Happy Holidays!

December 17, 2022: Hi all. I'm still here, just been very busy (who of us is not?) I'm working on updating Maison Newton bit by bit, it's been awhile since I changed things up. Happy Holidays to all, soon the Winter Solstice will arrive and then the days will start to get longer once again, hooray!

Friday, July 12, 2019

Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!

Hola darlings!

Ahhhhhhhh, got back home early Monday evening after 12 days up north Wisconsin.  Family has land outside of Prentice, Wisconsin, way up north.  Unfortunately, the weather there was stormy, and then hot and humid and buggy just as it was in the city I left behind to escape to less humid, cooler temperatures (but still with far too many woman-eating bugs this time of year in the woodlands).  Oh well.  Still had a nice restful time.  B-I-L added a three-season porch to the back of the cabin a few years back and until the Sun came around overhead at 10 a.m. daily I was able to sit outside for about 4 hours and doodle around on my computer and read in peace, quiet, and coolness, surrounded by endless trees, a stream, and wildlife. There's something to be said about being the first one up in the early morning, when the mist is still on the ground, the dew is heavy, and the deer are out.


Above is a view from my sister's and B-I-L's front door in Tomah, Wisconsin.  That was home base (with the train from my home to theirs).  They live in "sand country," where mile after mile of endless rolling hills are covered with tree cover and underneath, are tons of sand and gravel.  Sand and gravel mines are a mainstop of the economy throughout this part of Wisconsin.  More views below:


Above, looking to the left - you can see a continuation of the ridge from the first photo.


The ridge continues along the road and encircles the subdivision.  This is looking toward the mid-right out the front door.


Looking further right near the corner, that road is one of two that provides access in and out to the subdivision.  That used to be a working farm.  Right now, it's used to board horses.


This is the one photo I captured up north at the cabin, LOL!  It had rained and been stormy most of the day, but at sunset it cleared.  This wooded area looks toward the deer feeder my sister keeps filled year round.  I had a photo of a fawn eating at the feeder, but it turned out too blurry to be of any use.  I'm hoping my sis got the same pic, as we were both snapping away at the same time when we took a quick evening walk after being cooped up in the cabin all day.  This looks toward one of their ATV paths on their 120 acres.This year we took a day trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin the day before I headed back home.  La Crosse is a beautiful small city located on the east side of the Mississippi River.  We  took a quick driving tour of La Crosse while checking out the tall sandstone bluffs left behind eons ago from a long-disappeared massive inland sea!  I especially fell in love with the homes on Cass Street. I'd been briefly over the Mississippi through La Crosse years ago on route to visit a friend at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester - but I primarily remember going through lots of small towns in Wisconsin and then stopping in Minnesota at a large barn filled with "antiques" and souvenirs.  I still have the souvenir I bought back then - a creamy white alabaster egg.


Welcome to Minnesota!  Photo is self-explanatory.  My sis wanted to see a lock.  It wasn't operative at the time we visited though.  Behind that fence and below the concrete dock is the mighty Mississippi.


Above is the "exit" of Lock 7.  Wisconsin is across the river to the left, I took this photo in Minnesota on the right side of this part of the river.


This is the view further along the exit of Lock 7.  You can see one of the many bridges that joins Wisconsin to Minnesota crossing over the river at this relatively narrow point.


This is one of the sandstone bluffs across from the entrance from the highway to Lock 7.  Closer up, which I wasn't able to get, the sandstone at the top reminded me of a Mayan ruin covered over by centuries of jungle!


Moving my camera a bit further to the left, I just had to get a photo of these "twin peaks," LOL!

Next post will contain photos from our stop at Grandads Bluff Park back in Wisconsin just over the Mississippi.  The views are spectacular.

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