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.