Exploring the "North Coast": A Road Trip to WI and MN!

As you may have guessed by now, I’m a bit of a tumbleweed. I travel a lot – both for work and pleasure – and never seem to be in one place for TOO long. However, over the first half of 2017 I didn’t travel much at all except for a very quick trip up to see my people in Boston or to spend time with family in Pennsylvania. Just to give you some context, the period since my last trip to East Africa in December 2016 has been the longest time I’ve continuously been in America since mid-2009. Eight years! That’s nuts.

So, knowing that, you may have an inkling that I’ve been going a little stir crazy. So what does an itchy-for-a-change-in-scenery wanderer do? Plans a random trip and recruits a friend to join them, of course!

I’ve long been on a quest to visit all 50 states (and like actually DO something in each one, not just drive through). Originally my goal was 50 by 25…but then I spent two years in Korea before my 25^th birthday so that went out the window. “Perhaps 50 by 30,” I thought…and then promptly moved to Kenya when I was 27. So that was out too. But now I live in America again, and it felt like it was time to rededicate myself to the cause. Why not use the long weekend leading up to the 4^th of July to explore somewhere new?

Remaining states before my road trip. (Source)

I had 13 states left, the vast majority of which were clustered in the northern central part of the country (except for Alabama and New Mexico, the only edge states I haven’t yet spent time in). I hopped on Kayak Explore and tried to figure out the cheapest flights I could get out of DC that got me somewhere near where I wanted to go, and ended up with flight deals to Chicago and Minneapolis. Though I’ve already been to Illinois, Chicago would give me easy access to Wisconsin, and I had never been to Minnesota. So…why not kill two states with one trip?

I threw this idea out to Jo Anna, one of my dearest friends from undergrad, and was really excited when she jumped aboard with absolutely no need for convincing, haha. Luckily I was also able to coordinate our flights (hers from Philly and mine from DC) to arrive and depart within an hour of each other, so that worked nicely. We booked our tickets and rental car, and I dove into the meat of planning a trip that combined sights (both notable and random), visits with friends, and stays in some interesting locales.

We touched down in Chicago on Saturday morning, with my flight arriving about 45 minutes before Jo Anna’s. I spent about 38 of those minutes wandering aimlessly around O’Hare because they have the worst god damn signage of almost any major airport I’ve ever been to. WHY DO YOU MAKE IT SO HARD, O’HARE? And, of course, there was no one manning any of the information booths. Urgh. Eventually I found my way to Jo Anna’s terminal (pro-tip, Chicago, why don’t we pick EITHER letters or numbers to label our terminals rather than mixing them and only listing half the necessary information on signs? just a thought…) where I found her after she de-planed.

After a seemingly ridiculous number of buses for the other car rental companies passing us, we finally caught a bus to our car rental area, where we waited in a very slow moving line of cranky people until we made it up to the counter, got our directions, and headed out. We picked a brand new car, chucked our stuff in the trunk, and hit the road. Jo Anna drove the first hour or so of the trip, and then I drove the rest – she was probably a better co-pilot than I was, haha.

Although the trip from Chicago to our first stop in Madison, WI should only have taken about 2.5 hours, it ended up taking a lot longer due to a major accident and a lot of traffic just after we crossed (with little signage or fanfare) into Wisconsin. A little antsy and getting hungry, we decided to stop at a nearby outpost of the fast food chain Culver's, which made it on to EVERYONE'S list of what we should see/eat/do when visiting Wisconsin. Known for their custard, fried cheese curds, and a bewildering thing called the "butterburger" (which neither Jo Anna nor I was brave enough to order), they are a Wisconsin institution. What I was not prepared for was the overwhelming size and complexity of their menu! Holy shit there were so many choices. I think we stood there, mouths agape, for a good 10 minutes just figuring out what we wanted (much to the amusement of the 15-year-olds who worked there, haha). In the end, we went for tried and true favorites, ordering custard (vanilla with caramel for me, and chocolate for Jo Anna) and fried cheese curds to split. I think Jo Anna, a registered dietician and vegetarian also got a side salad for balance, haha. Culver's did NOT disappoint.

Classic Culver's blue and white.

Sadly you can't see the sign that drew us in too well, but it said "Welcome to Delicious." Welcome, inded.

YAHM. And they had patio seating! Perfect.

Sated and energized, we hopped back in the car to go the rest of the way to Madison. Before our trip I'd heard a lot of good things about Madison from a number of people, so I knew I wanted to stop there. It was great! Tons of good food, lovely people, and lot of interesting history. In order to get a better feel for the city (and learn some new things!) Jo Anna and I opted to do a Puzzling Adventure (which we happened to snag a Groupon for, cutting the price in half!).

