I made it through my 30th just in time to help my husband turn 33. I chose to spend my birthday out on the town, surrounded by many of my closest family and friends. Andriy chose to spend it in the middle of Wisconsin's nowhere with me and one of our closest friends. I think that perfectly illustrates the difference between what constitutes fun for him and fun for me.
My birthday was awesome. We had dinner, went out, enjoyed some libations, danced and didn't remember  some of it. And Andriy was the best guy ever and served as my designated driver.  I don't think i have any photos from that night, but I'm pretty sure someone does. Let's hope they don't end up on Facebook.
Andriy's birthday was also awesome, in a totally different way. Our friend Jeremy Doughty (Jdo) lives in De Pere, WI. We decided to meet somewhere near halfway between here and there to camp. After some research earlier in the week, we found a place called Kettle Moraine State Park, Southern Unit, just west of Milwaukee. The place was great and not at all what I expected. Just from my past camping experiences in Illinois, I'm more accustomed to a big open space with other campers no further than 10 feet away. I'm not saying I like it that way, that's just what I've had available to me. This place was totally different.
First, the place is very big. We stayed at one campground, but there were maybe 4-5 campgrounds over a 22,000 acre area.
Second, we enjoyed our own little pocket of forest nestled on a loop of campsites, none of them very near or visible to the other.

Third, we had miles upon miles of miles of trails to hike, if we chose. Originally, Andriy wanted his birthday weekend camping trip to actually be a "trekking" trip. That is, we would have had everything we needed to camp packed on our backs and where we would stop for the night is where we would make camp. We weren't exactly prepared for that before this weekend, as we would have needed to buy a smaller tent and some lighter gear. So, we ended up just plain old regular camping, but then going on a nice hike one of the days.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Jdo, who had already arrived. He was in charge of dinner that evening, so we enjoyed a nice selection of bratwursts (from Wisconsin of course.) Andriy was our toastmaster, so we had a few shots of Ukrainian vodka along with some beers as well.

As we settled in our tent that night, ready to sleep, we all realized just how chilly the night was going to be. So, we put on multiple layers of clothes, hats included, and bundled up in our sleeping bags, hopeful for a good night's sleep.

The night proved to be somewhat restful, at least as restful as a night in a tent can be, so we woke up a bit after dawn and enjoyed some bagels and bananas for breakfast. We planned our hiking trip, packed our backpack, then set off, in search of the Ice Age Trail, which winds its way north through the entire Kettle Moraine park.

Our hike led us around a lake, up some hills, to a nice view, through the forest, down an avenue of pine trees, until we came to the point that we either turn around, continue on the trail or detour down a country road that would eventually lead us to another lookout point. We decided to make our way to the look out point. We were a little apprehensive at first, considering we were no longer on a hiking trail, but actually walking down a gravel road past farms and homes. Still, it was a pleasant walk until...a dog. Actually two dogs - a friendly looking little yapping dog coming toward us quickly and a big, not so friendly dog with a huge head charging toward us with determination, with a big angry bark. I told the guys, just keep walking, don't act scared. But, the big dog cut them off, literally ramming its big head into them. They froze, scared to make a move. I was terrified that the dog would attack Encountering such unexpected danger made me think, should we have brought some sort of weapon with us? What if someone gets bitten?

But, thankfully, no one did. The guys kept walking, the big dog let them go, and we hurried away from that country house as quickly as we could. In the clear, but clearly shaken, we cautiously continued on our path, wary of any more country houses with angry dogs. But we didn't encounter any more. We finally came upon the lookout point and headed up the steep hill. Unfortunately, we got to the top, rather winded, only to find that the lookout point was overgrown and we couldn't see anything but trees and bushes. Worth it? Not at all.

Lesson learned, we finished our hike and ended up at our camp.

We all were soooo hungry and nothing tasted better than the olivie` salad that we already had prepared.  Andriy prepared the fabulous lunch he had planned for us, which was shashlyk (pork shish-ka-bobs) over the coals of our fire. It was delicious. We replenished our calories lost with the salad and shashlyk, which of course made us feel sleepy, plus it was started to drizzle a bit, so we all decided to go chill in the tent. Chilling in the tent led to a little nap. We all felt revived post snooze and the drizzle had let up, so we resumed our time by the fire, drinking beers and chatting.

At this point in our trip, things started to change for us...we had known the weather forecast called for rain and we were keeping a close eye on it. We had the drizzle mid-afternoon and hoped that it wouldn't get any worse than that. Checking the radar on our phones, we saw that there was a good chance we would be wrong. Undeterred, i began making the evening meal, which was chili over the fire. Alas, the rain started. The chili was finished, and with no canopy over our campsite, we decided to move dinner into the tent.

We ate dinner half-heartedly, uncertain of the future of our night. We kind of sat around for a bit on our air mattresses, looking around the tent for leaks, listening to the rain. Andriy and i shared stories of our past rainy night experiences spent in this tent with Jdo. Those nights had been wet, uneasy and sleepless. Our tent is only slightly waterproof, and only up to a certain point. Looking at the radar on my iPhone, it appeared that the rain could continue through the night. Finally, someone mentioned the word....hotel. Not wanting to feel like cry babies who can't cut it, we threw the idea around and weighed the pros and cons. We finally came to the conclusion that it would be totally worth it. I checked out hotel options in nearby Whitewater, found an inexpensive but not too trashy looking hotel, called to check on availability and booked it.

We packed up our basic essentials (backpacks, cooler w/ beer), zipped up the tent, and left all the wet, muddy mess behind.

Arriving at the hotel, we looked at each other, all secretly relieved that no one had nixed the idea and suggested that we "tough it out." The room was warm and dry, there was a shower (sweet nirvana) and the beds were relatively comfortable. None of us were awake past 11:00.

We awoke in the morning, and all agreed we had made the right decision. The rain had continued through the night. We probably would have felt like big giant pansies if it hadn't, so thank goodness. After checking out, we drove back to our campsite, zipped open the tent and assessed the damage. Jdo's air mattress was wet and there was a big puddle right in the middle of the tent. Cleaning up was not going to be fun, but at least we slept dry and soundly that night. We packed up, said our goodbyes and headed back home.

All in all, the trip was great. It was wonderful seeing Jdo and Wisconsin's state park system treated us well. We will definitely be back up there to camp next year. Maybe we'll check out what Door County has to offer.