cheese: part 1 of many

So today I (Heather!) had time off and we decided that we were going to go out and explore Wisconsin. We've been here for 22 days and haven't really seen very much although we've wanted to. Usually on the days we have off, we've been running errands, doing things around the apartment, or resting. But Caro found a cheese map so we decided we were off on an adventure.

Caro outside Circus World

Heather outside Circus World

Our first stop was Baraboo where we stopped to see Circus World. Baraboo happens to be where the Ringling Brothers base was in the winter time. They had all kinds of pictures, circus wagons, and some beautiful art. Because it's off-season there was less to do, but we were there for about an hour and a half and we loved it. We decided we had to go back in the summer time when they have animals and the whole thing is up and running. (It also happens to be in the book 1001 Things to Do Before You Die.) We bought a beautiful poster to frame for our walls too.






Then we grabbed lunch at a little place in Baraboo that was delicious and very hometown America. We sat on wood benches and the booths were small but really cute. We both really enjoyed our food.

Then we were off on our cheese adventure! On the internet there is a map of Wisconsin and it's marked with all the places that make and/or sell cheese. So we chose one of the closer ones to where we were and headed there. The first place was in Wisconsin Dells. From what we could tell, it's basically a huge tourist place like Florida or Gatlinburg. It was kind of surreal when we drove through it at first because there were hotels everywhere and mini golf places and everything else. Luckily it's off-season so it wasn't too crazy.


The cheese place we stopped at was Market Square Cheese.

Caro posing with the gigantic piece of cheese, oh, and a mouse.

Heather posing like a cool kid with her mouse buddy.

It was full of all kinds of touristy stuff, but most importantly CHEESE! We sniffed around before we decided on our purchases. The place was kind of expensive, so we sort of shared looks while we picked out what we wanted. The guy behind the counter was pretty nice and let us sample. He told us that the cheese we were going to try wouldn't taste right because it was room temperature, but we tried it anyway. We picked out a blueberry cheddar (which was good even cold), a brie, and a summer sausage and they took credit. I would stop there again and I think Caro would, too. They had a really nice selection and the people there were friendly.




Then we decided we would head further north and we headed to Rudolph. We went to Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company.



It was in the middle of nowhere. Legit middle of nowhere. On the way back we had to take a dirt road. But the selection of cheese was huge. They were less expensive and the selection was probably twice of that as the first place we went. They even had cute cheese boxes. But we were less impressed with the feel. The display cases for the cheese had a very sterile feel to them, as did the giant viewing window to see the cheese actually being made (which was a cool touch, but we got there too late to actually see any action). We also went to pay and they didn't take credit cards, so luckily we had some cash. They only take cash or credit. I would probably not drive all the way out there again.
We bought some asiago, 7 year aged sharp cheddar, goat cheese with chives, gruyere, and port salut.



After that it was about 4:30 so we headed home. We stopped to eat on the way back. All in all it was a good day and now we have some delicious cheese.