This morning, we got up, made breakfast, cleaned up and headed out. We left the cabin shortly after 9AM.
Our first stop was the Spook Cave tour since it is within walking distance and we weren't sure how late we would get back. The Spook Cave was essentially developed as a tourist attraction from day one. The property owner noticed a strange sound that came from a 6" hole in a limestone cliff. He expanded the hole so he could investigate further. When he did this, he found a pretty shallow, and pretty short, cave. He developed the cave and started advertising it to draw tourists. Well, it worked, at least in our case. The primary attraction of Spook Cave is that the tour is given in a boat. They setup a dam outside the cave to maintain the water at a constant level. The level that they maintain the water at is such that there are parts of the cave, such as the entrance, that you need to duck very low so that you don't hit your head. Beth isn't a big fan of caves, so I wasn't sure how she would handle this, but she took it fine. Really, aside from the boat aspect, there isn't much unique about Spook Cave. But it was a fun tour anyway (if a bit short).
Following Spook Cave, we visited the Fort Crawford museum. Fort Crawford was a fort in Prairie Du Chien. Originally, it was on an island in the river but was later moved up the bank a ways because of repeated flooding. The fort was the site of a battle of the War of 1812. Essentially, the Americans took a British fort to prevent the British from moving downriver. It didn't take long for the British to take it back. Overall, it didn't sound like the American forces were all that well commanded. Anyway, the museum has hardly any information about the War of 1812 but instead focuses on the fort's role as a medical treatment center. It gave a pretty concise history of various schools of medical practice, discussed one doctor in particular, Dr. Beaumont, who famously researched human digestion by inserting food (on a string) into a living man's stomach and later withdrawing it to see what happened to it. It also had really amazing dioramas that depicted various medical procedures in somewhat gory detail.
While at the Fort, we asked about other history museums in town and were directed to Villa Louis. This was already on our list and so we mad it our next stop. This is a mansion that was built by the heirs of a self-taught business man who had lived in the area. Essentially, the heirs wasted all of their parents' estate on the mansion (without producing any new wealth of their own) until they could no longer afford the property taxes and were forced to hand the mansion over to the city of Prairie Du Chien. So, now, the State of Wisconsin offers tours. It is an impressive home and they exhibit it as it stood in the 1890s. It is interesting to tour these houses and see how they solved problems like indoor plumbing (they collected rainwater in an open container on the roof for grey-water and pumped ground water up to a closed container on the roof for water intended for consumption) and to hear how they lived their lives.
Following Villa Louis we visited Pike's Peak (a nice overlook of the river valley), completed some necessary shopping and returned to the cabin so the kids could swim, and I could catch up on photos, journaling, etc. Now there are some decent thunderstorms passing through and I believe we have lost power for the night. Which is just as well, because it is bed time.
Tomorrow, we continue our journey South.
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