CHICAGO AND WISCONSIN PART TWO
Marie and I donned in our windbreakers to acclimate to the open top boat deck.
Nan and Dan are ready to head back down river.
We went back to the dock, which is in the town of WISCONSIN DELLS. Henry Bennett, the
photographer I mentioned above, owned and operated a photography studio here for the
rest of his life. It is now a museum, and here is the naturally lit room where his
customers sat for their portraits. I loved the light!
Dan is talking with a docent in the well done museum that covers the early days.
The next morning we headed for the small town of Pepin, Wisconsin, which
is near the location of the "Little House in the Big Woods". This was the destination of choice for Marie and Nancy, who are great fans of the LAURA INGALLS WILDER series of books known as the "Little House" books.
Here is the main street of Pepin, Wisconsin, located on the eastern shore of the
Mississippi River As you can see, the traffic was very light. No problem
walking across the the street.
Oh, how wonderful it is to be here!
Inside the Pepin Historical Museum.
And, of course, there is a well equipped gift shop.
We walked a couple of blocks to the Mississippi river. I know there is a dam somewhere,
and maybe that is what is making it so wide here.
My favorite daughter, and my favorite son in law! In case you have not broken
the code, Nancy is my only daughter!
A major rail line runs alongside the east bank of the river. Here is my favorite wife, along
with my favorite daughter and son-in-law.
There is a very large stone breakwater here to make a protected harbor for boats.
I guess there can be lots of ice in the river during the winter,
so the breakwater must be very strong.
The old railroad station had been moved out by the highway, and made into a very
nice railroad museum.
we are now driving the 6 or so miles to the Little House in the Woods.
And here it is. In 2005 Marie and I visited a number of Laura Ingals Wilders houses
Nancy about to enter!
This house was much better built that than the one on the Prairie
There were some birds trying to make a home in the house, and I have been told that
I captured a picture of one of them flying. But it is not this photo!
A very solid stone chimney. Beautiful workmanship.
This tells the story. If I could only read it!
We drove back to Pepin, and ate a really wonderful lunch in a little restaurant
that was set up in several rooms in a house by the side of the road. We
then started driving south along the river heading to the city of LaCrosse,
Wisconsin. Enroute we stopped a roadside cheese factory where we bought
some of the famous "Cheese Curds", which were delicious. Further down the river
we came to Alma, a small town near a major dam. Here we walked over a
footbridge to get closer to the dam locks. This nice boat was just starting to
go out of the upper gates.
There was a lot of long freight trains running up and down along this stretch of track. It was very exciting to stand on the pedestrian bridge over two freight trains whooshing in opposite directions. That is how this picture was captured.
We then drove up a steep road to the cliff tops overlooking the Mississippi river and the dam. As you can see it is a very wide and deep valley that was cut through the prairie, We are standing on the prairie and those far distant hills are Minnesota on the other side.
What a view!
Lewis and Clark pointing the way west!!
We stayed in LaCrosse, and the next day we headed back to Chicago. On the way
we visited the small town of North Freedom, where there is a great
railroad museum, and chance to ride in an old train.
Here we are waiting for the train to depart. It is only about an hour round trip.
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