1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (73 page)

The Heart of America’s Dairyland

Monroe to Mineral Point, Wisconsin

In the 1800s, the lush rolling hills and river valleys of south-central Wisconsin were an irresistible lure for thousands of Swiss, German, and Scandinavian dairy farmers eager for fertile farmlands that reminded them of home
.
Today this area is the heart of Wisconsin’s dairyland, a postcard-perfect rural environment where cheesemaking remains a generations-old fine art.

The region’s Swiss culture shines most prominently in New Glarus (population 1,899), where a smattering of locals still speak their native Swiss-German dialect and white-and-brown scrolled architecture dominates the downtown. Shops sell everything from cuckoo clocks to Swiss pastries, while Swiss pioneer life is chronicled at the Swiss Historical Village Museum at the west end of town, where occasional demonstrations of cheesemaking can be seen. Another local draw is the New Glarus Brewing Co., creators of internationally award-winning beers like Spotted Cow and Uff-Da Bock.

Nearby Monroe is the Speciality Cheese Capital of the U.S. More than 20 farmer-owned operations still churn out cheese in the area—predominantly varieties of Swiss, but also Gruyère and even Limburger, the latter produced at the Chalet Cheese Cooperative, reportedly the nation’s only remaining Limburger maker.

Several area factories offer morning tours, including the Chalet Cheese Cooperative, Franklin Cheese Cooperative, and Wisconsin Hill and Valley Cheese. Also pay a visit to the Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe, to understand the history and craft of it all. Downtown, you’ll find several cheese shops on the old town square, lined with Victorian architecture and anchored by the red Romanesque Green County Courthouse. Stop at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store & Tavern for a sandwich popular in Monroe and maybe only in Monroe: Limburger cheese with onion and mustard on rye bread.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Cornish miners were flowing into Mineral Point (45 miles northwest of Monroe) to dig the vast ore deposits hidden under the region’s hills, and it became the territorial capital of Wisconsin in 1836. Now a thriving artist community, the town still boasts some of the state’s oldest and best preserved historic homes. Visit the limestone Cornish cottages along Shake Rag Alley, named for the old Cornish tradition of housewives shaking dishcloths to summon their husbands home from the mines, that are now occupied by antiques shops and art galleries. Farther down Shake Rag, the state historical society operates tours of Pendarvis, a well-preserved and oft-photographed collection of Cornish buildings.

At the end of Commerce Street lies the trail-head for the Cheese Country Trail, a 47-mile off-road route that winds along the Pecatonica River and through rolling dairy farm country to Monroe. It’s open to hikers, bikers, horses, and ATVs, and largely follows a rail line that once hauled thousands of tons of lead.

W
HERE
: 100–150 miles west of Milwaukee.
S
WISS
H
ISTORICAL
V
ILLAGE
: New Glarus. Tel 608–527-2317;
www.swisshistoricalvillage.com
.
When:
May–Oct.
N
EW
G
LARUS
B
REWING
C
O
.
: Tel 608–527-5850;
www.newglarusbrewing.com
.
C
HALET
C
HEESE
C
OOPERATIVE
: Monroe. Tel 608–325-4343.
When:
closed Sun.
F
RANKLIN
C
HEESE
C
OOP
: Tel 608–325-3725.
When:
closed Sun.
W
ISCONSIN
H
ILL AND
V
ALLEY
C
HEESE
: Cashton. Tel 608–654-5411.
When:
closed Sun.
H
ISTORIC
C
HEESEMAKING
C
ENTER
: Monroe. Tel 608–325-4636.
When:
daily, Mar–Nov; Thurs–Sat, Dec–Feb.
B
AUMGARTNER’S
: Monroe. Tel 608–325-6157.
P
ENDARVIS
: Mineral Point. Tel 608–987-2122;
www.wisconsinhistory.org/pendarvis
.
When:
May–Oct.
B
EST TIMES
: in New Glarus, early Aug for the Volksfest (Swiss Independence Day) and early Sept for the Wilhelm Tell Festival (
www.swisstown.com
). In Monroe, mid-Sept in even-numbered years for Cheese Days (
www.cheesedays.com
).

Riders take advantage of the Cheese Country Trail to explore Wisconsin off-road-style.

Rural Beauty Tucked in Wrinkled River Valleys

Ontario, Wisconsin

The vast ice sheets that scoured flat much of the Midwest bypassed a pocket of southwestern Wisconsin east of La Crosse and north of the Wisconsin River. Free of glacial sediment (called “drift”), the landscape here is
furrowed into serpentine valleys, crooked rivers, and craggy bluffs of sandstone and limestone. The result is a snapshot of rural America long gone in most places—a pastoral patchwork of tiny farmsteads, lazy canoeing rivers, bucolic Amish communities, grazing Holsteins, and thin roads that twist and turn with the topography.

The Kickapoo River perhaps best characterizes the Driftless Area’s geology. Dubbed “the crookedest river in the nation,” it may be one of the oldest river systems in the world. A crazy corkscrew that winds for 120 miles to cover a 65-mile distance between the communities of Wilton and Wauzeka, it is a delight for paddlers—clear, spring-fed, lethargic (except during spring rains), and lovely as it hugs sandstone cliffs and loops under a canopy of hemlock and pine. You can rent canoes and arrange shuttles in the tiny town of Ontario.

