Rural Wisconsin

This tour began in early October, 2009 when Kathy Kauffman met us in Madison, WI and showed us the Capitol, a Frank Lloyd Wright conference center, then walked us through town to the University of Wisconsin campus on the edge of a large lake. We stayed at Kathy and Mary Wilson’s house in Fort Atkinson. The next day we walked along the Ice Age Trail at Kettle Moraine to Lake LaGrange. In spite of spitting rain, the colors were lovely. We stopped to see a restored prairie garden at Mush-ko-se-day and the ruins of an old stone spa at Paradise Springs.

The next day we drove to the attractive, small town of Baraboo for a surprisingly gourmet lunch at the Village Cafe. We walked at Devil’s Lake where the devil (glacier) had tossed huge boulders into the deep, clear lake creating an enormous, lovely rock garden along the edges of the lake and where pine had somehow taken root. One end of the lake is a swimming beach but we didn't try it.

The next two days and nights were spent at farms near Cazenovia, WI. Amish craftsmen make beautifully patterned table-tops and other furniture and cutting boards in the barn at the Morsbach Tree Farm. To see examples: www.ShimaWoodcraft.com.