Wisconsin Dells

Our plans when we left Decorah were to stay at the Blackhawk COE near DeSoto, WI, which we did for one night.  With all the recent rain, the Mississippi River was rising and the campground had to be closed.
We drove up to LaCrosse, WI and took the LaCrosse Queen paddlewheel boat tour on the Mississippi River.  I've wanted to do that for quite some time.  Gene met some folks that recommended Rudy's Drive-In, so we drove over for their famous chili hot dogs.   Since we were in the area, we went up to Granddad Bluff where you can see Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.  It was a lovely view.  We had not made reservations for Saturday night - Gene said we would wing it.   We found a quiet state park near Camp Douglas, WI - Mill Bluff State Park.  It was a non electric, no water site, but we had plenty of water in our fresh water tanks, we switched the refrigerator to propane and our "house" batteries ran our lights.  I opened a can of chicken and dumplings (manual can opener), added some frozen peas and heated it up on our propane burner.   It was quite tasty.  I also made sure I called for a reservation at a campground for Sunday night.  An interesting tidbit - Mill Bluff is #40 on the state park list.  It was also our 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday, the 22nd.  When we left Sunday morning, we took the scenic route Hwy 12/16 rather than the interstate.  If we don't have a deadline we prefer the slower pace.  I'm glad we did because we saw the cutest display of cows for the cow-munity project in Mauston, WI.  We arrived in Wisconsin Dells, stopped at Culver's for lunch and then on to Fox Hill RV Park and Campground in Baraboo.  Another nice, clean campground.  Today we drove into the Dells and took the "Original Wisconsin Ducks" amphibian tour through forests and into the Wisconsin River and Lake Delton.  It was an exciting ride and we loved it.  We ate lunch at Moose Jaw Pizza, then stopped at Market Square Cheese for some real Wisconsin cheese.  We're now back at Fox Hill to catch up on emails and such.  Tomorrow we head for Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay where we'll explore Door County.  We've been busy, but are having a lot of fun.

Laura Ingalls Wilder and Vesterheim

We have had an interesting three days!  On our way into Decorah, IA on Tuesday, we spotted a sign for
Pulpit Rock Campground.  It is a city Parks and Recreation campground right on the Upper Iowa River.  We registered, then drove ten miles up to Burr Oak to tour the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum.
The building was the Masters Hotel and they lived and worked there awhile after leaving Walnut Grove, MI.
Ma, Mary and Laura did the cooking for up to 25 people three times a day and the cleaning.  Pa took care of the animals and whatever else needed to be done.  There were many items from the time period 1876 and 1877 such as clothing, shaving supplies, cooking utensils, etc.   Laura was nine years old when they moved there and did not cover this time period in her books.
On Wednesday and today we drove into Decorah to visit the Vesterheim  Norwegian-American Museum.
Yesterday Travis gave us a guided tour of the outside buildings including small homes, parochial school, church and mill.  Today we toured the three stories and basement of the museum itself.  The Rosemaling (flower painting) on bowls, plates, storage chests and many other items was exquisite in detail as was the carving on furniture.  We thoroughly enjoyed our Norwegian experience!

Heading Out To The Badlands

OK, the title is a bit misleading.  We will get there eventually, but the joy of the trip is smelling the roses along the way.  We left home on June 3rd after attending two K-5 graduations and a 5th grade graduation of our great-granddaughters.  We visited family and friends in Georgia and North Carolina, then on to our daughter and son-in-law

in Mt. Zion, WV.  June 9th we left there and traveled through Ohio and spent two nights at Indian Lakes near Batesville, IN.  After traveling the curvey, hilly roads in WV, we needed to rest up a bit.

Next stop was Peoria, IL at Millpoint Park.  A nice perk was the receipt was also a 20% coupon  for Peoria Pizza Works.  A delicious Chicago-style, thin crust, 6 topping pizza satisfied our pizza craving.

We had made reservations at Wallashuck Recreation Area, a Corp of Engineers campground near Pella, IA.
What a delightful surprise - a nice clean site with electric and very nice bathhouse.  In addition, we were
serenaded by the cicadias.  They have a 17 year cycle and this is the year!   Our trip into Pella to the
Vermeer Windmill Museum was extraordinary.  Our guide, Virgil, is from one of the families that came to
Pella to settle, therefore, was a fount of information.  This windmill was built in Holland, dismantled and shipped to Pella and rebuilt.  We were shown how the "sails" can be turned so they can always be in the wind.  They grind wheat flour there and we later bought a loaf of bread (and other goodies) from the
Jaarsma Bakery. 

Our next COE campground was at Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines.  Another lovely spot in which to relax.  The only drawback to COE's is no wifi.   I don't miss it too much except I can't post my blog.

Yesterday we stopped at Cedar Valley Arboretum near Waterloo, IA and then at the Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua.  Last night we stayed at R Campground in Charles City, IA.  There was a very bad rain & thunderstorm with high winds - rocked our RV a few times.  I kept waiting for the tornado siren to sound, but thankfully it didn't.  Today we're off to Decorah to do some more sightseeing.  We are definitely smelling the roses!