Last leg of the trip to Down East Doll Show

Goodbye crazy fun world of the Wisconsin Dells



Pretty drive through Wisconsin - we have escaped any really bad weather and in fact hardly encountered rain - always missing the bad stuff by a day or two.


Stopped for lunch in Osseo Wisconsin, a town if 1200 - because we wanted to try a Norske's Nook


Really full of people - obviously popular








We had such a cute waitress - seemed like a mix of Norwegian/Wisconsin accent and thought what a cute little old lady until Bill said, "I'm guessing she's younger than we are"


I had a lefse wrap and Bill had a sandwich with cranberry wild rice bread - both unusual and pretty good for a small town family restaurant. What they are known for most is pies - we shared Blueberry Crumble Pie - wonderful and great homemade ice cream - we licked our plates clean (forgot a before picture)



So during our after lunch walk we saw the Buffalo River and dam (labeled on each side in case you didn't figure it out)



High side


Low side



Best find on our walk was the Quilt Store - huge awesome store - I might be back!!



St Paul


And we are safely home!

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Down East Doll Show Trip - Wednesday

Breakfast area of the Hampton Inn





The car has lots of empty drawers but not a lot more space


The areas we drove through in Illinois had a lot of flooded fields





But it was a beautiful day - the flat scenery here of central Illinois


More flooded fields in Wisconsin


Our room at Bowman's Oak Hill B&B





Rest of the house















Ishnala Supper Club on Mirror Lake - siblings, you should remember this

















Mirror Lake


Food was very good, location and atmosphere excellent. This is their 60th anniversary - I was first here 50 years ago! And several times when driving back and forth through the Dells over the years.

It's a real contrast with the rest of the Dells attractions















Then to our B&B and hot tub.... And one more 3-4 hour drive and we'll be home after around 3000 miles of driving, 10 states (20% of the states in the US), 4 nights in 3 B&Bs, 6 nights in 3 hotels and 3 nights with friends or relatives, and a visit with Emily! Fun, a little hectic some of the time, great to meet so many people at the doll show but it will be good to get home too...


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Down East trip - almost home

Next morning driving through Tennessee we drove past Clarksville, another town made famous by a song (The Monkees)


And more pretty scenery



Until it was time for Bill to do his first call-in meeting that day - which he did while pacing the road in the one area in Land Between the Lakes that we found had good cell reception


Then our goal for lunch - Kentucky Dam Village and some favorite food we remembered from when we lived there in the mid 1970's


Kentucky Hot Browns


And catfish with hush puppies


Deleted the photo of fried green tomatoes by mistake

The lake





And nearby in Calvert City, the former 3M plant that Bill used to work at





Then Paducah where we lived






The flood wall and gates on the Ohio River





Cool bridge











And then into Effingham IL which makes Bill keep saying that it sounds like a swear word. town has about 11,000 people but quite a few hotels as its on the interstate.
Brand new Hampton Inn which is very nice


We saw a place down the road as we drove in called Firefly Grill so decided we should go there just in recognition of a favorite show, Firefly. Looked it up first though and discovered its a very good restaurant, probably only possible in a town like this due to the travelers coming through. Waiter told us about 40% of their business is tourists.

Turned out to be very good!






Tropical Cosmo


Wonderful scallops on English pea risotto


Bill's halibut


Dessert called "best banana cake in the world" and I'm voting for it - even more amazing was Bill liked it better than his chocolate decadence cake


Back of the restaurant


Garden where they grow their own vegetables




Tomorrow the drive to the Dells and then home the next day.

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