Hello Everyone. Greetings from La Crosse, the biggest town on Wisconsin’s stretch of The Great River Road. It’s definitely cooled down a bit this week and the first hints of fall are starting to show up on the edges of the leaves and in the products in the stores. Pumpkins are popping up on farm stands and apple orchards are starting to open. I will hold on to summer as long as I can, but I’m really looking forward to the fall as well. It’s been an excellent and busy week out here on the road, taking me from the middle of the state out across the Driftless Region and finally up along the Mississippi River to La Crosse. I’ve explored some of Wisconsin’s early history and even learned one story about the state’s badger connection. It’s been such a busy week so I better get right to it.
When I left you last week I was on my way out to Devil’s Lake State Park, which was a beautiful lake and a great little park. I enjoyed going for a swim and found a place to recycle my recyclables. I really love State Parks, and Wisconsin’s have been pretty good so far. I spent the night in Baraboo and got up early Thursday morning and went for a delicious breakfast at the Broadway Diner. Then I enjoyed a little walk around Baraboo’s downtown area. As I mentioned last week, Baraboo was the birthplace of the Ringling Brothers Circus and its home for many years. I was happy to see the town has embraced that part of its history without taking it to the weird extreme some towns would have. The Ringlings’ father was a harness maker in Baraboo and he and his family lived above the harness shop downtown. He and his wife had ten children – eight of whom would live to adulthood. Five of those children would found the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1894. They would eventually bring their other two brothers on board and go on to buy Barnum and Bailey’s Circus in 1907 and build one of the largest entertainment dynasties America would ever know. Baraboo’s opulent downtown theater is named for Al Ringling and there are subtle and not-so-subtle nods to the famous family all over town. The centerpiece of Baraboo’s Ringling connecting is Circus World, a museum located on what was once the circus’ winter quarters. I love the thought of elephants being walked through downtown Baraboo streets to get some exercise (and saw the pictures to prove it). This is a good circus museum which I had been to before and houses the largest collection of old circus wagons in the world. They do have live performances throughout the summer, but I arrived just days too late to catch one. It was still fun and when I finished there I headed on south to Dodge State Park. Named for the first governor of Wisconsin, this is a pleasant state park surrounding two little lakes. I went on a nice 4 mile hike through the park and was really taken aback by the incredible fields of goldenrod that were there. It was nice to get out on the trail for a while and I enjoyed my hike and then headed down to Dodgeville for the night.
Friday morning I got up and went back north to check out the infamous House on the Rock. I had heard of the House on the Rock for years, and although I never really understood what was so appealing about it from the descriptions I read (especially at the steep admission cost of $30), I decided to give it a look while I was there. I realized within minutes of my arrival that this place defied description and was a truly magical place. The actual house on the rock was built by Alex Jordan Jr. beginning in 1945. He designed and built the house himself using local materials atop a huge rock formation called Deer Shelter Rock. Working around the natural rock formations and trees, Jordan built room after room in incredibly eclectic fashion with Japanese influences and windows looking down at the forest below. After a write-up in a local Madison paper, people started dropping by to try and get a look at this House on the Rock, and after enough people came, Jordan decided to start charging them admission. He brought in $15 that day, $5,000 that year and $34,000 the next. From there, he was off and running, collecting things, building things and constructing new buildings to house it all. It’s resulted in a world class collection of kitsch, but one displayed in such a brilliant and whimsical way that it’s an immersive experience I can only liken to Alice wandering into Wonderland. The lights and sounds and music are all overwhelmingly fun and so over-the-top that I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying themselves there. The centerpiece is definitely the “World’s Largest Carousel”, featuring 269 characters collected from around the world and refurbished in their workshops. None of the final selection is a horse. I could have sat and watched it for hours. I had a smile from ear to ear for the whole six hours I was at House on the Rock and would definitely go back in a heartbeat. It’s by far the greatest roadside attraction I’ve ever seen. I left feeling overwhelmed and giddy and definitely knew there was no way to follow it up that day. I stopped in Mount Horeb for a quick beer and then boogied on back to Madison. I had a delicious Friday Night Fish Fry at Reverend Jim’s Roadhouse out by the casino and then called it an early night.
I was up early on Saturday and went for a morning workout before heading into downtown Madison. I had tickets to the Penn State-Wisconsin game and wanted to give myself plenty of time to park and get to the stadium. I parked near the Capitol and then wandered down State Street, stopping for a beer or two along the way.
