Katherine and I made it to Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend. I have traveled to Madison for work before and have always wanted to go back and take some photos of their capital building. The drive was about an hour and 20 minutes and was well worth the drive.

Katherine and I experienced a demolition derby at the Dubuque county fair. Neither of us had been to a demolition derby before and had no idea what to expect. It was really interesting and pretty much what we though it would be - cars smashing into each other until one is still functioning. This was the second place car for the 4 cylinder competition. Surprisingly, this car did pretty well driving with the tire pretty much detached from the wheel.

The Mathias Ham House was a home to businessman and lead miner Mathias Ham and was built in 1865. Katherine and I went to take a tour of the house because the admission was free with our museum memberships.

Katherine and I drove down to Davenport for the day. We went shopping and went over to Moline, Illinois to the John Deere Pavilion. It was pretty cool because they had a bunch of different farm and construction equipment sitting around for you to look at. On the inside they even had some equipment that you could get into.

Katherine and I made the 3 hour trip to Des Monies to go to the Iowa State Fair. We have been told that it is a huge event and worth driving to. We were there all day, there was so much to see and do. This picture was taken on the ski lift that they have that takes you to the opposite side of the fair grounds.

Katherine and I went up to Colorado Springs to go visit a wedding venue. Afterwards we went up to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Neither of us had been there before and it was a lot different than the Denver Zoo that we usually go to in Colorado. This zoo was more open and had sky walks that you were above the animals for part of it. This giraffe was in the giraffe feeding area, where you could buy some lettuce to feed the giraffes.

Katherine and I went up to Red Rocks to check out the wedding chapel and venue that they had up there. It was really pretty but required a lot of walking and going up stairs so we ultimately decided that was not the venue that we wanted.

Katherine's family, herself, and I went up to Daniels Park to celebrate Katherine's mom's birthday and have a picnic. It was a little windy up there but it was a really nice evening at the park.