We ended our last night in Appleton at an empty little cigar bar, except for me and my cigar-smoking hubby, so I had a little flavored cigar and was pleasantly surprised by the choice Christian selected to accompany my Grand Marnier. Bill had a nice Perdomo, paired with Johnny Walker Blue, which he had never tried. We walked back to our little loft and fell asleep to the sounds of late-night party people, traffic, and the longest train in history:) To offset our night of revelry, we walked to the juice bar in town for healthy smoothies before we hit the road.
Triple AAA helped us decide which route to take to the Badlands, which was the middle route down the west side of Lake Winnebago to Oshkosh to Ripon, driving through more beautiful rolling Wisconsin farmlands. Old stately homes with exquisite flower gardens, horse ranches, and dairy farms dotted our route. I love driving through the towns with homes unique to the midwest, including quaint Montello, with waterfalls bordering the park. I snapped a photo out the window of an elderly gentleman sitting in front of one of them, promoting Blue Lives Matter.
We took a hike to see the expansive and scenic view of Lacrosse from the top of Granddad Bluff, which was 590 feet above the city. The Mississippi River snaked through the bowl-shaped valley and we were grateful for the clear weather to take it all in. The National Weather Service has a forecast office up there, with a doppler radar, which was an unexpected sight as we rounded the curving road. We also passed a relaxed young woman reading a book in a roadside pull-off, with her red hammock stretched between two trees. Other interesting views on our way included massive hills covered in trees that reminded me of the fake trees used on model railroad displays.
We could not leave Wisconsin without cheese! Bill and had a tailgate picnic in the parking lot of the Carr Valley Cheese shop before heading to our final stop for the night in Rochester, Minnesota. We are directly across the street from the Mayo Clinic and we seem to blend in with patients in wheelchairs with our masks but are grateful for our health.
