A day along the Mississippi...

We don't really watch TV...we have gone months without even turning one on.  On a rare evening, I think we were somewhere in Indiana, I let the kids surf the channels for a while before bedtime.  They love animal and nature type shows, so of course they landed on Animal Planet.  There was a show on called "American River Renegades", we didn't catch the whole thing, but apparently enough.  You see, just after we crossed the Mississippi River and started to drive through Prairie du Chien, the kids all started pointing out the windows and chattering about this shop we were about to pass.  It was the Valley Fish & Cheese and they instantly recognized it from the show! Ha! 

How funny is that???...

It was too late that day to stop, but we made sure to pay them a visit before leaving town...

We love having picnics, so we decided to check out the store and get our lunch fixings there one day.  Oh boy.  You want turtle jerkey?  They got it.  Gator meat?  Got that, too.  Pretty much all the creatures that swim, they had some.  My boys sampled the turtle, I did not (noooo thank you).

The store and the father/daughter duo running it were great :).  Same folks from the show and just as nice as could be.  We bought a handful of Indian pottery pieces that Mike had found at various times along the river.  ***When I was a little girl, we lived near the Apalachicola River in Florida...many, many times we would walk along the banks and collect the ancient pottery pieces.  Just like the ones he had :), great memories <3*** 

Picnic in hand, we headed to St. Feriole Island...

hickory smoked salmon spread from Valley Fish & Cheese...the BEST

our view while we picnicked...

This island was the original site of the town, it's recorded history dates back to the 1600's.  There are mounds that tell of native American inhabitants even earlier than that...

The next place the kids insisted we go was on the Iowa side of the river.  A place called Pikes Peak State Park.  The only Pikes Peak we were familiar with was the mountain in Colorado.  We lived right next to it for a year, in a little town just above Woodland Park, so the kids were very interested to see this other place by the same name :)...

A bluff instead of a mountain, a different kind of beautiful...

hey kids...look right here, right into the sun, now "smile!"...oops...sorry, kids!

The view was gorgeous, but the bugs were not.  There were swarms of some kind of annoying bugs that cut our visit short and sent us high-tailing it back to the car...

all those specks...BUGS!  EVERYWHERE!

Before crossing back over to Wisconsin, we decided to check out the town of Marquette, Iowa.  There was a little antique shop that caught my eye and I convinced the kids to go in with me.  Three stories and a basement later, and I was all shopped out for the day.  Don't feel sorry for the kids, their turn came later...they spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and going bananas at the waterpark while I supervised and did laundry ;p

To Iowa and beyond...

When we left Michigan and Indiana behind, we drove straight west all the way across Illinois.  Stopping only once to get out and stretch our legs...

...somewhere in Illinois...

...and get right back on the road.  It made for a late night, but we didn't stop until we were a good ways into Iowa. 

We had an educational destination in mind for the next day...the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site.  Bright and early (and more than a little tired!) we headed out to make the most of our day...

The visitor center was a good one, lots of interesting things to see and read about.  We spent a good chunk of time in there before heading outside...

This place was so cute!  Such a picturesque little community...

We checked out the blacksmith shop...

...the church...

...and the tiny little house where Herbert Hoover was born...

After a fun chat with the Ranger and the swearing in of a handful of brand new Junior Rangers, we were back on the road...

...heading to the only other NPS site in Iowa, Effigy Mounds.

The day before when we drove across Illinois the scenery had been very...flat.  Lots of fields.  It got dark before we reached Iowa, but when we woke up and got a peek outside, more flat.  We have traveled the western part of Iowa (and been through parts of Illinois) several times and so I was expecting the level terrain.  Well, there's more to the midwest than just flat farmland.  We were driving north, past the big strawberry...

...when all the sudden the views changed!  The ground started to roll and the hills got bigger and bigger.  We had to pull over and take a picture ;)haha...

Anyway, we were getting closer to the Mississippi River and things were getting really beautiful.  We easily found the Effigy Mounds National Monument visitor center...which is not always a given, sometimes google map likes to take us for a joy ride...

This vc was small, but still interesting.  It didn't take long to see everything inside and then it was time to take a hike...

These mounds and the history behind them are fascinating.  If you ever have the chance to go there, do it.  If not, then do some research and at least read about them (and look at the aerial photos).  If you do go, take along skeeter spray.  You're welcome ;).

one of the mounds...they are huge

always the leader of the pack :)...and yes, the trails get a tad steep...

By the time we made it back to the vc and got all Jr. Rangered up, we were (which means pretty much just me, haha!) exhausted.  Not enough sleep the night before (and many nights before that), lots of driving, and tromping around various trails had taken its toll on my old self.  Since we had spent the night before in Iowa, we decided to cross the Mississippi River and look for someplace to stay in Wisconsin.  Just because. 

The more tired I am, the less willing I am to deal with the smaller hotels.  It's always a gamble as to what you will find when you open that room door...  So.  I set my sights on a Country Inn and Suites in Prairie du Chien that boasted online about an indoor waterpark.  Not counting on getting a reasonable rate and being able to stay there, but hoping anyway, I went inside to see what was available.  Ya'll, this place turned out to be such a blessing for us.  Not only was it affordable, but it was AWESOME!  We got a family suite, which had two separate bedrooms.  One with a king size bed that I shared with my youngest child and the other bedroom was decked out with 2 sets of bunkbeds, a desk, and a TV/Playstation 2.  The front desk had an assortment of PS2 games that the kids could check out (free!) to take back to the room...and all the (also free!) warm cookies their little bellies could hold.  Of course there was the waterpark (which they LOVED) and just past that was a decent little restaurant.  With the onsite laundry facilities added in there, we were set.  We hunkered down for a few days to try and rest up a little before getting back on the road...

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll...

...now go hug the ones you love.  That's my biggest plan for today :)...

looks like a beach, sounds like a beach...

The Great Lakes...

...so vast that they are called inland oceans...

This was our first time visiting any of the huge lakes and I have to tell you, it was a strange experience.  Strange?  Yes...

You see, they really ARE like inland oceans.  There is water farther than your eyes can see...

...there are winds and waves...

...sand dunes and the grasses that grow at a typical beach...

...even the sounds are very much like being at the ocean.  The only thing missing is the smell!  That wonderful salty smell that only the ocean has.  It was a strange thing to see and feel all these things that scream ocean, only there was absolutely no smell.  I caught myself breathing deeply several times expecting salt air and almost choking because it was just THAT weird to me (maybe i'm what's weird, but that's ok too ;)haha!).

Anyway, lack of smell aside, we really enjoyed our time there.  We took a walk along the edge of the water, then we drove back over towards the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Visitor Center. 

"hello :)"

"look, mom, a water horse egg!"...indeed it is...

The Florida Tropical House on Lakefront Drive

We had stopped by earlier in the day to pick up Jr. Ranger books and while we were over there we paid a visit to the Chellberg Farm.

There are lots of trails in this section of the park, we followed the one that led past the sugar barn where they make maple syrup...

...and on to the farm...

When we were done at the VC, we decided to take a little drive...

to MICHIGAN! 

Indiana was state number 45 that we have visited and Michigan makes 46, woohoo :)!  We basically gave Michigan a "high-five", just to say we've been there, and then we had to turn back around and make some Western progression. 

***Michigan, we'll for sure be back one day when we have time to stay for a while.  Soon, I hope, because from what I've seen and heard you sure are pretty...