Living Our Dream

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Lake denton, WI - Events of Tuesday, July 26, 2011

We are both big fans of botanical bardens, so when Margery found Olbrich Botanical Gardens about an hour southeast of Lake Delton in Madison, WI, we decided to take a day trip to check it out.

Michael Olbrich was a lawyer living in Madison who had a vision to establish a park for the benefit of Madison's citizens. In the 1920s, Olbrich bought land at the northeastern end of Lake Monona and began working with the city on plans for a park, the centerpiece of which was to be a botanical garden. When Olbrich died in 1929, the city continued with his plans and named the park in Olbrich's honor. The botanical gardens weren't added to the park until 1952.

We arrived at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens around 11:00 AM, and it was already quite crowded. In spite of the fact that school is out, there were three or four school busses there (day camp charters perhaps?). In addition to the outdoor gardens, there is the Boltz Conservatory which features "Bloomin' Butterflies" from July 13 through August 7 where there are free-flying butterflies among the tropical plants. Most of the kids were in the conservatory to see the butterflies. Since the conservatory was crowded (there was a long line waiting to get in), since it was hot and humid in the conservatory, since the conservatory costs $5 during Bloomin' Butterflies (admission to the conservatory at other times is only $1), and since the gardens are free, we decided to skip the conservatory and just visit the gardens.

The gardens are beautiful. The photo below shows an attractive seating area near the visitor center.

Just because most of the kids were in the conservatory didn't mean the gardens themselves weren't crowded, too. We arrived right behind a large tour bus, and ran into their guided tour right at the first garden path. We bypassed the group and ducked into the shade garden, but they caught up to us.

We tried a another couple of garden areas along the main path, but every time we stopped for photos, the bus tour caught up with us. We finally headed down a side trail to the Rock Garden, and the bus tour went straight. Horray! The Rock Garden features Alpine plants, conifers and a waterfall.

We followed the narrow path to the top of the "mountain"...

...where we found a robin bathing in the pool at the top of the waterfall.

With the bus tour now well ahead of us, we could continue enjoying the garden at our own pace. The paths that connect the different garden areas are lined with gorgeous views of blooming plants and contrasting textures of foliage.

A small side path led to two Adirondack chairs, which made for an attractive vignette with the soft, ornamental grass and the bright daylilies.

The daylilies were in full bloom. You can see them blooming in some of the above photos, and below is a closer view of just a few of the many varieties we saw.

We just about caught up with the bus tour again, so we made a left into the Perennial Garden where an artificial stream wound through the landscape.

 

From the Perrennial Garden, we headed to the Thai Pavillion. The Thai Pavilion was a gift from the Thai government to the Thai Chapter of the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, who, in turn, gave the pavilion to the city to be put on display in Olbrich Botanical Gardens. This is the only pavilion of its type in the continental United States.

The garden behind the pavilion was lush and beautiful.

From the Thai Pavilion, we went on the the Rose Garden. The roses were well past their peak, but the Rose Garden still has plenty to see like an attractive limestone fountain that was enhanced by planters full of annuals.

Another feature of the Rose Garden is a prairie-style viewing tower...

...where you can get nice views of the Rose Garden and the fountain in front of the tower.

We passed through the Event Garden on our way back to the visitor center. This is where weddings and other special events are held.

We also passed by some huge hibiscus...

...and topiary bears having a picnic lunch.

We really enjoyed our visit to Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Below are just a few of the beautiful flowers we saw.

The Olbrich Botanical Gardens are very well designed and the plantings are beautiful. Ane the best thing is it was free.

We stopped at Qdoba in Madison for lunch on our way back to the motor home. We then had a couple of days without any sightseeing scheduled, which was a good thing because we had a little rain. We took advantage of the break to download and catalog photographs and to catch up on our blog. From Lake Delton, we headed to the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Wisconsin Dells

Lake Delton, WI - Events of Monday, July 25, 2011

The Dells of the Wisconsin River, also known as the Wisconsin Dells, is located only a few minutes from where we were staying in Lake Delton. The Wisconsin Dells is a gorge that was formed in the soft sandstone near the end of the last Ice Age. The area where the Dells are located was never covered by glaciers, but the area adjacent to it was. An ice dam backed up water to form a large lake known as Lake Wisconsin. When the waters of Lake Wisconsin eventually broke through the ice dam when the glaciers started to melt, there was a catastrophic flood that cut deep, narrow gorges in the sandstone of the Dells. The photo below is a view of the Dells from the riverwalk in the town of Wisconsin Dells.

The region around the Dells started out as a lumber area. When the railroad came through in 1857 and built a bridge across the Wisconsin River at the Dells, Kilbourne City sprang up near the bridge.

