Wisconsin State Fair and other Midwestern Happenings

Chicago was difficult to detach ourselves from. The city far exceeded our expectations. The opportunities for culture, art and exercise are endless and we decided easily that it surpasses New York. We spent another day there to see Wrigley Field, eat at Uno’s, and enjoy the Lakefront beach. That night, we had the luck to discover that Wisconsin’s annual State Fair was in Full Swing – just 2 hours away in Milwaukee. Thursday morning, we hit the road and headed north.
The State Fair was a quintessentially American experience that managed to fit perfectly into all the expectations and stereotypes that I could possibly conjure up. I had long wanted to attend one of these events which take place every summer in most states. The emphasis on agriculture and livestock make the fairs particularly west/and midwest phenomenon, although they probably take place in other states as well.
The fair was held in a huge area that is set aside all year for this purpose. We followed signs to a giant car raceway which served as a parking lot. We entered the fair and were greeted immediately by stands selling beer, lemonade, frozen margaritas, hotdogs, and sausage. With a few minutes before the official start of the Cream Puff Contest, we grabbed a map and headed straight for the Wisconsin Cream Puff arena and the central mall. We arrived just minutes before the celebratory contest began. The contestants included local radio and television personalities, the Miss Cranberry Girl, Queen Dairy and a local football player. Each contestant introduced himself with a an air of friendly but fierce competition. One newswoman said she had been watching the contest her whole life, and was thus thrilled and honored to participate for the first time. A giant 5 pound cream puff was placed in front of each contestant. They were given about 5 minutes to eat as much as they could – without using their hands. The contest was a close tie, and the judges had to way the leftovers to determine a winner. Several television stations were filming the contest and journalists excitedly reported, live from the front row.
We followed up the event by sampling our own cream puffs which were filled with rich, thick fresh whip cream.
From there, we wove our way through the booths of local goods, crafts and rides. We stopped to watch a BMX and skateboarding show but hurried on to look for the swine race. Inside the Pig stables, we saw hundreds of pigs and watched as a group of 12-year-olds showed their own little oinkers off.
At 6 months old, the pigs are already huge, and a local nearby told me that most of them would not live past the weekend. The pigs are shown off by the owners who try to keep their animal near the judge by tapping them on the haunch with a stick. Some of the owners were gentle, but the girl who one was fierce with her pig. You could see bruises on the pink skin of the animal who looked miserable in the ring.
I left quickly, once again questioning my own choices in food consumption. We found a mini-racetrack nearby where baby potbelly pigs and ducks were racing around a short track while hundreds of people cheered their favorite on. The racers were released through small gates and encouraged by small bites of food at the other end. It was hysterical.
We saw horses and ducks, chickens, cows, goats and lamb. There were Budweiser Clydesdales being brushed and groomed and harnessed for the parade, and in another area we viewed baby animals.
All this touring made us quite hungry, so we headed for the tent filled with tastes of Wisconsin. The specialty of this season was chocolate covered bacon (sold from a booth outside the tent). I have to admit, the experience struck me as so once-in-a-lifetime that I tasted the first piece of pork I’ve had in many years. The bacon wasn’t bad; the guilt, subsiding. We tasted cheese and wine, honey and hot sauce. Bought some salsa and lunched on pulled lamb and corn on the cob (mom), a bison burger (me), and various sausages and beef jerkey. (Ori and me)
Yum!
Full and smiling, we bought 2 tee-shirts and headed out after a full day in the sun and smells of a real state fair. All stereotypes were confirmed…
From there, we went on an adventure to the little-known town of Iola. Our friend from Israel was amazingly on a business trip in the middle of Wisconsin in a small town among the chain of lakes. We drove north along Winnebago, stopping at a lighthouse in Fond du Lac.

Today was our second day in Wisconsin (the best-kept secret in America?) and yet I feel we've done about a week's worth of exploration. On one hand, I wonder if we will be so enthralled and surprised by other states along our way, or if Wisconsin is truly exceptional. Again, the theme of expectations has been strong for me on this journey so far. I had little to no expectations about what this state would offer, so its overwhelming variety of activities and attractions have totally surprised me.

We woke up in Waupaca, a small town amid a chain of lakes, about an hour from Osh Kosh on Lake Winebago. A good friend from Israel was, quite coincidentally, on a business trip in Iola, Wisconsin, so we crashed her hotel room. We went out for a cheap, American-style dinner at a local restaurant, shaped like a boat. We were aching for some Wisconsin cheese so we drove to a dairy nearby. Although we missed the guided tour, we chowed down on samples and had a great time talking with the staff. When we asked for some bread to complete our lunch, they sent us on a wonderful chase through windy, gravel roads (Country Road FF, O or Q anyone). We arrived an hour later in Wisconsin Amish country - Kingston. We stopped in a beautiful antique store filled with buried treasures at incredible prices. Lacking a trailer to cart home the furniture, we chatted with the owner and settled on a beautiful ring for my mom.

