A weekend of adventuring: Wisconsin

Okay. If you aren’t already aware, we have a Brehm family goal. Well. Actually, we have a few family goals that are annual. And then, we have a few bigger longterm goals. One of which isssssss {drummmmmmrolllll} to visit all 50 states before the Littlest starts college. This assumes that the Littlest will a) probably go to college and b) will go shortly after graduating from high school so that gives us about 15 years to complete the states.

To date, we have crossed off:

-Nebraska

-Iowa

-Kansas

-Missouri

-Arizona

-North Carolina

-South Carolina

-Illinois

-Indiana

-Kentucky

-West Virginia

-Texas

-Oklahoma

-Florida

Do you have any family travel goals?

Our rules are somewhat murky but mostly that we want to see something, eat something, and sleep, in the state.

And recently, we got to cross off another state: Wisconsin

When the Oldest started running his track season {yes. He’s 8. And he does track. I didn’t know there was competitive youth track either but there is and it’s so stinkin’ fun}, we quickly realized that he might make it past the State meet this year and asked him if he had any desire to attend the Regional Meet should he qualify. And his answer: Yep.

It was a great year to make Regionals because it was going to take place in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Not only was it a place we’d never benn but also, we knew the drive would be doable, we wouldn’t have to pay for flights, and we could do it in a quick weekend trip. Bingo bango!

So, when he rocked the 800 and the 1500 at state for 7/8 year old age division, we booked a room at the team motel and planned to take off north on a Friday.

We first headed to Lincoln for a Memorial Service and then, 5 strong, we had an easy 7ish hour from Lincoln to La Crosse. And no. That’s not a joke. We actually had a funeral. And the kids honestly do pretty well for car rides these days. Praise the Lawd.

None of us had been to La Crosse so I did some on-the-way-research {thank you Google, Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Twitter} of the local faves for restaurants and must-see attractions.

On Friday, we checked into the hotel where the team had its block, a Settle Inn that was clean enough but was also under renovations and had rooms that made me feel like I was in a dorm room from 1998.

The two-story motel had a pool and hot tub, and little breakfast bar (which one day included waffles that were actually pretty damn good). Unfortunately, the exercise room was under construction and so there was no opportunity to get a workout in inside {my mother would have killed them for this. Jus’ sayin’.}.

Through my research of family-friendly selections for dinner, we arrived at Rudy’s Drive-in, a throwback drive-in eatery that had outdoor kiosks for ordering, picnic tables, and waitstaff on roller skates.

The boys were immediately thrilled by a few of the offerings on the menu: cheese curds, homemade root beer, and corn dogs. We ordered burgers, corn dogs, cheese curds, cheese fries, and floats and everyone was happy. The floats were huge and came in glass mugs — and though we didn’t purchase one, there were tiny baby floats and they were adorable and I wish I would have had a freezer and I would have ordered seven just to take home and keep in my freezer to always have a little piece of Rudy’s with me.

When the Littlest tipped his float all over the table, the waitress refilled it without us even thinking to request it. And the servers were friendly and fast. The weather made for a perfect eve to sit out and enjoy mild summer temps and a lack of humidity. If you are stopping through La Crosse, especially with kids in tow, I say this is a sure thing. Note: this is a cash only joint so take your dolla bills, y’all.

We headed back to the hotel, the boys swam, and watched a little show on our 32 in tube tv in our motel room. The Littlest kept calling our room, fancy.

The next morning we did some more swimming, got cleaned up, and went to breakfast at an off the beaten path local gem, Rosie’s Café.

Dubbed as a highly rated greasy spoon joint on Yelp and Google, we were thrilled to snag a table with little wait.

Our server was joyful and full of helpful info on her faves on the menu.

We ordered a cinnamon roll to start – made fresh each morning. It is a total must.

And the huz and I both ordered potato skillets. Yummmmmy. I ordered mine with regular hashbrowns but the hubs ordered his crispy and I think that crispy was even better than just the old standard, if you are looking for my thoughts on the meal. And clearly, you are;). The kiddos got pancakes, eggs, and breakfast meat… and the the third got the mini corn dogs kiddie meal. All the food was DELISH. The coffee kept coming. It was hot and black. The cinnamon roll… whoa… it was the bomb. And the kids didn’t complain about their meals at all. Overall, a huge win. If you find yourself in La Crosse and like good, fresh cookin’, seriously… try Rosie’s.

After breakfast we trucked over to the University of Wisconisn – La Crosse track for the first day of the Oldest’s events. The weather was fabulous – 80s and sunny – the people were nice, and the meet was the best run meet we’ve attended all year. Others from our Track Club, West Omaha Wolves, were there and so the Littles all hung together and played with wood chips and tar like it was 1987. And we enjoyed watching the events and feeling the energy at the meet {and no. Again. I am not a former track star. My dad is. Even the huz is a pretty good trackster. But I have bricks for feet, apparently. But man… it’s fun when your kid likes something. You kinda just end up liking it.}.

The Oldest did not place high enough to advance in the season but he did have a PR and we were thrilled with his rock star performance. He ended up running the 1500 in 6:07:46 and placed 8th out of 14. Seriously so fun to watch.

Oh. And I might have surprised him with some tshirts {thank you to my friend, Angie, of Midnight Designs who took my 11th hour request!!!!! We loved these and got tons of compliments and inquiries!}. The Oldest and I have a hashtag joke going on. So these were perfectly apropos. And seriously. She did them the night before for me. I meeeeeeaaaaan… THANK YOU ANG.

