I have a serious case of wanderlust.

I want to go to Provence to smell the lavender and to twirl in the lavender fields. I want to be in the endless sunflower fields just to have all the bright yellow flowers around me. But I can’t because I have to go to work.

Where is this wanderlust coming from? First off, I’m a Francophile. I dream of everything French. Secondly, all these travel and fashion bloggers that I’m following are posting pictures from their time in Provence this summer in the lavender and sunflower fields and I want to be there!

For my 40th birthday, we took a trip to Provence so I can see the lavender and sunflower fields. It was in September 2015. To be honest, I didn’t know that lavender and sunflowers season didn’t last for a long time. I was expecting everything to be in full bloom when we got there but unfortunately everything had wilted. I learned that it is fairly short season. So my dream of surrounding myself with all the Provence goodness didn’t happen on the trip (the trip was still great, by the way).

This past weekend, when we were in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (Fontana, to be exact) to visit Charlie’s dad and to have a relaxing weekend before Luke starts kindergarten, I had this crazy idea…search Google for sunflower fields in Wisconsin, hoping there would be something close to Lake Geneva or in the area.  To my surprise, Pope Farm Conservancy kept popping up in my searches. Then I saw that their Sunflowers Days happen to start on August 12th, the same weekend we were in Lake Geneva!! I then mapped out how far Pope Farms (in Verona, WI) was from from Lake Geneva, which showed it was only 60 miles away.

My excitement quickly grew as I tried to convince Charlie to take a trip to Pope Farm Conservancy on our way home to Chicago on Sunday.  Charlie had to remind me that Pope Farm was in the opposite direction as driving home and that it would be a 2.5 hour drive to get back to Chicago from Pope Farm. I was like…”and your point is?” I mean, we are so close and the sunflowers happen to be in peak bloom this weekend. How can you not go? He finally agreed to go, even though sunflowers creep him out, on the condition that I drive the 2.5 hours home. Done. Deal! Let’s Go!

We got to Pope Farm at around 5:00 PM on Sunday. We walked up the hill from the parking lot and saw nine acres of sunflowers with about half a million sunflowers in full bloom! It felt like the scene from the movie “Field of Dreams.” It looked and felt magical!

Luke’s shirt c/o of Rockets of Awesome.

Charlie told me to start taking pictures but I couldn’t. I needed a few minutes to take it all in. To just admire the rows of sunflowers facing me and to pretend I was somewhere in Provence!  We walked around the sunflowers, watched other families take pictures, saw professional photographers taking family portraits, and scouted out some spots for us to take pictures. It got more crowded later in the evening but the farm was so big that there was plenty of room and photo opportunities for everyone.

Dress from Madewell; Backpack from etsy.

The visit to Pope Farm Conservacy did fulfill my wanderlust. Even if it wasn’t in Provence, I got to stand in the middle of the sunflower field, imagined I was in Provence and loved every minute of it!

The Friends of Pope Farm Conservacy – Sunflower Days webpage has all the information you need to know about getting there, the hours, etc. Visiting the farm is free to the public. Remember to bring bug spray!

Thank you the Town of Middleton the Friends of Pope Farm Conservacy for organizing such a beautiful event! It was worth the detour and drive. Charlie is not as creeped out by sunflowers anymore. And I think we got our Christmas card picture! We plan to be back next year and make this an annual family tradition.