Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Wisconsin

Posted in COE Park, Lighthouse, RVing, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WisconsinTagged , , , , , ,

State 44:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

Wisconsin

Wisconsin became the 30th state on May 29, 1848. The Capital is Madison.

On one of our trips through Wisconsin we had truck trouble on Saturday of Easter Weekend. It was too early in the season for the Madison KOA to be officially open but they let us have a site for the weekend while we waited until we could get the truck serviced on Monday morning. The campground was next to a cheese shop that had a little more money in their till after I got finished stocking up on wonderful Wisconsin cheese!

On Easter Sunday our server at the Cracker Barrel was from Georgia and I learned they serve grits even as far north as Wisconsin. After our Easter breakfast we drove around downtown Madison for a look at the state capital. On Monday morning the truck repairs were done early enough to hitch up the fifth wheel and continue north to our next destination.

20070408Madison-(2)
State Capital in Madison, Wisconsin

As we traveled north from Madison the snow started coming down. We arrived at Apple Creek Campground in DePere and set up camp in the snow. They weren’t officially open yet but the owners were great and let us have a site for a couple of nights. Seeing Lambeau Field and the Door County Peninsula were on our Wisconsin bucket list and the campground was close to both.

20070409Snow-in-WI-(13)
We set up our RV in the snow in DePere

Jutting out into Lake Michigan is the Door County Peninsula.  Our visit was during the off season and as we drove around the peninsula very few places were open. There was beautiful farmland and several lighthouses to visit.

2070410-2Door-County-(2)
Door County Peninsula
20070410-1Sherwood-Point-(1)
Sherwood Point Lighthouse, Door County Peninsula
20070410-3Eagle-Bluff
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Door County Peninsula
20070410-5Cana-Island-Light-(8)
Cana Island
20070410-5Cana-Island-Light-(5)
Cana Island Light
20070410-6Baileys-Harbor-Lower-Range-Light-(3)
Baileys Harbor Lower Range Light is no longer in use
20070410-4lunch
Blondie got to put her feet in Lake Michigan

On the way back to the campground we stopped in Green Bay to see Lambau Field, the home field of the NFL Green Bay Packers.

20070410-7Lambau-Field-(1)
The fans love their Green Bay Packers
20070410-7Lambau-Field-(9)
Inside the Lambeau Field Atrium

On another of our trips we camped beside the Mississippi River at Grant River Corps of Engineers in Potosi, Wisconsin, population 711 in 2009. While we were enjoying lunch in the outdoor beer garden at the Potosi Brewery we watched as the town was preparing for their first annual Brewfest. The National Brewer’s Museum is located at the brewery. Also nearby was an interesting Grotto in Dickyville.

20090820Grant-River-COE-(5)
We looked across at Iowa from the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River
20090820Grant-River-COE-(25)
Grant River COE on the Mississippi River
20090820Grant-River-COE-(19)
Sunset over the Mississippi River at Grant River COE
20090820Grant-River-COE-(23)
Our campsite was very close to the train tracks
20090822Potosi-(16)
Good Old Potosi Beer
20090822Potosi-(7)
Springs at the Potosi Brewery
20090821Field-of-Dreams-(55)
Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin
20090821Field-of-Dreams-(34)
Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin

While camping at Viking Village RV Park near Stoughton we bought more wonderful Wisconsin cheese. I counted nine little Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrels running around behind our RV. There were also some Sandhill Cranes running across a field but they were too far away for a picture.

20100619Ground-Squirrels-(3)
Thirteen lined ground squirrel – mama with baby
20100619Ground-Squirrels-(10)
Thirteen lined ground squirrels
20100619Ground-Squirrels-(18)
Thirteen lined ground squirrel

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama      Alaska      Arizona      Arkansas      California      Colorado     Florida      Georgia      Hawaii        Idaho  Illinois      Indiana      Iowa     Kansas     Kentucky     Louisiana     Maine     Maryland     Massachusetts     Michigan     Minnesota    Mississippi     Missouri     Montana     Nebraska     Nevada      New Hampshire     New Mexico      New York     North Carolina    North Dakota      Ohio     Oklahoma     Oregon     Pennsylvania    South Carolina     South Dakota     Tennessee     Texas     Utah     Virginia   Washington     West Virginia

15 thoughts on “Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Wisconsin”

  4. Love Wisconsin…especially their brick cheese. The Lambeau Field tour is one of the best stadium tours. I highly recommend it to anyone who stops in Green Bay, even if you aren’t a football fan. You’ll never forget coming out of the tunnel.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I love to see what other people think of Wisconsin, or what they find important enough to take time to see. Often we plan our travel routes around a destination and the “route” does naught but get us there rather than being a pathway to further knowledge about the place. I know I’ve looked at states where we wanted to go and made a beeline to the advertised “destinations” with little interest in what I might find along the way. We’ve also made trips where we parked and stayed so we could explore and poke around, as you well know. But in the end — what fascinates me is what people take away from their travel in memories — regardless what brought them to a place. I admit I was surprised by the inclusion of the Grotto in Dickeyville. It surely is an oddity. But it also speaks to the amazing character of people who settled that area. From your photo I suspect you had the same closest-campsite-to-the-RR-tracks site that we had (for 2 weeks in our case). Lovely blog. Keep up the memories!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Peter, thank you! We drove from Potosi to Iowa to see the Field of Dreams and on the way back just had to stop to see that Grotto! When we first started traveling we passed by many places that would have been interesting to see. We later started finding interesting places to stop between destinations.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Gotcha! That was why we mostly plopped in a place for a couple/few weeks and had time to snoop around. Loved the Grotto — those folks who settled in that area — actually in the whole driftless region in particular — were strange/interesting folks!!!! And they had huge hearts and strong backs — making a home there was not easy.

        I love seeing how each person/couple arranges their travels. We THOUGHT we’d be much more organized and deliberate about our RV journeys — turns out we were quite impulsive (no surprise given my personality and a willing wife)!

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.