These step-by-step scavenger hunts guide you on a walk around a city of your choice (they cover cities in 44 states as well as Cambridge, Edinburgh, and London in the UK). It was super fun! They tell you exactly where to park, and then give you directions like "with the parking garage on your right, walk six blocks until you cross Hanover Street" to get you to the various stops. When you arrive, you are asked to find a piece of information somewhere around you, and enter it into the site. To find this information you have to do things like read plaques and historical markers and look closely at things like buildings and art installations that you might have otherwise walked past.

The Madison adventure is all centered around the state house, a beautiful domed building sitting atop a hill. I definitely learned a lot more about the history of Madison- a planned city - doing the Puzzling Adventure than I would have if we had just walked around on our own. And it was such an absolutely lovely day that a self-guided/paced walking tour was PERFECT. There were lots of others out enjoying the weather, too. I think we counted 8 different wedding parties out taking their photos at/around the state house.

Pulling into Madison.

Beautiful building on a beautiful day.

The selfie trend continued all weekend. Thankfully the crazy fly-away hair trend didn't.

I really liked this quote on a courthouse downtown.

DAR meets Oregon Trail. 

This. Is why. I hate letting strangers. Take photos.
PLEASE, I IMPLORE YOU, GET THE WHOLE DAMN BUILDING IN THE SHOT.

Just imagine us on the steps (like protesting teachers).

The square around the state house had some statues that were on point.

Like good old Hans Christian Heg.

Getting a feel for where we are in the state.

This is the statue that taught me that the "Columbian Exposition" was another name for the World's Fair.

After finishing our adventure (I think we were in like 13th place of all teams who had ever done it, taking time and accuracy into account) we walked around for a bit, doing some shopping in an absolutely delightful little locally-themed gift shop and grabbing coffee at a nearby cafe. 

I got an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT road trip souvenir, a pint glass with the above design from Madison artist AYCH.
That is Minnesota and Wisconsin hugging! Couldn't get more perfect. 

Then it was time to go off and meet our hosts for the evening, the lovely Bree and Jeremy. My best friend Jess and her husband Ben are two of the very best things I've collected in my travels. We met in Nairobi and became fast friends, and I was honored to be a part of their wedding in August 2015. Jeremy is one of Ben's two brothers and Bree is his wife. They were also part of the wedding party, and Bree and I really hit it off as we did bridesmaid stuff in Michigan. We are similarly Type A, haha. I was really excited that we got to see them, and that they offered to let us crash for the night at their place. We met them at a Laotian restaurant in Madison called Lao Laan-Xang that was SO FREAKING GOOD. So good. After a delicious dinner and talking about just about every topic under the sun, we headed back to their house (stopping to look back over the city and capital at sunset and get just absolutely SWARMED by gigantic mosquitoes, haha) where we met their wonderful pets, sat around drinking and talking for a while, and then went to bed.

Hey there, pretty city.

Downtown Madison is on an isthmus* between two lakes.
*Shout out to Julie Engleman, my 7th grade Social Studies teacher and the reason I know what this word means.

Can't remember if this is Lake Monona or Lake Mendota, but it was pretty!

Epsilon the cat.

Omega the dog.

And Delta the cat.

In the running for greatest hosts ever, they even went out and bought us
a kringle - another classic Wisconsin food item we were told we
HAD to try. It was delicious.

Thanks Bree and Jeremy!

On Sunday morning - after breakfast - we headed up to Sturgeon Bay in Door County, WI. Door County is the little peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan. They are known for their beauty and their tart cherries, so we were excited to check it out. The drive between Madison and Sturgeon Bay is through a lot of exactly what I imagined Wisconsin would look like: lots of rolling green hills and farm land. I was, I have to admit, surprised at how few cows we saw during the entire trip. I expected more, Wisconsin. 

As we got close to Sturgeon Bay, Jo Anna checked Yelp for local restaurants and navigated us to Kimz Galley Cafe. Located on a little side street just across the draw bridge, Kimz is a fairly quiet cafe that has indoor and outdoor seating, and a ton of delicious sounding food choices. I got a wild cherry chicken salad wrap and it was INCREDIBLE. So so so good. The tart cherries were delicious in it. I regretted nothing (and got a second meal out of it later on the trip - buying a cooler the first day was an excellent choice).  Note that Kimz closes early on Sundays (we unintentionally shut the place down!).

We settled in at one of these lovely outdoor tables. Our table had a GENIUS umbrella - it was made of that fabric that provides shade but still lets you see through it (think bus windows with the little holes in the ads on the outside). So we were protected from the sun but still able to see the lovely blue sky.

THIS. So tasty.

