One Word: Bucolic

bu·col·ic/byo͞oˈkälik/

Adjective:	Of or relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.
Noun:	A pastoral poem.
Synonyms:	pastoral - rustic - rural

Funtown, Wisconsin --- where everything is more fun with cows!  ...plus, it's altogether better than a pastoral poem.

The definition of Funtown (as Heidi explained to her elementary school-aged boys) "Is wherever Anner and Heidi are gathered."  That just about covers it.  Antarctica.  Marshall Islands.  Seattle.  And, yes, bucolic Eau Clarie, WI.  It's all Funtown.

Aaron and I joined the Kampe Family in beautiful Eau Claire, WI for a long weekend of smalltown goodness. 

All the grown-ups went out for a night on the Funtown, which included dinner in what was described as "finer dining" on a tourist website, a tour of public art (Yes!  Eau Claire is big enough for a public arts program....we were impressed), dessert at none other than the Chocolate Lounge and a viewing of Captain America in a historic movie theater.  I'll just say all of this far exceeded my pre-conceived notion of Heidi's hometown.

Anner and Heidi ready for our grown-ups night on the town. I continue to maintain that we were seperated at birth.
For those who don't know... we were continuously being confused for each other on the Ice.

The decor inside the 'finer dining' establishment.  Look closely and you'll see that the beer sign is riddled with gun shots.  Ahh..this is what I expected.

I do NOT miss living somewhere with "snowmobile route" signs.  We did, however, see at least a few miles of a paved bike path with actual bikers and runner using it.  Again: we were impressed.

We spent a day in Augusta, WI...just about 1/2 hour from Funtown.  There was a vibrant Amish community (is "vibrant" the right word to describe the Amish??)  and I was surprised at how friendly they were..waving to us from their horse and buggies.

Turns out the only picture of Aaron and I was taken at this silo in Augusta.  You can't see it but there's a buggie depot behind the silo.  Honest there is.  Six or so horse-drawn buggies.  Right there.  In one spot.  Really.

While we were at Funtown, Mike took pictures of Aaron's jewelry.  We've had a heck of a time getting really good pictures of his work for show applications or the website.  Mike is a very artsy and good photographer.  He did some really great pictures from our wedding, so why not try jewelry?You would not believe that amount of gear it takes to take a picture of just one pendant.  When we left, the raw pictures (before post-production touch-ups) looked awesome.  We can't wait to see the final versions.

Mike spent an epic 12 hour day taking pictures of Aaron's jewelry. 

The Road to Kellogg, MN.  As it turned out this wasn't the road to Kellogg due to a wrong turn we made, but you can see what a beautiful mistake it was!  We took the scenic route from Funtown to Anner's mom house.  It was about a 3+ hour drive, but luckily it was an absolutely beautiful drive and we made lots of stops.

Road not-quite-to Kellogg, MN

We believe this is the answer to "Where's the beef?".
We found this on the actual road to Kellogg and HAD to stop.

We stopped at Lark Toys, a toy/carousel/cafe extravaganza in Kellog for a soda and 18 holes of mini-golf.  Aaron won by a stroke and a half.  You might wonder about "and a half" but sometimes you have to average a couple of attempts...

Aaron putting in mini-golf.

 One final bit to mention.  Before heading to Funtown, we stopped for a pizza party at grandma's nursing home.  Our nephew Michael met us there.  He was just home from Crazy Hair Day during spirit week at school.  Can't wait to bring this out at his wedding someday.  Note that his hair matches Aaron's shirt perfectly!

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Michael's Crazy Hair

Once home, there's nothing that feels better than your own: glass of water from the faucet, sheets on your own bed and the water pressure of your own shower.  We were asleep within a few hours of getting home.

Moments after we returned home it became an epic fight between Anner-And-The-Laundry... at the time of this writing, load #4 is in the wash.  I believe Anner will triumph.