Washington Island is just a quick 30 minute ferry ride from the tip of the Door County Peninsula, but you have to cross Death’s Door to get there. The story I heard was that Potawatomie and Winnebago (now referred to as Ho-Chunk) Indians occupied opposite sides of the passage. One day they both sent war parties in boats to attack the other side but a storm came up and killed all of the warriors who set out that day. When they later recalled this story to French trappers, the passage was named Porte des Mortes or Door of Death. This is where Door County gets its name.
I had a wonderful visit to Washington Island and crossed Death’s Door twice without incident. The island is a pretty good sized rock and traces much of its European heritage back to Scandinavia. I read that Washington Island has the highest concentration of Icelandic-Americans in the country. I learned about some of the island’s cultural history at the Jacobson Museum and some of its fishing and boating history at the Maritime Museum. At Nelson’s Hall the bartender told me that the proprietor got his pharmacy license during Prohibition and served up straight 90-Proof Angostura Bitters to his patrons as “stomach medicine”. Now you too can join the “Bitters Club” by doing a full shot of it yourself (which obviously I did). Nelson’s is the top seller of Angostura Bitters in the country. Next door at K.K. Fiske’s you can enjoy a fresh grilled “Lawyer” or Burbot fish, although sadly they didn’t have any there for me during my visit. The Stavkirke is a beautiful recreation of a traditional Norwegian Stave Church and is really quite breathtaking to see and definitely one of the top highlights on the island. There are other cool Scandinavian buildings around as well and many people proclaim their heritage with that country’s flag on their mailbox. I spent a lot of time at Schoolhouse Beach which is a beautiful protected harbor on the north side of the island which boasts a beach made up of perfectly smooth stones. If you’ve followed me long enough, you know I have a special place in my heart for islands and will explore them whenever the opportunity presents itself. I really enjoyed Washington Island, especially since I could bring my van out there with me. I only wish it had been sunnier while I was there so you could really see how beautiful it was, but the weather is what it is when I am where I am, and it was pretty cloudy during my stay on the island. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Washington Island because I had to cross Death’s Door to get them.
Hello Everyone! September is upon us but you wouldn’t know it here in Wisconsin. It’s been hot and humid in the Badger State this week, but it does look like it’s supposed to be cooling down in the near future. The days are certainly getting shorter which wasn’t helped by the time change between Michigan and Wisconsin. I have had such a great summer, but I’m a huge fan of fall and am really looking forward to cooler temperatures and, of course, the changing leaves. To begin this week, I’m sending prayers and positivity to all of my friends around the country who are facing down storms and wildfires this week. As some of you know, I spent two years of my life helping re-open the public school system in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and it was hard to watch Hurricane Ida making its way towards the Big Easy on the 16th Anniversary of that storm. Of course, as I’ve pointed out to a lot of people this week, Katrina only did minor damage to the city, it was when the levies broke that the real problems began. Thankfully it looks like New Orleans has survived this storm relatively intact and I’m grateful for that. Hoping all of my friends and readers in the region are safe and sound. I also have a lot of friends in the Greater Lake Tahoe region on the California/Nevada border and many of them have evacuated as the fires get closer and closer. You’re all in my thoughts as well. With all of that going on, Wisconsin is a pretty good place to be right now, and I’m grateful for that. Also this week, for those of you who followed my D.C. Chronicles through the pandemic, my mother is watching Mason as he transitions between schools and is enjoying playing big trucks with him in his new house. As for me, I’ve been out exploring Door County and Central Wisconsin this week, so let me tell you what I’ve been up to.
When I left you last week I was in Sturgeon Bay and headed off into Door County which is the peninsula that looks like Wisconsin’s thumb jutting out into Lake Michigan. That day I headed up to a beach just south of Egg Harbor for a swim in Green Bay and then stopped off for a quick beer or two at One Barrel Brewery in town. Afterwards I headed on to Fish Creek which is where I spent that night. After watching the sun go down, I stopped into the Bayside Tavern for a fish sandwich and a beer and ended up meeting a nice lady who was really interested in lighthouses. We ended up talking about lighthouses and travel for a couple of hours which I really enjoyed and it was nice to have some company.
