Day 12: The Farmers Market

Today we slept in until 9 am. Even though we had plans for hiking, it felt good to catch up on some sleep. Marissa made some strawberry pancakes with a side of bacon for us for breakfast.

After we planned for next week's dinners, we cleaned up, ate some lunch and packed for the weekend away we got ready to participate in the Farmers Market. We met up with two of the local interns - Ellen and Spencer - to set up a stand for the Nature Conservancy. The market started at 3 and ended at 7.

It was a load of talking. We got to raise awareness for TNC and how one can get involved.

There were many people who were strong supporters, and others who didn't seem interested. The wind kept us cool but wanted to blow away our stand. Doesn't the board look great though?

We got to taste cheese curds - the famous Wisconsin snack - for the first time!!  Did you know that cheese curds are squeaky when you chew them?  Weird but yummy!

Around 6:30, we packed up our stand and went home to cook for our great friends: Debbie, Pat, Sarah, Amy, Ellen, Jerry, Spencer, and ourselves. They loved our banana ice cream special and our amazing kale chips! They also enjoyed our clam sauce pasta and the left over meatloaf.  Everyone wanted the recipe Dinner was satisfying. Ellen brought delicious cinnamon cookies and watermelon flavored taffy, and Spencer brought Sun Chips.

After dinner, Jerry invited us to go watch Green Fire. It was a documentary about Aldo Leopold, an early conservationist. The movie was incredible and inspirational. Leopold was amazing because he made mistakes, but hit a point of realization that impacted his way of thinking and the future of conservation. Only after he died in 1948 were his ideas accepted and really heard.

He will always be remembered.

After the movie, we got to talk to Curt Meine, the narrator of the film, and ask questions about conservation.

We also saw lighting from Illinois - it was unbelievable. You could never see that in the city.

We came home with Ellen and Spencer and got to play a card game called Mao. Ellen is hilarious - she made the game a ton of fun! Spencer also brought laughs to the table and learned the game very fast. He calls himself "adorkable".

We played for a while and later the interns went home and we got ready for bed. It was a long day but now we are extremely excited to go to Chicago!