Bet you didn't know there is a ski slope in Wisconsin!

-

We're staying in a resort at the base of Rib Mountain near Wausau, Wisconsin.  Of course there is no snow this time of year, but the hiking is phenomenal!  We can walk to the trails from our condo or drive a few miles to walk up the other side of the mountain.  Actually, Rib Mountain is one of three Monadnocks in the area.  A monadnock is an isolated rock hill or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding.  Rib Mountain used to have a working quarry that provided quartzite for making sandpaper, swimming pool lining, roof granules and various abrasives.  The quartzite found here is some of the hardest rock in nature.  Geologists have determined that Rib Mountain is more than 1.7 billion years old - one of the oldest rock formations on earth.  We're excited to be hiking a historical site!


There are remnants of the various tools and buildings used to work the quarry including dynamite sheds like the picture below.
We've been hiking nearly every day anywhere from six to ten miles roundtrip from the base to the top of the mountain and back.  The views from the top are spectacular.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930's under President Franklin Roosevelt built walkways, quartzite steps, campgrounds, picnic areas and ski slopes.  The ski slopes now are part of the  Granite Peak Ski Area.  Don has walked up the fire tower in the picture below.  Donna is too scared to walk up the steps.  :-)
At the top of the mountain, we found some wild raspberries.  They are not very big in size but they have a big flavor and are yummy!

We found some gnarly burls in the trees as we hiked up Rib Mountain.
Donna thinks the one below looks like the face of a male lion.
Of course, tasting the local ice cream is always included in every one of our stops.  Briq's brags about the one pound cone, which we just had to try!  It's so big, we decided to share it.  It took two tries for the teenager to make the large cone without the soft serve ice cream tipping over!

We're here in Wausau for several more weeks, so we'll keep you posted on our adventures and our visits with family.

Comments

  1. Katrina IrwinAugust 29, 2021 at 6:23 AM

    Those Briqs cones are impressive, aren't they! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DonnaAugust 31, 2021 at 2:31 PM

      You bet - and very tasty! It was sad to see the server mess up the first one. The ice cream was tilting badly, so he reacted by grabbing it with his free hand. Needless to say, he had to throw it away and make a new one for us. Lol!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join us as we celebrate the holidays in Washington, DC through photos!

-
Image
We're having a great time here in DC during the Christmas holidays.  It's our third year in the city and we absolutely love all of the decorations.  We scored tickets to the White House through our congressman for the first part of December and you know what that means.....We were able to see some of the: 14,975 feet of holiday ribbon, 350 candles, 33,892 ornaments, 22,000 bells 98 trees, 72 wreaths and 142,425 holiday lights put up by the more than 300 volunteers that came from across the country in the latter part of November to decorate the inside and outside of the White House.  It was so magical.... The White House at night There's a funny story of the National Christmas tree located at the Ellipse just south of the White House.  The National Christmas tree is usually a live one that is growing in the ground.  However, late this fall, it developed a fungus and began turning brown.  The decision was made to cut it down.  Because there was not enough time to find another
Read more

Exploring DC on foot - new sights, new experiences and new food!

-
Image
It's so cool that we can continue to explore Washington, DC and experience new places and eat at restaurants that we've never been to before.  Will we ever tire of this city?????  Not yet, anyway! We visited the Planet Word Museum with daughter Alexa and her boyfriend JP.  It's billed as an immersive language museum with interactive exhibits that bring words to life.  We had a great time!  It was much better than expected. As we walked to the entrance, this tree of lights began lighting and chattering as if we were in a crowd of people. It grabbed our interest! The inside of the elevator was made to look as if we were in a library with books and shelves. That's Alexa standing next to Don. The interactive wall spoke to us as it highlighted the words being referenced.  It was a great way to learn about the history of various words. Don is using a brush to change the seasons and colors on this wall. We visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conceptio
Read more

Do you have $148 million to lend?

-
Image
Rudy Giuliani may need your help if his appeal is denied!  LOL!  For entertainment last week, we attended all five days of the Giuliani trial.  For background, two Georgia election workers sued him for defamation.  He had previously been found liable.  This trial simply assessed the damages - compensatory, emotional and punitive.  The  trial was interesting!  While Giuliani didn't take the stand, he certainly felt free to talk to the press.  The judge reiterated her order for him not to speak outside of court.  During breaks and waiting for a verdict, we interacted with various reporters some of which we have seen on television.  Here are a couple of photos. We ran into Harry Dunn at the courthouse.  He is a Capitol police officer that defended the Capitol on January 6th.  He was very approachable and consented to a photo with us.  Note: he had to bend down several inches to be in the picture. We toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing - very interesting stuff.  Wish we had a f
Read more