Great experience today with Captain Aaron and his son Mississippi... I mean, River. LOL…read more Aaron was friendly, had tons of information and was great with everyone on board, from 8 to 80. He shared all sorts of great information and even let my niece drive the boat for a few minutes. She LOVED that so much. Great value for your dollar as well. Definitely check out Captain Aaron and you might just end up with a fun selfie on your phone too.

Fantastic experience. Lots of interesting information and fun. Boat is comfortable and snacks and…read moredrinks for sale.

It took over $3 million bucks to restore this place! The Marathon County Historical Museum (across…read morethe street) did a fabulous job! My wife and I took a one hour tour today ($7. each) and it was well worth the charge. So if you are looking at a tour that fits one of the following categories then check it out: -- How rich people lived in the old days --How historical renovation is done very well. Jacqueline was our guide. She was very knowledgeable about the house, the family, the renovation process, etc. Sometimes it's my impression that guides aren't that knowledgeable; Jacqueline wasn't this way. I thought of the Molly Brown House tour we took in Denver. Very interesting! The carriage house and garden are available for wedding receptions, etc.

From the owner: Guided tours of the elegant Yawkey House Museum are available on the hour with the first tour…read morebeginning at 9:00 am during the week and 1:00 pm on the weekends. The last tour begins at 3:00 pm. Garden and dining room rental is also available. Visit our website for more information.

There are two houses related to the Historical Society, The Yawkey House and the Woodson History…read moreCenter. This time I strolled to the Woodson House. It is only about a block from the Everest. I had been to this grand house a couple of years ago. At that time they had a great exhibit on the effect of the Civil War on the area. I met an older gentleman named George. We talked smart for over two hours. He was great at answering questions about the county. On this visit I hoped to talk with him again; but, alas, he was not there on this visit. So I checked out their new exhibit on rural electrification of Marathon County. I found it quite informative and interesting. You can "interact" with people who used to live in the county by telephone; and listen to their stories. This is a nice place to spend a couple of hours. You can learn a lot about the area. There were a couple of floods that decimated the town. The one in 1913 was particularly devastating. As I am prone to staying at the Everest Inn, I'll probably visit this museum again the next time I'm in Wausau. Hope to catch George next time, I could use another history lesson of Marathon County. If you are a history buff (who isn't?) it would behoove you to check this fine little museum out. There is no entry fee; but leave a donation of a couple of bucks. It's the right thing to do.

From the owner: Tour the historic Yawkey House Museum. Visit the Woodson History Center to tour our free rotating…read moreexhibits. Visit our research library to learn about your family history or the history of Marathon County. We have thousands of historic photos and documents, plus access to ancestry.com and newspapers.com.

What a surprisingly nice small museum. We had a free afternoon so we checked out this place. The…read morebonus was our free admission with the NARM program. The woman at the front desk could not have been more friendly and helpful. There are many exhibits on local history, geography, culture, and industry that pack this museum. I really enjoyed the extensive displays around farming. They also had a traveling show on super hero which was OK. I could have spent more time given everything you could study. Definitely worth an hour or two of your time.

The Chippewa Valley Museum is a good place to spend an hour to get a sense for local history. It…read morestarts with the arrival of the Frenchman; continues through the logging heyday; moves to the peak days of small town factories; then into the present. There are things to read; artifacts to see; and a couple play areas for kids. Works for all ages. Takes about an hour to get through - unless you read everything. At the end, there's an ice cream parlor - for a nice treat. I found it an interesting lesson on how the locals adapted to changing conditions (forests, lumber, factories, modern times) to keep Eau Claire from becoming a ghost town.

I took my grandchildren to this museum and we loved it! 4 Floors. Lots of history. Activities for…read morethem. And affordable! The two ladies at the front desk were so friendly.

The Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology has actually been in place for several years…read morenow. It started out as the Cray Research Museum and was located in one of the Cray Research Buildings but after the company began to shrink, the museum closed up and the displays went into storage. Later on the CFMI&T moved into a building in downtown Chippewa Falls with the Cray collection. I recently made a day trip to Chippewa County from our place in Upnorth. The visit was partially inspired by John McGivern's "Around the Corner" program from Milwaukee Public Television. He did an episode in Chippewa Falls a couple of years ago that was recently rebroadcast. (You can see it online, if you look for it.) The CFMI&T was featured, which I've wanted to see since it moved out of Cray Research. To be upfront, many years ago, I did some work for Cray Research in CF and the museum is located inside the building I used to work in. Former Crayons know the building was built by the Mason Shoe Company to house their MIS department (look THAT up in your Funk & Wagnall's) with a huge, raised-floor, environmentally controlled room. When the day came that computers didn't have to live better than humans, Mason sold it to Cray Research and it became a training building. Now the shared building houses the Boys & Girls Club, using the old computer room (the raised floor is gone) and the old training rooms house the museum. As you might expect, Cray Research is the keystone of the museum. Seymour Cray was a genius's genius and the founder of the company. Born and raised in Chippewa Falls, he had a storied career. During World War II, Mr. Cray was part of the team that broke the Japanese code. After the war, he was one of the founders of Control Data Corporation and he built the world's first supercomputer, in Lake Hailie, for CDC. He left CDC to open Cray Research and in 1976, sold the first Cray-1 supercomputer, serial number 1, to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. That Cray-1 is in the museum. Sometimes it is called the "Hotel Lobby Cray" (among other nicknames) because it resembles a circular sofa. The design was the secret to its speed because the C shape shortened the distance signals had to travel. You'll find lots more examples of Cray technology here along with memorabilia and interpretive signage. Enough techno-geek talk. Chippewa Falls is also home to lots of other industry. Chippewa Falls is home of Mason Shoes that built a business by selling shoes out of catalogs. (Even Radar O'Riley sold shoes out of a catalog in an episode of M*A*S*H.) The museum houses not only a shoe making display from Mason, but also examples of fire apparatus by Darley (want to see how a fire pump works?) and a display (pun intended) of retail displays from Kell Container (now Great Northern Corporation) still rolling out miles of corrugated cardboard every year. You can play with some educational "toys" from Hubbard Scientific (you probably used some in school science class) and there is a massive display of breweriana from CF's most famous industry, Leinenkugel's Brewing Company. It's a very interesting museum that is open limited hours. (Check first to be sure.) Chippewa Falls has a lot to offer, so afterward, you can relax and have a glass of wine at a local winery or maybe before the museum you can take a tour of Leinenkugel's. Before or after, be sure to take in the Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry & Technology.

A small, quaint, but good museum to visit. Admission is only $8 but for students it is $4! They…read morehave a 10 minute video presentation on the history of logging in the area, and a small display. Outside the museum is where you get the best part of the tour- you get to go into 4 cabins, each differently depicting life during logging times. Overall, worth the price and very informative. PS- it's great for kids as well, there's a whole area for kids games featuring Paul Bunyan!

We needed a detour on our trip up to the Twin Cities so we saw this on line and stopped. Not a bad…read morelittle museum - pretty educational on the history of logging in the area. A short video is also good. The outdoor displays were also interesting and the staff was very helpful. Picnic tables are available.

A hidden gem definitely worth the scenic drive down from the Twin Cities…read more The collection of artifacts is extensive, and especially impressive when considering it was all amassed by one individual.

From the owner: Castlerock Museum has over two thousand years of history in a building that looks like a castle!…read moreSee authentic arms and armor from Romans, Dark Age Warriors, Vikings, Crusader Knights, and Renaissance "Knights in Shining Armor." New galleries cover American history from the Colonial Era through the late 1800's and include a hundred period firearms.

If you want a nice weekend day with the family and see a great private collection of cars, more and…read moremore toys and other treasures, Elmer's is the place ! It is a great family experience ! Lots of folks that have a friendly word and explain a lot about the place. You can even take guided tour thru the car resting country site ! Bring a lunch and overlook the Mississippi valley from the top of the hill !

This is a destination spot, for sure. I live in Minneapolis and even the trip down is pleasant (I…read morerecommend going down the Wisconsin side of the river), with great views and frequent eagle sightings. Lake City is a very pretty place to stop and take a walk, with lots of good places to eat. Continuing down to Wabasha (back on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi) , it's a really pretty drive. The Eagle Center is equal parts educational and a place to get up close and personal with a variety of eagles. They also have demonstrations that are guaranteed to delight both kids and adults. Take a bit of time and walk around the town of Wabasha, which was established in 1854. Many of the old homes and buildings still remain in this very historic town. The Eagle Center and the town of Wabasha are great destinations at any time of the year.

Very educational and it was such a profound experience to witness this countries national symbol up…read moreclose to personal.