Lewis, La Crosse, WI, USA

velvette Posted Feb 12, 2009, 2:52 am	Hey everybody! I'm Lewis. I'm looking to travel the globe and meet new people. I'm currently at home with my family and hoping to make travel arrangements soon. Here's a picture of me discussing my travelling plans with Charlie (stingray) and Turk (turtle). <3 Lewis
velvette Posted Feb 13, 2009, 6:24 am	Today has been a good one. I went off with mom to her friend Daniel's house and hung out. I had to go say goodbye before my travels to Australia to meet sararingham. Here's me enjoying some relaxing hookah We also went out to lunch at the Loop. I had some sweet tea and blue cheese chips. The chips were excellent I will be leaving here within the next few days. Wish me luck! <3 Lewis
velvette Posted Feb 19, 2009, 3:18 am	Lewis left this afternoon on his long journey to Australia! I hope to hear from him soon Here's his goodbye photo with Turk. And here's Turk holding his "ticket" to Australia. Have a safe trip, Lewis! Love, mom
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Feb 27, 2009, 3:16 am	Hi mom! I've in sunny hot Australia! Tomorrow is the last day of Summer down here but Sara says it doesn't look like it will cool down in the Central West anytime soon. Sydney has already started their cool down into Autumn and Winter. Sara hopes it'll come soon... it's too hard to move much when it's so hot! I'm here visiting now with a few other toyvoyager friends! I'll post some photos soon and hopefully have a nice update to do! Miss you mom but already having so much fun!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 5, 2009, 7:35 am	Hi! It's been really boring around here lately.. Sara hasn't been able to get out as much as she would have liked to so we've been sitting at home with her... well, nothing much interesting has been going on but today Sara tried kangaroo for the first time. So she thought this was note worthy... we all smelled it and it actually smelled really yummy! It looked just like a steak and Sara says it actually just tastes just like beef, but very very lean, almost no fat at all.. yummy! Not much there but sometimes I wish we could try new things too - so here was Sara's dinner (or part of it anyways) from the other day. I promise more interesting things ahead in the days to come! Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 5, 2009, 7:51 am	Today we were taking a small road trip. No where exciting but Sara took this as an opportunity to show us what the Central West is full of... which sadly isn't all that interesting, but hopefully you'll find it a bit more interesting... it's very dry and brown here. There's been barely any rain, so now that it's Autumn, we're hoping for a bit more rain... *fingers crossed* first stop we went to a small town called Blayney which has a population of only 3,000 people... Here I am at the top of the highest point in Blayney, Church Hill... you can see the whole town from here... ...and here's the rest of the view around Church Hill from where we're standing... Coming down from Church Hill we went down the main street to our next destination... here I am on the main street which is called Adelaide Street... We're back on the road again... I'll update more soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 5, 2009, 8:26 am	Next stop was the Blayney Wind Farm and Carcoar Dam which is just outside of Blayney and Carcoar... here I am in front of the wind turbines... Sara also decided to show you Carcoar Dam... if you click that link you can see what Carcoar Dam used to look like. Since the Central West has been in a drought for so long the water level is much much lower than at the moment... here I am in front of what is left of the dam... Kind of puts it into perspective how much of a drought Australia is in, especially inland from the coastlines... here's a closer image of the water level. You see that line on the hill just below the trees? That's where the water used to be... can you imagine THAT much water evaporating? Scary isn't it? ...and here are a couple more photos of the wind mills that run the wind farm... Write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 5, 2009, 8:44 am	Next stop was Carcoar which is one of the many tiny towns between Blayney and Cowra, so we decided to get a few photos. Carcoar has a population of around 400 people... so very small, here I am on the main street... ...there's sadly not much to see here but Sara took us down to the little river that runs through the town. Sara says her and her husband Daniel used to drive here from Blayney to here to have picnic's once in a while. :-) Isn't it pretty? Back on the road... we're almost there! Another 40 minutes or so... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 5, 2009, 9:18 am	Last stop, we're finally there! We've arrived in Cowra which is a town about half the size of Orange, with around 13,000 people. There's not too much to see here... Sara and her husband had to do a few mystery shops. So we just waited, after all the jobs were done we all went down to the Lachlan River... we saw a LOT of bird life while we were there... here I am in front of the river... Walking down to the river there were a lot of aboriginal paintings on the underside of the road (which passed over the river)... here are some of the paintings... Can you guess what some of the animals are? Well, there are dolphins, echidna, turtles, fish, dugong, kookaburra, and snakes. How interesting is all that? Isn't it pretty? You can't tell but there are HUNDREDS of Long-billed Corella's... they're making heaps of noise but they're fun to watch. Sara took a short video of them in the tree... you can watch the video here. It's short and you can also hear the noises they make... they were crazy... here are a few snap shots of them as well... ...and we even got to see a bunch of Australian Wood Ducks... After spending an hour or so at the river we decided to head home. It had already been a long day and it was only 230pm. Crazy! Well back home we go... write again soon! Miss you mom I hope you enjoyed my day out!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 19, 2009, 1:37 pm	Today we took a trip to Bathurst... and something Sara does always when she goes to Bathurst is she goes and sees if she can spot any kangaroos. They're commonly just outside of the town on a road going towards Blayney. They're in a farmers paddock which is now slowly being turned into a more residential area sadly. So now they're being pushed farther and farther out of the town... this time we actually did spot some kangaroos... can you see him behind me? Here's a close up of that same guy: I know! He's really really small but Sara couldn't get much closer... when she tried not only did that guy hop off... but all the others as well. Sara didn't even notice those guys, they blend in so well to the dry grass don't they? We were kind of rushed in Bathurst today so we didn't see as much as Sara would have liked to show us... but there's another stop in the mean time... write again soon! :-)
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 19, 2009, 2:03 pm	Right near the kangaroos actually is a famous Australian race track... Mount Panorama.. which holds the famous race each October called the Bathurst 1000 this race means all of the Central West (where we are living currently) is flooded with people for a weekend and Australia shuts down because on Sunday everyone is watching the races. Sara told us there was a couple times she went out when she lived in Blayney (population 3000) there was like no one out.. it was literally like a ghost town... well now's our time to take a little part in something very famously Australian... :-) Here I am in front of the Mount Panorama gate... you can see in the background the sign on the side of the mountain (which is the close up in the picture above)... Here's the starting gate... although we started from the other side so there are no pictures of us there sadly... ...and here's some pictures of us going around the track... ...at the top of the mountain Sara took a very quick photo to show the view from the top of the mountain (which is right above that white sign that says Mount Panorama)... After we took a ride on the track we got out of the car and visited a now famous statue of Peter Brock who won the panorama races a record 9 wins before he died in a car crash in 2006, very soon after Steve Irwin died actually! Here we are in front of his statue... ...here's a better photo of it... ...we also learned a bit more about the race track. They have some huge signs along the side of the gate (which I'm standing in front of in one of the first pictures)... Sara couldn't get a good photo so she'll just write out what it says: Shortly you will be on Mount Panorama. A 60kph scenic drive offering spectacular views of Bathurst and surrounding country side. The last true public road racing circuit left in Australia. Twice each year it is of special significance to the motor car and bike racing enthusiasts rising almost 200 metres and falling through a succession of bends, it has heart-in-mouth appeal to drivers and spectators alike. With motor racing in Bathurst as early as 1911, the Vale Circuit for motor cycles was opened in 1931 and when abandoned, a scenic road albeit a race circuit, was constructed to the Bald Hills, now Mount Panorama. The home of the toughest and most famous car race in the Southern Hemisphere, the Toohey's 1000, it is a unique test of man and machine with every driver striving to do the perfect lap. This has changed somewhat from the first Australian long distance classic, the 500 miler at Phillip Island in the early sixties, shifting Bathurst in 1963. The Bathurst City Council, Australian Racing Drivers Club, ATN Chanel 7 and sponsors alike have been involved in this phenomenon of excitement, spectacle and human drama, Australia's greatest motor race the Toohey's 1000. Since 1938 the Easter Australian Grand Prix for motor cycles has been held here. To every Australian motor cycle enthusiast Bathurst has the most magic of all, even though in 1989 the Grand Prix went to Phillip Island and in 1991 to Eastern Creek. It's amazing how much I learned today about Bathurst and the most famous part of Bathurst... this last weekend we actually watched a race at Mount Panorama, it was some kind of 12-hour race... how crazy is that... can you picture going around that thing for 12 hours. I think I'd go crazy! Well I'll update again soon! Miss you mom! <3
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:07 am	Today we decided to do a bit of the touristy stuff in Orange since we've seen the surrounding areas it's now time to explore the town we've lived in for the last few weeks. We packed up the car and took a short drive. The first stop wasn't too far from where Sara lives, it's Banjo Patterson's birth place. Which wasn't where we are but very close to where we are standing... here I am on the bust that looks like Banjo... If you don't know, Banjo Patterson is a very famous Australian and he's even on the $10.00 note down here. He's famous for writing the poem Waltzing Matilda... if you've never heard it here it is: Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong, Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee, And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred, Up rode the troopers, one, two, three, "Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?" "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" "Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?", "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong, "You'll never take me alive", said he, And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me" And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, "You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me." "Oh, You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me." Right near the Banjo Patterson bust is the remains of the old Templers Mill... here's the rubble... can you see us on it?... How about now? ...here we are! Sadly people use the rubble as a bit of a garbage pile sometimes... really sad actually... but here's a bit of information about the historic templers mill... In 1828, the land between Orange and Suma Park was granted to emancipist Simeon Lord as part compensation for the land he had surrendered to Governor Macquarie in 1811 in Sydney. It was probably Lord's son, Thomas, who built and supervised the district's first flour mill on the property, which retained the Aboriginal name Narrambla. It is possible that the grinding stone was first operated by convicts but in 1840, when the mill was acquired by John Arthur Templer, these were replaced by horse works. In 1848, Templer installed a 12 horsepower steam engine and boiler, and the mill's chimney probably dated from this time. Farmers brought grain for grinding at one shilling a bushel. It was in Templer's homestead among the trees by the creek that his great nephew, Andrew Barton Paterson, was born on the 17th of February 1864. Banjo Paterson as he became known, is one of Australia's best known and most popular poets. Templer's Mill operated until about 1870. The boiler was later used for many years at Heap's Brewery in Moulder Street, Orange. The remains of the mill, considered dangerous and beyond repair, were demolished in 1971. Last stop we got to see the memorial to Banjo which is right next to the road... here we are in front of the memorial... The Australian Poet Andrew Barton Paterson "Banjo" Was born 17th February 1864 at the Narrambla Homestead which stood 8 chains North East of this memorial. Erected 1947. "And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended and at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars." -Clancy of the Overflow On the way back to the car we got a view of the surrounding areas of the birth place... this is a lot of what the areas around Orange looks like. As you can tell, we really are in a bad drought with how brown the grass is... we haven't had a good rainfall in months! That's our visit to the famous poets birth place... now it's time to move onto the next big tourist trap in Orange... this is a bit longer of a car ride... write again soon!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:46 am	Next stop was around a 20 minute drive from where we were and technically on the outskirts of Orange... but knowing what it was that would be understandable. Not something you'd expect to see in the middle of the rural area of New South Wales... but an extinct volcano! Seriously, how crazy is that? It's the highest point West of the Blue Mountains which is on the outskirts of Sydney, around a 2.5 hour drive from where we are now... it's the famous Mount Canobolas... here I am at the top of the mountain... The top photo you can the city of Orange in the distance... looks so tiny from up here... here I am on the compass at the apex point of the volcano... this is where you stand and it shows the direction to look to see the different cities and towns in the region... on a clear day you can see hundreds of kilometers. Here's the panoramic view around the top of the mountain from one side to the other... as you can see it has a lot of radio and TV towers. Honestly it's a huge eye sore... oh well! There are lots of hikes and bush walks all around the apex point of the mountain... we got to learn a bit about the mountain while we were here. If you see in this image you can see there are lots of "vents" where there were smaller less active volcanoes surrounding the main volcano... here's a bit of information about Mount Canobolas... Mount Canobolas volcanic complex is listed in the Commonwealth Heritage Register for it's unique geological composition and location. These factors have resulted in a distinctive vegetation pattern, containing rare and unique species, which in turn contain habitats for a number of equally unique animals. Within a 30 kilometer radius of Mount Canobolas, approximately 30 vents are known to have erupted. These eruptions commenced about 50 million years ago and halted approximately 10-15 million years ago. The Mount Canobolas vents erupted over that entire period, while others within the 30 kilometer radius were active for shorter periods. The basalt capping has largely weathered away producing fertile soils as far away as West Wyalong. Which is 222 kilometers away from Orange or just under a 3 hour drive West of Orange. After we had a bit longer at the top of the volcano and a few more photos we started to head down the mountain. Half way down, we stopped and got a picture of the mountain and a better view of Orange from above. The small mountain next to the main apex of Mount Canobolas is called Little Canobolas, it's a 2km walk from the top of the mountain... Well, we're not quite done yet... we have one more place to visit before we've seen all the main touristy areas of rural New South Wales (this area anyway)... write again soon with more photos of our next stop!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 30, 2009, 6:52 am	Next and last stop today is Lake Canobolas which is really the only water source in the region beyond Carcoar Dam which you saw a few weeks ago. Which is almost non existant. Thankfully there's more to this lake, although it is a man made lake... here I am in front of the lake... isn't it pretty on such a sunny bright day like today? There were a LOT of ducks right near where we were standing... sadly we didn't have any bread to feed them... Sara says how she loves to feed the ducks and always feels a bit bad when they approach her and she doesn't have anything to give them... All of us toyvoyagers decided to sit in one of the gum trees near the beach and relax for a little bit... We sadly didn't stay very long since it was already almost 6pm! Would you believe it? Well one last look at the lake and it's time to head home... Well that was a huge day for us, we got to see a lot of interesting things... but we've seen a lot of rural and regional New South Wales. I'll be leaving to my next host soon! Write again soon! Miss you mom!
sararingham sara.ringham@gmail.com Posted Mar 31, 2009, 12:44 pm	Today was my last day in Orange. Sara is writing this note for me because currently I'm in a padded postbag with my new mate Natt Noy, at least I'll have someone to talk to! Next stop Wisconsin! I wonder what I'll get to see there! Write soon mom!
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 10, 2009, 12:42 am	I've made it to Wisconsin!  I even got to meet another voyager... named Smooch. Together we made all made brownies with marshmallows and she even let us lick the bowl! More later!
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 11, 2009, 7:00 pm	We went out sightseeing today ... it was gorgeous weather!  First stop was to see the official city welcome. The statue is of men playing the sport lacrosse and the flags are American flag, Wisconsin state flag and city flag. Then we stopped at a park where she showed us where the local baseball team plays. We sat for a photo on a very big baseball bat. We went to a park just down the road... I got to go down the slide and swung on a swing!
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 11, 2009, 7:28 pm	Next stop was at the Riverside Park which is on the Mississippi River. She was surprised that the local paddle wheeler boat was in the water. It does local tours and eco-tours. Had to pose for a picture with Hiawatha; she says this was Native American land. Can you see me in the plant?  We posed for a friendship picture in the friendship gardens at the park. Saw one of the duck that hang around the park outside the river cleaning himself. Then I got to see the two blue bridges that connect Wisconsin to Minnesota.
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 11, 2009, 7:46 pm	Here I am seeing more ducks in the water. There are a lot of ducks that hang around the park. People like to bring down bread crumbs and feed them. The children are statues that welcome those who dock here. During the summer there are tourist boats that visit La Crosse. Posing for a picture with my friends in front of the bridges. A beautiful picture of the Mississippi River looking northwest towards Minnesota. And a picture of me with a statue of the American Bald Eagle as we leave the park.
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 11, 2009, 7:56 pm	On the drive home I got to see something huge!! Don't worry, I was good and didn't drink any.
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 19, 2009, 4:26 pm	Today was such a beautiful day so we went out sightseeing.  This is a sign that explains the area that she lives in is called. My picture in front of an example of the coulees. We then went to another landmark place. But first had to take my picture with the American flag that was flying very beautifully! Grandad's Bluff is a favorite landmark here since it looks all over the city and more! (more of those pics in next section)
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 19, 2009, 5:04 pm	Here I am overlooking beautiful La Crosse in the springtime! We can even see the land from Iowa and Minnesota!  The pictures are from south to north. The trail that is shown on the first picture, has been closed for a couple years since they had bad flooding the last couple years and it's not safe to go down it (it was fenced off).
