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10 great spring drives

When weather warms, the urge to hit the road is irresistible.

It's a beautiful spring day. The trees are budding, the birds are chirping. What do you do?

Road trip! Somehow, the call of the highway is especially strong in spring. We want to feel the wind on our face and see something new and unusual.

Here are 10 of the best places to do it. For autumn, see Great fall drives.

Exploring Wisconsin's Rustic Roads

Whenever I'm in Wisconsin, I check out whatever Rustic Road is nearby. They're scenic, lightly traveled roads, many of which preserve remnants of the past — lighthouses, one-room schoolhouses, country churches.

My favorites in spring are Rustic Road 51 near Maiden Rock and Rustic Road 21, which leads to the sandstone arch of Natural Bridge State Park. But they'll all give you a good excuse to go exploring.

One of the newest, Rustic Road 107, follows Chippewa River bottomlands and the Chippewa River State Trail west of Eau Claire. Rustic Road 106 skirts Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. Rustic Road 105 goes through a covered bridge east of Park Falls.

You'll want a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer while seeking out Rustic Roads or any of the drives below. And if you have the 2004 Wisconsin edition, hang onto it; it shows the Rustic Roads, but the 2008 edition doesn't.

Wisconsin's coulee country

Mile for mile, Vernon County south of La Crosse has to be the most picturesque in Wisconsin, with its high ridges and hidden-away valleys. There isn't one road that's not scenic, but here's a loop that takes in many of the highlights.

From Ontario, follow the crooked Kickapoo River south on Wisconsin 131, past Wildcat Mountain State Park (or stop and hike). Turn west on rolling County Road P, which will take you through Dell and past the blue Evanstad round barn, which in spring is framed by flowering trees. Head north on County Road D to Old Country Cheese; stop and buy some curds.

Keep going driving north; you'll come out onto Wisconsin 33 near Cashton. Take it east back to Ontario, stopping to shop at the many Amish farms on the way (unless it's Sunday). 

You also can continue south on Wisconsin 131 to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, a green zone for fishing, hiking, canoeing, bicycling and bird watching.

Keep going and you'll come to Gays Mills, which holds a Spring Festival, with music and Maypole dancing, on the first weekend in May.

If you're in Vernon County around May 17, be sure to stop in Westby for the Syttende Mai celebrations. For more, see Valleys of Vernon County.

St. Croix River Valley

This river, which joins the Mississippi at Prescott, Wis., forms the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin and is less than an hour east of the Twin Cities.

Roads on both sides hug the river and give weekend drivers steady doses of scenery. In the south, many people will want to stop in Minnesota's Afton State Park.

Heading north, Stillwater has as many antiques shops and booksellers as anyone could want, and William O'Brien State Park outside Marine on St. Croix has hiking along the river and around Lake Alice.

In Taylors Falls, weekend boat tours of the scenic Dalles start in May. Across the river, artists in and around St. Croix Falls open their studios for the Earth Arts Spring Art Tour on the first weekend of May.

Both sides of the river boast a lovely Interstate State Park. And just west of Taylors Falls, the open-air Franconia Sculpture Park is a magnet for all ages; it's open daily from dawn to dusk.

For more, see Sightseeing on the St. Croix.

Spring ephemerals and Northfield

Less than an hour south of the Twin Cities, this college town always is a good candidate for a day trip.

Spring is a good time to go a little farther to see one of the region's best displays of spring wildflowers, at Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park. From downtown, take Division Street (Minnesota 246) south to County Road 40 and into the park.

There's an interesting assortment of shops on Division Street, and it's always fun to visit the Historical Society Museum and see the video re-enactment of the Jesse James bank raid.

For more, see Scrappy Northfield.

Minnesota bluff country

South of Rochester, the scenery starts. Hills sport outcroppings of golden limestone, roads wind up and down and Amish buggies mingle with other traffic.

May is a big month around Lanesboro, Harmony and Preston, as trout fishermen, turkey hunters, bicyclists and morel-mushroom pickers all converge on its picturesque countryside. Artists throw open their studios during the Bluff Country Studio Arts Tour the last weekend of April..

