Fall Vacation Day 2

Whenever we leave the Renaissance Festival, tradition dictates that we stop at Jim’s Apple Farm (aka Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store) before we head to wherever we are going for the night. Last Sunday was no different. 

Unbelievably, they added on since last year. 

But even with all that stuff – aisles and aisles of candy and other treats – driving down the roads of America’s heartland is still more mouth-watering to me. 

St Mary’s Catholic Church in New Trier. 

We spent Sunday night in Red Wing and the next morning, explored Corvill Park before heading down along the Mississippi River. 

Seems like these Fairy Houses can be found everywhere. I need to get some for my yard. 

The historic Anderson house in Wabasha. The whole town was filled with scarecrows and pumpkins for the fall. We drove around checking them out, but it was starting to rain. Then we ended up going the wrong way down a one-way street, so I just wanted to get out of town

There was just as much to see in Winona, but we were feeling pressed for time. A quick drive through town and a walk through Windom Park. This dad zipping his son’s jacket was too adorable to pass up. 

Further down the Mighty Mississippi, we crossed the bridge back into Wisconsin as we came to La Crosse. I went to college here for one year back in my foolish youth. And unbelievably, never went to up to Granddad Bluff, overlooking the city. 

Beautiful views. 

And I made another friend. Ellen Pennell Hixon. In the early 1900s, the bluffs overlooking La Crosse were being whittled away, the stone being used for home foundations and roadways in the developing river town. Mrs. Hixon couldn’t stand to have the beautiful Grandad Bluff destroyed. She started a fund to buy the piece of land and donated $12,00 to get the ball rolling. Only another $5,000 was needed to purchase the property and build a road to the top of the bluff. The funds were all raised by 1909 and in 1912, the bluff and surrounding land were turned over to the city of La Crosse. 

I’m looking at the map now, trying to figure out where we went next, how many times did we cross the Mississippi. And how many times we went back and forth between Minnesota and Wisconsin and then Iowa. (We hit Illinois before we came home, but that’s for another day.) 

At Marquette, Iowa, before crossing back into Wisconsin. 

No matter what, I still love the symmetric beauty of the farm fields the best.   

It's been suggested that I write a book of all my travels across America. If you saw the files on my computer, you would realize that I already have.

From a Mall to a Log Cabin

July 27, 2009, pm - Pottery Place Mall is one my favorite shopping places in the world. At one time it was where Red Wing Stoneware Company made all of its products, but once they moved to a new facility on the other end of town, a developer took over the huge old building and filled it with quaint shops and an entire floor of antiques for sale. I cannot drive through or even near Red Wing without stopping here. It is a shame, because there are lots of other things to see in this Minnesota city, but it seems I never get past this mall.

Once Himey dragged me out of there, we stopped at every historic marker and scenic overlook on the way back to Alma. Who knew there were so many places to pull over in such a short stretch of road? When we drove into Pepin one sign really grabbed me. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Birthplace Wayside. It was just a little cabin, a reproduction, but still quite cool. And I totally knew that we had to come back the next day to visit the museum.
The weird thing is that three days before, I had read an article in Guidepost magazine about a family who spent a two-month vacation visiting all the places Laura lived from Wisconsin to Minnesota to Iowa to Kansas. It would be a great trip. Something else for me to work on.