Anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows that I am a HUGE bird lover. Because I live near the Mississippi River we attract so many water birds that most Americans would pay to see. I frequently see Bald Eagles fly above my yard, or when I'm driving. And less than three miles from my house I can see white tundra swans, cranes, ducks, geese, etc. all enjoying Tamarack Creek. But what I really love are all the preservations I get to enjoy. I've already blogged about the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, and today I'm going to share about the La Crosse Marsh.
Believe it or not, this bird paradise is located in downtown La Crosse Wisconsin. I couldn't believe such an oasis could exist in a mid size city, but it does! College students and residents love to enjoy this outdoor oasis. The La Crosse Marsh is located at the confluence of the La Crosse and Mississippi Rivers. It is thousand acres of wetlands located in the heart of the city. It provides critical flood protection, clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreation! The marsh has a great trail system for both hikers and bicyclists!
I wish we had the time to hike all the trails, because I'm sure we would have seen more varieties of birds, but it was a pit-stop on the way to Galena, Illinis so we could only hike a small portion of the trail.
The coolest aspect of this marsh, is that the trails take you right on the water, so you get as close to wildlife as possible. The photo below shows the start of one of the trails, and if you look at the map on the next picture, you will see all the trails on the water!
The marsh divides the city into two. We started near the university area (marked UWL on the mark) at the "You are Here" point. We took the "Cottonwood Trail" (highlighted in red) out till we reached the "Grand Crossing" (the black line down the center), and then returned back to the parking lot. Oh, how I wish we had time to hike the whole system, but it quite large, so it might be something we have to bike ride.
Some of the trail is paved, and other parts are gravel.
It didn't take long before I spotted my first wild fowl: a pair of geese. I love the view of the La Crosse bluffs which are part of the "Driftless Region" my neck of the woods is known for.
Sorry I don't have better photos. I just used the camera on my IPhone.
There are railway tracks on the other side of the marsh. It was fun to see a train go by while we there.
I found it interesting that anytime there was a piece of drift wood in the water, there were birds resting on it.
I spotted my first crane at the viewing deck.
They have two viewing decks on the Cottonwood Trail to stop and enjoy the views.
There was a lot of floating green stuff in the water. The administration of The Friends of the La Crosse Marsh says "it's mostly comprised of duckweeds, Lemna, and Spirodela....these floating plants are naturally found in wetlands. However, excessive nutrients may stimulate their abundance."
I couldn't believe we even spotted a deer at the La Crosse Marsh! We can't escape these guys anywhere in Wisconsin. 😀
It was a rare chilly October morning when we here so I wore my new Stitch Fix jeans, comfy booties, and a plaid shacket. It was super windy that day so I couldn't wear a hat like I normally would have. I had to wear a head band just to keep my hair out of eyes!
We couldn't believe the size of this tree at the marsh. It must really like having its roots soaking in water!
If you like turtles, this is the place to be! I never saw so many turtles in my life. They were everywhere in this marsh.
Apparently this dead tree is the Bald Eagles favorite place to be. So many people have photographed this bird and posted their pictures to the "Friends of the La Crosse Marsh" Facebook page, including me. He just loves to sit in this spot!
I was excited to see another crane as we heading back on the "Grand Crossing" trail.
Back by the start of the trail is the Nature Center which always seems to be closed when we are there, but they have a nice lookout point with free binoculars. I enjoyed getting a close up view of the Bald Eagle through the binoculars.
And before I leave, I wanted to share a few older photos I've taken from the wetlands near my house. Here is some of the backwaters of the Mississippi with wildflowers in the foreground.
And here are some tundra swans in the late fall last year. They are so beautiful.
This body of water is only three miles from my house. I use to walk down here everyday to see the waterfowl. There's also beavers and other water-loving animals here.
I hope you enjoyed my fall visit to the La Crosse Marsh. Next week we make a second trip back to Galena, Illinois!
I have been meaning to write this post all summer and I just could never get to it. Now it is fall, and I've already re-decorated the porch, so I just decided to combine the two posts into one. This way you can see what the porch looks like in spring/summer and also what it looks like now in fall.
