Destination Mineral Point, WI - July 15, 2023

 Last night we went to bed at about 9:30 and by 10 pm, it began to rain. It's nice to have a warm, dry camper to sleep in and we had already prepared our outdoor covered areas for our "late-night trips". 

When we awoke this morning, the rain had cleared sometime during the middle of the night and things weren't even too wet. After breakfast, we packed up and hit the road only knowing that we were headed toward Mt. Horeb and New Glarus, WI. These were places that Pam researched and thought would be interesting.

Along the way, Pam was trying to find a possible campground and we finally decided this would be a good hotel night. So, we decided to visit those two towns along the way and booked a room just beyond New Glarus in a little town called Mineral Point.

Mt. Horeb was described as the "Troll capital of the world" and Pam thought this quirky little town would be a good place to visit. Our plan was to eat at the Grumpy Troll in the downtown area. It didn't take long to realize that something was going on in town and we had to park several blocks away. There was an Art Fair in town and one of the major streets was blocked off with booths set up for several blocks. We found the Grumpy Troll but the wait for lunch was going to be 40 minutes and Pam was going to be a grumpy troll if she didn't eat sooner than that. We moved on and found another cafe a block away and got some food right away.

After lunch, we started walking down the Trollway, otherwise known as Main Street. Sure, enough there were trolls everywhere. We managed to convince some of them to let us take their pictures

The Troll under the bridge. Do you see the three Billy Goats Gruff?





Duluth Trading Company is headquartered in Mt. Horeb

Look at the size of this tree!

After Mt. Horeb, we moved on to New Glarus. Founded by early settlers who came from the canton of Glarus in eastern Switzerland, the village gets much of its heritage from the community who settled here in 1845. It is also home to New Glarus Brewing Company, but they open for tours today.

We were slightly underwhelmed by this little community. The Swiss Village and Museum looked like it might have been interesting but they were closed by the time we arrived. The most excitement in town seemed to be happening at a Taproom but it was so loud in there, that we moved on. 

Swiss United Church of Christ

Some of the Swiss-influenced architecture

We set our GPS toward the hotel that we booked online and were surprised to be taken through some back country roads. This was beautiful country full of classic red barns on dairy farms. Some were quite picturesque but the haze was so terrible that pictures wouldn't have shown much of anything due to smoke from the fires in western Canada.

Hazy sunset from the motel

As we said, we came to the motel through some backcountry and there didn't even seem to be a town anywhere. Why is this place even here?!

Once we checked in, we discovered there really is a town here, we just happen to be on the outskirts. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few historical buildings downtown the place was hopping. There were a couple of parking lots full of trucks, trailers, ATVs, and other off-road vehicles. Come to find out, Mineral Point is the trailhead for the Cheese Country Trail. The Cheese Country Trail is a 47-mile multi-use rail trail in south central Wisconsin. The trail stretches from Monroe to Mineral Point, connecting Browntown, South Wayne, Gratiot, Darlington, and Calamine. The trail is used with ATVs, bicycles, horses, snowmobiles, and hikers.

Mineral Point claims to be the place "where Wisconsin began". In the 1820s, prospectors discovered lead here and triggered a "lead rush". A mining camp was formed that eventually became Mineral Point.

After dinner, the evening was spent doing laundry and catching up on our blog, taking advantage of Wi-Fi at the motel instead of having to go to McDonald's.

At this point, we have seen what we planned to see and will start heading in the general direction of home. We will probably stop off at Joan's house and possibly see Bill if he is still in Kansas City.

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