Road Trip back in Time

Had to run errands back to the town I grew up in. Not far from there was my grandparents' farm, so I took a round-about way back home to drive past.

This has been a low snow winter for southern Wisconsin. This was taken just a few days ago, at the end of February. Won't be long before these trees start showing new green for spring.

This rock quarry used to belong to my grandparents. That silo peeking over the top would be their barn. So much rock has been removed since I was little. To the right was an upper section to drive out and look out and over the quarry. I remember hunting for tadpoles in the HUGE puddles that would be on the floor of the quarry. No fossils in this rock, but there was a lot of mineral leaching, with glittery flows over some of the blasted rocks and small holes in rocks with crystal structures inside.
 
Just a ways down the road is this spring. My grandmother would keep a metal cup wired to the fence post, and as kids we drank water straight from the ground. This was the start of a small stream, and we would always pick water cress to take back to the house.
Many thanks to the fellow road-trip photographer. He pulled up as I was taking a few photos of the spring, and pointed out that he has been watching a few hawks and eagles on some roadkill. Turns out this bald eagle was right behind me, the first I have ever seen in this valley.

This church has always marked the turn off from the County Highway to the road which goes down to my grandparents' farm. I will never forget it, though I have never been inside.