Wednesday, December 14, 2016

A Brief Visit to Minocqua Wisconsin

If you read last week's travel post HERE, I shared about our visit to Wildwood Wildlife Zoo in Minocqua, Wisconsin.  After our wonderful visit to that zoo, we had a little bit of time before we needed to head back home, so we decided to check out the sweet little town of Minocqua.


Minocqua, is a cute little town in northern Wisconsin.  It is often called "Island City" because a portion of the town actually resides on an island.  It makes most of its revenue through tourism and is considered by many to be a water sports heaven.  It is a forested lake community that has many outdoor activities such as fishing, camping, water skiing, boating, hiking, bike riding, and swimming.


In addition to all the outdoor activities, there is the cutest downtown you ever did see.  It is filled with fabulous shops, restaurants and bars which provide live music during the summer months.

Our favorite shop in Minocqua was Minocqua Fudge.  Of course!  What else?  Oh, what a cute, cute candy shop this is!


It is so pretty, inside and out, and it's decorated like an old candy shop too.  And boy was it crowded when we were there.  It's very long and narrow inside and there were so many people inside it was hard to move about.


I always love it when candy shops have large windows where you can watch the workers make their delicious confections.


Don't these look amazing!  I can't believe the sheer size of them!


I love murals and I always appreciate it when towns and cities paint pretty murals on their buildings;  especially when they help explain the town's history.


Isn't this a cute popcorn shop?  And let me tell you that you could smell this popcorn blocks away.


I always notice flower plantings whenever I travel and visit new towns.  I was awestruck with the massive size and length of this hanging basket.


We did walk by and check it out the lake while we there.  Lots of boaters were out on this beautiful day.


I had my husband take this picture so I would remember this garden.  This is a raised garden bed that is a mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  It is a side yard to a restaurant that also serves meals outdoors as well...see the chairs behind me?  That is the restaurant outdoor seating area.

I really love this idea of mixing flowers with vegetables.  I also love the idea of raised beds.  It makes gardening so much easier, especially when you grow older and bending and kneeling gets more difficult.


My husband loved Bucky Badger who was standing right next to these gardens.  He's making a "W" for Wisconsin, it's what all the athletes do when they score.  (PS, I actually had to ask him what he was doing with his hands.  I had no idea.  And then he laughed and said "Everyone else knows".)


Well by now it was late in the day and I was ready for my afternoon coffee pick-me-up.  We found this cute yogurt shop that also had a coffee shop.  I ordered their Autumn Blend special that day and it was delicious.


I was really awestruck with how well-maintened the historic downtown buildings were.  They were all so pretty and colorful, and kind of had a Scandinavian flair to me.  I don't know where that would come from as the town is named after the original inhabitants;  the Ojibwe Indians.  It began as a logging town.


This was a little garden created between two buildings.  It was a sweet surprise, but the garden seemed a little overgrown to me, although it was lovely.  There was a path in the center of the garden that led to a store.


Here I am standing in the middle of this path, enjoying my coffee.


Aren't these buildings just gorgeous?  I love how they are painted.



This was an Irish pub/restaurant that my husband had me take a picture of so we could remember it, for we want to go back someday.  We didn't eat here, we just walked through it.  Inside it has a long old bar (the kind you would see in an old western movie), a huge fireplace, and booths with high wooden backs.  It was so cool.  There is also the loveliest outdoor dining courtyard in the back

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!


5 comments:

  1. Amy, what a pretty town! I love watching candy being made, too. You can do that in many of the shops in the Smoky Mountain foothill communities, like Gatlinburg. This Christmas season I've made - white chocolate covered peanut butter balls, peppermint patties (DH renamed them to Peppermint Cathys), chocolate covered cherries, maple walnut fudge, and chocolate peanut butter fudge. That's just my confections. I have some baking yet to do. Come January 1st, it'll be time to burn off all these calories. lol Have a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cathy! I've explored a lot of Tennessee but I haven't made it to Gatlinburg yet...it's on my bucket list! Sounds like you've been busy this season. I haven't made any treats because there'd be no one around to eat them but me and my husband, and we certainly don't need the calories. Everything you made sounds delicious!

      Delete
  2. This is such a quaint, cute little town! I love fudge! So yummy!

    Sarah
    Bows & Clothes

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like a beautiful little town to visit, Amy!
    Thank you for taking part in the Travel Tuesday meme, I look forward to seeing more of your entries in the weeks ahead.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I love feedback from my readers. If you have a blog, I always return the love by visiting within a week whoever leaves a comment.