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 19, 2009, 5:23 pm	Going down from Grandad's Bluff is tree lined and also very twisty and has lots of corners. We had to drive carefully! But we made it safely down. More adventures on another day!
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 27, 2009, 4:35 pm	Today we had another voyager show up! Emil is here as he travels through the US. We sat and told him all that we had seen so far. He's anxious to go and see things now!
Luv_Lioness Posted Apr 27, 2009, 6:11 pm	We tagged along with Emil but stayed in the background since we saw the sights that he saw but we did come out for a picnic in the park. It was a nice, sunny, and warm day! (32*C/90*F)  After lunch, we got to see a barge go by on the Mississippi River! More adventures later... when it's cooled off!
Luv_Lioness Posted May 5, 2009, 5:50 pm	It was a very nice day out so we went along with our lovely host to run an errand which was also quite a drive... we got to see a lot! First thing she showed us was something they call "Ten Mile Hill." It's just 10 miles long from one end to the other. Sounds intimidating though! You can see that they had to carve into the bluffs to make the road. At one point on the road, we had to watch out for farm equipment.
Luv_Lioness Posted May 5, 2009, 6:08 pm	Small town (population ~2000) of Westby, Wisconsin! Since we are in the country, we found a big ear of corn! Really it's a big advertisement for a company and made out of recycled milk jugs. After she was done at the dentist, we were driving and saw an Amish horse and buggy. The Amish don't rely on what we call modern conveniences such as electricity and cars.
Luv_Lioness Posted May 5, 2009, 6:40 pm	She took us down a twisty road in the country to see something amazing... A ski jump! In February every year, skiers from all over the world come to this place to practice for the Olympics. We then headed for home but she stopped to show us ... Wisconsin Cows!
Luv_Lioness Posted May 5, 2009, 7:16 pm	We stopped and learned something about the area. What the sign says: This point is near the center of the 90,000 acre Coon Creek Watershed, the nation’s first large-scale demonstration of soil and water conservation. The area was selected for this purpose by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (then Soil Erosion Service) in October 1933. Technicians of the S.C.S. and the University of Wisconsin pooled their knowledge with experience of local farm leaders to establish a pattern of land use now prevalent throughout the Midwest. Planned practices in effect include improvement of woodlands, wildlife habitat and pastures, better rotations and fertilization, strip cropping, terracing, and gully and stream bank erosion control. The outcome is a tribute to the wisdom, courage and foresight of the farm families who adopted the modern methods of conservation farming illustrated here. Then we posed in some pretty grass with flowers.  Will write more when we go out again!
Luv_Lioness Posted May 18, 2009, 11:33 pm	Hi! I know it's been awhile since I've written but I am still here and today we were a help to her. We got to help out with some laundry that she had to do at the laundromat. More soon ... I promise.
Luv_Lioness Posted May 19, 2009, 8:37 pm	Today was a nice warm day so we went out for a treat, mainly because she said we were a great bunch of visitors ! A local landmark that even made it on to cable tv (she said if you get the Food channel it's on a show with a woman who went to college here, Sandra Lee). Rudy's is the best place! We got our food brought to us by rollerskating waitresses.  We all split an order of onion rings and an ice cold root beer.
Luv_Lioness Posted May 19, 2009, 8:58 pm	After our wonderful treat, we went down to Riverside Park and saw the different flowers blooming in the gardens since there wasn't much when we were down there before. We then looked in on the fish in the pond. The waterfall leads into the fish pond. It was nice and cool there! Another picture at a cool place. A water fountain which represents all the rivers that flow into the Mississippi River.
Luv_Lioness Posted May 19, 2009, 9:44 pm	Remember the blue bridges that we saw from Riverside Park? We went over one!! So I got to cross the Mississippi River! This is me in Minnesota! Right over the border, it doesn't look much different than Wisconsin. She had to show us that there are really two seasons here (haha): Winter and Road Construction. So we got to see the orange cones that limit driving lanes. The final picture is us on the Interstate 90 coming back into La Crosse. (not that much to see)
Luv_Lioness Posted May 20, 2009, 10:20 pm	Well, my time in Wisconsin is up and I'm headed back home for now! I hope someone is willing to host me soon! It was hard to say "Goodbye" to the friends I made here but they are going to be doing their own traveling!

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