May 28, 2014 LaCrosse

Wednesday, May 28
We begin the day with a ride through beautiful countryside which reminds us a lot of Lancaster County, PA.  Many neat Amish farms, rolling hills and rich dark fields.  We go through several small towns, like Melvina - Frog town USA.  See a few deer, some alive and several dead along the road.  The deer here are larger than those in Texas.

We travel on Deke Slayton Memorial Highway for a bit.  There is a museum that commemorates astronaut Deke Slayton AND bicycling in America.

We reach Cashton and Old Country Cheese just before their 8:00 opening.  Ads said watch cheese being made, but it turns out they have a couple of tv monitors and that's about it.  We wonder around outside and spend some time talking with two workers waiting for milk deliveries.  The deliveries come in milk cans; 20,000 gallons per day!  All is processed into cheese by about 20 employees.  It takes about 10 gallons of milk to make a pound of cheese.

The workers explained a bit about the processing, and how they sell the whey (protein) and sugar that is removed from milk back to farmers who add it to their feed as a substitute for corn.  They also sold homemade candies which we sampled - yum chocolate, caramel and nuts.

We drive a short way to a group of shops recommended by the couple at Culvers, called "Down a Country Road".  Not open yet, though someone stuck their head out and said they'd open in half an hour.  Since we weren't into shopping, we decided to move on.

We stop next at the Center for Commerce and Tourism on Main Street in Onalaska.  When I comment that there is an Onalaska in Texas, she says yes, and there is one in Washington as well - all founded by the same man.   Since it is still kind of rainy, we decide to do laundry and she points us to a nearby laundramat (with wi-fi!) and makes several other helpful suggestions of things in the area.

After laundry, we head down the road to La Crosse and Riverside Park.  We planned to do a paddlewheeler ride on the river, but they didn't have enough customers so it was cancelled.  They did offer tickets for a later pizza cruise at a discount so we opted to do that.

In the meantime we headed up Grandad's Bluff where there is an amazing view of La Crosse.

Next we go to Myrick Marsh, which had been recommended.  It is a beautiful marsh area with walking trails (and no mosquitos - yeah!).  Lots of birds, ducks, herons, and even a beaver.

We head back to the LaCrosse Queen.  There are about `150 of us.  We sit with a couple, Amy and Scott, from Rockford, Illinois and chat.  We see several bald eagles along the way.  Beautiful and sunny!  We go through a railroad bridge which opened and closed for us.

International Garden in Riverside Park.

LaCrosse Queen for pizza and beer.

Railroad bridge swinging closed after we'd gone through.

Statue of lacrosse playing indians, in Riverside Park.

We head back to a pullout half way up Grandad's Bluff where we spend a quiet, peaceful night.

Tuesday, May 27

Began the morning exploring Devil's Lake State Park.  First trail was called Parfrey's Glen and was the first designated Natural Area in Wisconsin.  We saw this pair of cranes in a meadow on the way there.

 The Glen was cool and lush with a lovely melodic stream.

 Scratch 'n' Sniff of the day:  Lovely sweet fresh air!

 Next we did a combination of parts of several trails. The first climbed a steep, rocky bluff and about 2/3 of the way, offered this view of Devil's Lake.

Can you spot the trail

Lovely wildflower along the trail.

 There were several birds, vultures I think, riding the thermals by the bluff and at times they were even with us or even below us!  So graceful!

 Near the beginning of the descent, we came to Devil's Doorway - the rocks behind us to our right.  The return trail was  not quite as rocky as the earlier one.

 The park, which was very busy when we arrived yesterday is very quiet today.
Having worked up a sweat, we went back to our campsite and hit the showers again.

Campsite #90

 We had lunch and then left the park, heading to the Aldo Leopold Foundation
buildings.  He was an early conservationist who wrote "A Sand County Almanac"
Which tells how he took a piece of property that had been stripped, abused and abandoned as worthless and nurtured it back to health.

 There is a museum, films, bookstore and then, a short drive down the road, the small "shack" where he and his family sometimes lived and worked.

