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!

While reloading the car located at the top of the hill in Appleton, we discussed crossing the state approximately 160 miles due west to Cashton for our next rental. Should we keep it simple and travel as the crow flies? Us? Of course not.

Why? Because it was a perfect 74-degree day for a stroll in the garden.

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Man, oh man were the butterflies ready to show off. They were everywhere! So much so that one had to be careful when taking a step. Here are just a few:

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The jungle-like conservatory was full of growth and exotic blossoms!

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Although we could have stayed for hours, we finally left the conservatory to find the whole outdoor garden was lush and blooming, as well.

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When they noticed our interest, the beekeepers took a break to bring us a sample of fresh honey. Yum!

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Interestingly, as we got further west, the topography changed.

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Our destination, the Village of Cashton, is in the middle of Wisconsin’s largest Old Order Amish community, with 2,500 Amish residents. At approximately 25,000, the Wisconsin Amish population is the fourth largest in North America, fewer than only Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Who knew!

And with buggies, come… horses!

🙂

The morning after we saw Tahquamenon Falls, we loaded the car and drove out across the field. Forward ho! Time to change states!

As we took in the views of the Hiawatha National Forest, our navigator spied a “scenic drive” down Pt Detour. (Yes, that’s what it’s called, Pt Detour. Not kidding.) Plunking her finger on the map, she cheerfully indicated “all” we’d have to do is drive to the end of the peninsula for what should be fantastic shots of Big Bay De Noc off Lake Michigan. Driver said, sure!

That last shot shows Little Summer Island, which is basically at the head of the famous Green Bay.

Anyhoo, after our “short” detour… Wait. Stop right there. “Short”? Hardly! It was 24 miles each way. [SIGH] Okay, okay. After our “lovely afternoon drive on the l-o-n-g, albeit pretty, peninsula” – [better?] – and now armed with the friendly shopkeeper’s advice of where to stop for melt-in-your-mouth cheese popcorn once we crossed into Wisconsin, we were on the way again. To cap off our time in Michigan, we even scored four pounds of fresh cherries from a pop-up roadside fruit stand. Yes! The thoughtful vendor also provided “pit cups” so we could enjoy the cherries while on the road without spitting the pits at each other. 🙂 Ptui!

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Who knows, it might be fun to follow it from one end to the other someday! Of course, we’d need a boat. Its 2,571 miles are interrupted by the Great Lakes.

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Forget flags or mottos, shoot, 6.5 minutes in, we stopped at our first cheese shop. This is Wisconsin, after all. And, holy cow, what tasty cheese! (“Holy cow?” Get it. Sometimes we crack ourselves up.)

With numerous cheese products selected and stowed, we made our way to a riverside cabin in Appleton, Wisconsin, to find…? More stairs!

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In the end, we settled into the little cabin on the Fox River and stayed put for several days, catching up on blog photos, eating cherries, and watching the nature around us while Todd claimed victory at numerous card games. Lucky rascal!

Ah…….

After visiting the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, there were still so many things we wanted to experience on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but only one day left in which to do so. Looks like we under-planned exploring the U.P.! So, Mackinac Island goes on the list for another time. For now, we backtracked slightly to Paradise – Paradise, Michigan, that is – to see one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi (Niagara, of course, being the largest), Tahquamenon Falls. Yeah, try and say that again or better yet, get the Nav system to understand what you’re saying so you can find the place! 🙂

Upper Tahquamenon Falls, at 50 feet tall and 200 feet wide, is the largest waterfall in Michigan. During the spring, more than 50,000 gallons of water per second drops over the Upper Falls!

Oh, don’t worry. We’ll be going back up.

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Was the climb worth it? WOW!

Hey, wait, it’s… brown? Yep. Due to tannins from the cedar and hemlock, the water is an unusual – and oddly mesmerizing – amber color, hence the local nickname of “Root Beer Falls.” Some folks nearby declared them “Whiskey Falls.” Others said, “Iced Tea.” There’s something for everyone.

It’s also quite foamy. The low mineral content of the Tahquamenon River combined with the decaying organic matter and the turbulence generates a large amount of foam. Like the top of a good root beer, right?

That was stunning! What’s next? Well, the route to the Gorge View path involves another trek on the aforementioned (and already climbed) 94 stairs. At least we’d be going down this time. So off we went, down the 94 stairs and back up the trail, only to find…

Now considering the first climb as simply a warm-up, we squared our shoulders and began the trip down to the Gorge View.

As it flattened out (thank goodness), we followed the long boardwalk along the gorge with its massive trees, but the path itself seemed to prevent many pictures (can’t see the forest for the trees) until we came upon the most interesting tree. The bark “spirals” all the way to the top, as if the tree’s being wrung out like a cloth. Anybody that knows about this condition, please share!

Eventually, of course, we made it to the bottom of the gorge.

So, again, was it worth it?

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During the long trip back, one of us got a tad grumpy. Nah, we actually had fun the whole way up!

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The Lower Tahquamenon Falls splits into two halves each more than 100 feet wide and 22 feet tall.

We had a great last day on the Upper Peninsula!

Oh, my aching thighs…