The Dells, Part 2

Up and at em on Monday morning. I wasn't feeling too spiffy, but everyone put up with me.

We motored off to Devils Lake State Park, Wisconsin's most visited park. We could definitely see why. The lake is beautiful, the beaches are wonderful, and the hiking trails are great. TM, Doug and Glo decided to go for a short hike around one portion of the lake where there is no beach. Turned out the trail didn't go around the lake at all, but rose high enough for a good view of the lake and surrounding area.


Doug asked the park ranger to recommend a "shaded" trail, and this is what we started on.








But as we walked along this was the view to our left, and the return trail was over there according to the map.





They figured to be gone about an hour. 3 hours later, they came dragging back to the parking lot. Seems the trail was steep and rocky. They said the views were definitely worth the climb. As for me, I "guarded" the vehicle and will be satisfied with looking at photos! I did enjoy my time alone, got a little nap and some reading done.


And when we rounded the turn to head back this is the trail we found. At this point we figured to be slowing down some.













About half way up we had a view of the lake and saw how far we'd walked, and roughly how far we still had to go,









This is called "The Devil's doorway and was on a short side trail, worth the hike?








And this is Doug and Glo looking at the "Devil's Doorway, TM had gone over to it. Doug took a picture of him over there and when I get it we'll try to post it here as well.








A beautiful view back down the valley to a different lake.










The beach from which we started the "walk."











Balance Rock, an excuse to take a break on the way down











Glo on the way down, if you blow this up and look close you'll see a little friend circling overhead just waiting for someone to miss a step.












This is just a group ahead of us so you could see the excellent safety provisions installed for us.





We also went to a big cat rescue place. They have lions, tigers, cheetah, panthers, leopards, and I may have left out something. It was pretty warm that day, so many of the cats were staying inside to keep cool. Most of these animals come from private owners who thought they could make pets of them - not happening. They have some that were born there. Memphis State University contacted them to get a mascot and took one of the cubs. Go MSU Tigers!






































A really nice day.


Tuesday we did the river walk in Wisconsin Dells. Pretty nice little walk. The men were just happy to get a view of the railroad bridge.










We went over to the train station, thinking it was Amtrak. Not so. The original station had destroyed by a coal train derailment and Amtrak did not replace it; so a number of people got together to raise money to do it themselves. Therefore, this station is not owned (or operated) by the railroad, but by the people of the dells. The "station agent" who was there was one who spearheaded the whole thing and he was more than happy to talk (at length) about it. A really nice, fun guy. They had some great (expensive) pictures on the wall, and every one was donated by someone from the local area.









Then we went to Barraboo for lunch at the Log Cabin - very yummy. Stopped at the Saulk Co. museum. It is located in a mansion built in the early 1900s.











Downstairs has been left set up as it was when the family lived there with some display cases for odds and ends. A really beautiful place.




Ever seen a stove like this? It is actually a cast iron stove, the exhaust pipe went out the back into the wall.











Downstairs "sitting" room. Had a little mechanical bird in a cage the sang every time I set the flash off on my camera.







Upstairs the rooms have been cleared for displays telling the history of Saulk Co. Very nicely done. And everything was clean and well displayed.






Ever heard of the Ho-Chunk Indians, one of their chiefs was carried off to Oklahoma three times and walked back all three times, so they finally let him stay.




Built and sold by a man from Barraboo, pushing the button didn't make it work for me.






We stopped for fuel and didn't leave....The car would not start. The men put their heads together under the hood and made "man noises" - then called AAA. ( Turned out to be the security system gone wonkers.) While waiting on the wrecker, Glo and I picked up a rental car. It was close to 6pm by the time all was done so we didn't make it to the Crane Foundation or the Rail road museum. We came back to the house an fixed burgers.
God Bless