May 30 WINONA, MN
A three and a half day drive across six states got us to Winona, Minnesota, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi river, to visit with family. In true midwest form, the weather was hot and muggy with thunderstorms and tornadoes threatening. Over the weekend we did some sightseeing across the river in Wisconsin. On Saturday night we had a great walleye dinner at the Hillside Fish House near Fountain City and some fantastic bloody marys at The Golden Frog Tavern in the heart of Fountain City on Sunday morning. In between the two we stopped at the abandoned farm house that once belonged to my maternal great grandparents. They ran a ‘truck’ farm and provided fresh produce year round by means of a big greenhouse they heated with a woodstove. The farm is gone as is the greenhouse, but the house and an old barn still stand. (If you click on ‘The Golden Frog’ above you will see a view of the tavern when perhaps my great grandfather, emigrant from Germany, frequented the establishment!)
A view of Winona with the bump of Sugarloaf, the only registered mountain in Minnesota, to the left and the Winona County Courthouse on the right.