Minnesota - The Vacation (Day 4)

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.72.40
Current Song - It's My Life (No Doubt)

Note: I've been back since April 7, and it is now April 27. Of the 20 days since I came back home, a lot has happened. Thus the delay. Plus, I didn't write while on the vacation (compared to last year) simply because there was too much to do.

There are pictures of the trip on my Facebook photo album.

Because of the numerous things I saw, I had to break the entry down into four days. The previous entries broke down days 1, 2 and 3. This entry recalls Day 4, the final day of the vacaction.

Since I got a late ending to the previous day, I eventually work up later than planned. I couldn't change that, but I had to tweak some plans a little. I knew, however, that on the way there I had some time to spare from where I left in in Hastings on Day 1. I figured I had enough time to get back to Dubuque before dusk. But I still had the entire east side of the Twin Cities to see, and then all of Wisconsin.

I woke up at 9:30 a.m. and immediately prepared for departure, and checking out of the hotel. I got four cents off a gallon at the BP, and was given a coupon for five cents off on my next trip. There is no next trip. I still have the coupon, just in case. I decided to start where I-494 met the river on the east side. Doing so meant I had to cross the River on the new I-35W bridge. So yeah, I crossed it.

The road along the east side of the river was called East River Parkway. There was a park where the road intersected with 494, where I stopped for a while. Then began the journey down this East River Parkway through the Twin Cities.

To my amazement, it was pretty much the same experience as the drive along West River Parkway. Like the opposite site, there is a jogging path next to the road, and I had never seen that many joggers. I once again briefly thought to myself that I was the largest person within the city limits. Next to the jogging path was a wall of trees and shrubbery, so I couldn't really see water unless it was a park of some sort. But the houses were great. The south side of St. Paul seemed to have more scenic overlooks than Minneapolis, because the land is so high up. There was one overlook that gave a spectacular view of the downtown area. Not only did I see downtown, but the large bluff that I was on a couple of days earlier, as well as the state capitol building.

Because there was no split of the river, like on the other side, this East River Parkway was very straightforward, with the small exception of downtown. The west side had a split, where the mouth of the Minnesota River was, and it was difficult to navigate. But there were no problems on this day.

I actually didn't cross into Wisconsin from the east side of the river due to a missed turn, but joined Wisconsin at Red Wing. Little did I know there would be a lot more stops along this path than Iowa's. The Wisconsin "Great River Road" was Route 35, which was familiar to be because that route ends at East Dubuque. At least I knew I wasn't going to veer off too much!

Take someone down Illinois Route 2 between Grand Detour and Rockford, and they'll like it. I've been down it so many times not to even think about it anymore. But Wisconsin Route 35 has Illinois Route 2's number when it comes to scenery. It follows the river more than the Iowa/Minnesota side, and there are literally hundreds of bluffs.

Each town - Bay City, Stockholm, Nelson, Buffalo was more of the same. They are tiny towns that area stretched out. When you enter a town - lucky enough to after seeing bluff after bluff after bluff, and taking pictures of them while driving - you see a sign telling you the name of the town, and the town's population. These towns had small populations, and normally they do not take long to drive through. These towns are so stretched out, you begin to wonder when the end of town is.

The best thing about these towns is that they are in their own little holes. There's nothing visable north, south, east, or even west (except the River). It's an own little world. Pepin is between Stockholm and Nelson, and wasn't really typical of the other towns. It was much larger, and was popular because Laura Ingalls Wilder was born there.

You can't really put the descriptions into words, and really have to drive down Route 35 to get a feeling of it.

Wisconsin has so many historical markers. It seemed as if there was one every five miles. Any minor bit of history was marked. Not too long after entering Wisconsin there was a historical marker telling about a natural feature called "Bow and Arrow." It was a rock formation along the bluff that was discovered about 100 years ago, with its origins unknown. The next marker I stopped at was the site of Fort St. Antoine (1686), where an explorer claimed "the entire region west of the Great Lakes 'no matter how remote' in the name of Louis XIV." (The long-reigning, and final, King of France).

Along the way down was a Sugar Loaf Rock sighting. That rock is in Winona, MN and is featured in Day 1's entry.

Next up in the long and winding road of spectacular bluffs that is Route 35 was the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. However, much of it was closed due to flooding. Not too far from that, however, was the Trempealeau State Park. Along the way in, I saw a sign that charged for entry. I thought being charged at Lake Itasca was enough, so I didn't visit the park. Now I wish I would have.

After Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge and Trempealeau State Park, it only made sense that the next town was called Trempealeau. I was getting hungry for some lunch, and found a perfect spot - that "restaurant" I wanted to eat at. It's called the Trempealeau Hotel Restaurant and Saloon. Their specialty is the Walnut Burger, and I wanted to try it before I noticed it had onions in them (I'm not a fan of onions). So a BBQ burger (good) had to do. I sat with a view of the River from a porch-like eating area. The place is nice, and literally hasn't changed since the saloon days. The hotel is on the second floor. Not too many places like this are still around. These particular hotel rooms are European style, with a shared bath and no electronics. $40-49 a night. I could go for that in the summer, because I don't really need a television and I have a cell phone. Plus the eating establishment is downstairs. I'd go back there again.

