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Viking Brew Pub with a unique bar.

somewhat quaint Spring Green Motel – which was maybe not cheap, but grandmother owned and operated, and great coffee in the morning, accompanied by

Viking Brew Pub with a unique bar.

a rooster crowing, just to accentuate the authenticity. After breakfast and morning departure, we very soon stopped at the Cedar Grove Cheese place, operating since 1878, which was a definite highlight of the trip since I bought so much tasty organic artisanal cheeses made in Wisconsin. Tour end was in New Glarus. The entire town was enjoying (suffering) a very faux-Swiss Oktoberfest, but we were still able to get in for an excellent lunch at the New Glarus Inn, very authentically Swiss, which is more than I can say for some of the buildings in the town.

That was the end of the formal tour, but as I always say, that is not the end of the tour by any means. Gas up and go to the New Glarus Brewery. No debate there. I haven’t been there for a couple years, so we turned left to the old brewery I’m familiar with, which was closed. But you were supposed to turn right to something I never saw before: the “Disneyland of Beer”. Oh, New Glarus Brewery has a new facility which is totally awesome. This thing sits on a hill like a castle fortress, complete with brand new “ruins,” great for the photo op.

Unscheduled road construction caused a last-minute route change.

And let’s not forget, the beer is good – and unavailable in Illinois! I would recommend the Two Women country lager over the usual Spotted Cow, so I dragged back a case of it strapped to my luggage rack like the optional windbreak my car doesn’t come with.

And the tour was still not over. Juliana and I were trying to hustle back to a Rotary social in Roselle, so we wanted to bee-line to I-90. Well, this is the first time I ever tried GPS. Or at least my wife tried it. While I drove. It was fabulous! For anyone who never tried it (I might be the last!), it verbally directed us eventually down tree-shaded country side roads we would NEVER have figured out, until it dropped us back on I-90 homebound. It worked out great. By the way, there is a Starbucks on State St./ Bus 20, which was about three exits more, to give us a break and recharge our caffeine levels.

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