Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Celebrating Fall: A Fall Drive In Wisconsin

I will be taking a short break from my Missouri Travel Posts to cover our fall weekend adventures.

Fall is a popular season.  Most people look forward to the cooler weather, the fall fashion, the pumpkin lattes, and the fall leaves.  My husband and I love to celebrate Fall and we try to squeeze as much fun in as possible before winter.

Scene from the top of tower at Mt. Timm

In the fall my husband and I  take a drive every weekend to see the fall colors.  This past weekend we drove 300 miles in one day!  We left at 7:00 a.m. and arrived home at 7:00 p.m. covering two parks, one town, one fall garden shop, and two restaurants.

Our first stop was breakfast at a popular local restaurant called Norske Nook.  We both ordered French Toast with a side order of hash browns except I had raspberries on mine!  Mmm, delicious!


After breakfast we headed to Timm's Hill.  My husband read that it was the highest point in the state of Wisconsin.  After checking out the highest point in Missouri, we realized we had never been to Wisconsin's highest point!  So we thought it was time to change that and we began our 139 mile journey to get there.

On our way, we saw a beautiful fall garden shop along the highway called "Posey Patch Greenhouse".      Well, of course we had to stop!  Oh my, the flowers were amazing.  I saw these petunias and I couldn't figure out for the life of me how they got them to grow this big in Wisconsin!  And isn't the gazebo and pond so pretty?



For the ladies interested in what I wore, I wore activewear for I knew I would be hiking.  I chose one of my new activewear skorts, an exercise tank and sports bra, hiking sandals (for it was a really hot day in the nineties) and a black baseball hat (not shown in this picture).


Pumpkins and mums were everywhere we looked in this garden!


This is the little shop where they also sell seasonal gifts and produce from their farm.  I bought a couple of fall decorations for my home and some tomatoes.


 In the background is the owners home.  In the foreground are some of the many gorgeous fall mums and the unique and fun garden ornaments available for sale.


After our stop at the garden center, we then went on to our first destination:  Timm's Hill.  It was in a part of Wisconsin that we had never been to before.  This is the road to enter the park.  Can you believe how narrow it is?  At one point we stopped our car because we weren't sure if we were on a road or a trail.  I mean, how could a car coming from the opposite direction even pass?  We did not see any "one way" signs either.  Eventually, two cars going the same direction as us appeared, so we let out a sigh of relief that we were not on driving on a trail.  It sure was pretty.  So peaceful.


Timm's Hill is a county park, not a state park, so there is not a park office or a ranger;  BUT they did have a nice trail map and a well marked trail.  HOWEVER, either the map was wrong or the trail was marked wrong.  We hiked the trail marked in yellow on the map behind me.  But on the trail it was marked in orange.  Someone messed up!  


The first thing we did was head for the observation tower.  It's a short trail, only around 330 feet, but it is a steep climb.


Of course, once we watched the top we had to take a selfie!



From the top of the tower you can get a 30 mile view.  Below is one of two lakes in Timm's Hill.  The building is High Point Village Resort.



After we were done admiring the views from the top of the tower, we decided to walk on one of the trails.  We picked one of the trails that went around the lake.  We chose "Timm's Lake Trail" which is 1 1/4 long.



It was a very peaceful trail.  We only encountered two other hiking groups on this trail.  The lake views were stunning.



My husband spotted this cute little tree frog on our hike.


I really liked the wide hiking paths on this trail.  It was nice not having prickly weeds and brush grab me as I hiked by.


 I love how the fallen leaves covered the path.


After we finished our hike we headed to Tomahawk, Wisconsin for some lunch.  It was a 30 minute drive from the park. I had never been to Tomahawk before and I was surprised at it's charms.  We popped into a few stores before lunch.  They had a nice assortment of stores and restaurants.



This mercantile store had a lot of cute home and fashion items.


When we were walking down mainstream I saw a sign for a pizza buffet.  Pizza is my husband's favorite food so I asked him if he wanted to have lunch here.  Of course he was more than thrilled!


This was such a charming Italian diner.  This beautiful mural is the first thing you see when you walk in the door.


 The seating was a mix of hardwood vintage booths and tables and chairs.  The chairs were covered in red vinyl and all the tables had cute red checkered table cloths.


There was an old fashioned bar and cash register behind the main counter.  They also served ice cream here.


