We can’t spend all of our road trip in one corner of southwest Wisconsin! So today, we’re going to wind north to Vernon County, home of a plethora of state and county parks. One of them, Wildcat Mountain (are those some mounds, or what?) also doubles as a ski resort. It’s also home of the 8600 acre Kickapoo River Reserve, a valley along the largest tributary to the Wisconsin River and a truly spectacular wildlife and canoeing spot. As DriftlessWisconsin.com points out, “[b]ecause the glaciers that missed the Driftless Area did not change its natural course, the Kickapoo River Valley is one of the oldest river systems in the world.”
We’ve always liked driving through Vernon County– any part of Vernon County.
The county’s top industry happens to be organic farming. They’re also home of the world’s largest cooperative of family farms, Organic Valley, whose main distribution center is almost totally solar-powered.
Co-ops are a way of life here, as is preserving a sustainable local heritage. Want some cool Scandinavian gifts? Stop into little Westby’s “Uff-Da-Shoppe”! Or drive on to the county seat, Viroqua, whose population doesn’t quite break 5,000. Along with a health-food coops, they also are home to the nation’s oldest tobacco-growing cooperative.
But as we told you on our submissions page, we’re word nerds here. And it just happens that little Viroqua is also home of one of the coolest bookstores we have ever seen! It’s also time to introduce our first guest writer, Rachel Eckmann. Welcome, Rachel!
Driftless Books and Music: The Most Eclectic Bookstore in Southwest Wisconsin
