Wisconsin

Yep, after Honduras, we headed to the wilds of WI! I was hoping that we timed our travel to track the color change ok, and it turned out more than ok!

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I just wanted to lure you in with a pretty picture up front! ;)

In one day’s drive, we made it into southern WI. It was very refreshing to see rolling hills, barns and cows grazing. This is Dairyland USA after all. Unfortunately, there was never a “perfect” picture of everything I wanted to capture, so I’ll share a few:

Most of the barns we saw had silos (for storing corn for the cows during the winter) and interestingly had stone or brick bases - in contrast to the Midwest where they are all wood. Also, many had arched or rounded roofs, I guess to shed snow easier.

We stopped at Horicon Marsh Natural Wildlife Refuge in central WI and were treated to long lines of honking geese:

We went for a walk in the woods, and I fell in love with the beeches that proliferate around water, including the Great Lakes.

I also fell in love with the accents here, don’t cha know? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to watch the movie “Fargo”. The “ooo” sounds are accentuated, and they say things like “do you want me to warm this up a smidge?”

Sorry, I digress…as we drove north into Door County, we started seeing some colors, but it was early.

Around Lake Michigan, we started seeing more:

It was odd for this Midwesterner to see lake water so clear (and to see a rocky bottom, instead of mud) -

…and to see waves crashing against the shore (this is a lake?) -

We continued driving north into the Northwoods… and just wow!

Even with overcast skies, the colors were just eye-popping.

And then we came to “land o’ lakes” -

And we still drove north…

…seeing waterfalls -

…and vistas -

…reached by meandering paths -

…until we reached Lake Superior:

…and the pretty little town of Bayfield -

…from where we took a boat tour into Lake Superior among the Apostle Islands (National Lakeshore).

We got to see a number of bald eagles (no, I’m not tired of them from Alaska) -

…but most of the 3 hour tour was overcast and very windy (read cold).

We did make it out to the northernmost island, Devil’s Island, which has the beautiful sea caves, and erosion caused by millennia of crashing waves and wind.

I just can’t imagine being a lighthouse keeper out here.

As we came back to town, the sun came out…

…lighting up the hillsides:

I’ll close with my favorite picture, back from the lakes region -