MO to WI Epic Road Trip - Part 5: Baraboo & Devil's Lake State Park

Bara-who? Baraboo, Wisconsin!  
What do hiking, the circus, and tasty local craft-brewed beer have in common?  You can get your fill of each in Baraboo.

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Devil's Lake State Park
"Situated along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, "Devil's Lake State Park offers magnificent views from 500-foot quartzite bluffs overlooking a 360-acre lake. Visitors enjoy nearly 30 miles of hiking trails, lakeshore picnic areas, swimming beaches, paddling opportunities, and year-round naturalist programs."

Find out all about this great park and what you might most enjoy doing on your visit here.  Whether you decide to take a hike up to Elephant Rock from the East Bluff Trailhead or enjoy time in the lake at the North Beach, there is something for everyone.   If you like to see the site that an area is often best known for in pictures, then be sure to get up to Balanced Rock from the Devil's Doorway Loop trailhead.

This was my beautiful view from the North Shore Boat Landing:

I was on the hunt for my Ice Age National Scenic Trail stamp, so I headed over to the Visitors Center:







Since I was able to visit in the early fall, the weather was incredible and there was hardly anyone else there at the park after work.  On such a wonderfully warm day, it is hard to imagine that looking out from that same shoreline in the winter and you would be able to see ice fishing shanties.

If you missed Part 4 of this series and my experience on the Ice Ace Trail, check it out here.

With my NPS Passport Stamps obtained, now it was time to meet up with a friend for supper.




Chow Time

After a full day of hiking and enjoying the lake, you are sure to have worked up an appetite and will be ready for tasty food and drinks.  I highly recommend going to Tumbled Rock Brewery & Kitchen which is just down the way one mile from the Devil's Lake State Park Visitors Center.

They have an incredible food selection from lamb to bison, shrimp to fresh-baked sourdough bread.  And it wouldn't be a brewery visit without a sampler flight of five for those of age who enjoy craft beer.

Will you have more time to explore?  Keep reading to learn what adventures await in town!


City of Baraboo

Baraboo most certainly has the small-town feel and a rich history that might surprise you!  If you are planning a visit their webpage has videos and resources to help to take advantage of what they have to offer.

Did you know that this was the home of the Ringling Brothers Circus?  Now you can go and visit Circus World Museum, stay in the Ringling House Bed & Breakfast, the International Clown Hall of Fame, and more!

If you will be nearby in June, don't miss the Big Top Parade.  Click the image here for a full list of 20 Best Things to Do!



Be Country Again

As I drove back to Verona to my hotel through the beautiful countryside I heard the perfect song for coming home after this adventure, Country Again by Thomas Rhett.  I echo his sentiment as I travel the backroads and small towns of America: "I thought, "Man, it feels good to be country again."

That's not all I have from south-central Wisconsin, join me next for Part 6 of this travel series, One Night in Paoli!

Have you ever visited, live in, or explored Wisconsin?
Information courtesy of Echo Schneider

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Meet Echo Schneider, Chief Adventure Officer

 
Overworked, burned out, and with waning loyalty to an industry that had lost its way and was no longer true to itself.  Of course, career burnout was at an all-time high in my sector and amongst the worst in any field.  It wasn’t all even just about work, though my perfectionism often got the best of me there more than other parts of my life.  I look back and see that I was overwhelmed and questioning so many areas of my life.  Was I doing the right things? From diet to products I bought, from how I was involved in the community to time I was spending with family, and from how I was walking out my faith and showing up in a meaningful way to my world. In this craziness is where I found myself.
 
Healthcare (watch my fingers make air quotes as I say that word and use the term loosely at best) in the US had long been bought and paid for and was no longer masking their symptom management and disease maintenance focus.  It had lost its focus on health; they could give you a pill or cut you open.  But to nurture your health and foster your body’s God-given ability to heal itself, they no longer knew how to do that.  Or worse, no longer desired to be in the business of prevention and healing.
 