 

We chose one of the booths to eat in.  I love the clothes rack at the end of each post.  Did you notice the fun lanterns on top too?


Window bar seating is also offered at the front of the store.


The food was delicious!  The pizza bar was $7.99 and included all you can eat salad, soup, bread, pizza and pasta.


After lunch we got back into the car for the last destination of our journey:  Rib Mountain.  It was a 45 minute drive to get there from Tomahawk.  My whole life I had heard about Rib Mountain but I had never been there.  Isn't it funny how we often don't visit the most famous places in our state?  I knew Rib Mountain was known for it's skiing but I had no idea how much else this park had to offer!

Rib Mountain has a lot of beautiful trails, but it was already 4:00 p.m. when we got there so we only had time to go up their observation tower and hike one short trail.  I loved this park so much, I can't wait to go back and explore more!


This tower is only 60 feet high, but for some reason both my husband and I were a lot more nervous being on top of it than we were at Timm's Hill.  The reason is because Rib Mountain stands higher above the surrounding terrain, 670 feet, higher than any other hill in the state.




After we got down off the tower, we hopped on a nearby trail.  Some of the rock formations reminded us of Elephant Rock State Park in Missouri.


This trail had a nice asphalt path (no getting lost on this trail!) and took us past so many unique rock formations.


I honestly did not want to leave this park, there seemed so much more to explore;  but, we had a two and half hour drive home so I had to stay goodbye.   I did make my husband promise me we would return!  He said "Next Year".  "Next YEAR!!!"  I screamed,  "Why?".  He replied that he had all our fall trips planned out for the rest of this year.  So, Goodbye Rib Mountain...I'll see you next year!


I should also mention that the ski lifts were open so you could enjoy the ride and views.  It costs $11.00 per person.  We didn't do that this time, but plan to on our next visit.

So what about you?  Do you celebrate fall?  If so how?  Do you take long fall drives in your neck of the woods?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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16 comments:

  1. So amazingly beautiful, Amy. I love your travel posts and I love that you get away each weekend and that you plan the trips so far in advance.

    The diner was a find, from the atmospheric mural through to the abundant selection of fare for an incredible $8!

    You are so fortunate to have so much to see and enjoy around you. I live on a small island with a top speed of 35 mph, so the furthest I drive to get anywhere is 20 minutes!

    Thanks so much for sharing, hugs, x.

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    1. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy them. Living on a island sounds wonderful to me!

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  2. Your trip to WI looks so much fun! I love how everything is all Fall and can't believe the leaves have already changed colors!

    www.rdsobsessions.com

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  3. I miss small towns from the Mid-West especially this time of year when the season is changing. Thank you for sharing the beauty of fall which we do not get to experience in Texas.

    Carrie
    astylishfit.com

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    1. Thanks Carrie. Even though the change of seasons is nice, I would love to not have to suffer through winter!

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  4. Such great photos! Looks like a fun trip. Fall is such a pretty season.
    ~Samantha
    http://goldcoastgirlblog.com

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  5. Omg fall heaven! I wish we got pretty leaves here in Florida! So pretty!!

    <3 Shannon
    Upbeat Soles

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    1. Thanks Shannon! Florida is so pretty all year long it doesn't matter that you don't see much fall foliage. I remember when I flew in from Wisconsin in February and my daughter picked me up at the airport. We were driving home and I said "I forgot how beautiful it is here!" It was so incredible to one minute be a frozen barren wasteland and the next minute be in a tropical paradise!

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  6. Oh my goodness, you did a lot of driving AND site seeing in one day... I love it! You two always seem to find so much to do together and I love that it involves outdoorsy things and food! That flower shop is just gorgeous. You could take outfit photos there and no-one would know its a shop! So pretty!

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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    1. Thanks Carrie! I felt the flower shop was a missed fashion photo shoot opportunity. Had I known it was there, I would have brought a change of clothes! Ha-ha!

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  7. You have been such an inspiration in your trips!! I'm going to add these to my bucket lists !! It's so good to explore and see the beauty around us!
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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  8. All of these pumpkins and fall colors make me SO happy! We usually drive to Big Bear so check out the pretty leaves out here, in fact we are doing that in November. I can't wait! Thanks for sharing all of these gorgeous pics!

    Shauna

    www.lipglossandlace.net

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