Thursday morning I was up bright and early as I had a lot I wanted to accomplish with the day. After a nice breakfast at FIKA bakery, I gassed up, bought my Wisconsin fishing license and my annual State Park Pass and headed off into Peninsula State Park. Peninsula was Wisconsin’s first state park and one of its best known and most visited. I stopped off at the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse and the Eagle Tower, which was just that – a tower built to observe the local eagles from above the tree line but also provided great views out over the water and the park. I was very impressed that they had built probably a quarter-mile ramp up to the tower to make it ADA accessible and there was someone there in a wheelchair and another person with physical challenges who were both using the ramp while I was there. From there I went to the beach…
In its early days, Algoma was called Wolf River and attracted a diverse community of European settlers to the shores of Lake Michigan. In 1859, the name was changed to Ahnapee and in 1892 the Ahnapee and Western Railway came through and connected this lakefront town to the inland world. In 1897, they changed their name to Algoma and by then the town had grown to become home to one of the largest commercial fishing fleets on Lake Michigan. Today, Algoma has about 3,000 residents and fishing is still a major industry, although sportfishing has replaced commercial fishing. I had a wonderful visit to Algoma and was impressed by the beautiful Victorian architecture of some of the buildings downtown. and by the wonderful beach and lighthouse It was the historic advertising murals and stunning hand-painted signs that really blew me away though. That is until the sun went down and a beautiful dusk settled over this quaint little town painting it dozens of different colors. It takes a lot of effort to make a town look this cute, and Algoma has obviously chosen people with a true sense of the aesthetic who paid really good attention to detail. On your next visit to Door County, be sure you swing through Algoma, you may find yourself sticking around for a while. I hope you enjoy these photos of adorable Algoma, Wisconsin.
Cedarburg is a beautiful and vibrant old mill town in Ozaukee County, just a half-hour north of Milwaukee. Cedar Creek brought German immigrants to the area in the 1840s where they built grist mills and a small community began to develop. When the train came through thirty years later, the town expanded as it now had access to the larger markets of Milwaukee and Green Bay. Churches were built and streets were laid out, but Cedar Creek was still at the center of the community. As time passed, suburban Milwaukee started edging ever closer, but Cedarburg has been able to maintain its own identity and its small town charm. I enjoyed my visit to Cedarburg and hope you enjoy these photos of this beautiful historic mill town on Cedar Creek.
For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know I have a particular affinity for capital cities. Being from Washington D.C. there is a certain familiarity to a capital city and how it looks and operates. Madison is even closer to my heart since both of my parents attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and I grew up hearing stories of their time there. The Capitol Building in Madison is actually the forth Capitol of the Badger State. The first Capitol was a hastily built wooden structure in Belmont, Wisconsin which was used for a mere 42 days, during which time a new site was chosen in Madison. The second Capitol was built in Madison in 1837 and the third Capitol was begun in 1857, nine years after the Wisconsin Territory became the state of Wisconsin. That building tragically burned to the ground in 1904 and construction of the current Capitol began soon thereafter under the watchful eye of famed architect George B. Post of New York. The statue of Wisconsin on the Capitol dome was sculpted by Daniel Chester French who also sculpted the statue at the Lincoln Memorial. I loved how many badgers were to be found in the building - in the murals, overlooking the four corners and even on the statue on the dome. Wisconsin is definitely fond of its badgers. I found it interesting that the mural in the state senate chamber commemorates the opening of the Panama Canal - big news when the Capitol was built but it seems odd a hundred years later. I think my favorite story from the Wisconsin State Capitol was that of Old Abe, a bald eagle who once served as the mascot for a Wisconsin Civil War unit and accompanied them into battle. Old Abe was shot during the war but survived and went on to tour the country after the war ended. He went to live in the Capitol building for many years but accidentally died of smoke inhalation when a fire started near his cage. Old Abe was stuffed and sat overlooking the House chamber for many years until he burned in the fire of 1904. A replacement eagle was placed in the rebuilt Capitol to commemorate Old Abe’s legacy. I really enjoyed my guided tour of the Wisconsin State Capitol and hope you enjoy these photos from my visit.
I love a good carnival, but all of the fairs and festivals in my life have been compared to the Wisconsin State Fair, the fair of my childhood. My dad is from Milwaukee and every year when I was a kid he would take my brother and I home to see our grandparents and every year he would make sure we went when the State Fair was in full swing. I was very happy to find that over 30 years later it was pretty much still how I remembered it. I used to say “one of these days I’ll make it back to the Wisconsin State Fair”, and finally “one of those days” was realized. I had a great time and hope you enjoy these just-for-fun photos of the Wisconsin State Fair.