After lunch we popped over to a local park, Sunset Park, to walk around for a bit and enjoy the water and sunshine. It is a shame that we didn't have more time in Sturgeon Bay/Door County, I can see why it is known for its beauty. Alas, we had a lot of Wisconsin to cover in a short period of time. 

Gorgeous day. We really lucked out with weather.

So blue!

Enjoying stretching our legs on the walking trails.

What a perfectly lovely and romantic little swing!

We hopped back in the car and drove out to Oneida, WI, which is both a town and home to the Wisconsin branch of the Oneida Indian Nation. The original land of the Oneida people was in the area east of the great lakes, ranging from New York up into Ontario. In the early 1600s, the Oneida lived on nearly 6 million acres of land in the northeast. They were one of five nations that originally made up the Iriquois Confederacy. Although the other 4 nations sided with the British/Loyalists during the American Revolution, the Oneida sided with the Colonists/Rebels. Aaaand we later repaid them by forcing them to sign a treaties that first dropped their tribal lands to 6 million acres (effectively creating the first reservation in America), and later reduced it further to only 32 acres (not 32 million, 32). Sigh. In the late 1830s, as tribe members from various Indian Nations along the east coast were being pushed out of their land by settlers, the Oneida signed another treaty and most of their members moved west to Wisconsin (and north to parts of Ontario).

We happened to be in Wisconsin during the annual multi-day Oneida Pow Wow. Members of the Oneida Nation gather for food, singing and chanting, drumming, and dancing. Because we unfortunately arrived after the formal dance competition was over, we only spent about an hour at the Pow Wow, watching a few people dancing informally and taking in the beautiful regalia the dancers were wearing. 

The last dancers of the evening.

After leaving the Pow Wow, we headed to our first offbeat AirBNB of the trip: The Peterson Mill Schoolhouse. We were met by the lovely Linda and her husband (Mr. Peterson), who own the property and told us a little about its history. Mr. Peterson's grandfather was the first one to homestead the land near Scandinavia, WI. He build his home/farm, and a grist mill for processing what he grew. Then, in the late 1800s, he built the one-room schoolhouse. Relocated at the beginning of the 1900s, the schoolhouse graduated its last class of students in 1961. During its operation both Mr. Peterson and his father graduated from the school. Since it closed down, they've converted it into a little cabin, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, dining room, living room, and small kitchen upstairs where class used to be held. The basement is closed off as a historic replica of what classrooms looked like...and for ghosts, I assume. It is a super cute house, with old desks decorating the common rooms and lots of pictures from various points throughout the history of the school's operation. It now sits on the Peterson's farm (on a corner that hosts a sign that says "Welcome to Petersonville!" and has arrows pointing to various houses that say things like "Bob and Greta: #23" or "Michael and Elizabeth: #54"...so freaking cute) which still operates as a dairy farm to this day (complete with "robot milkers" that their nephew just put in). Overall it was a lovely place to spend a night!

The schoolhouse in the early 1900s. (Photo from Friends of Scandinavia)

The school house today.

View from our front porch.

Mr. Peterson's graduating class.

And his father's.

View from my window overlooking the creek behind the schoolhouse.

After getting the keys to the schoolhouse and dropping our stuff, we were right back out on the road, this time heading to Stevens Point in central Wisconsin for a reunion with Laura, who I taught with in Korea. We headed to her parents' house where we got to meet and have dinner with her, her new little daughter, her parents, and her brother, his wife, and their son. It was great! It is always fun to meet people's parents and see little glimpses of them or how they came to be. I also loved that Laura's mom - a Wisconsinite through and through - was super baffled by the fact that we just came to Wisconsin for the hell of it.

After dinner we jumped in Laura's car and headed over to the Wisconsin River for the Riverfront Rendezvous, a yearly celebration along the riverfront that includes food, music, and tons of fireworks. In fact, this year the mayor set up a GoFundMe that collected a couple extra thousand dollars to create an even more spectacular fireworks show. And it did not disappoint. We staked out some ground (using a ShukaDuka blanket Laura bought when she visited me in Kenya!!) and walked around for a bit as it got dark. And then we settled in for the show. It was great! Afterwards we headed back to the schoolhouse to be creeped out by weird noises that the pipes/ghosts made and get some sleep.

Lots of boats out on the Wisconsin River for a light parade before the fireworks!

It was definitely a popular event.

Complete with big tents for beer and food as well as music stages.

Sadly this was the only photo we actually took with Laura! Thank god Jo Anna reminded us that we should take it before it got too dark!

Fireworks time.

Boom.

Oooooh.

Ahhhhhh.

Love these.

Weeping willows are my fav.

After waking up and eating some left overs on Monday morning, we were ready to head out towards Minnesota! In my pre-trip planning I had spent a fair amount of time trolling Atlas Obscura looking for any fun little side trips we could tack on to our drives. One such adventure took us to the 45 x 90 Geological Marker in Poniatowski, WI. Imagine a globe, with the equator bisecting it into a northern and southern hemisphere, and the prime meridian doing the same for eastern and western hemispheres. While each quarter of the world (semi-hemisphere?) has a center point, only two (northeastern and northwestern) are on land, and the northeastern one is unmarked in rural China. But the northwestern point? That bad boy is in the middle of a Wisconsin soybean field. So obviously it rated a trip, hahaha.

This geological marker (allegedly) marks the middle of the northwestern quarter of the world. I say theoretically because it turns out that many (read: damn near all) geological markers are more of a suggestion than an actual geographical pinpoint....you get kind of close and call it a day. This marker was undergoing renovation, which meant very little signage, but that did not dampen our excitement, hahaha. We are now proud members of the 45x90 Club (and even stopped at the Wasau  Visitors Center to get our commemorative coin and sign the log book. You jelly?

Underwhelming marker.

Here it is....or so the surveyors claim.

Center of the semi-hemiiiii!

We tried to walk the 200m or so to find the real geographical center....not sure we were actually successful, lol.

BUT REGARDLESS, we got this sweet coin.

You know you are impressed.

Signing the log to cement our rightful place in the 45x90 Club.

Preeeeetty official.

Also clearly couldn't miss the opportunity to get our faces up in some ginseng.

Then it was on to Minnesota. Jo Anna has a goal of seeing a baseball game in every major league stadium, so popping into Minneapolis to see a Twins game was perfect. I had no idea that Minneapolis was so cute and full of interesting things to do! I definitely want to go back and spend longer there exploring more.

We stayed at an awesome AirBNB, a converted carriage house behind a huge Georgian Revival mansion called 300 Clifton. Located in the Loring Park neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis, it was built in 1887 and has been renovated into a stunning Bed and Breakfast with all sorts of beautiful historic touches, secret passageways, and a tranquil garden. It was lovely. We checked in at the AirBNB, took a little tour, and then headed out to explore the nearby Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Museum for the afternoon. Those of you who know me know that I'm not generally a huge art museum fan, except for when it comes to big, over-the-top sculptures and installations. So the Sculpture Garden was right up my alley, haha.

Taste of Wisconsin  for the road.

300 Clifton! Look at that lovely porch!

The grounds (and neighbors) of 300 Clifton.

Pool in the garden.

Just want to snag a rocking chair and live on this porch for a bit.

Fun flowers in the garden.

Look at those little curly-qs! Nature is crazy.

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden!

Relaxing walk down the tree-lined paths.

September Room (Room with Two Reclining Figures and Composition with Long Verticals) by Mark Manders.

Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch.

Wind Chime (after "Dream") by Pierre Huyghe.

Jo Anna and I with Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

Then came the big event: the Minnesota Twins vs the Los Angeles Angels. We caught an Uber to Target Field, which is wedged right downtown in Minneapolis. I know...basically nothing about baseball, but Jo Anna was a good sport (pun intended) and answered all my thousands of questions (sometimes with the help of the man in front of us who couldn't help himself from chiming in, hahahah). The Twins won, and then we watched the fireworks display before heading back to crash for the night.

Oh heyyy Target Field!

Beautiful day for some baseball!

Cheeeese!

View from our seats.

The stadium was sold out with about 40,000 seats.

Under the lights.

Happy Fourth of Julyyyyy!

On July 5th we had a few more hours to explore Minneapolis before flying out, so we grabbed breakfast downtown and then headed over to Minnehaha Falls Regional Park to enjoy the nice weather. The park is home to the famous Minnehaha Falls, which were quite beautiful, as well as multiple hiking and biking trails. We rented an absurd little buggy that we pedaled around for a bit, and then it was time to head to head to the airport!

The falls.

A better view from the trail.

Thanks, stranger, for snapping a pic for us!

Really serene.

The weather was pretty great for our entire trip - super lucky!

Walking along the streams and rivers.

Buggy brigade.

Our chariot, hahaha.

Let me tell you, these things are harder to power and steer than they look!

Off we go!

There were lots of nice trails...though up hill was not our friend.

Statue of Hiawatha in the park.

All too soon our (hopefully first of many) mini American road trip was over and it was time to head back to the East Coast. I'm so lucky to have enduring friendships, like the one I have with Jo Anna, that continue to grow more than ten years after we met at a sorority rush event in undergrad! Here's to more awesome adventures with fantastic friends.

39 states down, 11 to go!