Okay, so we didn't rob any banks.

Instead we took a road trip to the Mississippi River. Mr Ether documented it in a series of lovely photos, posted at Enriched Geranium. I also took some photos, but they're on film so you'll be lucky to see them within the next 6 months. We drove to Prairie du Chien and followed the Great River Road to Cassville (home of the annual "Twin-O-Rama".)

We stopped to hike at a DNR preserve near Cassville, but the path was so overgrown with poison ivy that it seemed wise to turn around. As is so often the case in that wonderful thing we call nature, there were masses of jewelweed growing with the poison ivy. Jewelweed is a great antidote to poison ivy. It also has seed pods that sproing open when you touch them, and because I'm easily amused, we played with them for a while.
At Cassville we took a car ferry across the river to Iowa. We drove on to Dubuque, crossed the Mississippi again -- this time on a bridge -- and drove up through beautiful southwestern Wisconsin, stopping at the amazing Dickeyville Grotto.
From there we drove partway home and then turned around and went back to the Dickeyville Grotto because one of the chilluns had accidentally dropped her shoe in the road when she was getting into the car and didn't discover it until we stopped to ply the driver with spicy pork rinds, miles down the road. (How do kids manage to do things like that?)

It was much longer than I anticipated it being, but it was fun. We haven't done anything like that in a long time.

When we finally got back to Madison 9 hours later, we gulped some leftovers from the fridge and then headed out again to be treated to the dessert platter and "Happy Birthday" sung in Portuguese by genuine Brazilian lads at the Samba Brazilian Grill. (Thanks, Cinderbelle!)
All in all, a good start to my (gulp) 50th year.