Making some great memories.

I've been so busy making some great memories. I will be adding more to my blog very soon.

More of Day 1 of our LauraPalooza

Looking from our motel, Route 14 Tracy Minnesota at sunset

Got to Tracy, MN about 8pm. I had called ahead to make a reservation at the Wilder Inn. I had read about it on Tripadvisor. It was about the only lodging for miles. This is, imo the middle of nowhere. My father who grew up on a farm, even thought so.
Tracy was hit by an F5 tornado in 1968 that killed 9 people. It was the town that Laura took a train to in On the Shores of Silver Lake from Walnut Grove. In the 1870's a covered wagon traveled 10-15 miles in a day. It took us ten minutes by car to drive about eight miles to Walnut Grove.
It is beautiful country, but there isn't much besides farmland. I asked if there was a McDonald's in the business district because there was a McDonald's billboard coming into town. The lady at the motel said that the businesses there closed at 5:30. Wow!! There was a little food market up the street, a Casey's gas station, popular out here, a Subway and a Dairy Queen. There seem to be Dairy Queens in just about every small town out here. I wouldn't be surprised to learn if DQ originated in the Midwest. I'll have to look that up.
The reviews I read about the motel were positive enough. I asked about a senior discount since my dad is 77, and the lady at the desk gave us 10% off. He has an AARP card but she said just for asking she gave us the discount. That was nice. Paid only $71.
The motel was clean. We had two double beds that were sleep number beds. I think my number is 30. The higher setting seemed too hard for me. We had a big flat screen tv. I think that was a recent addition
because I could see the bracket from a smaller tv coming off the ceiling. The tv sat on a round table. The table, next to a good size dorm refrigerator, had two chairs but the tv took up a lot of the space. A clothes rack with hangers was right above the refrigerator so I couldn't hang my wet bathing suit from the day before to dry.
A lot of the rooms were used by men that work for the railroad. They sat outside their rooms smoking. It was an atmosphere I did not feel comfortable in. Not family friendly like the Maples motel in Ohio. There was a playground across the street from the motel. It's at the edge of a residential neighborhood.

This is an exact replica of The Little House in the Big Woods that Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867 Pepin, Wisconsin.

No longer woods but farmland.

In Pepin at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.

Taking the route that Laura took in the early 1870's from Pepin, Wisconsin to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

Our two-day LauraPalooza

We left Sparta, WI. Not too long after leaving, we crossed the Mississippi River into MN. I have never been west of the Mississippi, except by plane, which I don't think counts, so it was exciting to be crossing the Mississippi. We stopped at the welcome center to stock up on brochures and to get a state map. The welcome center was by Lock 7 in the river navigation system.


We headed up Rt 32 which gave us a lovely, scenic view of the river enroute to the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder in  Pepin, Minnesota.


Arrived in Pepin around 11:30. The town is very small. The museum had items relating to Laura Ingalls. It also had a gift shop. Admission was $2 donation for adults. $1 for children.  Next store there was a local store that sold organic cheese curds. I bought a bag. They were delicious so I went back and bought another bag.

 We then drove 7 miles out of town to see a re creation of the log cabin Laura lived in during the events of her first book, Little House in the Big Woods. When we got to it, we were all surprised at how small it was. It is on the very site that house was on. It was neat to think that those wonderful people I have read about in The Little Books lived here 150 years ago. The surrounding land is no longer Big Woods. It has been cleared and is now farmland.

We left Pepin and picked up Rt 14, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway. We took Rt 14 into Tracy, MN. On the way we passed lots of farmland. (More to come...)

Stayed in Sparta, WI

Bathroom with a tv. So cool.

Slide in the kiddie pool.

Sun Up soda that I never heard of before.

After our pit stop in the Wisconsin Dells, we got back on the road.  I'm pretty sure the McDonald's we went to was the third of three exits for the Wisconsin Dells when heading west on I-90. Finding a hotel up the road another hour was our goal. Saw some interesting cloud and rock formations while driving.

