Today we were going to go drive part of the Great River Road in Wisconsin, along the Mississippi River. I guess I forgot just how far the Mississippi is from Middleton. We headed out, stopped at Mazomanie at a cheese factory for squeaky cheese curds (did you know they aren't really fresh unless they squeak when you chew them?). Then we drove along the Wisconsin River to the Wyalusing State Park, where the Wisconsin River joins the Mississippi River. There are huge bluffs along both sides and the views are amazing. The Wisconsin River is in the foreground running along the bottom of the picture. The Mississippi is way in the back, not such a big river up here, before the Missouri and Ohio Rivers join up. Just behind the Wisconsin River is sort of a marshy delta area. If you click on the photo to make it bigger you can see better.
 
   

This is the Mississippi just below where the Wisconsin enters.


After lunch we realized we'd better head back if we wanted to be in time for dinner. We passed through Spring Green on the Wisconsin River which is where Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliessen is located. We actually had planned to tour his house but they want $50 per person. Who do they think he is - Elvis!?? He was well known around here - it was not unusual for him to come into a shop in Madison or Middleton to buy things. He was rude, arrogant and never bothered to pay his bills, so he wasn't greeted with open arms around here. His buildings are beautiful even if they were often not well built - one guy complained because the roof leaked and dripped water on his desk - Wright told him to move the desk.


Also near Spring Green is Tower Hill Park. In the 1800s, Wisconsin was a major supplier of lead - there were lead mines all over southwest Wisconsin. The miners would dig a tunnel into the side of the hill looking for lead and then actually live in their tunnels until they could build a proper house, so they were called badgers. That's why Wisconsin is called the Badger state, not because of those disagreeable little animals that also live here. During the Civil War (or the War of Northern Agression), cannonballs were made here by dropping melted lead down a 180 foot shaft - by the time they got to the bottom they had formed balls and cooled.

Countryside just south of Spring Green:
 

Beautiful Wisconsin Country: