Not far
outside of Woodbury is the familiar town of Prescott, just across the river in
Wisconsin. While the town was familiar, we had never been to the Great River
Road visitor center. Inside were displays on the history and people of the
area, as well as the role of the federal government in making the Mississippi
navigable for commerce all the way from Minneapolis to the Gulf.
The
visitor center is on a bluff the overlooks the confluence of the St. Croix
River into the Mississippi. I had seen the many times while we would boat down
the Mississippi and then up the St. Croix with our classic 1949 Chris Craft
inboard flat head six, but had never seen it from the bluffs – impressive.
Outside the center is this abstract sculpture of a deer and an egret and other
wildlife common to the river valley. The artist stressed a point by making the
sculpture from litter she had personally collected along the river banks.
We knew
that our meandering would uncover lots of little humorous discoveries, but we
didn’t expect it to be so fast and furious (sorry Vin Diesel). You can’t help
but chuckle at the name of this bar along the banks of the mighty Mrs. Sippi!
And for
some reason, folk in the Midwest are just fascinated by bathroom humor,
especially when it involves little kids. This rural farmstead along the Great
River Road is no exception.
At the
advice of the Woman’s sister Barbie we stopped in Stockholm Wisconsin. The town
signage boasts a permanent population of 66, but there were several dozen
buildings and homes in this burg, so I suspect the sign may be a bit outdated. The
town is full of craft stores, Amish furniture stores and cute boutiques with
lots of hats for the Woman to look at – hats are one of her many passions.
Pies, ice cream and cafes fill the other half of the storefronts here. We left
town with several more possessions than we had arrived with.
Next we
drove through Maiden Rock. While none of our guidebooks mentioned it, I knew
that the town had to have been named for an ancient lover’s suicide, and it was
just a matter of finding it. Turned out I was spot on. Around 1700, a young
Sioux maiden was in love with a brave, but her parents would not approve of the
match and forced her to marry a brave that they had chosen. Within an hour of
the marriage ceremony the maiden could not be found. They found her body the
next morning at the base of this bluff. Both the bluff and the town are now
named Maiden Rock.
Today’s
journey wrapped up in what claims to be the oldest town in the state of
Minnesota. The chief of the Dakota in the early 1700’s was Wapasha I. Wapasha
began a practice of entering into treaties with the white Europeans rushing
into the area, and his heirs, Wapasha II and II continued the practice. As a
result, the Midwest was reasonably quiet for much of its history. We just
parked Colectiva with the Vue attached, and rode our bikes all over town to
bring back the memories of the town where Grumpy Old Men was filmed.
Over 20
years ago we had visited Wabasha at Christmas time to stay at the historic
Anderson House Hotel. Even 20 years ago the hotel was old. The steam fueled
radiators would manage to keep the temperature within a range of maybe 30 or 40
degrees – we were pretty sure that room was maybe 40 degrees one moment and
then pushing 80 the next – not a lot of sleep was had, but the festive
decoration of both the hotel and the town made it almost worthwhile.
The hotel
was all locked up when we walked by, but we could see that tables were set and
the gift shop was full. We inquired in town and learned that the hotel was only
open on some weekends now, and maybe only in the summer. Based on our
experience it makes sense unless they wanted to invest a bunch to update the
environmental systems.
Talk to
you soon!
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