 |
| where I went this month |
The Land of Wisconsin
Wisconsin must be one of our most scenic states. It doesn't have much in the way of mountains (its highest point is 1,951' high), but it does have some serious canyons carved by various prehistoric glaciers and present rivers. Combined with hills in much of the state, they provide relief for the flatter land in the center, where the glaciers did a grinding, flattening number on the land.
For not having a coastline, Wisconsin does pretty well at taking advantage of all its contacts with other bodies of water - most notably the Mississippi River, a bit of Lake Superior, and a lot of Lake Michigan.
As I've mentioned earlier, it's got a lot of pretty large rivers, quite a few creeks and streams, and multiple large and small lakes scattered throughout the state. Forests everywhere, with a variety of evergreen and deciduous trees.
Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago has the world's largest number of sturgeon.
I heard what I'm pretty sure was a loon. It's the first time I've ever heard it, which is why I'm unsure, but the bird book says they're in the area where I was (the Lake Superior coast) and when I heard it, somehow I just thought first, "what on earth is that?" and second, "I'll bet that's a loon." I see why people describe it as haunting.
The People of Wisconsin
Almost everyone I met was pleasant and helpful.
When people learned I was from elsewhere, the first question they always asked was, "What do you think of Wisconsin." And when I said it's a beautiful state, they always instantly agreed. People wanted to tell me places I should visit, things I should see - trying to help me find what they think is wonderful about the state.
I met a few people who said they'd rather be living somewhere else, but every time they meant moving to the big city (Green Bay, for instance) or moving back to the rural areas from the city. Nobody said they'd rather be in another state. Everybody said that the winters could be hard and long, but several people went out of their way to tell me they were getting much milder than in the past.
Life Here
Wisconsinites celebrate their heritage, both in ancestry (43% German, 9% Polish (highest percentage in the US)) and in industry (the US makes more cheese than any other country and Wisconsin makes more cheese than any other state - it is after all America's Dairyland).
Wisconsinites aren't particularly diverse racially (it's 83% white), but they are in character: Milwaukee alone has produced Justice William Rehnquist, Gene Wilder, Woody Herman, Spencer Tracy and Steve Miller. There seems to be a strong sense of self-reliance while valuing community.
They have a sense of humor. For example, at one campground instead of the usual "watch out for children playing" signs I saw "Caution: Cage Free Children At Play."
As far as I could tell, the whole state enjoys the out-of-doors in one way or another. They go swimming, hiking (there are trails all over the state), camping, sportfishing, sailing, skiing (water and snow), ATVing and snowmobiling.
They love their Green Bay Packers. Of course, Green Bay decorates for its home team, but the house in this photo is in Mazomanie, a town near Madison, many miles away. I saw Packers support all over the state.
Driving in Wisconsin
I got the impression that drivers here are willing to accommodate you but not willing to go to much extra trouble for you. Not the ultra-polite drivers of Ohio and Indiana, but not hard to live with either. They're a little casual about speed limits, but they're not aggressive about it (as in Texas, for instance).
The roads here are generally pretty good. There are some stretches where they could use some work, but overall the governments maintain them pretty well. This to me is a little unusual because so very many of the roads I spent the month on were county roads, or even local roads, and despite the acknowledged hard winter weather they were still in pretty good shape.
What I Didn't See That I Wanted To See
Lots of things, despite all my driving around. I mentioned some of them as the month went on, but there are others I just never got to.
I was already gone from the Lake Superior coast before I found my note to visit the Copper Crow Distillery near Bayfield. I'd heard about it on NPR months ago - it's a Native enterprise that makes vodka and rum.
I wished I'd had time for Racine, the home of Western Publishing Co., which produces Little Golden Books. It's also the location of SC Johnson Co. (Pledge®, Raid®, Drano®, and Windex®, for examples); their headquarters building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is world-renowned. Racine also has Wind Point Lighthouse, the tallest and oldest still in use on Lake Michigan.
I had one small taste of cheese curds, but it wasn't really enough for me to know whether I like them or not. Many people here are fanatics about them and eat them in many different flavors - like potato chips come in.
And despite spending a month in the Cheese State, I never made it to a cheese factory that produces the stuff. They're all over the state so I have no excuse except running out of time.
I didn't see one of Wisconsin's best known areas: the Dells. That's where the Wisconsin River narrows into a gorge gouged out by glaciers. The name Dells was Anglicized from that given by early French explorers, who called it a dalles, meaning narrows or rapids (Oregon's Dalles are spelled correctly, apparently). I'm told this is one of the beauty spots of the state.
The city of Appleton has the Outagamie Museum, which is known for its Houdini exhibit. The magician used to live here and the museum has many of the things he used in his acts. I decided not to go this trip because they charge $12 admission, which I decided was too much for what I expected to be a fairly quick and limited visit. But another time when I can stay longer, I'd be very interested.
I'd love to spend more time in Door County. I could take the ferry to Washington Island for a day; they have the US's largest Icelandic population, for some reason. Door County has more coastline than any other US county, and going on a sailboat from Egg Harbor looks like it'd be something special. I'd like more time to poke around the villages and to relax on the shores.
Similarly, I'd like to take the ferry to the Apostle Islands and see the largest collection of lighthouses in the country.
Conclusion
I liked Wisconsin a lot and can understand why Wisconsinites do too. It seems to be a comfortable place to live. People don't seem to be particularly fussed about things in general (other than Packers football).
Of course, it's got some real screwed up political situations, too - I don't just mean left vs. right, I mean an outgoing Legislature binding the constitutionally-authorized hands of the incoming administration? That's a stunt neither side should be proud of; it just happened to be Republicans doing it to Democrats this time in this state, but there are other states where the Democrats currently dominate and if this maneuver succeeds through court challenges, democracy isn't safe, in my opinion.
Wisconsin is a beautiful state - beautiful in a laid-back kind of way. Its beauty comes from heavily-treed river valleys, glacier-gouged gorges, acres of crops, huge forests, the shores of two beautiful Great Lakes, a lot of wildlife - like that. Nothing really spectacular, just calmly beautiful.
I'd like very much to come back for another visit, preferably in the fall after the main part of camping season is over and when the leaves start to turn. But could I ever live here? There're no mountains nearer than West Virginia and no ocean; so even if I could see Lake Michigan as a substitute for the ocean, I do love mountains.
 |
| a visitor to my picnic table |
No comments:
Post a Comment