Search Results

I have not written a blog in a WHOLE MONTH! A lot has changed in the last month and I have been extremely preoccupied. I went from living in the Colorado mountains to living in my boyfriends house very quickly and unexpectedly. When I left Wisconsin back in April, I was planning to come back in August for a friends bachelorette party. It lined up with State Fair so I thought "heck yeah, I'll come back for both!" The weekend prior to the party, I was still in the mountains about an hour outside of Colorado Springs - a 17 hour drive from Milwaukee. I was going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to make the trip. I wanted to see friends and have a good time but it was suuuuch a long drive. I decided it didn't make sense for me to travel that far for a week just to turn around and drive back. I told my friend I was not going to make it to the bachelorette party around 9:30am on Friday morning. I have had a boyfriend (Mike) for over a year and he lives in the Milwaukee area. Back in May, we took Kona on a 4-ish mile walk and he complained about hip pain afterwards. We figured it was just from the walk. Fast forward about a month and Mike is moving from his apartment into his new house and his leg started to get super swollen. It didn't really hurt, but it was a balloon. He talked to a few friends and Googled a few things and came to the conclusion that he tore his abductor muscle during the move. Those take 4-8 weeks to get better and because he was moving (figuratively and literally) we assumed it wasn't healing because he wasn't really resting it. All of a sudden one day he had excruciating pain in his leg. It lasted two days and he decided to make a doctor's appointment. He got an ultrasound done and they couldn't see anything. They thought maybe the swelling was from a blood clot and recommended a MRI. He scheduled that, but the appointment took two weeks. Within that two weeks, he actually came to visit me in Colorado for a few days. That was the first time I saw his leg in person and it was definitely swollen but I attributed it to him not resting it when he should have. When he got back to Milwaukee, he got the MRI done on that Tuesday. On Friday morning, he received a call telling him to go to the ER because there was a mass discovered in his MRI. By 1pm, he was informed that he "probably" has cancer but it would not be confirmed until the biopsy next week. That's when I decided I needed to come home. The drive home was absolutely HORRID. I mentioned earlier that it was shown as a 17 hour drive on my GPS but the RV cannot go 75MPH on the highway. I also have to stop every few hours for Kona so the drive took a lot longer than 17 hours. We drove from 6am - 7:30pm on Saturday and 6am-5:30pm on Sunday... WOOF. It was confirmed about a week later that he does in fact have Follicular Lymphoma at age 36. He had his first chemo treatment last week and will continue those through the end of the year when we will reevaluate and see how the treatment is going. Cancer is terrifying. Lymphoma is a type of cancer that has a high potential to revisit later on in life, so there's a good chance this will not be the only time Mike goes through chemo. Thankfully his body took the first treatment pretty well and he did not have any major side effects, but it is supposed to get progressively worse. We are crossing our fingers that the symptoms remain tame but honestly, as long as the chemo does what it is supposed to, the side effects will be worth it. ANYWAY. If you made it this far, that is why I am in Wisconsin. This was obviously not the plan but life throws curveballs sometimes, right? And there's nothing we can do except to deal with what it throws at you. We are participating in the Light the Night Walk hosted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma on September 26th. IF you are able to donate to this great organization, please consider doing so. Everything helps! If you have any fun new restaurants I should try, festivals to attend, trails to hike, etc. in Wisconsin, let me know! I will be here until at least January 1, 2025.

Let me preface this by saying I am not professional. I am just a woman who hikes with her dog nearly every weekend. I am often asked what I bring on hikes with Kona (my 75lb pup) so I have compiled a list of my must-haves for dog friendly hikes. You can find all of these items on my Amazon Storefront. All links are affiliate via Amazon - thanks for your support! Dog Water Bottle I have this water bottle for Kona and I LOVE it. It doubles as a bowl so it ends up taking up less space in my backpack. There is a switch to open/close the bottle so it doesn't leak and it holds 19oz of water - enough for a quick hike! Collapsible Dog Bowl Before having the water bottle mentioned above, I used these collapsible dog bowls. They are awesome because not only do they collapse, but they also come with a clip to hang on the outside of your bag. Keeps any remaining water from getting your stuff wet! Harness I have tried a lot of options for Kona - leashes that go around the nose, prong collar, regular collar & leash, padded harness - and none of them have worked quite like this one. This harness allows me to keep control while allowing Kona to stay comfortable. Dog First Aid Kit If there is one thing I have learned while on the road, it's that you should always be prepared. I keep this first aid kit in my hiking bag. A lot of this stuff can be used for humans, too! Doggy Waste Bags This one should be obvious but I still felt the need to include it. POOP BAGS! I follow the Leave No Trace principles while outdoors which means taking all of your trash with you. This includes dog poop! Double bag it and toss it in the backpack to throw away when you're near a trash can.

The time has come! I have created a Google Map with ALLLL of the Wisconsin Cheese Curds I have eaten over the last few years. There are 232 listings! Each listing on the map includes restaurant name, website, price, sauce type, and photo (if I could find one). The listing also includes ratings for breading, cheese, sauce, and an overall score. The map will continue to be updated as I devour more curds across the state. Make sure to download it so you have it in your pocket the next time you're looking for some melty cheese! Click here to visit the shop - it is free! Go ahead and download the breakfast sandwich one while you're at it. Happy eating!