Nearly any road in this region could qualify as a scenic drive. From Ontario, for example, you can follow southbound Highway 131 for miles as it passes through pretty rural towns like Gays Mills, where acres of apple orchards hug the hillsides. Or watch for brown signs indicating a “Rustic Road,” a series of scenic drives that are also perfect for biking (this is considered one of the top biking destinations in the U.S.). Three miles south of Ontario, Dutch Hollow Road is one such route, following high ridgelines and curving past Amish farms.

Ample state lands also make it easy to explore the area on foot, bike, or horseback. Near Ontario, 3,700-acre Wildcat Mountain State Park crowns a limestone escarpment, with hiking trails up to the 1,220-foot summit of Mount Pisgah. Nearby, the 8,569-acre Kickapoo Valley Reserve is especially popular with equestrians, who have more than 30 miles of meandering trails at their disposal.

W
HERE
: 60 miles northwest of Madison.
W
ILDCAT
M
OUNTAIN
: Tel 608–337-4775;
www.dnr.state.wi.us
.
K
ICKAPOO
V
ALLEY
R
ESERVE
: Tel 608–625-2960;
http://kvr.state.wi.us
.
B
EST TIMES
: Jul–Aug for warmest paddling weather; late Sept for foliage.

The World’s Largest Aviation Celebration

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

All the sky’s a stage at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture, an annual weeklong event in which thousands of pilots from all over the world gather to showcase their historic, high-tech, and experimental
aircraft. It’s equal parts air show, trade show, educational workshop, and reunion, and its lure for aviation buffs is undeniable. The annual event, which began in 1953 with fewer than 100 attendees, now draws more than 750,000 from 70 countries. More than 10,000 aircraft wing in for the show, temporarily transforming little Wittman Regional Airport into the busiest airport in the world. Spectators may be treated to supersonic military jets, precision aerobatic teams, homebuilt airplanes, vintage bombers, and delicate ultralights all in the same day.

Air show spectators watch the P-51 Mustang, a WWII fighter, cruise by on the runway.

As many as 200 aircraft participate in daily 30- and 60-minute air shows, which feature vintage WWII warbirds, wingwalkers, and other specialty acts. There’s also plenty to see at the adjacent EAA AirVenture Museum, which is open all year and includes dozens of aircraft, exhibits on the pioneers of flight, and a “KidVenture” area with interactive rocket-and plane-building projects.

The EAA also sponsors “fantasy flight camps,” where licensed pilots can fly vintage biplanes and early passenger transport craft like a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor “Tin Goose.”

W
HERE
: 90 miles northwest of Milwaukee; 3000 Poberezny Rd. Tel 888–322-4636 or 920–426-4800;
www.eaa.org
.
Cost:
$32 per day.
When:
last week of July.
A
IR
VE
NTURE
M
USEUM
: Tel 920–426-4818;
www.airventuremuseum.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: Sat for extended warbird shows; opening day for arrivals of unusual aircraft.

Birds and Barges Along America’s Greatest River

Prairie du Chien to Prescott, Wisconsin

In the early 1950s, the idea of a scenic byway running the length of the Mississippi River was born, and today, the Great River Road does just that, in Wisconsin slaloming between the Mississippi and its towering bluffs from
the mouth of the St. Croix River near Prescott to below Prairie du Chien and the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The 250-mile route (primarily along Wis. 35 and part of the greater 2,069-mile-long Great River Road; see p. 448) provides glimpses of everything from sleepy river towns and busy barge traffic to braided backwaters, wildlife preserves, and birds, birds, birds. The Mississippi Flyway ranks as one of the world’s great migratory bird routes: More than 40 percent of the nation’s waterfowl and shorebirds pass through the Upper Mississippi River Valley each year, including thousands of tundra swans. Eagles, ospreys, and other raptors winter here, often fishing in the open waters below the dams.

Tucked among high sandstone bluffs, Trempealeau, with a population of just over 1,000, could be a movie set for a slightly dilapidated and charming old river town. The Historic Trempealeau Hotel is the centerpiece of town, an 1871 restaurant and saloon with creaking wood floors, a big screened porch overlooking
the river, and specialties like blackened catfish and a traditional fish boil on Fridays.

The nearby 6,200-acre Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge features a 5-mile wildlife drive and an observation deck overlooking the river bluffs and marsh—a good place to spot bald eagles At nearby Lock and Dam Number 6, an observation platform lets visitors watch barges loaded with grain, coal, and other raw materials as they head for ports downriver.

The largest community in the region, La Crosse (population 51,003) was once singled out by Mark Twain as a “choice town.” It’s a port of call for the Delta Queen Steamboat Company’s magnificent
Mississippi Queen
paddlewheeler and home to the
Julia Belle Swain,
a riverboat reminiscent of the steamers that plied the river more than a century ago.

In Prairie du Chien, descendents of Wisconsin’s first millionaire, fur trader Hercules Dousman, built the opulent Victorian mansion Villa Louis which is open for tours. Nearby, Wyalusing State Park crowns a 500-foot limestone bluff, offering an eagle’s-eye view of the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet stood at this very spot in 1673—where they first spotted the Upper Mississippi.