Hello Everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great week since last I wrote. I can’t believe we’re already halfway through August, but it’s sure been a beautiful week here in Wisconsin. For me, it’s been a week of catching up – catching up on work and catching up with my family in the Greater Milwaukee area. Since my dad is from Milwaukee and I spent a lot of time here as a kid, there is a lot of familiarity to it even though it’s been many years since I last spent time in the area. It’s been great though, and I’m really enjoying it.
When I finished this post last week, I headed over to the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay. Right as I parked and got out of my van, the tornado sirens started going off downtown. The museum was clearly a better option than my van in a tornado, so I headed inside. The staff was great and moved us all into the theater to wait it out. Thankfully the tornados passed us by and I could go ahead and get a look at the museum. There were some interesting artifacts there, but I really wanted to learn more about the history of Green Bay and it didn’t quite deliver on that for me. I did enjoy the museum but I would have loved a better organized permanent collection. The top highlight was a very cool model of Lambeau Field built entirely out of Legos which was definitely worth seeing. When I left the museum, I went to a delicious little spot called PhoComa downtown. Green Bay (and Southern Wisconsin) has a huge Hmong population who settled there after escaping from Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War. I have definitely been craving some good Southeast Asian food for a while, and this place was amazing. After dinner I went to see the Green Bay Booyah baseball team play. They play in the Northwoods League with the Traverse City Pitspitters, and that night they were playing against Racine. The storms had cleared out and it turned into a beautiful night for baseball, but the Booyah couldn’t pull one out for the home town crowd.
Thursday I headed out of Green Bay and drove through downtown Appleton to see where Harry Houdini spent much of his adult life. It seemed like a nice enough place but there was nothing to keep me there. I moved on to Fond Du Lac at the bottom of Lake Winnebago and visited the Lighthouse Park for great views out over the lake. Lake Winnebago is a massive lake but can’t really compare to the nearby Great Lakes. The Fox River passes through Lake Winnebago and connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. It’s also one of the few northern flowing rivers in the country and was a major route for early traders. I really enjoyed learning about the area at the local Visitors Center but had to keep moving so I headed on towards Milwaukee where I met my cousin Emma at her office for an evening event. I got there a little early so we could catch up as it’s been 8 years since I saw her last. We had a great chat and then moved into the music venue at her office which does a monthly livestream of a local band. That night we got to see the wonderful duo of Andreas Transo and Charlene Adzima on guitar and fiddle, playing Irish tinged folk music with some definite Wisconsin flare. They were amazing and I really enjoyed the show and especially seeing it with my cousin.
The next day was State Fair Day for me and I was so excited to go. When I was growing up, the Wisconsin State Fair was a definite highlight of the summer for me every year I went. I’ve often said that one of these days I would make it back and on Friday “one of these days” became “today”.
The Keweenaw Peninsula juts north from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula far out into Lake Superior. The word “Keweenaw” comes from an old Ojibwa word meaning “a place where portage is made”. This area is home to one of the richest copper deposits in the world and has been mined for thousands of years. After Michigan became a state in 1837, prospectors started making their way into the Keweenaw and copper claims and mines were quickly established. These mines were often in operation until World War II. Around these mines, communities grew which were often settled by immigrants eager to build a life in the new world. Mining was dangerous work, but the promise of a decent wage was enough to lure people to this isolated northern region. When the price of copper dropped and the mining process was no longer profitable, whole communities packed up and moved elsewhere and once-bustling towns were quickly reclaimed by the forest. Some towns remain today, but many are struggling and reliant on tourism. I loved this region and spent a little over a week exploring its history and towns. I toured the Quincy Mine and enjoyed wandering around Houghton, Hancock, Calumet, Eagle River and Copper Harbor. I included a few photos from nearby Marquette as well since it traces its roots to the same time period. The whole region is now a part of Keweenaw National Historical Park and Keweenaw National Heritage Area and you can find the Visitors Center in downtown Calumet. I hope you enjoy these photos from the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan’s Copper Country.
The Ojibwa Indians called Isle Royale “Minong” meaning “a good place to be” and they certainly hit the nail on the head with that one. Isle Royale National Park consists of Isle Royale itself and over 400 smaller islands making up an archipelago in the middle of Lake Superior. Isle Royale is the largest natural island on Lake Superior and the second largest in the Great Lakes at 45 miles long and 9 miles wide. Some of Michigan’s earliest copper mines were established on Isle Royale in the 1840s, continuing the Ojibwa copper-mining tradition which stretched back hundreds of years. Commercial fishing operations also ran off of Isle Royale for many years, but it was the island’s beauty and ability to attract tourism which would create its lasting industry. Isle Royale National Park was established in 1940 and it was made a part of the UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve in 1980.
