Weekend in Wisconsin, sort of

Friday evening we drove as far as Des Moines, Iowa in order to have more time to sight see while on our trip.  That left just under 4 hours to get us the rest of the way to our first stop-the new Vikings stadium in Minneapolis. While this was not much of a highlight for me I was impressed that some random person recognized Legend as a Border Collie!  Then it was on to our hotel just outside St. Paul and across the river from Wisconsin.

After getting unloaded and settled into the hotel we went over to the WI side and checked out Willow River state park which was supposed to have a nice waterfall.  The girl at the info desk said the walk to the falls was just over a mile but since it took us at least 40 minutes I don't think that's quite right.  But we made it (Legend was hot though) and although it's a nice waterfall people were swimming and playing all over it so not great for pictures.  But here are a few.

 This last one is of the river winding through the park.

Then it was off to dinner and try to get a good nights sleep before the trial.

As for the trial, well, we didn't pass.  But sometimes having things go wrong is more educational than always having things go right. Rather than bore you with the detailed account of the day, i will summarize what I learned.

1.  Finding the hides is not an issue.  If odor is there, she will find it.
2.  If there isn't odor there, she will most likely move on and not be interested.  It's not necessary to keep checking.
3.  If she does happen to spend an inordinate amount of time somewhere but doesn't pinpoint anything-MOVE ON!  Something else is going on, pooling odor or just something she finds particularly interesting.
4.  We need to work on our container indication and handling.
5. Old books are interesting to dogs.

On the positive side she sailed through her interior searches with a Pronounced and we have some projects to work on before the next trial.

Sunday night we had dinner in downtown Hudson, which is adorable with many unique restaurants and shops and a nice waterfront park.

Yesterday we made the drive home and today was back to work!