On Wisconsin!

.....Or The Weather Says,"Stay Here, Don't Go There Yet!"

We toured the SC Johnson Co headquarters in Racine, WI to kill some time. You might ask what makes a tour of a chemical/household product company interesting. The answer is that many of the campus buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Link to a virtual tour here.

We made a quick stop in Waukesha, WI for lunch with family friends before moving on to Madison, WI. If you haven’t visited the state capitol building, I would highly recommend it. Very impressive!

We also visited the Chazen Museum of Art on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Free and and a great way to spend a few hours.

It was around this time that we started getting the hint that continuing west might not be the best idea.

We did a great bike ride on the Lake Monona Bike Loop. Great views of the lake and city. Amy Jo had a problem with one of her tires, so it was off to the nearest bike shop for a repair. I managed to slip next door for a beer at Bandit. Pro tip; when ordering a taco, look at the menu closely and speak clearly. The beef taco I thought I ordered turned out to be a BEET taco. Not really my cup of tea, but it was still pretty good.

We also visited the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Lots of great hiking trails as well as wildlife.

Also visited Great Dane Pub & Brewing in downtown Madison for some rehydration.

We decided to head north to Devils Lake State Park, based upon friends recommendations, and arrived at Tumbled Rock Brewery & Kitchen in Baraboo, WI where we stayed for two nights.

We hiked the West Bluff Trail to Balance Rock to East Bluff Trail Loop plus a few of the offshoot trails. Great views and plenty of up and down.

The repair on Amy Jo’s bike didn’t hold up, so it was back to Madison for a redo. Once again, I snuck next door for a beer WITHOUT the beet taco this time. Re repair completed, we decided to head north as the heatwave in the Dakotas didn’t look pleasant. We stopped in Oshkosh, WI at Fifth Ward Brewing Co and then on to the waterfront Fox River Brewing Co for some important planning time. Great beer at both and a nice Florida style waterfront patio/tiki bar area at Fox River. We continued on to Appleton, WI for a nice stay at the Walmart campground. I also partook of the famous Wisconsin fish fry at Camelot Bar & Grill. Don’t miss this one if you’re in the area. The best kind of place; nondescript, in a warehouse area and full of locals. Food was great and I had a good time talking to everyone.

On to Green Bay, WI the next day with a stop at High Cliffs State Park on the way. Nice views of Lake Winnebago and interesting remains of a limestone quarry and lime kiln as well.

No trip to Green Bay would be complete without checking out the football stadium area. BTW, the team store in the stadium is about the size of a Walmart.

We also visited the Titletown entertainment complex just west of Lambeau Field, including Hinterland Brewery, before continuing on to Zambaldi Beer, our Harvest Host campsite.

At this point the weather to the west is still looking pretty hot, so we decided to move northeast to Door County on the recommendation of several people we talked with. Best decision of the trip thus far!

We made our way to Sturgeon Bay, WI with a stop at Potawatomi State Park to hike, including the Tower Trail.

Another good decision was to upgrade our $16 daily admission at our first Wisconsin state park to a $38 annual pass to all state parks. In addition to free admission to the many parks in this area, we were able to poach hot showers in the campgrounds as well. We also made a quick stop at Bridge Up Brewing Co before settling in at the Walmart campground for the evening.

We moved on to Sister Bay, WI and Peninsula State Park. A few really neat towns along the way, but Sister Bay is really the crown jewel of Door County. We hiked around Peninsula State Park,

took our free hot shower and continued on to Peach Barn Farmhouse & Brewery where we finagled permission to camp in their back parking lot for the night. Great beer and live music!

Downtown Sister Bay has a public park/beach area with a bandshell overlooking the water. We elected to park there in the morning to drink our coffee, etc. A free concert started at noon and then a second at 6 pm. We ended up staying the whole day just hanging out, enjoying the music and taking it easy.

We ended up spending a few days here. The abandoned grocery store on the southside of town made a great campsite.

We moved north to the tip of the peninsula as Newport State Park is a wilderness state park as well as an International Dark Sky Place. Unfortunately, a bright moon and partial cloud cover kept us from viewing the Milky Way. We camped for the night in the Washington Island Ferry parking lot.

We moved on to Whitefish Dunes State Park on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. Beautiful beaches, stunning cliffs and wild raspberries! We hiked long enough for me to eat every raspberry I could find.

We rehydrated at Door County Brewing Co before heading back to Sturgeon Bay and the Walmart campground.

A window in the western heat wave appeared to be opening, so we left Sturgeon Bay for Indian Island Winery in Janesville, MN, our Harvest Host campsite for the night. Good wine, live country music and a level parking lot. What more could you ask for?

We moved on to Sioux Falls, SD to resupply at the last Costco we were going to see for awhile as well as to investigate any breweries. We made a stop at Lupulin Brewery and were not disappointed.

Continuing west, we found a forest service dispersed campsite just east of Badlands National Park.

All was good until around midnight when I was alerted to an incoming severe thunderstorm with golf ball size hail. As solar panels don’t handle large hail well, we elected to relocate out of harms way.

Alright, I’m catching up! Since it’s going to be hotter than hell in Mesquite for the next week, I may be able to get this finished.

Stay tuned!