road trip: northwest wisconsin

This past weekend, Ryan and I set out on a road trip to visit my Grandpa up in Northwest Wisconsin. He lives in a small town, and we enjoyed spending time with him and exploring that part of the country a little bit. Here are some snapshots of our time away!

On our drive up, we stopped at a restaurant in Wisconsin Dells called "The Cheese Factory." We found it on Yelp, and decided to give it a shot based on the high ratings from reviewers. When we got there, we realized it is a completely vegetarian restaurant! It is a total treat to be able to order anything off the menu and not think twice about whether or not we can eat it. The food was delicious and the staff was super nice! We will definitely be stopping there again next time. 

Once we met up with Grandpa, he took us to visit the beach where we always went swimming when I was small. So many memories!

That night, we visited Dairy Queen in the nearby "big" town, and I was surprised to find that the old 25-cent carousel is still there! I loved to ride it when I was small. (The delicious peanut buster parfait I treated myself to was also a bonus, hehe!)

The next morning, we met Grandpa at one of his favorite diners for breakfast! We all had matching breakfasts: two eggs, hash browns, and a pancake the size of a dinner plate. The diner's specialty is their blueberry syrup - yum!! Grandpa takes his eggs differently, but it turns out we take our coffee the same, which I kind of love! Cream AND sugar, please!

Here I am with Grandpa. He is a jokester, so he always makes me smile pretty big. (Do you see the little "Pippi Longstocking" keychain hanging on the cabinet behind us?! What a delightful coincidence: apparently it belonged to my Grandma and was an inside joke between her and some of the nurses who cared for her. It holds a special place for Grandpa now that Grandma has passed away, and it makes Pippi mean even more to me.)

Meet "Taco the Chihuahua," Grandpa's faithful best friend. He is absolutely darling and couldn't adore Grandpa more.

He was definitely not used to having his picture taken, hehe, he was not so good at sitting still! These are only a few of the photos I attempted...

On our way back, Ryan and I stopped for lunch at "Casa Mexicana." The entire restaurant is covered in these carved-wood scenes, painted bright, cheery colors! 

Ryan is the best road-trip-partner a girl could have - he drove the entire way and that gave me lots of time for daydreaming and soaking up the countryside. It was really wonderful to get to spend some time together and share some great conversations. I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband! 

Even short road trips can be really motivating to me: taking just a little bit of space and time away can help you come back to your 'normal' life ready for a fresh new start... Have you been on any good road trips lately??