Wisconsin Adventures!So this adventure was not with the Hummer but adventurous still. I’ve had many opportunities to travel to Wisconsin for business over the years. While there I always try to get a little free time and do some exploring. Sometimes those excursions create not only a decent photo but a good tale to tell as well. Since I’ve been trying to step up my game with blogging, I thought it might be good to share a few of the places and photos experienced on those trips. Most trips I fly into Minneapolis then drive over to Wisconsin. One trip I flew into Chicago. Chicago is a beautiful city to visit. In the winter the lake is full of ice and you get a cool, cold view from your plane window. When I was a younger man I spent about a year going to Navy schools just north of Chicago.
The city at night is a view of a million lights. If you live in this town you spend a lot of time commuting either by train or by car. Unless you live in one of the high rises downtown. You can give yourself a bit of a neck ache looking up at all the skyscrapers. They always amaze me at how they can be built so tall.
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| Chicago at night. |
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| Spires of Glass and Steal. |
I usually wind up in the small town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The town I believe has a population of about 13,600. The surrounding country side is beautiful with it’s lakes, streams, and rolling farm country hills.
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| Chippewa Falls, Wis. landmark “The Indianhead Motel” |
The city’s name originated because of its location on the Chippewa River, which is named after the Ojibwa Native Americans. Chippewa is an alternative rendition of Ojibwa.
Chippewa Falls is the birthplace of Seymour Cray, known as the “father of super computing”. The two largest super computing companies, SGI and Cray have their manufacturing plants there. It is also the home of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company,
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| Leinenkugel Brewing Company |
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| Water fall north of Fall Creek, Wisconsin |
The barns and farms dot the landscape and you find yourself stopping around every bend to take a picture. Here are some images of the area.
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| Down on the farm. |
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| Cool Ponies. |
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| Little Red Barn |
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| Big Red Barn |
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| Winter Barn |
The “Winter Barn” image in the middle has one of those stories behind it. It’s 9degrees below0 out and I’m thinking I should be in my hotel room working. But I’m out wondering around the country side in my rental car. I see this barn and pull over on the shoulder to take a picture. Well it looked like a shoulder but it was just a plowed ditch. Down goes the front of the car into the snow. I get out and see it’ll take a tow to get out. I keep thinking “get the shot because that’s what’s important”. Then while I was waiting for a tow truck to show up a wonderful local farmer drives by and he gives me a pull out of the snow. I give him a tip and a huge thanks and he gives me a quart jug of homemade Wisconsin maple syrup. Syrup in hand and the image in the tin. To me it was well worth the adventure.
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| Soldiers Grove, Wis. One room school house. |
I was born about 4 hours south of Chippewa Falls. My mother and her sisters were raised in Viroqua and Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. This one room school house is where my grandmother, mother and her two sisters went to school. I can still imagine the kids playing on the old tire swing. You can see it to the right of the image.
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| Winter Trees |
These two winter scenes of the woods and some geese sleeping on the Chippewa River were taken the same time as the Winter Barn. But no cold story to accompany them. It was just really cold. I you don’t get out and be a little adventurous then you can miss the beauty that surrounds us.
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| Winter’s Rest |
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