La Crosse, Wisconsin

What a great time we had in La Crosse, Wisconsin!! It was nothing like we expected, and don’t ask what we expected, but it was nothing like the town we found filled with wonderful restaurants, golf courses, shopping areas, universities, more bars than we could count, and all of this built along the Mississippi River!

The reason we made La Crosse one of our destinations this summer was to visit our friends Red and Mary from Sabal Springs. Red and Mary are natives of La Crosse and still have family who lives there. They return to Wisconsin during the summer months and live right on the banks of the “Big” River. They were our tour guides and Mary our concierge. Everything was perfectly arranged for our stay and entertainment.

Mississippi Cottage

We parked Pearl in Pettibone Resort in a site right on the banks of the river. I felt that Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn would float by on their raft at any second. Speaking of “floating”, we thought on many occasions that we would float away or the river would rise and take us away…it rained cats and dogs for days and all night once! All those weather reports recently of flooding in the mid west were true…inches of rain fell while we were there! However, there were just enough breaks in the weather to allow us to get in our fun!
Mary and Red Visit Pearl

Another treat we had while in La Crosse was a visit from Kevin and Karen; they had recently been transferred to Minneapolis and made the trip over to visit. Kevin and Frank worked together in Cleveland, Ohio for GMAC. I had never met Karen, but we have emailed for nine years making our meeting feel just like old friends!


Mary arranged golf for us at their country club, Drugan’s, for an afternoon. The weather did give us a break and we were able to get in nine holes. Mary showed us the house she and Red had built on this course years ago. What a lovely place; I don’t know how they left such a beautiful setting. The course was one of rolling hills and scenic landscapes. There was this old barn and silo that got caught in the lens of my camera. It was just so perfectly rural and serene yet sitting right there on a golf course along with the old farmhouse.

Golfing at Drugan's Barn on the Course The House Mary and Red Built
on the Golf Course at Drugan's
After the golf, we dined at the club’s restaurant…Friday night fish fry!! What a fantastic meal! Mary had bragged about what good food was found in La Crosse and how inexpensive it was to dine out. She was right…every meal was great and the price always low! The fish fry was all you could eat plus a huge soup and salad bar for $10.95...and it was delicioso!!

Saturday dawned with a beautiful sunrise and what looked to be a sunny day. Kevin and Karen came over for breakfast, but by 10:30 that morning, Mary called and said we better get everything put away…awnings, chairs, etc. because a huge storm was rolling in with hail. We did just get everything put away and ourselves inside the rig when the rains came. Luckily, we missed the large hail, but lots of rain fell. We spent the morning visiting and even got in a card game or two.

The rain broke around 1:30 so that we could walk down to Mary and Red’s for a quick visit before Kevin and Karen left. Mary and Red have a lovely outside patio area around their cottage where you can sit and watch the river activities. Houseboats float by; fishermen cast their lines; water-skiers show off their skills; and you might even see an occasional eagle fly by. It’s such an idyllic setting, but at the same time the river can rear it’s ugly head and cause damaging floods.

Red told us stories of how their home has had to be moved out because of the river rising. The cleanup following the flooding was a huge undertaking. You really have to love the river to take your chances of living on its banks.
Sitting by the Mississippi After saying our good byes to Kevin and Karen, another major storm followed Saturday evening. It rained throughout the night causing flooding in the area and throughout Wisconsin. We were suppose to leave Sunday to go to the Wisconsin Dells, but since it was raining so hard and the storm was moving east in the direction of the Dells, we decided to stay one more night at Pettibone. It was a wise decision. If you have been following the news, you have seen all the flooding that has been reported in the Wisconsin Dells. There was also a tornado that touched down right in the area where we are now…we have arrived in The Dells! More about that later!

We thank Red and Mary for their hospitality and all the great places they took us to. It was fun being with them and seeing them in their home setting of La Crosse, Wisconsin. It’s a great town with good people!!

It was also great to get to meet up with Kevin and Karen. We thought our getting together would take place in Destin not in Wisconsin. Isn’t it awesome when the unexpected happens!!



Frank and I are thankful to have good friends!!