Your road onto the island is marked with warnings, “Watch Out for Turtles.” The marsh on either side is coated in green slime. Trees, sometimes bent and broken, loom above, anchored by roots reaching deep.
You wind along until you reach the island proper, from where you can see across the Mississippi River’s backwaters to distant sandstone bluffs.
Goose Island, just south of La Crosse, is Wisconsin’s largest county park. It’s at the heart of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge. Home to deer, mink, muskrats and uncountable birds, it annually welcomes the Kavanaugh family reunion.
There, the scattered descendants of Ellen and Richard renew ties, share memories and bask in the warmth. Dragonflies circle to snatch pestering mosquitoes. Birds flock in the sandy grass. Water laps the shoreline while hawks perch on branches alongside. When dusk arrives, bats cavort.
There’s something magical about returning to one’s homeland. It creates a renewal of heart and spirit to be back where you’re rooted.
Even if your homeland lacks the beauty of this island in the wide Mississippi Valley.
Very nice. And I love the video. Thanks!
Thank you, Suzanne.