Posts tagged #sommar

It's the Little Things that Make you Happy in Life

 

The Tour of the Midwest?

Minneapolis

    A couple of weeks ago part of W's family did a midwest tour and visited both W's brother in Minneapolis and us here in Madison. W and I drove to Minneapolis to see them all there before we would all travel back to Madison together. 

    För ett par veckor sedan kom W's familj och hälsade på här i Minneapolis och Madison området. Vi åkte till Minneapolis och mötte upp W's familj där. 

 
 

Turnblad Mansion

    W's mom had already talked about a few things she thought would be nice to visit. One of them being IKEA, of course, but also this mansion called Turnblad Mansion. It was pretty fascinating to walk around in the mansion and see all the Swedish inspired and Swedish things he purchased and built for the mansion. 

    W's mamma hade kollat upp lite olika svenskheter i Minneapolis som hon tyckte vi kunde besöka. IKEA förstås, men även ett gammalt hus som var byggt av en svensk. 

 
 

    They have a store at the Swedish Institute (where the mansion is) where they sell Swedish and Scandinavian/Nordic items, OVERPRICED of course. We bought some Daim at IKEA, and a smaller bag at the Swedish institute was twice as expensive. WHY does it have to be this way? I mean, you can get American candy over in Sweden for pretty cheap, but yeah, I think we are increasingly seeing more and more Scandinavian, and European for that matter, sweets and food over on this side of the ocean. The other day for instance, I went to Woodmans, and found Ballerina cookies. 

    Vid svenska institutet, där museet ligger, har de även en affär där man kan hitta lite svenska godsaker. Tyvärr så är allt väldigt dyrt där, som det ju ofta är på museer. Men det finns andra helt otippade ställen man kan hitta lite svenskheter på, som till exempel den vanliga mataffären här i Madison.

 
 

IKEA

    At IKEA we didn't only buy Daim, we actually bought some furniture!! YAY! And textiles, as in sheets and nice duvet cover!! It's amazing how nice I think the IKEA sheets and duvet covers are compared to the American ones, well they don't really have duvet covers per see, some of them do, but yeah anyway. 

    Vi köpte inte bara Daim på IKEA, utan även lite möbler förstås. Och lakan och påslakan. Helt otroligt vilken skillnad det är på texturen av IKEAS lakan och de man hittar på affären här i USA, iallafall har jag inte lyckats hitta några riktigt bra lakan jag gillar här. Är så himla nöjd med mitt IKEA påslakanset. 

 
 

    Our apartment is really small, so we needed some smart solutions for the bathroom for instance, but also our closet. We also bought an awesome bookshelf (a sturdy one) that we put in the living room. We have so many books!! I don't have any pictures of our new furniture in the apartment, so I'll have to show you that part some other time!

    Vår lägenhet är riktigt liten så vi behövde hitta lite smarta lösningar till både badrummet och vår garderob. Har inte riktigt någon bild på de lösningarna vi hittade i slutändan men får kanske visa det vid ett senare tillfälle.

 
 

    Hope your Thursday is Awesome!

Hiking Magnolia Bluff County Park in Wisconsin

Adventure Tuesday

Magnolia Bluff

    As I have mentioned earlier there are two different types of parks, State Parks where you pay an entrance fee, and then the County Parks that are completely free!!

    There aren't any real mountains in Wisconsin, but there are some cliffs, bluffs and hills. This hike is literally just up a hill/bluff where you can see some views, and then the trail continues into the forest.

    But what a forest. It's a beautiful oak forest, mixed with other deciduous species.

    As many other trails we have ventured out on, these trails are used both by hikers and and cross country skiers during the wintertime. Here, you can also run into a horse or two, as there is excellent horseback riding too, and who wouldn't want to ride along into a deep oak forest?

    More trees, as we continued our walk, and more plants, fungi and insects! Here in Wisconsin there are lots of different types of vines, growing up the tree trunks, they are so pretty. You can see their attachment to the tree trunks, it's pretty fascinating.

    Of course I couldn't help myself and took a lot of pictures of all the tiny little details I could see.

    Eventually at the end of the trail we got into this interesting pine forest, which must have been planted, but we aren't sure. After that, we arrived at the same place where we started, at the bluff. One thing is for sure though, it was a very pretty walk through the forest!

    Do you have a favorite forest to walk through? I am excited about the fall colors in all of these deciduous forests!