Eagles From Art to Aerie

A shelf of toy bald eagles at the National Eagle Center

Tim and I planned this trip along The Great River Road more or less on the fly.  When I picked up the map in Memphis for this National Scenic Byway, I knew I'd have to spend some time each evening deciding how far to go, which attractions to visit the next day and where we'd sleep tomorrow night.  There was no opportunity for a day of downtime devoted to trip planning.  Since we needed to be in Minneapolis by July 13th, we had to make a concerted push to meet that deadline.

So I sighed with relief when I realized we could spread the last 170 miles over two easy days of travel, giving us a chance to arrive by check-in time at our final motel and sleep late the next morning.

Therefore, I persuaded Tim that we had time to stop at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota right on the bank of the Mississippi River.  Every work of art in this small museum focuses on the artist's relationship with water.  I was surprised to find world-class artists and paintings such as

Homer Winslow, Winding Line [Oil on canvas], 1874, Private collection

Claude Monet, La Siene à Vétheuil [Oil on canvas], 1881, Private collection

Pablo Picasso, Homme Addis, [Watercolor and Ink on paper], 1933, Private collection

One of only two existing autographed versions of Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze is also on display here, purchased by the museum's founders, Mary Burrichter and her husband, Bob Kierlin, owner of Fastenal, a Winona-based hardware-supply company.  The other larger version hangs in New York's Museum of Metropolitan Art.

Very cool, don't you think?

Andy Warhol, Bald Eagle, from Endangered Species F. & S. II 296 [Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board],  1983, Ronald Feldman Gallery

Also very cool was the museum's current exhibition called Eagles Over Water featuring eagle related art and ephemera that ranged from works by John James Audubon to Andy Warhol.

Yet, it was the exhibit of paintings by Thomas Paquette that filled me with delight.  His three-year odyssey along the same roads we had just traveled culminated in his America's River Re-Explored: Paintings of the Mississippi from Source to Gulf, a monumental work of 46 paintings.  Seeing the river through his eyes was like revisiting an old friend.

Thomas Paquette, Alma's Buena Vista [Oil on linen], 2017, Minnesota Marine Art Museum

Trying to find an image of one of Paquette's Mississippi works to post here, I could only find the above on the museum's web site, but Tim and I had not yet driven as far as Alma, Wisconsin.  Checking the map, I saw that it was only 25 miles farther up the road so back in the car we climbed.

However, this prospect was not an easy location to find.  When we arrived in Alma, Wisconsin, a tiny town that clings to the overhanging bluffs, there was a small signpost to Buena Vista park that pointed up a very steep hill.  I'd read that you have to drive up a narrow, winding road and this looked like the one.  So Tim put the Jeep in second gear to grind up to the top the ridge.  From there, we circled around an additional two miles past several prosperous-looking farms to reach to this park with a big view.

Walking over to the edge of the bluff was like stepping out on a balcony of a very tall hotel.  We had a stunning panoramic view of the river, Lock and Dam #4 and the tiny town of Alma directly below.

I could have stayed there all day to watch the shifting light of the clouds upon the landscape, but hunger forced us back to the car.

The Nelson Creamery was just ten miles up the Great River Road in Nelson, Wisconsin.  The place was bustling even at 2:00 in the afternoon.  Tim pushed his way past all the customers gawking at the wide variety of ice cream flavors to place our order at the sandwich counter.  Ah!  A bean sprout-laden veggie on multi-grain bread paired with a cup of Loaded Baked Potato soup was just the fare to appease my appetite.  Afterwards, we browsed the well-stocked shelves of cheese, wishing we were traveling in a vehicle with a refrigerator.  Alas, that was not the case so sadly we left without making a purchase.

The last stop of the day was in Wabasha, Minnesota at the National Eagle Center, an interpretive center devoted to protecting bald eagles.  Bald eagles congregate along the shorelines of the Upper Mississippi River, migrating here from the frozen areas of Canada to nest and lay their eggs.  Even when bald eagles were endangered, we learned that Wabasha was one of the few places you could still find them.  Due to the fast current here, the Mississippi rarely freezes during the winter.  That means there is abundant food for the eagles.

A child-size eagle's nest, an aerie, was a big hit with small human visitors.  Children and adults alike were enthralled by Angel, Columbia and Was'aka, rescued bald eagles and now ambassadors in the center's daily programs and special events.  We arrived too late to see the eagles in action, but our visit did bring back memories of a night-time program about raptors we'd seen at the Badlands National Park.

When we checked into the motel that afternoon, the owner mentioned a concert was scheduled down at the river next to the National Eagle Center that evening.  We meant to go, but Tim fell asleep.  I didn't wake him, preferring to have some quiet time to work on my blog.  I was so far behind in posting what we'd seen.  I knew my memories would fade if I didn't make an effort to catch up.  Looking back on this day, I realized we'd begun by viewing art inspired by eagles and finished at the center devoted to education and preservation of eagles.  That's serendipity, because I certainly didn't plan it!