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.
So, we said goodbye to Radish in Cashton and began slowly making our way north and east.
Just had to sneak in one more little horse photo.
Cruised through the Mindoro Cut, located at the highest point on State Hwy 108. Hewn out of hard rock in 1907-08, using horse-drawn equipment and hand tools, to a depth of 74′ and width of 25′, it is the 2nd largest hand-hewn cut in the nation. Impressive!
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.
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.)
YOU photograph the dam
The dam
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!
(Guess what Clyde retired from?)
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!
Today, the final leg of our scenic drive out of Wisconsin took us through Rhinelander.
Home of the what??
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:
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…
Our Travels 
That all looks so fun, my husband has family in Wisconsin we always loved it when we got to visit!
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Hi, Krissy. Yesterday morning we returned from our “island” trip (Isle Royale Nat’l Park) to the seaplane base on the U.P. (exciting!) and in the afternoon left the lovely state of Wisconsin & all that tasty, dangerous food. 😉
Speaking of visits, we were happy to hear you & the family had a fantastic time in Palm Coast. Good times!
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