It’s always a bit of a letdown coming home after a great vacation — particularly when you have to go straight into work the next morning and realize when you get there that you only have three weeks left, which would be a good thing if you weren’t moving the day after your last day of work.

We tempered it a little, though, by coming home a different route, through Wisconsin and Illinois. Wisconsin is home to a few of my favorite places: The Norske Nook* in Osseo and Rice Lake, and The Chocolate Shoppe**, Pop Deluxe and Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry*** in Madison.

*best. pie. ever.
**ice cream. so good.
***world’s best cheeseburger