Realizing what dairy country was doing to our waistlines, we had to get moving. Literally. There’s just too much yumminess amongst all those cows.

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Our destination for the first few nights was the Milkhouse Cottage and Gardens near Maiden Rock, where we were joined by a dragon keeping a watchful eye on the patio.

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Next up, the historic Dam Keepers Cottage on Elk Creek Lake in Eau Claire, where we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the water rushing over the dam…umm, and thankfully NOT joined by a ghost. (Didn’t learn until we got there that the cottage was featured in Haunted Wisconsin.)

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Heading from Eau Claire to northeastern Wisconsin, the terrain slowly went from longish hills and lots of beautiful farmland to trees and lakes.

Our “guide” of course found a fun place to check out on the way and in fact about smack dab in the middle of all of Wisconsin. Marshfield, home to the world’s largest Round Barn! Nah. Ain’t lying – it’s there, but there was actually a state fair going crazy there. So, we grooved over to Jurustic Park, buried down a nothing road and well, it’s hard to explain. Just an amazing myriad of incredible thoughtful creative stunning goofiness!

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After chuckling our way through Jurustic Park, we checked into a rental on Loon Lake in Pearson, where Pearl spent a week parked right there by the cabin.

The car may have been parked; we, however, in an endeavor to shed some of those dairy-product pounds, walked several miles daily on the wooded roads surrounding the lake – Susie doused in deet and both of us flailing away at gnats. Didn’t realize your arms could get sore taking a walk!

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It is difficult to briefly introduce the Hodag. Tales of these prehistoric, black or green, fur-bearing, lizard-like creatures that inhabit pine forests, primarily in the Rhinelander area, began with Native American people across the Great Lakes region. The Hodag was then “discovered” by Gene Shepard in 1893 – a long story that began as a practical joke. Now, for more than 130 years, Rhinelander has totally embraced the legend of the Hodag.

When we say the Hodag is everywhere in Rhinelander, we mean everywhere, from high school mascot to:

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Tonight, we are back in Michigan on a peninsula on Lake Superior. In the morning, we’ll briefly be going off-grid, i.e. no Wi-Fi or cell service until Thursday afternoon.

For now, gotta scoot. Need to pack the appropriate survival gear for our visit to Isle Royale National Park and set the alarm for O dark thirty to catch a plane. A seaplane!

Oh, should you not hear from us later in the week, please check the Locate Us link to see if we made it back to the mainland or if someone should send out the troops lest we need to be rescued from stowaway creatures…

After looking around upon arrival, however, we declared it all good and settled in to watch the world go by.

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While watching the world, we also frequently trotted to the front door to watch the buggies clip-clop by.

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And as always, we did a bit of exploring.

The Norskedalen Nature & Heritage Center – Coon Valley, Wisconsin

Here’s a test:

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The Discovery Cranberries Museum – Warrens, Wisconsin

Susie tried harvesting “in the bog” but in the end decided it was the waders that were fun.

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One of the most interesting things for Todd was learning about farming.

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With farms, there are of course animals.

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Finally, after a month of watching corn grow, literally…

…it was time to leave our peaceful spot in Cashton.

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500 miles in 5 days? You must have stopped somewhere other than “scenic over-kills?”

You’re right! Let’s take it from the starting point in Wisconsin.

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Iowa

Fenelon Place Elevator Company – Dubuque

Installed in 1882, by the former mayor and State Senator, J.K. Graves. Why? Seems this prominent businessman simply wanted a lunchtime nap (funny story – link above). Hence, he built “the world’s shortest and steepest railroad,” a *funicular railway now known as the Fourth Street Elevator. Our kind of dude!

*A funicular is a cable railway system connecting points on a steep slope, characterized by two counterbalanced carriages permanently attached to opposite ends of a cable looped over a pulley at the top. The carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. You’re basically sitting on a staircase. (No aching thighs! 🙂 )

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Soaking up national history

First up, the Mines of Spain to learn about French-Canadian fur trader, Julien Dubuque, the first European to settle in what is now Iowa to work the lead mines and trade with the Native Americans. Lead of all things. Plenty of it got shot!

Next stop, Pikes Peak. No, not that Pikes Peak. Like its larger, famous counterpart in Colorado, this bluff in McGregor, Iowa (that few have heard of), was also named in honor of General Zebulon Pike, who mapped the site as a good spot for a fort.

For our final stop in Iowa, we squealed into the Effigy Mounds National Monument parking lot on two wheels – 8 minutes before closing – to [quickly] read about the 200+ ancient Native American burial/ceremonial mounds built more than 1000 years ago, most shaped like animals. See, we were stopping a lot! 🙂

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Minnesota

National Eagle Center – Wabasha

This was one place we had targeted for the whole trip. After attending the fascinating educational session led by Conor and Eagle Ambassador Latsch, we met other rescued eagles, Angel and Was’aka, in the visitor center. With one look from an eagle, it’s easy to see why it won out over Ben Franklin’s idea of a turkey as our national bird and symbol. Up close, they’re breathtaking!

