Have you ever noticed a large, rocky bowl at Mexican restaurants, grocers, or while traveling to the country? These kitchen tools are traditionally made of volcanic rock and belong on a sturdy shelf: my eight-inch diameter molcajete weighs in at ten pounds (yes, you could use your molcajete to do bicep curls when you’re not mixing up salsa). The molcajete has two parts—the bowl with three feet formed on the bottom for a sturdy base and a pounding tool, called a tejolote, which looks like an oblong rock.

Although Wisconsin’s Horicon Marsh is hugely visited each year, its size means that it is easy to feel alone in the wilderness. Birds of all sizes and kinds wheel and cry over this gigantic wildlife preserve, filling the blue sky with their wings. Bullfrogs croak from the cattails, and butterflies dance across the marsh. This is the ultimate destination for any nature lover. But first you have to get there!