Oct 7, 2012 - Woodpecker, Cranes, Circus World & Vultures

Got down to 37 last night. And today it only got up to 50 with a light wind. It’s cold. Shortly after getting up this morning I saw a pileated woodpecker on the tree about 30 feet from our trailer. He was up the trunk of the tree only three feet. I grabbed the camera and got lots of pictures besides a movie. He was very busy trying to peck stuff out of a rotted spot on the trunk. Have wanted to get some good shots of one of them since I first saw one in a Williamsburg campground two ears ago. Success! Today was WONDERFUL. We started out...

Oct 6, 2012 - Apple Valley, MN to Baraboo, WI

We stopped and got gas this am and the station had air for the tires. We filled up the Tahoe tires but the air would not go into the trailer tires. We were about to give up when I noticed the Discount/America Tire store across the street. All of our tires were purchased there and I knew they would fill them. We laughed that we had not noticed it to begin with but them we were looking for gasoline. Sure enough they filled them up. Then we drove over to Byerly’s market, that my brother had recommended, to get some wild rice and other...

Jul 31, 2012 - A visit to the International Crane Foundation July 31, 2012

July 31. Another beautiful day and a great ride through the pastoral rolling hills and farmlands of Wisconsin. Our first exciting adventure for the day was a 3 hour stop at the International Crane Foundation. Here we took a very informative 2 hour guided tour and saw all 15 species of cranes from all over the world, including the endangered and rare Whooping crane. A most fascinating story is about the Whooping crane. The Foundation was trying to establish a new nesting area in the U.S. for the cranes. They were given 2 eggs from a Canadian...

Sep 19, 2011 - Devil's Lake State Park

It was cloudy when we got up but the forecast was for good weather by noon so we drove to Devil's Lake State Park to take a hike. This lake is at the end of two terminal moraines and does not have any outlet or inlet to or from any streams or rivers. It is about 45 feet deep at its deepest. A terminal moraine is the ridge of rocks pushed ahead of an advancing glacier and when the glacier retreats, the ridge or moraine is left behind. We hiked the East Bluff Trail; about a 3.5 mile loop. The way up afforded spectacular views. The trail...

Sep 18, 2011 - International Crane Foundation

Today, it is very cloudy and a little drizzly but, we decided to go to the International Crane Foundation for a tour anyway because as most of you probably know, taking photos on grey days is better for emphasizing the colors of the suvjects and you don’t have the harshness of the sun to contend with. The International Crane Foundation has on display all 13 species of cranes that exist in the world. They also have a breeding program that is dedicated to making sure the cranes do not become extinct. You have, no doubt, seen the surrogate...

Sep 17, 2011 - Baraboo, Wisconsin

We are staying at the Fox Hill RV Park outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin. It is a really nice park with big pull through sites and the people in the office are very nice and friendly with lots of suggestions about places to see and eat. Baraboo, Wisconsin is an iconic farm community and the town itself is lovely with old Victorian buildings around the Courthouse Square. It is the home to the Ringling Brothers Circus and there is a big circus museum which contains many of the old circus wagons. There is also the Al Ringling theatre in the...

Sep 16, 2011 - Wisconsin Dells

Picture Niagara Falls (the American side town not the falls) on steroids and you have the Wisconsin Dells. Apparently, this is the water park capitol of the world and we cannot dispute that based on what we have seen thus far. We are staying in Baraboo, Wisconsin about 8 miles from the town of Wisconsin Dells. The campground (Fox Hill RV Park) is really nice and the people who run it even nicer. We have internet and cellphone service! Wow! However, a few miles from here, the madness begins. There are huge casinos owned by the American...

Aug 15, 2011 - A day at the Circus

Baraboo, Wisconsin is the home of the Ringling Brothers Circus since the late 1800's the 5 Ringling Brothers started the circus and were around until the early 1930's when the circuses started to combine and buy out each other. (www.circusworldmuseum.com). We arrived about 11:00 AM, just as the one 1 ring circus was performing. We saw the elephant act and the closing of the show. I was really impressed with the performers, most of them in their teens - I guess "summer camp" or minor league venue for the real circus. Also saw a really good...

Jul 20, 2011 - Baraboo, Wisconsin

After getting our grandson, on the 19th, we drove to Baraboo. The GPS did one of its interesting routes, probably extending our trip by a least a half hour. Anyway, we got there and had a plan for the one day we had in the area. We didn’t have enough time to do anything at Wisconsin Dells. We went to the Circus Museum and what a treat that was. The museum has a collection of items from all of the world’s circuses. Along with that, they do live performances. There was a lot of focus on the Ringling Brothers, because they were from Baraboo,...

Sep 21, 2010 - Baraboo & Devil's Lake

Today we got our first Wisconsin geocache and visited Devil's Lake State Park. The cache was located at a very cool memorial. Baraboo is the home of the Circus World Museum. It was from Baraboo in 1884 that the Ringling Brothers Circus began their first tour as a circus. Over six seasons, the circus expanded from a wagon show to a railroad show with 225 employees, touring cities across the United States each summer. Baraboo remained the circus's headquarters and wintering grounds until 1918, when the Ringling Brothers Circus combined with...

Sep 19, 2010 - Chicago Adventure

Today was another travel day, over 300 miles. It was a very exciting drive. We had no idea Interstate 90 would take us right through the city of Chicago. YIKES! Jerry did a great job of driving while I went wild trying to capture pictures. That is very hard to do when you have a dirty windshield and you are also the GPS navigator. I had to tell Jerry which lanes to move into "FAST" and the people were not exactly the move over and let you in type. :-) It was an exciting drive, to say the least. I hope you enjoy the pictures I did manage to...

Jul 26, 2010 - Fox Hill

One night in a Wisconsin area called the Dells (absolutely beautiful – we need to go back there). At the campground that night, we were walking around and noticed three trailers in a group with Manitoba, Canada license plates. Keith stopped and said hi – they were from Portage la Prairie (Keith's home town), down there for a week. Small world! Routing: 200 miles US-52, I-39, I-90, US-12