Wandering in Wisconsin – Nelson

After two weeks at Lake Neshonoc, we made an easy drive about and hour and a half north to a new RV park in Nelson, Wisconsin, located under the bluffs near the Mississippi River.

This was a pretty nice RV park, with a city park within walking distance.

On our way up to Nelson, we drove through Kellogg, Minnesota and passed a store with a big sign reading “LARK Toys”. Later, while perusing Google Maps to find fun things nearby, I stumbled upon their website and found out that they don’t sell jetskis and snowmobiles like I had assumed, but were in fact a highly acclaimed toy store. We had to visit! We wandered through the store (and somehow came out without buying anything), viewed their small toy museum displays, Izzy rode the impressive carousel, and of course we had to get some treats.

Izzy still needs some practice managing a melting ice cream cone.

After all that, we played their 18-hole mini-golf course (it doesn’t matter who won). I can’t say for sure if it is a world-class toy store as they claim, but it’s certainly the best one I’ve ever been to.

Another day we spent some time in downtown Wabasha, Minnesota, which is just across the Mississippi from Nelson. They had lots of fun fall decorations in place that Izzy was excited to check out. We then braved the yellowjackets and enjoyed dinner outside at a local Mexican restaurant.

Later, we returned to Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. Located right on the river, the National Eagle Center has lots of informational displays to educate visitors about eagles and their habitats. They are also home to a few eagles which can’t be released into the wild. It was fun to see the adult bald eagles from a fairly close distance and be able to ask the keepers all kinds of questions.

If you travel across the Midwest, you can’t help but stumble upon spots with some sort of tie to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and not far from Nelson is Pepin, WI, which was the setting for one of her books, Little House in the Big Woods. We decided to skip the museum in town, but did visit the Little House Wayside Cabin, which is a reproduction of the house where the Ingalls family lived, and where Laura was born. It was not too impressive, with one big main cooking/dining/living area, a small bedroom, a pantry, a loft, and no bathroom. It might have had a little more square footage, but I’d take our lovely RV home over it every time.

Izzy wasn’t impressed with the history, but did enjoy the large yard.

After visiting the Little House, we made our way to Stockholm, Wisconsin. As you may have guessed, Stockholm is a Swedish town. We grabbed some treats from the Stockholm Pie and General Store and sat down at a picnic table to enjoy them. Unfortunately, the numerous aggressive yellowjackets won the day and chased us into the truck to eat our goodies.

When you’re at a Swedish pie shop, you better try the lingonberry.

After our snacks, we followed the river north, and then crossed over into Minnesota to visit Red Wing, home of the famous boot company of the same name. We stopped by their flagship store, where we marveled at the enormous size-638 boot, and browsed their outlet in the basement.