First stop--LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Day one is behind us, and so is 1/10th (or 600 miles) of the total distance we expect to travel on our three-week journey. We had only expected to have the energy to make it to Madison, Wisc., but because we had hit the road at 7 a.m. EDT, it was only late afternoon when we arrived there. Not too tired, we decided to go on to Portage. Got there and just kept going, heading east now on I-90. We chose LaCrosse, along the Mississippi River, as our first night's stop.
We stayed at the EconoLodge, using some of my rewards points on my Choice Hotels rewards card. The clerk checked us in and upgraded us to a "theme" room. From the lobby, I could read some of the names on the doors of "theme" rooms. The Sheik Room. The South Seas Room. Oh, my! This could be interesting and could get my romance writing mind flowing again.

But ours was "The Loft," which was more of a barn setting. Check out this life-sized horse's head looking down on our bed, as though it's poking its head out of a barn's Dutch door. Lots of wooden features, including swinging doors that remind me of saloon doors, primitive shelves instead of end tables or a desk; slatted shutters instead of curtains; and two rocking chairs instead of regular chairs. (Not conducive to computer work, but homey.)

Not having had much of an opportunity to practice my photography last month, I decided that a trip to the river was needed. The sun would be setting on the Minnesota side, so I hoped for some nice shots. After consulting the map, we headed for Riverside Park on the Mississippi. (Our motel is closer to the Black River, but that didn't sound as impressive as seeing Old Man River.)

The evening was sunny, breezy, and probably in the upper 70s. Perfect (although having SOME clouds in the sky would have made for better photos). We strolled the River Walk with other tourists and locals. We were quite impressed to see a tugboat pushing what we thought at first was six barges, but soon realized actually was nine. At LaCrosse, the Mississippi has a sharp bend (or they'd wind up on the Black River). It was interesting watching the tugboat maneuver its load to hang a left.

We found a nice place to sit and watch the sun dip behind the tree line across the river. The sun set behind the tree line around 7:30 Central. While my husband sat patiently, I practiced various shutter and aperture priority settings to see which made for the best color and lighting. (Smaller apertures and faster shutter speeds seem to do the trick.) I hope to take some awesome sunsets during the trip, so was happy to get a chance to practice.

Today, we'll head north, following the Great River Road of Wisconsin (Highway 35), until we cross over into Minnesota at Minneapolis/St. Paul. We have some stops planned along the way, but the reason we're going this way is to go to Pepin, Wisc., where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born. My hubby pulled out his copy of "Little House in the Big Woods" last night to prepare for the visit. Can't wait!