As so many professional people were doing in the modern economy, we, as healthcare professionals, we’re doing more with less.  Mandatory overtime, poor ergonomics, and complete lack of an environment to practice self-care were the norm.  And to make it worse?  Because of our specific industry, we added in a loss of our medical freedoms just to stay and do our jobs.  The days of job security were long gone, and I watched in fear as friends and colleagues in sectors across the board were being laid off just to help top leaders move the stock up for shareholders.  How terrifying that this could be the reward for lifelong dedication and hard work!
 
At home, it didn't feel much better.  I fought to find a non-existent work-life balance and to be present while feeling exhausted (have you ever come home from work to fall asleep on the couch and finally be awoken when your Mom calls? Tell me this isn’t just me!).  I was disappointed in myself seeing my self-care fall away, time with friends and family slipping by, and I wasn’t spending the time I wanted serving with my church family or in my community.  
 
Add to that the confusion and frustration of what should have been simple daily choices.  What foods should I be eating? Is this trendy thing something I should try?  Wait, is the product good or bad, I paid more for it, but I feel like I saw an article on them that there was a recall or they were green-washing.  So frustrating and such a time-suck trying to keep up and have the health and abundance our family deserved!  I felt like at every turn that I was running to keep up and felt like I ultimately just found more of the same lies in the name of profits, and more ways my health was ultimately paying the price, yet again.
 
How could anyone thrive in this culture when even those who were well educated and seeking out something better faced with such daunting challenges?  I know, first-world problems, but I longed to create something more, a legacy for myself and others.  To break generational chains and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it stuck in this rat-race.
 
Set the stage for that something.  I have, for so much of my life, been interested in learning, growing, and being a student of personal development.  From an investment with top leadership development companies through their programs for years to Law of Attraction to Conscious Language and so many others, I was finding the mentorship and teaching I needed to make the changes I so desperately desired.  
 
There wasn’t an overnight shift or an immediate awareness to change, but I began to find my path slowly and as a result, was investing myself in new ways.  I was raised by a wise and visionary Mother who had shown me what it was to be an entrepreneur.  I always admired that title and was drawn to it in many ways.  As I dabbled in businesses from my youth through college and beyond, I was picking up pieces of freedom and a stage where I could work for myself to create something new.  
 
As the years went on, I kept pushing myself in that path.  I was helping others, and I was welcoming a team of like-minded friends and family to come with me.  This was possible; we were doing it!  It wasn’t easy, we were doing a side-hustle while still being full-time professionals and wives and Mothers, but we were doing it none the less.

I'm so excited to have found a platform to speak truth. To show up for others in "true health" in ways that I didn’t know could exist when I started down this path.  But I know now that we don't have to settle any longer.  Any of us, friends!  It's time to live the great adventure that you were made for.
 
Now it’s time to move beyond business beyond vocation.  Now we are building a blessing.  That has so many meanings, one being the definition of “a herd of unicorns,” in case you didn’t know.  I was given the title of ‘unicorn’ from a dear friend when she came to know me and saw what I was capable of achieving.  And now it’s my turn to see that light in you.  Join me, and together, we can create a community and movement with a vision to change it all.
 
I don't care what your background is.  What education you received growing up in business, finances, or medicine.  Those things don't matter.  We are walking a new path to freedom in all areas of our lives.
 
I'm writing a new future and destiny for myself and my family, and I won't journey alone.  A mentor taught me to carry the confidence that God has called me to rise, but I will not rise alone.
 
I'm reaching out my hand to you (don't worry, I recently used a plant-based hand sanitizer) so that you are not alone; we will do this together!  
 
You are so worthy.  
 
Your family and your dreams are worth it.  
 
Together we can do this, but you must take the first step. ðŸ‘Š

I can't wait to connect with you via text, email, or on social media!

Contact

Adventures 4 #RealLife ~ Echo Alexzander
Echo Schneider

Highlandville, MO 65669
USA
Phone: 2082415018
Email: echo.schneider@gmail.com

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