I thought I would maybe be able to get a true full night's sleep, but I still woke up several times throughout the night, and I was even up at 5:00 a.m. wide awake and ready to go for the day. So much for the full night of sleep and sleeping in. Plus, the hotel bed was probably the most uncomfortable one I've ever slept on (more about that later...). Nonetheless, it was still a good trip since we could enjoy ourselves knowing Eli was in good hands.
Anyway, here is a picture of Eli taken before we left my parents' house (still sporting his outfit from our family pictures with Ian's family earlier in the day). I have to send out a thanks to Aunt Megan for the khaki pants which worked well and helped him fit in with the blue/khaki color scheme for the pictures (these pants were size 6-9 months!).
We made a few stops on our way to Prairie du Chien. My riding tolerance is not that long before I am ready to take a break. We also enjoyed the scenic river route on our ride.
Once we arrived at our destination and after we checked into the hotel, Fort Mulligan's was the restaurant where we ate supper. It does not look like much of a place on the outside, but the inside was neat, and they had really good food.
We saw a lot of other motorcyclists on our trip, but this was probably the most interesting type of vehicle we saw which also happened to be parked right by us the next day:
We also toured more sites of the city the next day, but it was quite chilly so we had to stop at Wal-Mart first to get some more gear. In the first picture below, I am demonstrating the first way I attempted to keep warm with my headband worn over top of my hood...
Quite the look, I know...but it gets even better...
I know the leopard print does not quite go with the black leather jacket, but at this point, I was more about function than fashion. Speaking of fashion, here is Ian modeling his new "manly" gloves purchased from the women's department along with my new hat. It is a little hard to tell, but these gloves had the flap that goes over top the fingers in order to also serve as mittens, but Ian chose to leave the flap down secured with a cute little button.
We stopped at The Cannery, the biggest craft/gift store I have ever visited! It had 2 levels of crafts and gifts and really unique things everywhere you looked.
Of course we had to make a stop at Cabela's since it is a hot spot of the town.
Below is a wildlife display inside the store. 
The last scenic stop on our ride was Pike's Peak.
Overlooking the Mississippi river.
In case you were wondering about the hotel bed mentioned above and its inability to provide a good night's sleep, here is the reason:
Yes, our room was equipped with a king size Sleep Number bed. No matter what setting it was on, it was either way too firm or way too soft. There was no "just right" setting that I could find, so if you are in the market for a new mattress and are considering one of the Sleep Number beds that are constantly advertised on TV, I wouldn't recommend it. On the other hand, the hotel offered a really good hot breakfast the next day, complete with a real live "omelet chef." Below is a view overlooking the balcony from the second floor.
We had a really enjoyable time, but we were both looking forward to getting back to see Eli. It is hard to believe it has been 2 years already since we got married.
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