Lions and Tigers and Cranes and Trains

Decades ago, when she was a teenager, Anna Lee spent three weeks in August at a summer camp in Wisconsin. During those three weeks three seasons passed. First, it was so hot the girls wore as little as decency allowed. Then it was warm and lovely. Each night of the last week, the campers piled on all the clothes they could, layers of socks, pants over pajamas, coats over sweaters over pajamas. That introduction to Wisconsin weather did not deter her from wanting to return to this beautiful state. Well, we have experienced a similar season switch in only three days, from sweatshirts, to shorts sleeves, to sweating.

But the weather has kept us neither in nor down. There are two animal rescue facilities in the Baraboo area. The International Crane Foundation has built a habitat for the eighteen cranes of the world. This is a breeding and training facility. For the all-but-gone whooping crane, they have built acres of prairie. Our outstanding guide explained both the natural habitat of these beautiful birds and the role foundation is playing in reestablishing at risk and endangered species.

The most amazing story is how they used people dressed as and acting as cranes and an ultralight plane to teach cranes to migrate because their original path had been destroyed by civilization. We saw the movie on this at Horicon Marsh and further appreciated what we were seeing. We even saw crane "threat behavior" like this.


The Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue lacks the funds and reputation of the Crane Foundation but they have succeeded in providing comfort and refuge to lions and tigers rescued from small zoos and from circuses. On our hot-day visit the cats were just trying to stay in the shade.


The Mid-Continent Railway Museum has an excellent collection of restored stock including a huge railway snowplow. We enjoyed waving to the families off on their train trip.



Our RV friend Louise told us about the Wisconsin Dells. They are a combination of Disneyland and the shores of Niagara Falls on steroids accented by the wonders of nature. Our boat trip on the Upper Dells through the sandstone walls left by glaciers and erosion was lovely. Our guides explained the formation of these rock structures and their human history along with some okay jokes. We truly enjoyed our two hour trip.



The town itself is a massive amusement park with rides and games and entertainment like we have never seen before. One place did get our attention, The White House. We wondered during whose administration this calamity occurred.



Our accommodations in the Baraboo area have been as opposite as can be. For the first nights, a very busy camping weekend, we stayed (for free) at the Ho-Chunk Casino (Ho-Chunk is the Winnebagos name for their tribe). When everyone left town, we moved to Mirror Lake State Park. We walked to the beach and marina, drank wine under the pines, and woke to the call of birds, ahhh.