July 11 - Great River Road

After a week and a half of sightseeing in Chicago with Jessica, Chloe and Liam and a visit with Mary's Mom for a family reunion it was time to head home.  We put Jessica and the kids on a plane and we decided to head north along the Great River Road (along the Mississippi) to see what we could find.  Today we are traveling on the east side of the river.  We had done no research but figured we would surely find some interesting places to visit.

The river drive was beautiful.

Our first major stop was La Crosse Wisconsin.  We really enjoyed old town La Crosse with its many old buildings.

There was also a great riverfront walk and park.

There were a lot of interesting interesting old signs around downtown.

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 More La Cross Shop Signs

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We also toured the Villa Louis River Mansion in Prairie du Chein, Wisconsin.

July 12 - Great River Road

Today we are driving a bit farther north on the Great River Road.  The views from the tops of some of the bluffs were pretty spectacular.

We did a bit of wandering in Winona, Minnesota.

We had lunch in a restaurant in a beautiful, old building with a fantastic wooden bar.

There were the usual attempts to photograph the local flora...

and fauna (in this case, birds soaring over the river).

We drove farther north where we discovered Lake Pepin, birthplace of water skiing.  

It is actually a naturally occurring lake on the Mississippi, in a valley carved by glaciers.  Most of the lakes on the Mississippi are formed by the water backing up from the dams on the river.

July 13 - Mower County Museum

Today we headed a bit south to Route 90 that will take us west.  In wandering the countryside we found a huge field full of wild black-eyed Susans.

The big find today was in Austin, Minnesota where we found the Mower County Museum.  The museum included a number of old buildings that had been moved to the grounds...

and lots of artifacts.