FL to WI-Off the Beaten Path....POI Must See's???

Returning from Florida, we usually make Valdosta for the first night. Then to east on US 84. From there we have driven US 27 to Ohio and 231 and 431 to Indiana.
Or go over to Mississippi and drive the blues highway from Baton Rouge to Memphis. Memphis has Beale street and great BBQ. We like to visit at least one Civil War site if possible. Tourist Traps? Graceland comes to mind.

As a native Cheesehead, take this first one with a grain of salt.

This is a love-it or hate-it site to visit--it's hard to predict what you'll be until you experience it. OK, you've been warned: House on the Rock (outside of Spring Green WI). Ideally, read American Gods by Neal Gaiman before visiting. Sort of a Frank-Lloyd-Wright-ish place followed by a hoarder's paradise. It's either well worth the $25+ish admission fee--or you wouldn't go there again if someone paid you $25! It's easily a half-day event--don't expect to get out in an hour--or two...

Speaking of FLW, if you like his buildings, tour Taliesin very near Spring Green. It's another potential longish visit depending on which tour you choose. Wisconsin has many FLW buildings, many open to the public.

Circus World Museum (Baraboo WI): run by the State Historical Soc.

Personally, I'd give wide berth to anything related to The Wisconsin Dells other than possibly the boat tours. But then, I haven't been to the Dells in ages.

Here's a real secret--don't share with anyone else:
Parfrey's Glen (after riding the Merrimac free ferry across the WI River).

Wisconsin Rustic Roads:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/rusticroads.htm

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/23380

[Edit] Oh wait, if you're from Brookfield, you already know this. Are you Florida Snowbirds returning to the roost? In any event, welcome to The Factory!

If you're near Prairie du Chien - the Ft. Crawford museum is quite interesting - chronicles frontier medical practices.

We currently live in Brookfield, WI. Been to all those place except Parfrey's Glen. We will check it out some time.

We are shipping our bike to FL and going to ride it home. We do not want to take the I system or major highways. Looking for some POI's that will keep us off of the beaten path.

Thanks.

It would help if you stated where in Flow-ruh-duh you were going to start thr trip.

Have you ever been to St. Augustine, FL? Really beautiful there...

Recently spent a few days there visiting the historical sites, shopping downtown, riding the trolly cars, and the ghost tours where perfect. Going back there again next year, just so much to do there,and not enough time.

"The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright on the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, is a little known Central Florida treasure. Florida Southern College (FSC) has the largest concentration of Wright designed structures anywhere in the world with 10 buildings and two additional structures on campus, and is in the National Register of Historic Places."

http://www.franklloydwrightatfsc.com/

If you are interested in beautiful scenery, you could do worse than coming up through the Smokey Mountains and going along the Skyline Drive. (Google is your friend.)

Another area well worth seeing in my admittedly biased view (I am originally from West Virginia), is a visit to Hawks Nest and the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, and potentially visiting the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs. There is an Interstate that goes near to White Sulphur Springs, but you can avoid that and take the old US 60.

I have heard that they now offer tours of the underground bunker that was secretly put in underneath the resort in the 1950s to house Congress in the event of a nuclear war. (You may want to confirm before going that it is currently open to tourists - but I think that the resort is worth a visit in its own right. It has been popular since the time of the Declaration of Independence.)

If you desire, you can head east from White Sulphur Springs to the New River Gorge, and then go further east along mountain highways to the state capitol at Charleston. The capitol complex is worth a visit for a variety of reasons.

First - the primary building is one of the prettiest state capitols in the country, both when seen up close, and when seen from across the river on which it faces.

Second - if you pay close attention to the statues on the grounds in front of the capital building, you may be amused by the almost schizophrenic subject matter. One statue is a monument to Abraham Lincoln, who was President when West Virginia became a state after breaking away from Virgina during the Civil War.

Another statue is a monument to the 26,000 who died fighting for the Union during the Civil War.

A third statue is a monument to Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, one of the greatest of the Confederate Generals. (He was born and raised in what is now West Virginia, so he is proudly claimed as a native even though he fought for the "wrong" side during the war.)

With best wishes,
- Tom -