Home at last!

We headed home yesterday, the long way round so to speak. We headed west across Wisconsin because we just wanted to see the countryside one more time. I would love to know how many barns are in that state! There were times when I could not see all that were visible...there were times when there were just too many to see while driving. I took 281 pictures yesterday, many of which has reflections in them or the windows so bug splattered that I don't know if I will ever get them clean enough to use on here. But I will still enjoy looking at them for the memories.

We came across and hit the Mississippi River right below Eau Claire, Wisconsin and followed it down into Illinois a ways. I do not have one decent shot of it because the sun was just at the right height and we were there at the wrong time. It was still fun to see, though. We did not cross it; both of us were just ready to head for home.

These are a few scenes from the drive...I love that vine covered silo or crib or whatever it was. It was in Wisconsin. The others I am not to sure where they were...I think Illinois. the northwest corner is so beautiful--big wide valleys with rolling hills. It felt like you could see forever. And there were a few places that really looked and felt like Eastern Tennessee.

We ended up in a run-down motel last night...I will leave the rest to your imagination. I would have taken over the driving, but that would not have did much good. We were out in the middle of no where, with no major road to get on and just go...we both had to be awake for one to navigate and the other to drive. I guess I should put a GPS navigation thing on my Christmas wish list!

I am so weary...I am stopping on this now. It may take me a day or two to get back to normal. But I will catch up with everyone.

Today's scenes...

As we left town today for a drive, this is one of the first things that caught my eye. I read it's name, but think it left my mind the minute I read it. I haven't a clue to what church this is.And this house below was not too far from the above church...we passed by it so quick I was amazed I got even this shot of it. I do not know if it was a private house, or if it was used for a business.
We were driving up to the tip of Door Peninsula...we explored a couple of side rows, and this is the scene that met my eye as we were approaching Lake Michigan....believe me, this picture does not do it justice.And I just had to add a little more fall color! Right here in Green Bay, the city itself, there doesn't seem to be quite as much color as there was up on this peninsula or as much as in norther Michigan.
The two photos below are on the main road to the tip of the peninsula...taken through the windshield of course. I tried to clean them up a little with Photoshop but could have did a better job if I had been in the comfort of my own home. At least I think I could have.


Take a close look at the silos! There were a lot of them made this way on our drive. I have never seen any like these that I remember.
And here are a couple of barns...I think I could spend a year on the peninsula alone and be lucky if I got all the barns photographed. I have been in Wisconsin before and I remembered liking the barns, but I did not remember there being so many of them. And they are all so unique. I really wish I had at least a month up here to just roam around at my leisure taking photos.I didn't even attempt to take any pictures of the orchards we seen. Just no opportunity for even a half decent shot....I am pretty sure there was one peach orchard, and then there was another orchard that I think had hundreds of young trees that might have been cherries. And we seen some apple trees as well.

That is all for now...I hope I am able to connect to the internet tomorrow night but I have no idea where I will be. We are heading over towards Minnesota tomorrow..we may stop at the Mississippi River though and head south. Not sure. We are both getting weary.

My Cougar kitty got hurt the other night, but it doesn't seem to be serious. Just a small gash near his nose, he was bleeding, but doesn't seem to hurt otherwise. I know it is silly to be so attached to a cat, but I am not sure how I would handle it if anything happened to him.

Autumn is flying her colors!

We crossed this bridge this morn. It is the Mackinac Bridge....I did not realize it until my best friend/sister-in-law mentioned it that it is 5 miles long. I knew it was long but had not really estimated it. It was opened November 1, 1957....the height of the main towers above water is 552 feet. The total length of wire in the main cable is 42,000 miles! Hard to imagine. But if you want to read these and more figures, go Here.

Most of the drive today was along a road which at times had Lake Michigan on one side and woods on the other. The closer we are to the lake, it seems the more cedar and pine trees there are with just a few hardwoods thrown in. All the dead trees are some kind of pine or softwoods. The day was overcast a big part of the day, with a slight haze to it a big part of the time.

My pictures aren't the greatest but maybe you can still get a feel for what it is like. We are now in Green Bay, and it is quite a bit warmer than it was in Michigan. One of the highways we came in to Green Bay on is being widened, and where we could see the soil, it looked like good, rich loam...the kind you would like to have for a garden. The kind that is pure joy to dig into.

And there were these...I have had no opportunity to get a really good picture of them...we saw so many going into Mackinaw City the day we arrived but we were on the interstate, so no stopping there. I got this today from the car, but I still like it. I think they are paper birch, but not positive. A lot we seen over in Michigan had yellow leaves.

I just had to throw this one in simply because I like it...I would love to know what it was/is used for with that chimney. I wondered if the chimney was for a forge or something.

That is about it for tonight. I don't know why, but I had a hard time connecting. But now that I am connected, things seem to work fine.