My weekdays weren't too exciting this week. Sometimes that's the case when weekends get fuller and fuller. I am still on a Yummee kick, so I visited on Monday to try the stars and hearts jellies. I now have a favorite drink: mango peach punch with mango star jellies.
Tuesday I went for my 3 mile walk. While this was supposed to be a daily thing, it seems to now become weekly with events, social media prep, and social time.
Wednesday was another trip to Yummee with a friend followed by a walk around Tiedeman Pond, one of my favorite walks. Unfortunately, we were at high bug time, so it wasn't a very enjoyable walk. We still saw many birds including an up close visit from a red winged blackbird.
Thursday we hit up Chili's for their meal deal. It is so worth it. I might need to get back for the watermelon margarita. We also stopped at Crumbl. I hadn't been there in a while so broke down to get the peanut butter cookies and cream.. It wasn't super great so wished I had saved the visit for another time.
Saturday we went to the Hodag Heritage Festival. Day trips like these mean early mornings and lots of driving. While much of my family is from Marshfield, I have never been to the Wausau and Rhinelander area. I was quick to fall in love.
Our first stop was at Polka Dotted Pie in Merrill. I had it saved in my "Want to Go" list for no specific reason. We were welcomed with samples of their new summer menu items, which were all fantastic and encouraged us to return. For this visit, we just grabbed some lemon bars and hit the road.
Once we got into Rhinelander, the first stop was to see the Hodag. This has to be one of the most iconic roadside attractions in Wisconsin!
Then it was off to the festival! We enjoyed some food truck goodies, Hodag Root Beer and Hodag Watermelon Soda. I did like the watermelon soda a lot more! There were a ton of fun vendors, some hodag specific and others had more general cryptid items. We did see Mothman and Hodag cosplayers!
Fit check: Hawaiian from Big Fun Shirt Co., Water Bottle Bag from Amazon, Earrings from KittenKarnage, Nails from OPI, Necklaces made by me <3
The pioneer museum was open for everyone so we walked around there for a bit. Of course, I had to see the Hodag calling contest. Later, we watched the release of the Hodag. Videos of both events can be seen on my TikTok (and below)!
I got Hodag stickers, Hodag earrings, and a Hodag t-shirt!
Well, after a great day of Hodag-ing, it was time to start heading home. Our first stop was to the cowboy Hodag statue in town along with Hodag park.
We went back to Merrill to visit this River Rat statue.
With a storm creeping up behind us, we did one final stop in Plover, WI for the World's Largest Potato Masher. Honestly, I would have loved to stop at a few more places but I am learning not to push my limit!
On Sunday, I took my friend to the Syttende Mai festival in Stoughton. We stopped at the Sons of Norway first for Norwegian delicacies, learned about Stoughton heritage at the Stoughton Historical Museum and then watched the parade.
I bought my second Wisconsin festival sticker of the weekend for my Festivals and Events videos. To end the week, I added both the Syttende Mai and Hodag Festival Stickers to my iPad cover. I came to the realization, I might need more covers!
Happy Trails!
~The Tacky Tourist
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