Great River Road Vacation: Part 3: Other great rivers

I don't mean to turn this into a crazy-long vacation story, but here it is.

We left Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin and roamed the countryside. We drove along the Wisconsin River for a spell, then up north along the Mississippi to Effigy Mounds National Monument. There are tons of mounds there, made by ancient native people thousands of years ago.

The park is pretty gorgeous and we took a 4 mile hike to see some lovely foliage, a few deer (midday, no less!), and several mounds.

I truly can't imagine making a mound -- it seems like a lot of work and sacrifice. I think it's a nice idea to bury important stuff and people in a mound shaped especially for that. The park was beautiful and our hike was a delight.

After our hike (and a quick snack) we continued up the Great River Road.

Along the way we saw signs for honey -- we stopped at a viewpoint where a sweet woman sold us some delicious honey straight from Iowa.

Then we headed across the border to Minnesota. The park where we camped for two nights was down a dark, twisty road. It turned out to be a lovely park with a winding creek that campers drive through to get to sites. The bathrooms were pretty gross. We really used the campsite just as a place to eat and sleep, so it was fine.

The next day was a special one: tubing day! We drove to Lanesboro, Minnesota. We rented bikes for an early ride down a gorgeous path, then rented tubes to tube down the beautiful Root River!

Tubing has been a longtime dream of mine -- hopping in a slow-flowing river, plopping in an inner tube, drinking beer as I float. Delightful! It was better than I thought, though the water was pretty cool. We floated, with a tube dedicated to holding our cooler. We splurged for the tubes with seat-backs and cup holders. Along the river we saw a deer, a fisherman, possibly a few jumping fish (or bubbles?), some "rapids" and some slow waters. It was wonderful! I can't wait to tube again!

We got dinner in Lanesboro -- delicious, then went back to camping. The next day we were off to the big city -- Minneapolis!