After watching a little more track we headed to Pearl Ice Cream downtown where the boys all got different types of homemade ice cream in freshly made cones and I tried out a made-on-the-spot Strawberry Phosphate Float. I liked the soda but if I went back, I’d definitely go with ice cream in a waffle cone.

Pearl came highly recommended by my sister and I am telling you it is 100% worth the wait if you are a real ice cream fan. The whole place smelled of fresh confections and waffle cones, the people who worked there were delightful, and honestly, the ice cream was LEGIT.

We drove around a bit downtown La Crosse. It’s a cool vibe… lots of historic buildings, eclectic shopping, local fare, and a river front walk. It’s very condensed. The downtown feels like its own little village. There is absolutely nothing cookie cutter about it. And it seems as though they’ve done a bit to bring in young businesses and restaurants to rejuvenate the area.

Then, we traveled up to the scenic lookout called “Grand Dad’s Lookout.” It was free, easy to get to, and gave us an opportunity to see the whole area in one fell swoop. Highly recommend taking the time to check it out should you find yourself in La Crosse or nearby.

For dinner, we headed to the Old Crow, a bourbon bar and restaurant that came recommended highly on internet ratings and also from other track families who had dined out the night before. And we had a little heads up that the Kid’s Meal is served on a frisbee — winnnnning!

We had beer {They have the locally brewed and known New Glarus Spotted Cow on tap} and some other adult beverages. And some deeeeelish cheese curds… because when in Wisconsin… {or ANYWHERE that serves FRIED cheese}. And these cheese curds, well, they were not jokin’ around. They weren’t little cheese turds. They were real mammajamma fried cheese cubes that were just the right amount of stringy, gooeyness. I loved them. Mmmmm. I want them now. Yes. I am hungry again…

The kid’s meals were different than just the typical offerings — they added pizza rolls and pretzel bites.

And seriously, my fries were insanely amazing… sloppy crow fries. I scarfed those ladies right on down.

And yes. That’s a pretzel bun. And it was so tasty. But the fries and the burger together were quite the undertaking so maybe I would split if I were heading back. Or wear expandable pants and take a cart to wheel me out of there.

I also drank two adult beverages because the Littlest spilled his drink twice and I spent just as much time on the floor sopping up drinks as I did at the table. And no. You are not having deja vue. He also spilled his drink another night. Cups are hard, y’all.

Our waitress was lovely and the kids all had their Frisbees to take as a souvenirs. If you have kids you might already know what I’m about to say: Anything free with a kid’s meal is the bomb diggs. Fo real.

The next morn we packed up at the motel {fancy motel room photo below}, and headed to the track meet.

We stopped at McDonald’s and grabbed breakfast offerings on the way because we are fancy like that. Clearly. And then arrived back at the University for his second event.

We watched a few other events and then watch the Oldest run his 800. He ended up placing 7th out of 17 with a time of 3:05:48. He was disappointed with is time but again, I was just so stinkin’ proud of him for making it in the first place… so tomato tahmato.

After his race, we watched a couple of his friends run their 800 and then, grabbed the boys some dippin’ dots, loaded in the car, and got on the road again.

We stopped after we were a bit down the road home in Clear Lake, Iowa for lunch. I was in love with this darling little map dot. A town of about 5000, a local told us it doubles during the summer season. Interesting tidbit about Clear Lake: It’s the last place the The Big Bopper and Co had a gig before they got in a plane that crashed just outside of town. So, it is truly known for being the place that of the day that music died… they started singin’… bye bye miss American pie… are you tracking? Remember La Bamba? It’s that dude and Big Bopper and Buddy Holly… they played in Clear Lake at the ballroom there and then… well, that’s all she wrote. Kinda creepy. Kinda interesting, eh? So the town is still set up to commemorate those greats. And has a very retro feel. I felt like I was in a small coast town driving through and seeing people on their bikes, in the park, and walking out and about.

Why did we stop in Clear Lake? There was a place there called Papa Everett’s Pizza. The huz and I both grew up in towns that had Breadeaux Pizza restaurants. Growing up, it was a staple. And they were all across Nebraska and Iowa. But they are dying… in fact… according to the Papa Ev’s gal, there are only about 20 BP’s left. So, when we were looking on our route, the huz saw that Google wanted to call Papa Ev’s “Breadeaux” and we decided it was a must to see if the cheesebread was as delicious as usual.

After having lunch we took a quick look-see over by the lake side of town, I made a mental note of the house I wanted to rent should we go back, and we grabbed gas and got back on the road. And soon enough… we were back to the Good Life. Just a quick little trip away full of fun and food and memories.

Once we arrived home, we packed up the rest of the Oldest’s next bag for a week at camp, and drove 30 miles to drop him at camp. Per his request we took him that night… but I am certain he was poooooooped.

And mannnnnn… we were zonked.

But La Crosse was darling and I loved our little quick weekend there. I would 100% love to go back and explore more of Wisconsin should we have the chance. I loved how lush and green it was. I thought the people were nice midwestern folk. And the cheese curds. Yes. Deeeeelish.

All in all, it was was a great time and I loved technically checking off another area of this great US of A that we are lucky enough to be able to check out so easily.