Beautiful flowers at "the Shack"

 From here, we headed north and west to a small town named Warren, where we visited the Cranberry Discovery Museum.  Wisconsin produced about 60% of all the cranberries consumed in the US - more even than Massachussets!  There are fields all around the countryside.  They don't grow in water, but they are flooded a few times a season for various reasons.  One time is just before winter so that a thick layer of ice protects them over the winter.  Interesting that they spread sand on the ice, so that when the ice melts it nourishes the plants.  We sampled some dried berries and a cranberry salsa, and bought a small bag to add to our cereal.

cranberry field

The small town of Warren had these little Library boxes which were cute!

 Just a short drive west, we came to the Bicycling Capital of America - Sparta.  Wisconsin has quite a number of biking trails which interconnect and go through old RR tunnels, etc.  You can see the clouds moving in and the wind picked up too, scattering white crabapple blossoms like snow!

We stop at a Culver's, which is a local chain and try their butterburgers and fried cheese curds.  Good burgers, I could live without the curds.  We pull out some maps and several people stop by to offer assistance.  One cute older couple spends 10-15 minutes telling us about various places.  They winter in Arizona and live nearby.

 By the time we found a spot at a nearby Walmart, the storm was upon us.  Lots of rain and wind but it only lasted an hour or so.

May 26, 2014 Cambridge, Wisconsin, Middletown, Devil's Lake, Cranes

May 26, 2014

After a noisy night at Walmart, we decided to head to the small town of Cambridge where we attend the Fire Department’s Annual Memorial Day Breakfast.  French toast, eggs, sausage and applesauce, plus coffee, milk and juice for $4!  

 We got there early, about 7:15 and they had been serving since 6:30.  We ate and chatted with a woman who sat near us.  She  was a letter carrier and said this past Winter was the worst ever.  She suggested a few places we could visit and called a friend over to ask whether we could overnight at their church (the friend, secretary at the church, said sure but we didn’t stay in town that long.)  By 8:00 the line for food was long and by 9:00 even longer!  Diane, the lady we talked to, said that everyone from this town and from the next town over was there.

They had great wi-fi at the firehall, so after a while I went to the Trek (in the adjacent parking lot) and did some writing while we waited for the parade at 10:30.  It rained a little, but stopped for the parade which was on Main Street, of course, and lasted about 20 minutes.  It was led by a color guard of veterans who got a nice round of applause from the crowd.  Greg found a great viewing spot which was up a few stairs in front of a closed shop. 

The middle school and high school bands marched by.  The tuba player from the middle school was the grandson of the people next to us.  They were an older couple who told us a bit about the town.  Greg mentioned the number 20 on the fire house and it turns out it is the number of a nascar driver from the area.  They were big racing fans and kind of ho-hum about the Packers.  They have traveled quite a bit and seemed to enjoy sharing.  The man was retired military, then was a truck driver for 12 years or so,  ran a bowling alley for a few years,  and currently is retired (again).

Assorted antique cars, a float,  a group of people with dogs, a pink contingent who the man next to me proudly said raises almost $30,000 every year,  boy scouts, a Luthern church , kids on bikes, etc.  The  4-H club had a float pulled by a John Deere tractor, and then there was a whole parade of tractors driven by men and women.  The fire department’s equipment brought up the rear.  Many of those in the parade threw candy to the crowd so kids were excited and scrambling.

We decided to head out after the parade finished.  Next stop the International Mustard Museum in Middletown.   It was pretty busy!  The upstairs was a shop, selling a couple hundred different mustards, including French and Polish ones as well as Wisconsin made and others.  They had pretzel sticks and samples, so we tried a few.  They were also selling hot pretzels and you could get any of their mustards.  Greg and I shared one and I had the Raspberry Mustard and Greg had a spicy brown mustard.  Washed down with a local root beer.

Downstairs was the mustard Museum.  They had a video about growing and making mustard (Canada is the biggest producer) which must have been made in the 60’s when they opened.  They had a few thousand mustards on display, with each state represented as well as many countries. Texas and Pennsylvania had quite a few! A few cute stories and cartoons like this “Men in Yellow” poster,  medicinal uses,  etc.

We had to smile when we saw that you could get mustard with personalized labels for birthdays, anniversaries – even as wedding favors! 

  We next headed further north to Devil’s Lake State Park and the town of Baraboo.

It began to rain as we got near the park.  We decided to get a campsite and then go to the International Crane Foundation.  The Memorial Day crowd was leaving in droves, so we were able to get a campsite with no problem.  They had been fully booked for the weekend – all 400+ sites!

