Steven and I left the big city of Minneapolis en route for Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, via the slow and scenic Great River Road. We sure wouldn't get anywhere at a fast clip as the initial speed was just 25 mph! The drawbridge spanned the St. Croix River at the charming town of Prescott.
Paddle steamers used to ply the river.
We also had some very pretty views of the river along the Laura Ingalls Wilder Scenic Highway named after the famous children's author who was born in nearby Pepin, Minnesota.
After reading about the National Eagle Center we stopped in the historic town of Wabasha, located 70 miles southeast of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. The town had been established in the 1830s.
A view of the mighty Mississippi River from the center:
A large aerial map on the center's floor indicated the huge number of eagle nests that had been spotted by 'eagle-eyed' people on both sides of the river near the center. The nests are used from mid-February to August.
What would an eagle center be without some eagles present, you might be asking! Sadly it wasn't surprising that annually hundreds of wild eagles and other birds of prey are injured due to natural or animal causes. The fortunate ones are brought to rehabilitators to treat injuries with the hope the majestic birds can then be returned to the wild. Some, even after receiving treatment, can no longer hunt or survive on their own and remain under the care at The National Eagle Center.
Was'aka was a male bald eagle that hatched in 2006 in Jacksonville, Florida, and arrived at the center three years later after being found as a fledgling with a tumor over his left eye. He couldn't hunt for himself because he was blind after the tumor was removed. He was named Was'aka as it meant 'strength' in the Indigenous Dakota language. The Dakota people were the original inhabitants of this part of the Mississippi River Valley.
One of the rangers told us that Angel was a female who was found with a broken left wing on the ground near an eagle's nest. As she could no longer fly and survive in the wild, she was treated at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center before becoming an ambassador here in 2000. Shortly after her arrival, a fourth-grade student named her Angel!
Columbia hatched in 2001 in Dunbar, Wisconsin, and was struck by a vehicle that left her right wing broken by her shoulder. It was sad reading that rehabilitators found lead in her blood as just a small amount was often enough to kill an eagle in only a few days. As you probably guessed, she was named in memory of the crew who perished in the Columbia shuttle disaster.
Imagine an eagle's foot being so strong that it could catch prey as heavy as three or four pounds while flying at over thirty mph. Somehow, researchers have measured the force extended by an eagle's foot and found that it averages out to nearly 400 pounds per square inch! There's some useless trivia for you!
As you might already know, bald eagles use cottonwood trees for perching, hunting, and nesting. But eagles aren't the only ones who use those trees. As cottonwood trees are a hub of activity for lots of wildlife, look at them more closely to see what might be living there.
If you click on the photo of the Wonder Woman comic book to make it bigger, you'll see that it refers to "The Eagle who Caged People!"
Obviously, the US is among many governments and countries that use eagles in their flags and emblems.
After much debate by members of Congress about what the national emblem should be, the bald eagle was eventually chosen as it symbolized strength, courage, freedom, and immortality. Ben Frankin was one who wanted the turkey instead as the emblem because the eagle was considered a "bird of bad moral character" as it lived "by sharing and robbing." In 1782, when the bald eagle was named the national symbol, the eagle population in the US was estimated as 1000,000 nesting pairs. By 1963, only 417 nesting pairs remained in the US due to habitat destruction, persecution, and the use of DDT and other pesticides.
Since Roman times the eagle has been identified with power and rule in Europe. In 102 BCE, Consul Gaius Marius, depicted on horseback, declared the eagle as a symbol of the Roman Republic. An eagle even led the Roman army into battle atop a standard, the pole used to identify a group of soldiers.
I was glad to see the reference to the Eagle Scout rank, the highest honor a Boy Scout can earn as our two sons, Alexander and Zachary, are both Eagle Scouts. Over 1.5 million Scouts have attained that rank in the last one hundred years by earning merit badges and by taking part in service projects.
The trees across the river were part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, a unit of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We learned that the Refuge extends 261 river miles from here in Wabasha, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois. The refuge provides critical habitat for birds, fish, wildlife, and plants. I was surprised that over three million people annually visit the refuge to hunt, fish, paddle, hike, and relax.
A view of the plaza outside the National Eagle Center:
The center lay within the Mississippi Flyway, a migration path for many bird species that fly thousands of miles between their summer and winter homes and stop at the Refuge to rest and refuel.
Wapahasha I was the Indigenous leader of eastern Minnesota and a contemporary of President George Washington. Born in 1713, he distinguished himself as a British general during the American Revolutionary War.
