5 WEEKEND GETAWAYS. 5 DAY TRIPS.
The hundred-mile vacation
5 WEEKEND GETAWAYS. 5 DAY TRIPS.
We live in such a vivacious and beautiful place that people come from all over to see our world, to browse our friendly downtown shops, to play and hike and fish and bike and golf.
No matter how wonderful home is, though, sometimes, it’s just time to hit the road. Especially now, after all the flooding and seemingly endless clean-up, who couldn’t use a chance to sit back, let someone else cook, and simply soak in the sights and sounds of a cool little town?
Whatever the reason, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. We pack up the car, find the right music, pack the map (or not), and get ready for exploration. We find that great vegetable stand on the side of the road, or indulge in the on-the-road diet that includes all those things that you don’t usually eat (or let your kids eat) at home. Pringles, anyone?
This year, gas prices make road-tripping a particularly lavish indulgence. But if you’re hankering for the road, there are plenty of places to grab a quick weekend, with good eats, plenty of points of interest, unique shopping, and lovely landscape all within 100 miles of Viroqua.
We picked five of the best spots for a weekend getaway. And because we love it around here so much, we also highlight five favorite day trips. There are, of course, other spots that deserve our attention, including some that are off the list now because of damage from flooding. All the spots we’ve picked are open and ready to see you.
Lanesboro, MN
Technically, Lanesboro is 101 miles away from Viroqua. But in this case, it’s definitely worth going the extra mile.
This tiny little town of about 800 people always has something going on. There’s a thriving arts community that includes the Commonweal Theatre Company and Cornucopia Art Center.
At one point, this town even had it’s own poster featuring “the Doors of Lanesboro”…a project often seen in urban areas. There’s a lot of that kind of cosmopolitan flavor here.
No question the throngs of tourists influence the landscape, but you’ll still find that for the locals, it can take half a day to make it down the charming main street by the time they talk to everyone they know. People here are extraordinarily friendly.
The town boasts several good restaurants, an unusual find for a town this size.
Riverside on the Root has a strong wine selection and the best seats in town overlooking the Root. You can grab a brat and an ice cream cone at the classic Das Wurst Haus and for more upscale dining, try the Old Village Hall or, connected to Commonweal, the Vintage.
One of the biggest draws is biking the Root River Trail, a 60-mile paved path that follows the river, 300 foot high bluffs and long stretches of peace and quiet. Lanesboro has no fewer than 23 places for people to stay. But be warned: they book fast and way in advance.
This is a hop, skip and a jump for most of our readers. Hey, some of our readers even live in Lansing.
But we’re always surprised to find people who live a short little jaunt away and have never visited this fun little Mississippi River town.
The river and the stunning Blackhawk Bridge that spans it, connecting Wisconsin and Iowa, are a beautiful welcome to Lansing. Take further advantage of the water with a wildlife eco-tour on the Mississippi Explorer Cruises that dock out of Lansing. Reservations are requested, but not required.
The Mississippi also provides sandbars that are good spots to camp, canoe and swim. The area is a part of the Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge, a 261-mile refuge for migratory birds and other animals. Congress created the refuge in 1924, and birding in this area is excellent. If you can pull yourself away from the mesmerizing powers of that powerful current, Lansing has a lot of other great charms to explore.
Yellow Bird Art, a funky and fabulous quilt shop, features more than 2,500 bolts of fabric. You can find specialty shops like Mt. Hosmer Jam Shop, overlooking the Mississippi, that makes jam and preserves on site.
But if you spend any time in Lansing, it won’t take long before you are asked: Have you been to Horsfall’s yet? Horsfall’s Lansing Variety Store is jam-packed with oddities and curiosities, bargains and deals, plastic stuff and bizarre stuff, and with the stuff of life. And if there isn’t enough for you in the huge store on Main Street, there’s an overflow store a few blocks away. Horsfall’s is just one of several thrift shops in town.
Food is one area where Lansing is calling out for a café to lounge in, begging for a bistro with a little flair. There are a few restaurants in town that do just fine job with the supper-club venue and decent twist on bar food. The chipotle burger (and the great views of the river) at The River’s Edge, for example, will have you plotting your trip to end up there around lunchtime. Lansing is lucky to have many of its historic buildings renovated and in good shape. Happily, some of them are being used as accommodations. The Historic Rock Building has apartments with kitchens for rent and the upscale Thornton House is an elegant bed and breakfast where someone else does the cooking. See if you can make it to the top of Mt. Hosmer at sunrise or sunset for one of the most spectacular views along the Big Muddy.
There are a lot of factors that make this town of 8,200 a charming, fun, and happening little city. Luther College is just one of the reasons that, as one resident put it, there is “an exceptional level of intelligence in this town.” Being smart is all right, but it can also be fairly drab. No worries, there’s not a thing drab about Decorah.
This town has the family-owned Decorah Newspapers and is home as well to the fun arts and entertainment monthly, Tapestry Magazine.
There’s lots of good places to eat, including the outstanding La Rana, the quintessential Mediterranean café that just happens to be in downtown Decorah, Iowa. Smart. The new and much loved Rubiayet has more than 200 wines to choose from. And Ede’s Gourmet and Take Away has fresh fish every day. Really smart. Stop in for an organic ginger peach white tea and a chocolate cream tart at Hart’s Tea and Tarts.
