4 Counties, 1 Day

This past weekend I was supposed to go camping and hiking with some friends at Devil’s Lake. Unfortunately some of those going ran into issues of being able to go for the whole weekend and so we ended up cancelling the trip all together. Although I would have been a trooper and survived, the weekend started out on a rather rainy and chilly note, so I think it’s best we didn’t go.

So when I had no plans in place for Saturday, I joined my parents on a road trip venture through 4 counties covering about 140 miles round trip.

We started in Waukesha to hit up the Farmer’s Market. I wanted some more kale for the Zuppa Toscana soup I wanted to make now that the chill is in the air and my mom needed to find Buck, the cutting board man, so he could make her a custom board to the dimensions of the sink in her kitchen. We located Buck and she picked out her wood pattern and handed over the dimensions and Buck said he would have it for her hopefully by next Saturday. Speedy delivery folks! I got my kale and we left the market.

We stopped at Sprizzo’s for some breakfast to fuel us up before the venture my parents had planned out. My dad and I both had the Breakfast Stratta, but unfortunately mine was a corner piece and the bread was really tough to cut through, making it impossible to bite through parts of it. I ate enough and wasn’t about to complain over a few bites I really didn’t need anyways. My dad’s piece was great and he was a proud member of the clean plate club.

My mom asked for the quiche special that was zucchini, tomato and Monterrey jack. After a few bites, she realized she got the other special with crab and mozzarella but said it was really good so no complaints by her either.

My dad and I both also tried the Sweet Peach Ginger tea that was on the menu and I fell in love. I took the little box the tea came in to remind myself when out shopping to pick some up. But if I can’t find it in the area, I already scoped it out on Amazon.

The lunch specials looked amazing and I wanted to stay but we had to get on the road. I will definitely have to keep Sprizzo’s in mind for a Saturday lunch. Beer Cheese Soup and a Blueberry Crunch salad – sign me up! 

Then we were off to Johnson Creek. My parents are heading to Paris for a vacation with my aunt and uncle in a few weeks and needed some quality walking shoes. And if you know anything about the Outlet Mall at Johnson Creek, you will know they have a ton of shoe stores. We only had to go into one because my dad found 3 pair (2 for Paris, 1 for work), my mom found a pair and I found new brown boots for the Fall/Winter. The boots are even made with Gortex, yet are fashionable.

Then we ended up buying something at practically every store we walked into – including an amazing deal of 100 chocolate truffles for $30 at the Lindt store. Then when you spend $30 at the store, you also get another pound of dark chocolate truffles for just $5. If you have ever bought these at Walgreens or the like near the checkout, they are usually around $.79 each….well with all we bought, we got them down to $.27 each!

We decided we had better leave the Outlet before we go broke. So it was off to Darien next for Sorg’s Quality Meats and Sausages. I had never heard of this place and had no idea what to expect. If you have ever been to Ray’s Butcher Shoppe on Loomis or Robert’s Specialty Meats in Waukesha, this place is very similar.

They feature excellent looking cuts of fresh meat, as well as sausages and other products to make a great dinner from. I picked up the Italian sausage for the Zuppa Toscana soup, as well as some Chicken Alfredo brats and Bourbon Summer Sausage. I can’t wait to try those.

My parents picked up some Bison sausage sticks, beef summer sausage, Braunschweiger, Portabella brats and a round steak. We walked out with all of that for around $50! It was definitely worth the drive.

Then it was back north to Fort Atkinson for the Simple Life County Store (sorry no pics – left phone in the car). My parents came across this place a few years ago in a magazine and decided to drive out and see what it’s all about. They have visited about twice a year ever since. It’s an Amish bulk food store that buys in mass quantity and repackages for customers into smaller portions at a great price. You can pick up all sorts of baking flours, soup mixes, spices, cookies, candies, treats and more. My cousin has one up in Appleton by her and her son is Gluten Free so she can find special treats just for him at this store and know the products are safe for him to have.

We picked up some popcorn, caramel corn, pesto dip mix, pancake mix, seasoned rye chips and mint chocolate chips. (I plan to use those for some chocolate cookies for the Cookies for Kids Cancer Bake sale and Cookie Swap I participate in annually)

And then after all of that is was time to head back to Waukesha and get me home. Total tally was 140 miles give or take because of some poor directions from Google Maps that put us in a route around a farm field randomly. Total counties we drove through: 4 – Waukesha, Jefferson, Rock and Walworth.

Don’t worry we didn’t drink all of these!

My friend ended up having a cookout/wine night and fire instead of us camping, so I headed over to his house and enjoyed a good time chatting with friends new and old, eating, sipping on wine and just relaxing around a fire.

Wine and a Fire – perfect Fall night!