Who wouldn’t want to explore the city that got in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the Most Bars on a Single Street? With an even greater number of brothels back in the day, you can image what a lively river town this had to have been. Just like most of the towns along the river that were negatively impacted by the popularity of rail transport, La Crosse faded into the background for quite a while. Riverboat and Great River Road travelers, tourism, eco-tourism, and forward-thinking civic leaders have breathed new life into this quaint, ultra-tidy small city with a population of 50,000.

We were docked at a lovely and welcoming waterside park before sunrise and had all day and half the night to explore. Dan and I chose a city tour for our morning activity. Our guide looked just like a page out of a Huck Finn book. He told us to be prepared for beautiful, old, well designed architecture as well as what he called prison chic or Soviet Block atrocities which are high on concrete and right angles and low on windows and anything that resembles inspired design. Sure enough, as soon as we passed the post office and a few other public buildings we were on the same page. Thankfully these uglies are outnumbered by new and old homes and buildings that we all agreed were far more attractive.

We made two stops on the tour, the first at the Hixon House, home to La Crosse’s first power couple. Mr. Hixon was a very successful businessman (think lumber) and politician and Mrs. Hixon was a philanthropist who made La Crosse the center of her good works. Their home, built in 1858, was lived in by family for 100 years. Ninety percent of the contents are original to the home. The Hixons traveled the world and decorated in a way that showed off the lovely things they treasured from their travels. Having nothing to do with travel, we were particular intrigued by the huge built-in, walk-in refrigerator cooled with ice blocks that were loaded from the outside and a large cast iron stove that could be fueled by gas, coal, or wood.

Our second stop was on Granddad Bluff which was destined to be quarried for its limestone but purchased by Mrs. Hixon and made into a bluff-top park. From the top we had a nice view of the inner city marsh, half man made and half preexisting, as well as views of the city and river below.

This city that Money Magazine lists among the top 50 cities in the country was a white pine forest when under the stewardship of First Nations people. Beer, lumber, railroads, and sawmills turned it into what we see today. We drove past the impressive homes of the enterprising few who lead the charge and were made wealthy by their industriousness.

Today La Crosse is known for being home to a satellite Mayo Clinic and Gundersen Clinic as well as two universities, and …wait for it Cleone… Kwik Trip.

By the time we digested all this information we were ready for a relaxing lunch on board before heading back out to take advantage of a hop on/hop off bus. First was a quick stop to see a statue of the patron saint of beer, King Gambrinus. Seriously! Then off we went to a small, beautifully maintained car museum owned by the Dahl family which has been in the car biz here since 1911. The original Mr. Dahl received Model T car parts by rail. It was his responsibility to assemble the cars, sell them, and offer driving lessons. Today the Dahls have 14 stores that represent eight brands.

La Crosse has a small Heritage Center which has displays highlighting the city’s past. Three things were of particular interest to me. First was the button industry that harvested freshwater mussels for their shells. For 33 years there was a button factory here that produced, at its height, 3,000 shell buttons an hour! The second thing I was fascinated with was the Leona. A woman-owned business designed and produced an undergarment, the Leona, that was worn next to the skin under a corset. And lastly, the Center displayed intricate story cloths that tell the story of the Hmong people over the centuries. La Crosse first welcomed Hmong refugees in 1976. They now represent 60% of the Asian population in the county.

We strolled slowly through the downtown area back to the dock. I went ahead and Dan stayed behind to shop and explore the side streets.

Cyd and Rick did exactly the same as we but the hop on/hop off in the morning and the city tour in the afternoon. One thing we all missed was a garden complex near the dock. It has a small section installed by each of La Crosse’s sister cities around the world. After dinner we decided to stroll down and check it out.

We all agreed it was a great second day on the water. It wetted our appetites for what’s ahead.

… Cheese …

Much to our amazement we learned that Wisconsin is the third largest producer of cheese
in the world behind Germany and France and just ahead of Italy.

90% for Wisconsin’s dairy is used to make cheese.

80-90% of the labor in this industry is documented and undocumented immigrants.