Next up in the long and winding road of spectacular bluffs is a suburb of LaCrosse called Onalaska. It's directly across from the man-made islands for the birds that I visited in Day 1. The River spills into a lake, with the river channel kind of pushed back toward the Minnesota side.

Natrually the next city is LaCrosse. I had been in LaCrosse once before, on my way back from the Spam Museum (this is true) in Austin, MN. I saw another restaurant that looked neat, but unfortunately I had already eaten. Downtown LaCrosse is very nice, and old. That makes it nice. Plus it has a nice riverfront park where the river can be seen from eye-to-eye. Among other sights was the world's largest 6-pack of beer. Boots and beer. Boots at Red Wing, and Beer at LaCrosse. This part of Wisconsin is known for its breweries, and this carries on to Milwaukee (home of the Brewers, which were formerly called the Cream Citys).

I fueled up the car in LaCrosse. The fuel was from a Kwik Trip, which also owns the station in Kellogg, MN (where I filled up on Day 1). By the time I got home, I had only burned a third of a tank (500 miles). Seems pretty good. That would get me home, but not before some more stops along the way. The first stop out of LaCrosse was Goose Island (no brewery there), probably so-named because the island looks like a goose. The road to get there was winding, like a goose's neck.

To give a good understanding of how plentiful Wisconsin's historical markers are, the first one outside of LaCrosse was about the "LaCrosse Boiling Water Reactor," which is the state's first nuclear power plant.

The area between LaCrosse and Prairie du Chien is noted for the Battle of Bad Axe, which is a landmark battle of the Black Hawk War. That was the battle where Black Hawk was captured, and thus ending the War. By the time I was done seeing the many historical markers revolving around the site, it had started to get a little dark outside.

When I got to Prairie du Chien, the camera was used for the final time. It couldn't take any good pictures at night, so I have no visual recollection after Prairie du Chien (and thus the photo album ends here). Prarie du Chien is a small town with a low flood plain. The 1965 flood took out a good chunk of the town and much of its historical buildings. The few that survive are surviving well, as a part of a park. It looked like the neighborhood had been bombed out (kind of like Old Valmeyer, Illinois).

The rest of the trip had to be enjoyed as dark fell. The next stop was going to be Wyalusing State Park, and was hoping there was no admission. There was, and I turned back. Another stop for another day. Wyalusing State Park is the opposite side of Pikes Peak Park in McGregor, IA - where the Wisconsin River joins the Mississippi. But the road there took me off the beaten path. I'm glad I went that way because I think I found my retirement spot.

Wyalusing is like the other Wisconsin river towns, except this one is off the beaten path on a road less traveled. It's population is only about 100, and there are no stores I believe. The town sits on the bottom of a bluff, trapped in it's own little world. To get things, you have to travel down the road 3 miles to a place called Grandpa's General Store in Bagley. I was warned by a friend about frogs in Bagley. And sure enough when I came toward Bagley, you could hear nothing but the croaks of frogs.

Then came the main road again, as night was there for sure. The first sight of a cornfield kind of let me down a little. But on I went, driving through Cassville and then Potosi. I had heard of Potosi from their high school sports successes in football and girls basketball, but never been there. It's a winding town, with a lot on one main road and is surrounded by cliffs. A late stop would have been the Potosi Brewery, but by that time it was 9:00 p.m.

So I wanted to eat some dinner, and headed back to Dubuque to officially conclude my trip. I picked up some Arby's after encountering some rain as I crossed into Iowa. Sure, I get back to Illinois to the tune of RAIN! This would be a theme throughout April. Leaving Dubuque, I headed my usual way home - down Route 84 to Savanna, Route 52 to Mt. Carroll and finally down Route 40 back home. I got back home around midnight.

End of vacation.

As I spring foward to this present day (after thinking back about the past), I feel as if this vacation experience made me grow up as a person. I'm almost 25 years old now. There was so much to see, and so much to manage on my own. Since coming back from my vacation, I haven't had a "down" day yet. I hope this continues.

With a lot of vacations, there are some regrets. I have a few. I regret not being able to make the trip from Little Falls to Bemijdi, and stopping at those Wisconsin State Parks, and waking up late on the final day. But I think the best thing about these types of vacations is that the opportunity to come back is there because of these regrets. Of course, I would do the whole thing all over again if I could. However, to be honest, I don't know if I'm going to be able to travel this far for leisure for a while. I would like to get things straightened up back home before putting the money aside.

There are still plenty of vacation spots. But because this particular one comes at a important time of my life, I don't think any other self-trip will top this one to Lake Itasca.