Found a nice hotel right off the interstate. A Best Western Plus in Sparta, WI. My dad was able to use his AARP discount so we paid about $80 for a really nice room IMO. The night before we paid $78 for the Maples Motel.

The room had a tv in the bathroom which I thought was kind of funny. My daughter took a bath while watching Disney Channel. The next morning I took a shower while watching Frasier. Lol. The beds were really comfortable. The room was on the first floor right by a door going to the parking lot, so we could easily unpack the van. My dad was happy about that. There was an indoor pool with a slide,a kiddie pool with a slide, a hot tub and even a sauna! We went down to the pool around 11pm after I ran out to get block ice. We have some food in a cooler instead of eating out a lot. We trying to stay on a budget. 

I went out to get a block of ice around 9pm before the store closed. It was dark and raining. I didn't know exactly where the store was but the lady at the hotel, Sarah, said to make a right and it was up the street. Sarah was very helpful calling a few places for me until she had found a place that sold block ice.  I drove for what seemed like a while 'up the street'. Thinking that maybe I heard wrong and was supposed to turn left out of the hotel, I turned around. With the rain, the dark night and being in an unfamiliar place, I began to feel like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. When I went the other way past the hotel, there was a sign for an army base. Drove a little more and another sign said I was on military property. I felt like any second someone would appear to escort me off the property.  Instead I turned around and quickly got out of there.
 
Went back to the hotel and learned from Sarah, that if I just gone up the road a little more I would have found the store. I went back out. The grocery store looked like it was closed. There wasn't a single car in the parking lot, but it was open.  I was looking for the ice and the lady said it was by the Sun Up. I was looking for a picture of the Sun. I didnt see one though. I eventually realized that it is a brand of soda. I had never heard of that soda before.

Sparta has a nice small town feel. It is the bicycling capital of America because it was the first to convert an old rail bed into a bicycle path. There are many bicycle paths in the area. There is also a museum about Deke Slayton, one of the seven Mercury astronauts.


When leaving the grocery store I saw a Culver's across the street. It is a Mid West fast food restaurant chain that sells among other things, butterburgers and custard. I only heard of it when reading hotel reviews on tripadvisor. I was curious so I went inside. It was cute. There was a nice quilt with Sparta landmarks. There was a special on custard because of it being national frozen custard day or something. They have a flavor of the day. Each Culver's has a different one. This ones was Oreo Overload. They have a Reuben on the menu that I will have to try. I love Reubens. I'm glad I was able to get out and experience a little of the town while in Sparta.

Water Tower that said Sparta on it.

At the hotel for breakfast. Our first morning in CDT.

Neat MickeyDees in the Wisconsin Dells area

<p>Nature called while we were in the Wisconsin Dells area, so we got off of I-90 and felt like a tourist there for a few minutes. The Wisconsin Dells is a popular Midwest tourist destination. For some reason we have been partial to McDonald's when taking our potty breaks so we were so pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this one. </p>
<p>Back in the 1960's, there had been an amusement on this site so I am thinking that is why this McDonald's has such unique theming.

    The outside looks like a mountain lodge. The inside does as well with chandeliers made from antlers. Metal fish at the top of the booths. Bears carved out of wood. A stuffed moose above the counter and other stuffed animals over by a fireplace at the other side of the restaurant.

Got as far as Wisconsin today.

Woke up at The Maples Motel in Sandusky, Ohio this morning. Tonight we are staying at a Best Western Plus in Sparta, Wisconsin.

We drove 600+ miles today. Took scenic Rt. 2 in Ohio instead of the interstate. It was on Rt. 2 that we passed "The Happy Hooker Bait and Tackle".  When we got to Indiana, we detoured into MI for my daughter who had never been there. Headed West on Rt. 12 in MI instead of taking the interstate.

Drove past Chicago, taking pictures of the Sears tower. Traffic was really bad. Gas was quite expensive. (Michigan had high prices too.) I was glad to get out of the city and back to seeing cornfields out my window.

Detour into Michigan

My daughter wants to visit as many states as possible, so upon entering Indiana we made a detour into Michigan. We are currently traveling on scenic state highway 12 across Michigan.