Later, on the way to Madison, we stopped in La Crosse, a city on the Mississippi River in eastern Wisconsin. I am sure there were plenty of historical and other notable sights there we could have seen but our sole reason that day was far less noble: to see the World's Largest Six Pack! I am not a beer fan at all but certainly had a hoot seeing the gargantuan six-pack. Those that are beer lovers would have appreciated the 'eau de beer' wafting up and down the street from the G. Heileman Brewing Company! The brewery firm operated from 1858 to 1996 before being acquired by Stroh's.
Across the street from the brewery was the Brew House.
The statue by the brew house represented Gambrinus the King of Beer whose real name was Jan Primus, a valiant soldier of the 13th century, who was also a duke. As an honorary member of the Brussels Brewers Guild, he is widely recognized as the inventor of, and king of, beer. When Steven and I tour Brussels for the first time in late September, I'll have to look and see if there are signs or statues of Gambrinus there!
The logo on the Heileman's Old Style Lager plant:
A pretty view of the Mississippi at La Crosse:
To us, the best thing about La Crosse apart from the six-pack was eating lunch at Margie's on Rose, a very unpretentious restaurant that we lucked out in finding. I ordered my old standby, grilled cheese and fries, and Steven ordered a more deluxe version with ham, turkey, and two types of cheese that he washed down with several cups of coffee. The total bill was under $12, for as good a sandwich as anyone could want, as Steven said and I agreed with.
I have had more grilled cheese sandwiches and fries than I like to admit this trip and it's amazing how very easy restaurants can really screw up a simple grilled cheese and fries! I cannot begin to tell you how often this long road trip I have had warm and/or uncooked fries or cheese plonked on bread and toasted that has passed for grilled cheese. I rest my case!
As soon as we spotted this 'cheesehead,' we joked now we knew we're in Wisconsin!
Finding that the town of Sparta had billed itself as the Bike Capital of the World, we had to stop for a bit! The World's Largest Bicyclist was this 32-foot tall sculpture of a Gay Nineties cyclist atop an old contraption and called Ben Bikin.'
Also delightfully odd were these figures made of spare parts in front of an auto body shop.
Steven had found a really unusual place in the way back of beyond that he was sure we'd both found amusing and quirky, a fiberglass statue Mold Yard from the F.A.S.T. Corporation which stood for Fiberglass Animals, Shapes, and Trademarks Corp. I didn't realize at the time that the over 600 molds from previous jobs strewn in the grassy, open field behind the 40-year-old company were there to be used again if needed and not just a junkyard.
Even though to our naked eye, it appeared that the molds were placed haphazardly wherever space could be found, the FAST staff actually knew where a certain item was should they need it again. I found that amazing as there seemed to be no rhyme nor reason for where items were.
Curious visitors were welcome to walk among the molds but there were signs cautioning us not to climb on them and to be wary of wasp nests. Duly noted, thanks!
The field was ginormous - we wandered around up and down mini lanes one after another entranced!
I read that FAST rarely throws the molds away as reusing them saves the company money. The company can even run year-round as they can just throw some salt on the frozen ground in the winter, loosen it up, and dig out which mold they need.
I'd have loved to have known the history of this one-armed and one-handed soldier - where was he now and why?!
As we walked near the shop, we could hear the whir of machines going and wondered what fanciful figure was bing created to adorn a roadside next!
The fiberglass baseball mitt out by the highway had the spot-on coloration and texture of a real one!
We drove a long way out of our way next hoping to get a good shot of some more unusual sculptures at Dr. Evermore Art Park near the small village of Sauk City. Even though we knew it would be closed that day, we thought and hoped we'd get a sense of what the place was like. It was pretty disheartening to see this huge gate in front after walking down a dirt road to reach the place.
I was still able to get a couple shots, off so don't ever think a mere gate was going to deter me!
Even from the little we could see, it had to be quite a stretch to say it rated as one of the country's top ten attractions!
We finally reached Madison, the state capital, a full eight hours after setting out that morning even though if we hadn't taken the slow and scenic route and stopped at sites that caught our fancy, we would have cut our travel time in half. But missing out on the Eagle Center, World's Largest Six Pack and Bicyclist, and the Model Yard would have been no fun, now would it?!
Next post: Madison's statehouse - surely not another capitol building, you might be saying, but this one did have the fourth largest dome in the world!
Posted on July 21st, 2021, from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, instead of where we'd thought and hoped we'd be in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the next two weeks because we discovered late yesterday that the condo owner totally forgot our reservation. We only found out when we opened the condo and saw an obviously lived-in kitchen and clothes strewn about and knew something was amiss. Better a major inconvenience than what could have happened in other places in this country when a stranger marches through someone's front door!
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