Spending a few days in Eau Claire Wisconsin…

Leaving Dorchester we headed a short way over to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I wanted to stay close to Eau Claire and we found a great inexpensive site at the Eau Claire Expo Center. When we pulled in we were told to simply park anywhere we wanted but we soon discovered there were only four 30 amp sites (the rest were only 20 amp).  We filled up with water at the snack bar where the guy pointed out and then we parked along the roadside to plug in to the 30 amp site. No sewer but perfect for us to explore Eau Claire!

   

Even better the Eau Clair Expo Center is happens to be adjacent to another great park (Lowes Creek County Park) which  we had planned to explore. But first we wanted to get some groceries and check out the downtown area.  Since we found a sculpture tour online we hoped it would help us get to know the town better.

We headed downtown and parked near one of the sculptures. Most of the sculptures were on the main road we parked on so we walked down the street and took in the sights. The sculptures were nice but nothing to write home about however we did come across Phoenix Park in the downtown area. What a nice park with a great hike and bike trail it was as it meandered along the Chippewa River.  We saw lots of flowers as well as butterflies out enjoying themselves despite all the people around also enjoying themselves in the near perfect weather.

As a perfect ending to a perfect day we found a neat spot for happy hour. With its name reminding us of Betty’s RV Park how could we not stop at Bug Eyed Betty's for a cold beer at happy hour...

The next day rain was predicted so we chose to go for a morning hike in Lowes Creek County Park which I mentioned was right next to the Expo’s RV park. The park had a mix of trails for mountain bikes and hikers. It made for some interesting hiking as we took several of the bike trails that twisted through the woods. Again lots of wildflowers were in bloom and we even found a bounty of berries including blackberries, black raspberries and red raspberries.

I was walking and munching as we went. I had my head down eating raspberries when Sharon said stop! I froze thinking she may have seen a snake. But when I looked up there was a doe and her fawn a mere 25 feet in front of us. We stayed very still as they foraged for some fresh  herbaceous snacks and we simply watched them in awe for about 5 to 10 minutes. We were able to quietly snap a few pictures with our phones before they ambled off…

With a nice morning hike behind us and no rain in sight we ate lunch and drove over to Mount Simon Park to play on their Disc Golf course. It wasn’t a particularly challenging course as it was shorter than we normally play but it had no water hazards which we abhor. Since it was a short 9 hole course we played it twice.

After a full day we headed back over to Bug Eyed Betty’s for one last happy hour before moving on down the road. Next up is Zumbro Falls our first stop in Minnesota…

NOTE: As I mentioned before we are still in the Zumbro Falls area through the weekend!