October 24, 2022

Apple capital.

I've shown you my pictures of yesterday's sunrise, seen from a bluff in La Crescent, Minnesota. Here's one of the many pictures Meade took of me as I was waiting for the right moment: 

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After the sun rose, we went into town to look for coffee, and one thing we found was this mural that let us know we were in the apple capital of Minnesota: 

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We passed on a perfectly good breakfast spot, because we wanted WiFi, so we recrossed the Mississippi River, back to Wisconsin, trading The Crescent for The Crosse, and had our coffee at Grounded Patio Cafe. We loved the downtown. 

The La Crosse Commercial Historic District is in the National Register of Historic Places. Here are 2 pics I took in La Crosse:

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33 comments:

Friendo said...

Lovely photo of you.

tcrosse said...

God's Country.

wendybar said...

That's a beautiful picture of you Ann!

Humperdink said...

As a kid I used to love to go the amusement park and shoot at the shooting gallery. It cost a few bucks to get in and few more to shoot. In the city of Chicago, there are no financial barriers, other than ammunition.

Headline today: "YIKES: Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago Sees Over 50 People Shot Last Weekend"

PM said...

Worked on Old Style back when. Nice town. Big 6-pack.

Meade said...

tcrosse said...
God's Country.

Amen.

Jupiter said...

Shouldn't someone paint big clenched-fist murals with St. George of Fentanyl on that billboard? The whiteness is overpowering!

Virgil Hilts said...

What a great photo!

Wa St Blogger said...

I live in Washington (the state). When I see Apple Capital, Minnesota does not compute. I had to go below the fold to see that you in in Minnesota's apple capital. I guess if I go into town I would be in Kitsap County's apple capital. Not sure that generates as much "capital".

Interesting is that Wenatchee bills itself as the Apple capital of the world, but also so does Winchester, Virginia. Washington produces 40 times the apples that Virginia does (and Virginia is 6th in the US.) Washington produced 68.6% of US production. Minnesota has about 1/4 of Virginia's production.

But China produces 8 times the apples of the United States by weight. So the Capitol must be there, right? Xaangxi supposedly has the bulk of production in China by as wide a margin as Washington has in The US.

So Xaangshi is the Apple capital!

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

I had the joy of living in that region, The Driftless, for a number of years, and I know that bluff rather well.

For a wonderful weekend trip I strongly recommend Decorah, Iowa, where I lived for a while. Sweet small town with a heavy Norwegian influence, wonderful shops, and some nice B&Bs. Good speakers and concerts at Luther,, the local college.

Wince said...

Are those pigeons or flying monkeys circling the downtown?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_Commercial_Historic_District#/media/File:La_Crosse_Commercial_Historic_District.jpg

Narr said...

How far were you from Lake Woebegone? What with all the Norsk and German names . . .

Jamie said...

I was born in LaCrosse, as were my parents. My paternal grandfather was a lawyer and family court judge there, and my maternal grandfather was a pharmacist with a shop in that historic downtown. I used to love visiting there when I was a kid; everyone knew who I was as soon as they learned my name.

The big Old Style six-pack - I had forgotten about it!

Jamie said...

My parents were married in the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman and both sides of the family had attendees of St. Thomas Aquinas high school. My aunt played the organ at Blessed Sacrament for many years.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

WSJ: Winter's Onset Will Change the War in Ukraine

"I don't give a fuck what Obama says, hope is never good. Don't try it. It never works out." - Norm McDonald.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Headline: "Garland announces arrest of Chinese spies who stole confidential information"

No worries. These people are not tied to TikTok whatsoever. We hope.

Charlie Currie said...

You could have easily lied and said you were in California watching the sun set with the Channel Islands on the horizon.

Jaq said...

I have heard a landscape photographer describe it as “the art of waiting.”

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Headline: "Climate Activists Toss Mashed Potatoes on Painting by French Impressionist Claude Monet in Germany"

You know, I'm catching a pattern here. The activists only seem interested in using White, European, Anglo-Saxon Art.

Is the art from indigenous, brown and peoples of color not good enough for climate protesting?

Who knew climate activism was chuck full of white supremacism?

EAB said...

We drove through La Crosse a little over a year ago on the way back to eastern WI from Winona MN. Ended up wandering around for a few hours and enjoyed the downtown and riverfront a lot. Nice place.

veni vidi vici said...

As Huxley famously said, "A Leithold is better than a Tighthold".

n.n said...

Are you a good banshee or bad?

michaele said...

That's a beautiful photo of you in a very picturesque setting. In fact, and I say this with a teasing smile, I think it would get a nod of approval from Eduardo Verástegui.

Maynard said...

The Wisconsin and Minnesota sides of my Mother's family meet in LaCrosse every September. Many are getting too old, but they love it there.

Big Mike said...

Of course the real apple capital is the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley — from Winchester down to Mount Jackson. Anyplace else is just a pretender. Come some fall and discover why the variety we grow is named “delicious.”

Dave Begley said...

Ann looks very luminous.

farmgirl said...

I never leave home- yet, never say never: I’ve been to LaCrosse. My husband and I went to the Organic Valley yearly convention- lovely area.

And- I totally agree w/everyone here: awesome pic of Althouse, Meade.

farmgirl said...

Lol on The Crescent for The Crosse :0)
We went to daily Mass w/a family we met from South Dakota.
St Joseph the Worker, I think it was?

PM said...

thx Lem Ozuna, didn't know this was trending: Soup on Van Gogh & da Vinci, mashed potatoes on Monet, etc. Bet they don't paintball the pyramids, or the Dome of the Rock.

Jamie said...

Farmgirl, St. Joseph the Workman. A cathedral, very interesting architecturally - mostly concrete. My parents were married there and my grandfather's funeral was there.

walter said...

I thoughth Mini-apple-ous was the Apple capital. Adjusted for shrinkflation, of course.

farmgirl said...

That’s it, Jamie- thanks. Such a beautiful, quiet church. Humongous. We were in the chapel, which is about the size of our small New England churches where I live.

JES said...

After having gone to school in LaCrosse and working there I was lured to Chicago by employment and marriage. Both my partner and I could not wait to get back to the Driftless. Whenever we came back from a vacation we always wondered why we left when we lived in one of the most beautiful areas in the world.