Rendezvous in Praire Du Chien, WI

What's a Rendezvous you may ask? Well I certainly did ask! We drove up to Wisconsin to visit Karl's sister Sarah and stay at her place for a couple days and the Rendezvous was in town! So...to explain: it's basically a tradition that started a couple hundred years ago when the French would go to the mouth of the Mississippi and meet with the Indians to trade. Mostly fur and items of that sort. Then they would head down the river and stop at different points and rendezvous with the Indians and continue to trade all summer long. The tradition is continued to this day, with people living in old fashioned tents and teepees for the summer and traveling to different towns. Although there are some people with furs and trade items, it's mostly fOOd, fuN, and trInKetS. The thing I like most is probably the feeling you get walking through the village. It's like stepping back in time with people wearing period clothing and some men in moccasins and loin cloths, children running around in trousers and barefoot, and the visible lack of technology. (minus the port-a-potties, but that doesn't really count) I had some of the best fried catfish I've ever had in my life and even got a henna tattoo! Ok, enough of the talk and more of the pictures!

Real root beer! (I didn't get to try some though :/   )

This is the typical kind of tent that we saw everywhere. People lived in  these all summer long.

One of the food vendors. There were all sorts of little tent cafes you could go in to and get all sorts of food.

My fried catfish and chips. I didn't eat all the chips because it would have been grease overload, but the catfish was delicious! It didn't taste fishy and wasn't dried out on the inside.

Sarah's Indian Taco. Basically a regular taco, but on FRY BREAD!

My HENNA TAT!! Pretty cool...this is it in the wet stage. The lady drew it on and then said it had to dry. When it got all cracked, you wash the paste off and are left with a more brown tattoo. (see below picture)

Yes, I am proud of my tattoo! So fun. 

The final version. It was supposed to last 2-3 weeks, but alas, mine did not. 

A little old fashioned eating station.

More tents. I would not want to live like this for 3 months. I like my daily showers too much.

They even had teepees-I would like to see them set this thing up....

And that's all for now, but stay tuned for my next post featuring homemade GINGER ALE!!!! and the LONGEST SCRABBLE Word ever.