We began our journey at 6:30 a.m. in the emergency room of Ridges Hospital. My back was out. Had much pain. I needed to get some pain meds in order to begin our trip.
11 am Meds seemed to be working so left for Fountain City.
2 pm checked into Fountain Motel. Very nice room. Older, single floor, 13 unit motel with very reasonable rates. Owned by a middle-aged couple who have had it since 1998. She mostly runs it. He has another Job. Certainly a “Ma Pa Motel”.
We ate that day at a very nice Fountain City restaurant, the Golden Frog. A wonderful Walleye dinner with broccoli soup, au gratin potatoes & Caesar salad. And $3.50 tap beers. What’s not to like.

The next day we drove a short distance to Alma WI to have breakfast at the Alma Hotel and then drive way up a windy road to Buena Vista Park for some grand views of Mississippi waters and wooded forest bellow. Although it rained much of the day, we were fortunate to have clear weather while there.
That afternoon, we chose to stay in, have a peanut butter sandwich in our room. No beer but I had brought all the necessary fixings for our daily martinis.
We sat outside & had a drink, while long trains frequently obstructed the partial view of the Mississippi River beyond.
The following we thought about going out for breakfast but didn’t really didn’t want to go out yet so - I had my daily 1/2 Carmel roll & a banana that we had brought from home. Also brought from home, we each had a slice of Mona’s delicious spinach quiche, again brought from home and heated in our provided microwave.
This our last full day, we headed toward La Crosse, WI. Here we traversed up the Granddad bluff to get beautiful panoramic views of the scenery below. Near the top, there stands but one structure that beckoned us to stop. We just had to visit the Alpine Inn, where, despite it being only 11:00 am in the morning, we had our first beer of the day.
Reaching the top of the hill, known as the Granddad Bluff, we could see way beyond the city below.
Later that afternoon, we chose to visit and have dinner at the Wing Dam Bar and Grill in Fountain City, but not before having a nice martini at our Fountain Motel. At the Wing Dam, we chose to share an incredible hot pork commercial. We also shared a beer. (Her idea, not mine).

Our last day, we ate our last 1/2 Carmel roll, a banana, and a slice of quiche, before packing for our journey home.
A neighbor of ours who has a love for taking off on his motorcycle and who finds off highway routes, gave us a map, giving us routes that would bring us into back roads that gave us views of landscapes not available along major highway routes. What I found was:
1. These routes confuse Google & Apple Maps as much as they do me.
2. These routes often have “no service “, meaning, we, at times, did not know where we were going.
3. There are few opportunities to find humans able to help us to find a way back to some major roadway.
Good news: we were in no hurry to get back home.
Bad news: we were fearful of running out of gas before finding a way out.
We found our way out. Glad we did it. Will probably do it again. And will probably love it - if we make it out.
Having had no food since breakfast, we looked for a place where we could get some comfort food and, more important, get a good tap beer.
Our route toward home was interrupted by a “detour “. As if finding a detour could have a good side, we stopped at a pub that had an outdoor patio and enough customers to suggest that we might be at a popular place.
We shared a wonderful meal of halibut, coleslaw, potato salad, beer cheese soup, and, of course, a tap beer. What a great find.
Now back home, it’s time to relax and have a nice martini.
Footnote: my unfortunate issues with back pain, limited the activities we would, otherwise, have enjoyed.
No long trail walks.
No roaming the downtown streets of interesting small towns.
I was not able to clime the paths of the bluffs we had planed to experience. Mona, at times, trekked some areas and took pictures as I sat at any bench or rock I could find.
Still, we had a good time. Life is good.