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Lark Toys – Kellogg

Ahem. Back to the toy store.

Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, we’d stumbled on Lark Toys, recipient of numerous awards, including “Top 10 Best Toy Stores in the World,” by USA Today! In addition to the huge store (obviously), there’s a bookstore, a workshop where they craft old-fashioned wooden toys, a cafe, miniature llamas, mini-golf, and even a toy museum.

The BEST part? Well, besides Todd playing with stuff… we really liked the carousel of unique creatures! The vision of one of the founders, who wanted to create the biggest toy he could imagine, each artistically detailed animal is hand-carved from Minnesota basswood and designed to relay a message.

Susie chose the Seahorse, right? Wrong. She flew around on the Pelican, who teaches us to rise above life’s trials, free ourselves from what weighs us down, work together, spit out the bad stuff, and enjoy the good in life!

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Red Wing Shoe Company Museum – Red Wing

In 1861, Silas B. Foot (snicker) opened the Foot Sterling Shoe Factory to manufacture footwear for use around the farm. He later opened the S.B. Foot Tannery to control the quality of leather used in the factory and assisted a young immigrant, Charles Beckman, in opening C. Beckman & Company, Vendor of Boots & Shoes, which later became Red Wing Shoe Company (whew). The same tannery, now owned by Red Wing Shoe Company, still serves as the primary source of their signature leather.

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Wisconsin

Closing the loop

After purchasing a trinket from the Red Wing Pottery Museum, we traveled slightly further north to Hastings, MN on one side of the river before crossing over to Prescott, WI on the other side.

The final leg of our Great River Road journey was 125 miles south to our starting point, thus completing the circle.

During that pretty drive on a beautiful Saturday, we saw at least a couple hundred, as Todd’s daughter used to call them, “mikerlators!”

To cap things off, on one of the many “scenic over-kills,” we finally managed to catch…

In the world of the traveling Olsens, check off two more states!

Two weeks ago, when we met folks around here, everybody asked, “why Cashton?” We laughed and replied, “to relax.” They laughed even harder and said, “perfect, there isn’t much else around here.” The area has one thing, beauty. (And horses, adds one of us.)

True to form, however, our planner wasn’t just relaxing but was also “planning” on the side. Hence, here we go!

From our Reader’s Digest reference book, The Most Scenic Drives in America (Thank you, Mike & Jackie!), she read:

“Like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the Mississippi and the Great River Road are bosom buddies, ever inseparable as they wander about in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa… one perspective on the river… which wanders up one side and down the other. Length: About 470 miles.”

The Mighty Mississippi River? A scenic drive that includes boats? We’re in!

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Todd has seen the Mississippi River but much further south, where it is indeed a LARGE river. Susie, having never seen it, had great expectations for her first peek at the Mighty Mississippi.

Standing stunned atop the hill, we heard a train on the track below. Quick! Let’s get a closer look and pic of that! So, we got back on the road, eyes still on the river and tracks, looking for another “scenic overkill” from which to actually see the train. Too late; missed it. – Geez they move fast! – But, lo and behold there’s a very large barge tow. Yeah! A boat! Really big setup – too big for the camera to get it all. The 350-yard channel is right near shore, and all that other river is shallow!

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As we continued the journey, we were surprised by a sign for “Lock and Dam #8.” Huh? Locks and a dam on the “Ol Man River?”

Confusion reigns!

Safe to say, on this stop, we learned a whole boat full. 🙂 Long story short, the US Army Corp of Engineers saved the day. Starting in the 1920s up in Minneapolis and into the mid-30s, they built a series of locks and dams all the way down to St Louis, MO. All built to raise and hold back the water, channel it, dig it deeper, and then control it so we could move lots of stuff from northern Minnesota all the way down the river! Wow, who knew!

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Needless to say, Todd wanted to stop to see every boat! So, here’s just a few more boat shots because, well, you know. It became weird to think of all these shots of the river, there is only a narrow channel through which the boats navigate.

One big 15 barge tow is equivalent to 1,050 large tractor trailers or 6 locomotives and 216 rail cars! The tow is just cruising downriver with 2 knots of push!

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But enough about boats. How about scenery? Weeks ago, as we neared the Cashton area – we noticed how the hills were more bumpily – [“bumpily,” Honey? Yes, “bumpily.”] – and often sharper. Well, it got more pronounced near the big river. Couple of stops in, we learned more about the Driftless Region. Apparently, there’s a whole chunk of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota that was NOT smooshed by the last glacier period; hence when the water ran off, it carved a bunch of valleys and left even more of these abrupt “bluffs.”

Between the strings of bluffs, the valleys are filled with incredibly fertile farmland.

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We later learned that the Great River Road actually stretches 3,000 miles through ten states. Oi vey, that’s a lot of scenic roadway!