City: La Crosse, WI
Distance travelled: 515 miles
Total distance: 2,715 miles
Theatre: La Crosse Center Arena

We got into La Crosse when it was still dark in the morning after a long drive from Toledo.  I grabbed a couple of hours sleep then went out to explore in the morning.

I found a cool local cafe and had some breakfast.  It turns out that they had baked a batch of Blue Man Cookies in honour of our visit to the town.  I bought a bunch and took them to the theatre for the crew.

La Crosse has a great historic downtown area.  I was able to walk around in pretty quickly as it is not that big but it was also really cold so I was grateful for that fact!  My favourite building was the Casino Bar.  It has been some kind of bar or tavern since 1878 but was named Casino in 1934.  It looks like the sign could do with a little work now as it reads ‘Casin’ but they proudly declares that you will find ‘Lousy Service’ there in.  The current owner recently remodelled and stuck with the Art Deco theme.

Also on the main road in the historic district, Pearl Street is The Pearl ice cream store with a working soda fountain, something that is hard to find these days.  In fact it is the first one I have ever seen.

I was not in the show that night but it was not without it’s challenges.  It was a tough day for the crew, loading into a space which is not used to a show of our size or technical requirements.  We had to make a few changes to the show to make it work and the crew and the cast pulled together to make sure it all went off as smoothly as possible.