And even if you’re just visiting, the Oneota Community Coop is a great resource for good, clean food. Besides, their tag line might work for the whole city: “Big enough to meet your needs, small enough to meet your neighbors.” Cool and smart.
Okay, if you must do more than eat (but don’t forget the Mexican pastry shop, run by Mexicans, thank you very much), you ought to take a wander and look about; Decorah’s downtown is wonderfully walkable. You’ll surely find the whimsical and yet spot-on art and writing of Brian Andreas; his enterprise occupies three different locations in town. Buy his Story People work, and lots of other artwork, at Agora Arts Gallery in the beautiful Winneshiek Hotel.
You can stop in at Fancy Pants and browse the, well, fancy pants. WhIMsee Kids is just one of many kid friendly retail spots in town. But the whole area is family friendly.
Be sure to head over to Porter House Museum, where naturalist Bert Porter’s collection of butterflies, moths and insects sits in a grand Victorian house.
The rock wall is almost worth the trip to Decorah in itself. Really, just go see it. And say hello to kind Donnalee Burns, the volunteer who speaks so fondly of Porter and still in the present tense, although he’s been dead for 40 years.
Beyond downtown, there’s so much more to do and see: hike by the waterfall at Dunning Springs, bike the extensive trails. Decorah has great green spaces and an outdoor swimming pool.
A short six miles north of town, you’ll find the splendid gardens and farm store for Seed Savers Exchange, a group of gardeners that have spent the last 30-plus years keeping heirloom varieties safe and exchanging them around the globe. Seed Savers is having their twenty-eighth convention this month on July 18–20, with farm tours, prairie walks, a barn dance, demonstrations, workshops and a whole lot more, including Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the nationally syndicated public radio show The Splendid Table, as the keynote speaker Saturday night.
Decorah’s got what it takes to pull in this kind of heavy hitter to a small town in the heartland. It’s got something for you, too.
True, it’s not a town. But that’s kind of the point. Out in the middle of the woods, this is a place hidden away. Situated on the far outskirts of Wisconsin Dells, the spa is away from hustle and bustle, away from children, cell phones, and stacks of dirty dishes. This is the place you come to when you really need someone else to just take care of everything.
Day visitors and weekend guests alike have access to the 26 miles of hiking trails through the gorgeous woods that surround this oasis. There’s a fitness center and for those who don’t want to do a thing besides luxuriate, there’s the heated outdoor soak tub and all the indoor water amenities that the spa calls a purifying bath ritual: “exfoliating rainfall shower, aroma steam, cool down shower, oilinfused hot soak bath, cool plunge pool, and relaxation enclave.” The process is fantastic.
It’s like Wisconsin Dells done for adults. It is the perfect romantic getaway location for a couple who loves water and having bodywork. Or who want to hole up in their private suite and not see anyone. The spa offers massage, herbal wraps, facials and a complete array of other care options. One of the joys of the spa is that you can rent a suite and have the Sundara chef prepare you and yours a lovely meal with fresh, seasonal ingredients, fireside. If you’re not feeling so romantically inclined, you can ditch your partner at home and head to Sundara alone or with your friends. Groups of women (are the men with the kids at Noah’s Ark?) have been known to rent one of the larger Villas (done this way, the cost is very reasonable), which sleeps eight, has a full kitchen and plenty of room for a group of women to laze around, eat good food, and contemplate completing a sentence without interruption. Ah…the luxury.
Mcgregor started as a ferry-boat landing and grew into a major commercial hub for transporting grain. In its boom years, the town had more than 5,000 people. Today, the population is about 900 people, but a lot of the old infrastructure and beautiful old buildings still remain in this little town on the Mississippi.
The town boasts a wide array of accommodations and shops. Well known as an antique- lovers hot spot, McGregor offers other delights. Paper Moon carries books and gifts for kids and adults, including a third floor focusing on fun kitchen cookbooks and gadgetry.
If you’re in need of chaps and spurs, or perhaps a genuine carpet bag, do check out the rare find that is the River Junction Trade Company on Main Street.
There are a couple art galleries and an organic market scheduled to open on Main Street this summer. For some time, the Twisted Chicken, a restaurant with a reputation for fresh and well-prepared food, drew people to this place. But the TC, sadly, is on hiatus, at least.
While there’s much to do in the town itself, one of the great things is that McGregor is also close to so many other things to see and do. Pike’s Peak, with glorious views of the Mississippi and the bluffs, is just a few miles south of town. The Effigy Mounds National Park, which protects about 250 of the thousands of effigy mounds that Native Americans built in the Upper Midwest. Spook Cave is just 12 miles away. Prairie du Chien, with its own complete set of attractions, is just across the Mississippi, and the very popular Wyalusing State Park is about 10 miles south of there.
McGregor is often spoken in the same breath as Marquette and the two towns share a wealth of antique and specialty shops. Marquette also has a casino and a winery.
Over all, the folks in McGregor enjoy their history. On July 26, the Hole in the Sock Gang Street Theatre will have some fun with bank robberies and saloon girls. Also, Marquette is featuring a July 19 full moon concert given by a touring group of kids gathered together from around the globe and creating music. See www.soundsofhope.org for more information.
