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The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.   We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music.   Rememberi...
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Goose Island County Park

Overall, we had a really good time camping at Goose Island County park.  Mid-week is the way to go in Wisconsin this summer.  Early in the week, the campground was perhaps half full. 

Callie was a big fan of the park.



Julia joined me on Wednesday for the rest of the week. She brought her kayak. She put in at the park's boat landing on the north end of the island and followed the current to the federal wildlife reserve's boat landing on the south side of the island.



We got in our steps each day, but we were also glad to slow down and just take in the views.





By Thursday, we felt like we had experienced all of the park, so we drove up to La Crosse for some hiking at Hixon Forest.  Many of these trails are for both hikers and mountain bikers. We did a short loop here.


The trails in the Upper Forest felt crowded with mountain bikers, so we headed to the Lower Forest, starting at the Bicentennial Trailhead.


The maps gave no clue about elevation change.  The Bicentennial Trail is a wide dirt trail that pretty much went straight down the bluffs.  On the way back up, we took the very scenic Rotary View Trail, which was twice as long with many switchbacks (5.4 miles round trip).

From the top, we had expansive views of La Crosse all of the way to the river.



By Friday, the campground was getting busy, and it was time to come home. 

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