I had a wonderful 4 day/3 night visit to Isle Royale in the beginning of August. The island is only accessible by boat or plane, with ferries originating out of Houghton and Copper Harbor in Michigan and Grand Portage in Minnesota. I chose the Isle Royale Queen IV out of Copper Harbor which dropped me off in Rock Harbor on the island’s northeast side in about three and a half hours. After getting my backcountry permit from the ranger there, I headed off into the wilderness for the next three nights, staying at Daisy Farm, Lynn Cove and Three Mile campgrounds. I hiked about 25 miles during my time on Isle Royale and really found the island to be a beautiful place to be. After hiking all day, an afternoon dip in Lake Superior always felt great. I saw 9 moose during my visit and also a handful of beavers along with plenty of birds and toads. I really cherished my time on Isle Royale and hope you enjoy these photos from America’s least visited National Park.
Hello Everyone and greetings from Green Bay, Wisconsin! I have completed my two month journey through Michigan and have moved on to the Badger State. I spent the first half of the week out in beautiful Isle Royale National Park, a destination I was really looking forward to and which definitely lived up to my expectations. Returning from the park on Saturday, it was time for me to make tracks and get myself into Wisconsin. Summer is passing quickly and I still hope to get through both Wisconsin and Minnesota before winter sets in. It’s been a good week, and I’m excited to tell you what I’ve been up to.
I headed out to Isle Royale on the Isle Royale Queen IV out of Copper Harbor bright and early on Wednesday morning. There are three boats that make the trip to the island, and this one just worked better with my schedule. It was fast and made the 55 mile crossing in about 3.5 hours and I enjoyed chatting with a mother and daughter who I sat with on the way out. The mother owned the rock shop in Copper Harbor and had a grandfather who once lived and worked as a fisherman on Isle Royale. Her daughter was in Copper Harbor for the summer and working at one of the restaurants in town. I was surprised by how many people I met who had family connections back to Isle Royale before it became a National Park.
When we arrived on the island, the rangers gave us their briefing, issued backcountry permits and we were off and running. Most of the park is designated wilderness, so unless you are staying at the lodge near the ferry dock you are on your own for the duration of your stay. I shouldered my pack and made my way a little over 7 miles to Daisy Farm Campground on the east side of the island. It’s been years since I’ve carried a full pack that distance, but I have been doing a lot of walking and hiking and it really wasn’t too bad. I even saw my first of nine moose I would see during my visit on this hike. Because I was there alone, it was easy to hear footsteps which weren’t my own and an adult moose has some pretty heavy footsteps. I was able to see the moose through the dense forest and enjoyed spending some time with her before heading on to camp where I took up residence in one of the shelters they had there. I had my tent with me, but since the shelters were available it seemed like an easier option even though it only takes 5 minutes to set up my tent. I had my first dehydrated meal in many years, something which has improved dramatically since the last time I ate one. It was a beautiful campground right on the lake and even though it was pretty busy, people were spread out and it didn’t seem crowded. I met some really nice people in camp and found it easy to talk to people as we obviously had shared interests in hiking, camping and/or National Parks and had gone to some length to get to this remote island.
Stretched between the towns of Munising and Grand Marais along the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a magical place filled with breathtaking scenery. From historical lighthouses to picture-perfect waterfalls, this small and often overlooked unit of the National Park Service is sure to have something for everyone. I enjoyed hiking many miles of trails along beaches and through the woods, past the waterfalls and overlooks that have captured peoples’ attention for hundreds of years. During the lumbering era, the area was clear cut, but the forest has regenerated in the last hundred years and is healthy again. It’s no wonder that Pictured Rocks was America’s first National Lakeshore, gaining this new designation in 1966. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a must-see while visiting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a definite highlight of my time in the state. To truly see the rocks themselves, you do need to get on a boat and see them from the water. I chose the Sunset Spray Falls tour with Pictured Rocks Cruises and while I think the boat could have been better suited to sightseeing, it was a wonderful cruise nonetheless. If you’re ever traveling across northern Michigan, definitely plan on spending a day or two in beautiful Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. You’ll be glad you did. I hope you enjoy these photos from my visit.
