Simple Treasures in Tiffany

Since we warmed up 20 degrees on Friday to a respectable 23 and had an inch of snow overnight I hopped in the truck and drove out to the tiny town of Tiffany, Wisconsin.  Tiffany is just outside Beloit, but worlds apart, and quite the little gem.  It has two historic bridges to its name, and I was delighted to discover they built a little park between the two of them for me to park my truck in.

The first bridge is a metal 8 panel bolt connected Pratt Through Fixed Truss bridge built in 1910.  Whew! That is quite a mouthful!  It's only wide enough for one car at a time, but the farm ducks? geese? preferred to cross underneath it.

Out of the water, guys, that gal's getting too close for comfort!

The other bridge is a stone semicircular fixed deck arch bridge, 5 spans, built in 1869 and may be the oldest stone bridge in Wisconsin. I followed the fowl (ha!) across the road but gave them enough space that my presence was better tolerated this time.

While crossing the road another car pulled off onto the shoulder and just sat there.  I thought they were waiting for a car to cross the metal bridge, but then they continued to sit after it passed.  Then I heard the rumbling...and got my camera up in time for a quick shot of the train coming in!

While looking stuff up online I found much nicer shots than this, taken in summer from the middle of the creek on a beautiful day with some great water reflections.  Hmmm....I think a return trip might be necessary! But, in the meantime, I made do with my dreary winter sky while I was there.

After walking under the bridge I couldn't help but be tempted to walk up to the top of the bridge.  It was a bit steep and slippery on the way up, so I walked down the tracks and the long way around back to the truck.  A friendly farm dog came out to see who I was but left me alone when he saw I had no intention of coming onto his property.  The horses likewise gave me the once-over from a distance but didn't even bother to do more than swish their tails at me.

I tried a different route back to Hwy 43 which took me over the tracks and through the little town of Tiffany.  Much to see for a tiny farm town.  I especially enjoyed the Christmas yard decoration next door to The Bootlegger and the White farm tractor from the '70's across the street from it.

"On, Piglet!"

One more oddity for ya'll before I call it a day.  We're kinda famous out here for our "truck in a tree" on Hwy 43 at mile marker 6 outside of Clinton which is just a few miles from Tiffany so I pulled over so you can have a quick look-see. American ingenuity, gotta love it!