Earlier this month, I took a long weekend for a hiking trip with my dad and one of his work friends from early in his career, something the three of us have done for eight years now.
The first few years were sections along Minnesota’s North Shore, and have since evolved to include places within a day’s drive from our homes.
ADVERTISEMENT
The destination for the hike was Baraboo, Wisconsin, for its close access to Devil’s Lake State Park, Mirror Lake State Park and sections of the Ice Age Trail.
Over the few days of hiking, the terrain and scenery were great, though we missed out on the peak of the fall colors. A particular highlight was touring a small, 800-square-foot cottage built by Frank Lloyd Wright on the shore of Mirror Lake.
Unbeknownst to me going into the trip, Baraboo also has a strong tie to the Ringling Brothers and circus history, which put the city in an interesting, yet strange kind of light.
For this trip, and most of the others we’ve done, we stayed in a short-term rental property. In this case, an old home near the historic downtown of Baraboo.
As with any older, dense Midwestern neighborhood, the houses were packed tightly together. Garages detached and butting ...