2003 Year in Review

I love October! Part 2

In my last column I wrote about our travels on the second weekend of October every year. This year we started our FFF to the 4th power (Forced Family Fun x 4) on Sunday morning at 9:00 am. It was decided to travel the “blue highways” of Wisconsin. (Blue Highways is a book by William Least Moon about traveling off the four-lane roads and onto the not-so-traveled rural roads.) It was THE weekend for tree viewing in the “Uplands”(see link below) of Wisconsin. Everywhere we looked were orange and red leaves showing off in the bright sunshine against the bluest sky.

We ended up making a loop around the southwestern Wisconsin area. From Platteville, north to Gays Mills then east to Spring Green along the Wisconsin River before turning south toward Monroe and home.

My grandmothers both lived in southern Wisconsin, one in Viroqua (by LaCrosse) and the other in Monroe, so as a kid we traveled many of the roads of Wisconsin. Riding on them again with my family brings back many memories, such as stopping in the Boscobel A & W stand for a root beer on the way to grandma’s house.

We usually start our travels by going up Route 78 to my hometown, Warren. We were surprised to see a brand new water tower standing near the downtown so I took a photo of the old “Pumpkin” orange tower, which will soon be gone. As a child I walked by that tower coming home from school every day and I always wanted to climb it. After driving past the old homestead, we drove into Wisconsin. I was surprised to see all the Amish farms on highway 81 from Darlington to Platteville. The Amish farmers had tied up the stalks of corn in the field, like we do for decoration. It was an unusual sight.

Our first stop would be in Montfort, Wisconsin at the Rural Route 1 Popcorn store (see link below). My husband loves real popcorn (not microwave) and he thinks they sell the best. They also make flavored popcorns, including chocolate, white chocolate, cherry cheesecake, caramel, and cheese. So besides a years supply of un-popped popcorn, we also picked up a mix of caramel and cheese for our travels.

Just down the road from Montfort near Hwy 80 and 18, we were surprised to see the largest wind farm in Wisconsin. There were twenty wind turbine generators 215-foot towers with three blades 110 feet long. It was quite a scene(see link below).

Our second stop was to visit Igor, the large mouse and an institution in Fennimore, and to pick up some string cheese to munch on. The Boscobel A& W was our third stop and who should walk in while we’re eating but a group from Morrison that has been up to Gay Mills for apples. So of course, we headed down the road to Gays Mills to find two huge $2 pumpkins, then to the Sunrise Orchard for a half a bushel of apples and apple cider(see link below). The orchards were buzzing with people everywhere. We grabbed our apples and escaped.

I don’t remember ever riding on the north side of the Wisconsin River before Sunday. The hills of Wisconsin start to flatten out as we neared the Spring Green area. We made two stops there. One stop was at an art shop on hwy 23 in Spring Green, where they do whimsical metal sculptures and beautiful glass blowing. The second stop was at the Frank Lloyd Wright visitor’s center overlooking the Wisconsin River just off of hwy 23 to go through the gift shop.

From Spring Green we did our usual jaunt over to Black Earth to visit The Shoe Box, Wisconsin’s largest shoe store(see link below). A trip through the area isn’t complete until we’ve stopped for shoes. From this point we started to head toward home. Around suppertime we found ourselves in Monroe. My sister has an 1800’s home with a wrap around porch just a block off the square with a porch swing. Nothing’s better than to relax there with a local brew. My sister showed up a little later with a freshly smoked turkey for supper. Just over twelve hours after leaving, we pulled back into our driveway after a bountiful shopping trip.

If you are heading to Wisconsin, October 17-19 artists open their studios in Mineral Point, Spring Green, and Baraboo for the Fall Art Tour.

Links:
The Shoe Box
Uplands of Wisconsin
Rural Route 1 Popcorn
Windfarm
Things to do in Wisconsin
Gays Mills

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
October 17, 2003