If Wisconsin is a pot roast, Vernon County and Viroqua, it’s government center, are the tasty little nuggets stuck to the bottom of the pan. If you’re willing to get off the freeway and adventure a bit, you’ll realize the richness and flavor it adds to the state. I know that's a reference not everyone will know, but if you grew up in Wisconsin, you ate pot roast! Bucolic views of rolling farmland. The clippity-clop of a horse pulling an Amish buggy. Fresh, white, au naturel cheese, not Continue Reading

Finally - the last post from our trip.  The word “Dakota” comes from the Sioux language and means friends or allies, and our experience visiting both South and North Dakota would confirm this. We found very friendly people all along the way from Hot Springs in the far southwestern corner of South Dakota until we left the states at Fargo, North Dakota. But that’s not what drives people to these states – that’s just the cherry on the top. It’s the parks, the scenery, and a chance to be up close Continue Reading

When my friend Kathy suggested we add a side trip to Williston, North Dakota to our return trip from Arizona, I believe I said, “Are you kidding me?” Fortunately, I never said that out loud. So there we were, 80 miles south of Canada and 15 miles east of Montana, in the far northwestern corner of North Dakota. We spent several hours driving around Williston and talking to several of its residents, at our hotel, at the restaurants and the shops where we stopped. And they all had one thing in Continue Reading