The Crane Foundation was about 12 miles or so away and we found it with no problem with directions from the ranger at the park.  There are 15 kinds of cranes throughout the world and this is the only place in the world where you can see all of them!  The Foundation was started by two graduate school ornithologists on one guy’s parents’ horse farm.  They began to collect cranes, many of which are endangered,  with the idea of breeding them to keep species alive as well as learning more about them.  The Foundation has grown quite a bit and has members all over the world. 

They had an introductory film and a young man,  Ben, who talked a bit and then gave us a tour of the four African cranes.  These are beautiful, huge birds!  In addition to Africa they had  the two North American cranes,  the whooping crane and sandhill crane, as well as birds from Europe, and Asia.

We did the rest of the tour on our own and particularly enjoyed a close up look at two whooping cranes, one of which was sitting on a nest which held a single egg.  All of the cranes are in pairs and they mate for life.  They can live up to 70 years in captivity, but only about 20 in the wild.

A gentle rain continued to fall, so we headed back to the campsite, took showers and had soup and sandwiches for dinner.  A fun day!

May 25, Cambridge Wisconsin

Sunday, May 25

We spent most of the morning at the local McDonalds in Cambridge and it became incredibly busy – it was packed!  We have noted in other small towns that McDonalds is quite a socializing spot, particularly for seniors.  Today there are also many families but  a worker tells us they don’t mind if we “sit a spell”.

We head to the National Historic Cheese Making Center  which is housed in an old railroad depot, built in 1880.  Nanette, a lady with a bit of an English accent, and her friend welcome us and seem happy to have interested visitors.  We watch the obligatory introductory film, which actually is quite informative .  Wisconsin is 1^st in the nation for the number of dairy herds and the film says 98% family owned.   They are also the first state to grade cheeses and first to license cheesemakers.

Holsteins

The film explains the cheese-making process from testing of the milk, heating, “knitting” of the curds, pressing, adding salt, shaping and curing.  We learn the difference between the Brown Swiss cows, Guernseys, Holsteins and Jerseys and the butterfat content of their milk.  Holsteins are the typical black and white ones and they produce the most milk but not the “best” as far as butterfat content. Nanette shows us an old cheese-making set-up which includes huge copper kettles, various rakes and stirring implements and more.  Of course, today most of the factories are automated, but it is still a labor intensive job and employs thousands of Wisconsinites.

Next we go to the Little Switzerland of Wisconsin, New Glarus, and stop first at their brewery.  There is a motorcycle rally in the area and they are everywhere!  The brewery has a self-guided “tour” but really not much information.  They do raise their own hops and have beautiful copper tanks.

From here we head into town for a Music Festival.  It consists mostly of one large tent selling food and beer.  Greg tries the New Glarus Totally Naked and we try a beef sausage/jerky thing called LandJaegers.  Very tasty!

We listen to Billy ‘N’ the Parkin’ Lot, a guitar player who accompanies his self-made mixes, and then a group called the Raindogs.  The Polka music will come later, we are told.  We talk with several biker folks who sit at our table and they give us some suggestions of places to go, mostly in Minnesota.  Note the inflatables - can you tell which state we are in?

Billy

New Glarus was a Swiss settlement begun in 1845.  We walked around town and there are many bars, shops and restaurants with a Swiss theme of some sort.  Even the bank sported a huge Brown Swiss Cow.  Stopped at Kennedy’s Ice Cream for a Raspberry Lemon Ice which was delicious and creamy.  One of the many bike trails in Wisconsin comes through here – Riders must purchase a bike pass to use the trails.

 

Greg notes rolled up snow fences along the roads.

Artwork in New Glarus

Swiss street signs, New Glarus

My favorite, Lilies of the Valley, in a New Glarus garden

We head towards Madison and detour through a town called Mt. Horeb to see their trolls.  They are Swiss spirits that are supposed to protect and bring luck.

We take a side road here to Stewart County Park and Lake, thinking it might be a spot to boondock.  It is a nice lake tucked into a lush valley and there are quite a few swimmers enjoying the 80 degree weather.  The park closes at 10PM however, so after a quick walk we head to a Walmart in Madison.