Return to the Mississippi

Sand Cranes

We celebrated Eric and Lauren’s wedding, then my parents 68^th anniversary on Sunday. We hung around Appleton on Monday. Tuesday, and took my folks to Door County. Once we got north of Sturgeon Bay, the trees became quite spectacular – lots of reds, oranges, and yellows. We ate at Al Johnson’s in Sister Bay, and sure enough, the goats were on the roof. I had to try some Swedish pancakes. 

Mississippi from Effigy Mounds National Monument

Today, we headed west back to Lacrosse to pick up the Mississippi where we left it. First, stop was Grandad Bluff with a view high over Lacrosse. Looking at the town, it was amazing that the town doesn’t always flood with all the low land between bluffs on both sides. We headed down into Iowa to the Effigy Mounds National Monument. Here ancestors of the Indians, buried their dead in mounds, many of them shaped like bears or birds. We hiked up to the mounds and caught the views of the Mississippi. The sun was lighting up all the colored leaves – really pretty. By the time, we finished our hike it was after 5 PM. We headed back into Wisconsin to the National Brewery Museum in Potosi. We had a pub dinner and I had a porter beer then we toured the museum. Wisconsin beer history was well represented from the 1890’s until present day. They had advertisements, and bottles and cans from Shlitz, Blatz, Adler Brau, Rahr, and many of the more famous beers. I found that the old bottles were especially interesting.

National Brewery Museum