The Dells has been a tourist attraction since the 1850s when tour guides took guests out in rowboats - and the guests were asked to help row. Small paddle-wheel steamboats later replaced rowboats. When the railroad arrived, tourism really began to flourish. Motor launches replaced the steamboats around the end of the 1800s and in the early 1900s.

The name of the town was changed from Kilbourne City to Wisconsin Dells in 1931 to better identify the town with the natural landscape. Today, Wisconsin Dells is a major tourist town with rows of motels, restaurants, go-cart tracks, family-style shows, mini-golf and water parks - both outdoor and indoor. It reminds us a lot of Branson, MO, except Branson has more shows and Wisconsin Dells has more mini-golf courses and water parks. In fact, Wisconsin Dells has so many water parks they are the self-proclaimed "Water Park Capital of the World."

But we didn't go to Wisconsin Dells to play mini-golf or ride water slides - we went to see the sandstone walls and rock formations of the Dells. Since the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources controls most of the land along the Dells, the best way to see the rocks is by boat. Several companies offer different types of tours of the Dells. There are duck tours that conduct part of the tour on land. There are also jet boat tours that offer thrill rides on the river with frequent quick stops and spins that pretty much guarantee you will get wet.

We opted for the more conventional tour boat with a more leisurely pace so we could see the beauty of the rock formations along the way.

The gorge is divided into the Upper and Lower Dells by a hydroelectric dam located right in town. The dam was built in 1909.

Dells Boat Tours offers tours of both the Upper Dells and the Lower Dells. Tours of the Lower Dells last about an hour, but tours of the Upper Dells last two hours and include two stops with short walks to explore some of the rock formations up close. We decided on the tour of the Upper Dells.

A short way up the river, we approached the first rock cliffs as we entered a narrower part of the river through the formation known as the Jaws of the Dells.

Right past the Jaws is Chimney Rock...

...followed by Chief Blackhawk. Can you see his profile?

Most of the way through the Dells, the river is quite narrow, but about 4 miles up the river, it widens out into a lake that was created when the dam was built in town. There were lots of pleasure boats in this area, and there was even someone parasailing.

Off the main river on the eastern side just after the river begins to widen is Witches' Gulch, which is a narrow side canyon. Passengers can disembark and walk up a boardwalk a few hundred yards through the narrow slot canyon. We lagged back to allow the other passengers to get ahead so we could enjoy the cool beauty of the canyon in relative silence.

It was interesting to see how the swirling water had shaped the rock.

About halfway up Witches' Gulch, we began to hear water echoing in the canyon. Under the boardwalk was a small waterfall.

At the end of the canyon there is a consession stand and rest rooms. The walk up the canyon and back took us about 20 minutes, and it took about 10 more minutes to get all the passengers back and on board the boat.

Our next stop was right across the river at Stand Rock. It was a short walk up a small hill to the rock.

H. H. Bennett was a photographer who became famous for photographs he took of the Dells back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Bennett also invented a stop-action shutter that enabled him to photograph moving subjects. Previous cameras required long exposures, and any movement of the subject caused a blur. Bennett demonstrated his new shutter with a now-famous, 1886 photograph of his son jumping onto Stand Rock from the adjacent ledge.

Today, the jump from the ledge to Stand Rock and back is recreated for cruise passengers by a German shepherd. Actually, there are several dogs who take turns jumping to make sure they are well-rested. The dog was very anxious to show off for the crowd, and we could hear it barking excitedly waiting for the command to go. The photo below shows the dog jumping back from Stand Rock.

After the jump, passengers can walk the rest of the way up the hill (paved, and not all that steep) to see more rock formations, or they can choose to return to the boat if they don't want to walk further. Of course, we did the walk. In the next photo, Paul is exploring a small tunnel through one of the rocks along the way.

At the top of the hill, there was a scenic view of the river. The rock formation in the foreground is called Demons Anvil.

Toadstool Rock has several pillars holding it up.

The edges of Visor Ledge are so straight, they look like they were cut with a masonry saw.

From the dock at the bottom of the hill we could see the entrance to Witches' Gulch (the dark area just to the right of center) across the river with Sunset Cliffs on either side. The cliffs are so named because they catch the red glow of the sunset. The Palisades are in the foreground to the right.

After we got everyone back on board, the boat headed back downriver to the dock. It was a nice day, and there were a lot of boats on the river. We all waved at each other as we passed. We can only imagine how busy it must be on weekends.

We only have a few more days in the Lake Delton area, and we have one more day trip we want to make to Madison. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.