Many Amish families have handicrafts cottages on their farms that can be visited most days, except Sunday, and many sell their baskets, rugs, jams and pastries at Lanesboro's Saturday-morning farmers' market, which starts May 1.

In mid-May, the Norwegian town of Spring Grove holds its Syttende Mai parade, Preston holds Trout Days and Whalan puts on its famous Stand Still Parade.

For more, see Bluff-country byways and In the land of Norwegians.

Giant mascots in Minnesota

The lakes country of northwest Minnesota often gets short shrift. But its heart, Otter Tail County, has more lakes than any other county in Minnesota, and it also has the region's densest concentration of giant mascots, as well as two state parks, a picture-postcard mill and Inspiration Peak, the state’s second-highest point.

Watch for a giant otter, pelican, warrior and, in the tiny village of Vining, a giant foot with an oversized big toe, a square knot, a 20-foot clothespin, a pliers gripping a cockroach and, my favorite, a coffee mug held up by a stream of molten java.

They're all stops on the Otter Trail Scenic Byway.

For more, see Otter trail country and Minnesota's scenic byways.

Circumnavigating Lake Pepin

This wide spot in the Mississippi River, southeast of the Twin Cities, is a perennial favorite. From Red Wing or Bay City, drivers on the road to Wabasha are never without a view of blue water, green hillsides and limestone bluffs.

It's only 70 miles around, but there are too many places to see in one day: the antiques shops and coffeehouses of Red Wing, the bakeries and galleries of Maiden Rock and Stockholm, the National Eagle Center and restaurants in Wabasha, the warblers and wildflowers in Frontenac State Park.

In spring, not all businesses are open every day; go Friday through Sunday for the best chances. If you don't like motorcycles, avoid the annual benefit Flood Run in April, which brings thousands of bikers to Lake Pepin.

The first weekend of May is especially busy during the 100-Mile Garage Sale. In mid-May, people can visit art studios and gardens on the Wisconsin side during the Fresh Art Spring Tour.

For more, see A spin around Lake Pepin.

Iowa's Great River Road

Drive along the Mississippi River from the Minnesota border to Dubuque, and you'll never again say that Iowa is flat. This is part of the Driftless Area, which the last four glaciers missed while scraping down the rest of the Midwest.

Most of the Great River Road hugs the Mississippi, but the parts that veer inland are just as gorgeous, swooping up and down like a roller coaster.

Stop in Lansing to take in the view from Mount Hosmer City Park and, on the bluffs above Marquette, walk the trails in Effigy Mounds National Monument.

Then you'll come to McGregor, a quirky little town at river's edge, and another great view 500 feet above it, from Pikes Peak State Park. Take County Road X56 to Guttenberg, then C9Y to Balltown, which is not on the river but has an astonishing view.

Continue on to Dubuque, where you can admire the view from the top of the Fenelon Place funicular. For more, see One fall swoop.

Vistas along the Mississippi

In May, there's a lot going on along the Mississippi River. Birds are migrating north; watch them nearly at eye level from atop Barn Bluff in Red Wing, Buena Vista Park in Alma, Garvin Heights in Winona and Brady's Bluff in Perrot State Park.

Up the bluff from Winona, hike into Great River Bluffs State Park to see its goat prairies and views. The river is lined with magnificent state parks, all full of wildflowers.

For more, see Chasing wildflowers.

For details on views, see Mississippi panoramas.

A slice of cheese country

In southwest Wisconsin, three towns have maintained the Old World traditions brought by the first settlers: Mineral Point, whose limestone cottages were built by Cornish miners; New Glarus, where Swiss chalets are more than a facade; and Monroe, Wisconsin's cheese capital and home of North America's last Limburger factory.

This is a drive where you want to bring an appetite. Start in New Glarus, half an hour southwest of Madison (beer, pastries, sausages, chocolate, cheese). Head west on Wisconsin 39, stopping just west of Hollandale to see the wonderful Grandview folk-art sculptures.

Continue to Mineral Point (pasties, figgyhobbin, saffron cake, cheese). Take Wisconsin 23 south to Darlington, then Wisconsin 81 east to Monroe (cheese, beer, fruit).

It's totally delectable. For more, see Cheese country.

Last updated on May 13, 2011