Are there eclaires in Eau Clarie?

Probably so, but we didn't see any!

Did you know that Eau Claire means Clear Water?  There you go, you learn something new every day.

Supposedly the river was named by French explorers who, after paddling down the muddy Chippewa River (probably looking for the falls), happened upon the Eau Claire River and exclaimed "Voici l'eau claire!" (Here is the clear water!)

Proof, written in stone

This is the beautiful Eau Claire River as seen from an exceptional city park, Phoenix Park.  Amazing flower gardens, bike path, grass seating, benches, and fantastic views.

Kayakers on the river, is that you Kate?

 Eau Claire was another lumber town.  Apparently Oshkosh is not the only 'Sawdust City', who knew?

 This is a nice little city with a good sized University of Wisconsin.


The downtown main street was torn up and being replaced.  Always good to see that, except I'm sure those stores are suffering.

Hi five

 

I walked down to the clear water, and stuck my foot in the cool river. 

Hi five was donated by someone and is quite large, must be a Great Dane.



We decided to check out the rest of the city, which lead us to another park, Carson Park. 


You'll never guess who we ran into there.....

Told you.  Who'd have thunk it?  Paul Bunyan and Babe!

We toured the camp...

Bunks

Cook Shanty

Where's the beef?

Moving on.....

The blacksmith shop

Apparently, these guys slept where they worked, a bunk in the cook shanty, a bunk in the blacksmith shop...

The floor of the blacksmith shop was made to stop sparks from flaming.  Any embers that fell to the floor were kicked into the sand and went out.

 Continuing on I found this sign on a map of Wisconsin.  Another unknown fact, I'm telling you, a person can only learn so much in one day!

After our walk through the parks, we had worked up an appetite.  You'll never guess where we decided to eat.  A local restaurant?  Mexican?  Chinese?  Italian?

Does this give you a clue?  It's a bird, it's red.....

Red Robin, YUM!

I had the Whiskey River Burger, so good.

And with bottomless fries!  I only ate half and took the rest home for lunch the next day.

So ended the tour of Eau Claire, a picturesque city in beautiful Wisconsin.