A beautiful Sunday drive
I've been trying to write this post for weeks and here it is, finally.
Last fall my mom and I went on a drive up the Mississippi for the Fresh Art Tour. The drive was beautiful and we had a really good time, so when we found out that there would be another tour in the spring, we knew we'd want to go.
Basically the tour is a studio/gallery/shop hop in the area around Lake Pepin. What I didn't know before last fall is that Lake Pepin is part of the Mississippi River. It's actually the widest (naturally occurring) part of the river. Stops on the tour centered around the towns of Maiden Rock,
Stockholm,
And Pepin (a bit larger than the others, and famous for being the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder), all on the shores of this Mississippi River lake. One of the things I enjoyed most about the tour was the drive to get there. The drive follows the Mississippi north from La Crosse, taking the Minnesota side of the river and crossing back to Wisconsin just south of Pepin. For most of the drive the river is on one side and hills/cliffs/bluffs are on the other. It's beautiful.
We spotted all sorts of wildlife including a bald eagle.
Visiting the tour sites and walking through the towns was fun, too. They're so tiny, but filled with interesting little shops and really creative people.
There were also a lot of public gardens and gardens surrounding shops.
And we ate at a very nice restaurant in a lovely setting beside a creek.
One studio space was high up on a bluff overlooking the river.
And one of the most fun was a family farm with goats!
We talked with the young boy who cares for them. Here's a photo of the day-old twins he brought over to show us:
And this goat attached herself to me once I started petting her:
She wouldn't let me stop. She had gorgeous yellow eyes. So soulful. Our plan is to eventually have some milk goats so we can make cheese and goat milk soap. I guess it's probably a good thing that we don't have a barn, or we would have dove into that, too. Maybe taking things one step at a time is a good thing.
All in all the tour was fun. We had a beautiful day, perfect for a scenic drive.
Last fall my mom and I went on a drive up the Mississippi for the Fresh Art Tour. The drive was beautiful and we had a really good time, so when we found out that there would be another tour in the spring, we knew we'd want to go.
Basically the tour is a studio/gallery/shop hop in the area around Lake Pepin. What I didn't know before last fall is that Lake Pepin is part of the Mississippi River. It's actually the widest (naturally occurring) part of the river. Stops on the tour centered around the towns of Maiden Rock,
Stockholm,
And Pepin (a bit larger than the others, and famous for being the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder), all on the shores of this Mississippi River lake. One of the things I enjoyed most about the tour was the drive to get there. The drive follows the Mississippi north from La Crosse, taking the Minnesota side of the river and crossing back to Wisconsin just south of Pepin. For most of the drive the river is on one side and hills/cliffs/bluffs are on the other. It's beautiful.
We spotted all sorts of wildlife including a bald eagle.
Visiting the tour sites and walking through the towns was fun, too. They're so tiny, but filled with interesting little shops and really creative people.
There were also a lot of public gardens and gardens surrounding shops.
And we ate at a very nice restaurant in a lovely setting beside a creek.
One studio space was high up on a bluff overlooking the river.
And one of the most fun was a family farm with goats!
We talked with the young boy who cares for them. Here's a photo of the day-old twins he brought over to show us:
And this goat attached herself to me once I started petting her:
She wouldn't let me stop. She had gorgeous yellow eyes. So soulful. Our plan is to eventually have some milk goats so we can make cheese and goat milk soap. I guess it's probably a good thing that we don't have a barn, or we would have dove into that, too. Maybe taking things one step at a time is a good thing.
All in all the tour was fun. We had a beautiful day, perfect for a scenic drive.
Oh, it looks like it was a beautiful day! Those goats are beautiful, and I think I want that studio overlooking the river! How nice that you and your mom have so much in common and like doing things together!
ReplyDeleteWe really had a great time!
ReplyDelete