I have yet to see a supermarket in this state, although I am sure they exist. To get bread in Kingston, we went to an Amish bakery. The workers were fully adorned, bonnet and all, and we were asked kindly not to photograph them. The smell of donuts and fresh-baked bread flooded the parking lot and we couldn't resist stocking up bread, donuts and blueberry pie. The owner rung up our purchase on an old-fashioned cash register, pulling a handle to total the sums. There was quite a crowd at the bakery, despite the lack of people on the town's Main Street.

When I asked about picking up some tomatoes, the owner sent us a few miles across the town to her brother's farm. We found the house, with a sign posted out front, advertising produce. There were buggies parked in the driveway and 6-8 little children playing on the lawn in their Amish dress. They all looked under 12 and were staring curiously at us. The eldest boy approached us and helped lead us to park and find the garage where his older sister was selling the vegetables.

Amidst the rolling corn fields and silos of the state, we found a clearing in the woods for a picnic lunch. From there, we headed southwest towards Madison, or more specifically to the House on the Rocks. This place is really impossible to describe, but I will give it a go...
Alex Jordan, the imagineer of the house, was a wealthy guy from Madison with a taste for unusual art, obsessive collecting and, if his house is any indicator - a powerful dark side. Imagine the enormous lair of a vampire - a vampire obsessed with beautiful art. This would be his Eden.
We arrived with only an hour or so to tour, so we only got to see one third of the property. The sections we missed included the largest carousel in the world, covered in chandaliers, 20,000 light bulbs and carefully crafted characters riding eternally on the horses. The house has themed rooms, including an elaborate doll house, an enormous sea creature and a music room filled with self-playing orchestras.

We got to see Jordan's house, itself. Records show he only slept there four nights; he intended it as a getaway for artistic inspiration. The rooms are dark and small, with nooks and crannies built in to every wall. The ceilings are carpeted at times, the windows either stained glass, or covered with intricate lattice designs. Music echoes beautifully but ominously from self-playing bands of violins, drums, and pianos. The rooms are lit with stained glass lamps and old church windows are worked into the walls and used as tables.
The pinnacle of the house (literally and figuratively) is the Infinity Room, a jutting glass room that drives out off a cliff, parallel to the valley floor; it's 216 feet long and 156 high, ending in a point.


The Mississippi: We drove from Madison Wisconsin up to Minneapolis-St. Paul along the Mississippi. Our first sight of the river was near the border with Iowa, south of the Wisconsin city of LaCrosse. The river is impressive – wide, bordered by steep green cliffs and spanned by impressive bridges. We wove our way along and across the river a few times, driving along the Great River Road – a byway nationally recognized for its beauty and historical significance. There were houses and cottages along the way, and plenty of sailboats, motorboats, fishermen and ferries making use of the Great River. There were train tracks beside us most of the way and trains more than a mile long droned along side us on the traditional route from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Canada. Just before reaching The Twin Cities, we stopped in a small town with Western store fronts and a distinctively mid-west feel. There were murals on the sides of the brick buildings and a clock tower near the town’s bridge that spans the Mississippi and heads over to Minnesota from Wisconsin. When a rain storm broke out, we took brief cover in a gas station along with some of the Harley Davidson riders we’d been trailing all along.


These days we’re in Minnesota. While we haven’t been doing typically touristy activities, we’ve been enjoying the chance to relax and get some errands done. We stayed with some great CouchSurfers who told us a bit about the neighborhoods of the city and showed us a great Thai restaurant. One of them grew up right by the Mall of America, but the other was a girl from the Mississippi. She grew up on the river, boating, fishing and stacking piles of woods with her nature-loving family.
Minnesota is full of all the kindness and politesse that stereotypes would lead you to believe. Our host last night called this “Minnesota nice.” She said everyone is extremely polite…and passive aggressive. By her definition, if a Minnesotan calls something “interesting” or “special” - beware. These are local euphemisms for terrible, ugly, or weird.
Minneapolis is a beautiful city. There is a large sculpture garden in the downtown and lots of theaters and art museums. The city is filled with water – the rivers and lakes make for great biking, waterfront hikes and - when weather permits – swimming.
Today, we spent the day with an old family friend from Maine who treated us like her own grandchildren. She fed us, played Scrabble; we in turn hooked up a new scanner and tried to help get her computer in shape. By we, I mean Ori.
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We've done a lot of driving, and I soon hope to spend a few days doing nothing by a lake with some vegetables, a tent, and a good book.



UPDATE: We're now in NORTH DAKOTA!!!! It's pretty much as I expected, except for the glorious sky. I spent most of the day playing with our new camera and photographing the incredible and constantly shifting array of clouds that spread out beyond our windshield. We saw a huge rainbow and finally arrived in the capital - Bismarck - late in the evening. The state capital building (not a dome!) is across the street. The tallest building in ND - it's about 15 stories.