I have four porches on my house. This is my side porch, adjacent to our driveway. This is the porch that we enter/exit out of, where deliveries are made, and some guests use. The other guests would enter via the front porch which is the in the last photo of this post.
This porch really needed an upgrade. It was pretty sad. My old wicker furniture had seen better days and the cushions were a faded, dirty disaster. It was embarrassing just to have the delivery man see this porch 😁. I had hoped to completely repaint it, including the floor. My hubby planned on redoing the rotted posts. But, as always, time got away from us with other home remodel projects, and we never got around to it. Anyone else have that problem? But I did manage to make a few changes, which made all the difference in the world!
The first thing I did was give it a good cleaning. I used Clorox Outdoor Bleach to wash all the mold/mildew off the ceiling, walls, and trim. Once it was clean, I didn't even think it needed a fresh coat of paint. Next, I went to Hobby Lobby where I found the picture on the wall you see in the photo below. I was looking for something to hang on this large wood wall. I started by looking at outdoor metal wall hangings, but nothing was speaking to me. Then I saw this indoor picture and I thought "Why can't I hang that on the wall?" The picture became my inspiration piece for the rest of the porch.
I found this old shelf in my garden shed. Yes, my own garden shed. It's amazing what a treasure trove of things are hiding in there. I painted it with grey chalk paint and then hubby hung it above the picture. Everything you see in this post is from Hobby Lobby, from the fabric on the seat cushions, to the "Farmhouse" sign.
I love how I could see the picture and the shelf from INSIDE my house.
I recovered all the seat cushions and pillows with outdoor fabric from Hobby Lobby. I found the simplest way to recover old seat cushions from Pinterest that doesn't involve reupholstering! Now that I found this idea, I will never reupholster an outdoor seat cushion again. The design makes it so easy to remove and toss in the washing machine too!
Here's a little video I made on the seat cushions:
I chose a grey fabric with coordinating daisy fabric for the pillows.
This is the opposite end of the porch showing a loveseat and coffee table. The same principle for the seat cushions worked on the love seat cushion too, although it was more difficult pulling the drawstring.
There is a little wooden coffee table that actually covers my dryer vent on this porch. It has to remain open to allow for ventilation, but I cover it with a piece of leftover fabric because it is unsightly. On top of the table are two plants, a milk can, and a sign. On the wall is black metal art; all from Hobby Lobby.
These photos were taken at the end of summer, when the plants really got huge. It looks more crowded and not as cute as it did in the spring when the plants were small and you could see all the cute white pots.
I bought a new "Welcome" sign that fit both the space and the decor. I always meant to get around to painting this door, but of course, I never did.
Same Porch Re-Decorated For Fall
I usually love fall decorating, but I loved my newly refreshed porch so much I didn't even want to decorate for fall this year; but I did anyway. I started by removing all the spring/summer stuff, and once again, gave it a good cleaning.
I left the daisy pillows because I didn't have enough fall ones. I probably need to make another trip to Hobby Lobby to buy more pillows. 😀.
I added some garland to the shelf, a ceramic owl, a pumpkin sign, and kept the white pitcher but changed out the flowers.
Once again, I loved how I could see the fall decor inside the house too.
I hung a fall floral arrangement on the inside of the door.
I replaced all the flowers in the porch pots with mums and added hanging basket mums too. Around the door I added fall faux pumpkins and squash, some tall fall stems in the wooden barrel, a fall "Welcome" sign, and a fall pillow on the rocking chair.
I kept the black metal art work on the wall, but changed out the white accessories and florals for a bucket of fall flowers, a faux squash, and a scarecrow doll.
Here you can see my fall hanging baskets of mums and an "Autumn Greetings" sign.
Also along this side garden is a "Harvest" rake sign.
And this is my front porch. More potted mums, hanging baskets of mums, a "Happy Fall" and metal pumpkin sign.
I hope you enjoyed my porch refresh, and fall porch. Hopefully next year we will have more time to finish the job, although I doubt it since we didn't even finish our summer landscaping job. Here's a photo of what that monstrosity looks like now:
Aye, yai, yai, a homeowners work is never done. But, when you always do all the work yourself, and never hire contractors, everything takes a lot longer.
