Hi!

I am starting this on May 26th in the town of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Thanks for the advice from several people to see The House on the Rock. We also suggest that you spend a day looking over the collections in this unusual environment. It took us about six hours to complete the three major areas. It is about a two and a half mile walk.

The first area included the home that was hand crafted and built on this enormous rock and the surrounding cliff. It was the effort of either an eccentric or a visionary or maybe both. The infinity room has to be seen to be appreciated.

The next two buildings housed collections of dolls, jewelry, pictures and memorabilia of famous ships, miniature doll houses, guns of every kind, etc. The item that I found of interest was a carousel. Not one of the animals was a horse. It had bears, lions, unicorns and any other animal you can think of that can be ridden. Another carousel had dolls and only dolls on board. All of this is inside of the building. The only outdoor display is the Japanese garden

Our next stop was in Madison, Wisconsin. There is a lot to do and see in the area. Carry lots of quarters in your vehicle. Parking downtown and on campus is hard to find and all of it metered.

The Dane County Farmers Market is really yummy. It is very popular so don't plan on getting through quickly. Do plan on buying cheeses, baked breads, fresh jams and an assortment of fresh produce and flowers.

The State Capitol, Wisconsin Veterans Museum and Historical Wisconsin Museum are on the main plaza. All of them are worthwhile stops. The Mustard Museum is out of the way and I would only suggest it if you are truly fond of mustard. The Geology Museum on the university campus is small but very nice. Another nice place to spend the day is the Henry Vilas Zoo.

The Olbrich Botanical Gardens are outstanding. They have outdoor concerts in the summer. They have a lovely pavilion that was donated by Thai students that graduated from the university. It is intricately decorated in gold leaf. There is a small tram on the property for those who do not wish to walk. The tram driver does a good narrative.

Two interesting stops in the area are the Cave of the Mounds. It is a national natural landmark discovered in 1939 when a quarry blast opened the underground cave. The other tour is of Little Norway. The farm and surrounding buildings have been well maintained. Our guide, Gordy, was informative and threw in several "yas" with charming inflection. On the ride home from these tours we went through Mount Horeb to see if we could spot the 15 carved trolls along the road. We also stopped at the Grumpy Troll restaurant for some delicious sandwiches.

June 4th we drove to the area referred to as the Wisconsin Dells. We also would call it a major tourist area known for water parks galore. We stayed at a Coast to Coast park owned by BlueGreen Timeshare property. Do bring boards for leveling your rig. It took 4 inches of boards to get us level. Even motor homes were using boards. Call ahead for instructions to the registration office. There are no signs to find the campground.

We found lots to do in the area. One of our favorites is the Circus World in Baraboo. When we heard that they had circus acts, we expected one or two acts. The show lasted an hour and had a wonderful assortment of animals, acrobats, jugglers and magic. The young, slim lady was a great clown in a less traditional outfit. When you arrive ask for a photographers pass or you will not be allowed to take pictures during the shows. No flash photography is allowed which is understandable with animals performing.

The museum had a number of buildings showing the history of circuses around the world. This included the creation of the fabulous costumes and the music associated with circus performers. Allow several hours to see all of the buildings and some of the shows. The circus wagon pavilion has some terrific examples of old wagons.

The Crane Foundation has a dozen or more of the cranes of the world. Each of the species is housed separately and has murals and plants to show a natural environment of their home country. We chose to listen to guide and added greatly to our knowledge.

The H.H. Bennett Photography Studio explained the history of the camera and innovations in cameras and film. One of Bennett's most famous pictures is of a man jumping from cliff to an outcropping of rock. It was an unusual and difficult shot at that time. We saw that leap done with what appeared to be a German Shepherd when we took the Upper Wisconsin Dells boat trip. Bennett was devoted to creating stereo views of the Dells, Devil's Lake and the surrounding counties.

We arrived in the Minneapolis and St. Paul (Twin Cities) on June 8th. Lebanon Hills is a great Dakota County RV park. It is centrally located and well tended. The park hosts were very polite and helpful.

We have been to many state capitol buildings but we found the Minnesota one to be unusual and very beautiful. Most of them have a dome but this building has a dome for each major area and they are lovely. It helped that the tour guide was very good and answered any questions in depth.

The Minnesota Zoo is ranked by us in the top 5 of zoos we have seen. In case I haven't mentioned it, we are Zoo Friends...members of a zoo association. We receive bulletins on special programs and sometimes discounts to zoo and aquariums for our membership fee.

Of course we went to the Mall of America and a farmers market. We walked around maybe a third of the mall. It is nice with a Nickelodeon amusement area for children but we prefer the mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The farmers market was another nice one. This time of year the produce is so fresh and reasonable to buy.

The Mill City Museum is 8 stories. It is dedicated to what was once the world's largest flour mill. It gives a wonderful overview of mills, harvests and baking labs. From the rooftop there is a view of the St. Anthony Falls and Stone Arch Bridge. This is also the location of the Upper St. Anthony Corp of Engineer locks.

We were mystified by the Sculpture Garden. Even reading the titles to the sculptures did not explain what we seeing. The redeeming feature of the park was the Cowles Conservatory. It contained a huge glass fish (carp) and a reflection pond with beautiful water lilies and other aquatic plants. The carp creator said it represented the fish his mother kept in the bathtub before turning it into gefilte fish.

The Minnehaha Park and Falls is a pleasant place to spend an hour or picnic and walk. The Bell Museum on the university campus is also a good place to spend some time. They have a nice display of birds, fish and mammals featured in their natural habitat. It is not a zoo. These creatures are stuffed.

We drove to a marina in Duluth, Minnesota on June 15th. We also stayed at the marina. This was a new and pleasant experience. It was located near a draw bridge and we sat in the comfort of our rig and watched boats and barges pass on by.

If you are in the area it it definitely worth the effort to take the scenic shore drive, We stopped at Gooseberry Falls and the Split Rock Light House. Both are great scenic places.

Enough writing for now. Thanks for the fun notes in response to our efforts. We hope everyone is well.

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