon arrival, my brother had very casually arranged with friends that were going top-roping to meet them. Devil's Lake State Park is rumored to have some of the best outdoor climbing in the midwest and my brother lives about an hour away. We drove blindly to the site and walked blindly through the forest looking for people. Being the extraordinary planner he is, my brother had no idea where to go or how to get there. We never ended up finding anyone and just went hiking around the park. We figured that there was an intermediate trail up a boulder scramble we never spotted.

We began up on the top of some cliffs where we could see many folks had set up for top roping and walked downhill through the forest to the edge of Devil's Lake. We walked around the Lake from the south shore to the north shore and went back up on that side. My mom had naively opted to come along carrying her purse and bakery goods (which I knew one of us would end up carrying, which is what happened). It was quite hilarious to witness my mom trudging along on our adventure. I'm glad she is so good natured about this exercise in torture (the only fitting name for what we had her endure, although to be fair - I did warn her).

Devil's Lake State Park is spectacular in many ways. It is what I'd always imagined hiking to be like and more - tree lined with sweeping views. The variety of terrain is fabulous. There are gradual and quick slopes, plenty of rocks and mountain-like features, while also surrounding a body of water, craggy boulders adjacent to the shoreline, sandy beaches, and trees all around. There are people of all shapes and sizes here and you can pretty much jump in the freshwater from anywhere along the trail. My only regret is that I did not bring my bikini.

Afterwards, we returned to Madison to check out K's rock climbing gym. I've always liked his gym, and A confirmed that the setting is really good here - the movements feel natural and interesting. But also, they set really hard - A says they set like outdoors, if not stiffer.

We drove back into the city to find our dinner spot. The restaurant had boardgames so we learned how to play Yahtzee. Alcohol seems to flow freer here, and A's eyes popped out when he saw the irresistible prices. We returned to K's apartment and the boys played video games.

agelessly defiant,

jt