Wisconsin

[lazylightnin717]

My brother and his wife have a cabin on the Upper Eau Claire lake.

I will be leaving on Friday to head up there for a week. I've been across country several times but have always avoided the area for whatever reason. Whenever I took the northern route, I always ended up passing south and going through South Dakota into Montana.

Anybody from around the area? I'm interested in aurora borealis. Is there any way to predict it or an online calendar of some sort?

[abby normal]

auroral displays that far south are the result of solar flares ... totally unpredictable.
your good fortune is that we're near a solar maximum now, so the probability
is higher that it would be 5 years from now.
my memory is that it takes 1 - 4 days for the ejected material to reach earth, so
if a large flare is detected, you'll have that much prior notice.

[teddy037.3]

heyyy... I... watch a streamer that lives in eau claire...

and I've been to the state once.


I really have nothing to contribute to this. I'll show myself out

[MendoDave]

I went to Montana once, in 1986. The Dairy Queen in Billings leaves much to be desired. That is all I have to offer.

[1.21GW]

Is there any way to predict it or an online calendar of some sort?

As they occur based on solar winds, which are random, they're tough to predict.  But you can improve your chances.  See below:

http://www.aurorahunter.com/aurora-prediction.php

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Leinenkugel   

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/solar-activity.html

[Rameses]

No idea about the light shows, but I used to work with someone from Madison.

When I asked what it's like up there, I was expecting something about how cold it gets.

The response I got was "there're only two things to do there... drink and make the beast with two backs. ........and we do both really well."

Don't know if those're things that interest you or not, but enjoy your trip!

[teddy037.3]

can confirm the drinking half.

[lazylightnin717]

Nice work guys

I've set my standards high 

[77south]

Seriously?  I am a Wisconsinite and let me tell you what we do have.  Beer and cheese and great roads for motorcycling.  (when they aren't covered with salt and ice.) Beer.  Avoid Leinenkugels.  It is a macrobrewer's imitation of good micro brew beer.  Instead, go to a liquor store and ask about local microbrews.  You should be able to get New Glarus brewery's beer most anywhere in the state, Spotted Cow is one of my favorite's by them.  In the Madison area, we have beers from Lake Louie Brewing, Capital Brewery, Ale Asylum, Tyranena, and too many more to list.  Cheese is plentiful and high quality and cheap, and goes excellent with beer.  To find good cheese go to a co-op, Whole Foods, Trader Joe type place and marvel at the bounty on display.  One of the best ways to find great roads for motorcycling is to find a local bicycle ride like The Horribly Hilly Hundreds, or the Wright Stuff century ride, download their route maps and go nuts. 

http://www.horriblyhilly.com/maps/HHH_Map_100K_150K_200K.pdf
http://wrightstuffcentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WSC2014-map-cue.pdf

alternately the State DOT maintains a list of scenic roads here:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/maps.htm
many of which are just fine for a great ride.

If you are in Eau Claire, you are a hop skip and a jump away from the Annual EAA fly in which is one of the best air show/avaition festivals in the country and It will be going on, right during your vacation more info is here:
https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure

[lazylightnin717]

I'm in my way so I'm about to find out. Unfortunately no motorcycles will be involved in this trip.

Alternatively, we have a lot of alcohol and absolutely no plans other than the lumberjack tournament and some barbecue place one evening.

We are just leaving PA so I'm about 18 hours out yet.

[lazylightnin717]

Ooooooook.

Made it back and time for the review.

As mentioned by a fellow member, that is seriously big ass woods up there  

Our first day there we attended the international lumberjacking tournament. That was pretty incredible. Badasses. All of 'em.



Here was the cabin on the lake. It was out on the pinnacle of the Upper Eau Claire lake. Really neat chain of lakes to see with many offshoots accessible by a smaller boat.





And finally the best way to enjoy the days on the lake