A Mini Tour of Whitehall, Wisconson

Welcome to a mini tour of my new town!

              As you enter Whitehall, Wisconsin, this is the sign that will greet you. A great place to live and work indeed!

This town LOVES their Kwik Trip!
It's the go to place for milk, eggs, and bananas.
It's kind of like a really big 7-11, only with good prices
and a better selection. It has lots of drinks, a mini bakery
and some hot foods. It's also where you get gas and the
bonus is that it's open 24 hours. I like to call this Grand Central
 Station because you are almost guaranteed to run
into someone you know any time you go into Kwik Trip.    

The football field is where you will find
much of the town on Friday nights in the
fall. There is plenty of small town pride
for the Norsemen!

I just love this quaint little train station in the center of town. It makes me want to take a trip through the beautiful fall foliage and discover the beauty the rest of this state has to offer before the snow starts to fall. 

The whole town knows when it's straight up noon because the
fire station tests it's alarm system. 

Though the town itself is only 1,558 people, as
the county seat it feels much bigger.
Many of Trempealeau County's services
are located here

Three of the four vets that own this clinic go to our
church. The former vet goes to our church. The founding vet (I
think he was the founder anyway) used to go to our church
but is now in a care facility. There are lots of animals
(big and small) to take care of in this area, especially cows!

This is the kind of town that boasts toilet
paper throughout the town during
homecoming week. My understanding is
that you aren't supposed to TP public
property and you aren't supposed to get
caught. Other than that, TP away! 

This is the entrance to First Baptist Church. Our family is so
excited to be a part of the ministry here!

This is such a delightful, friendly, caring group of people
and we are excited about the future of this church!

The public library operates in a small store
front on Main Street. It's not big, but it has a
good inter-library system.

I've had many people ask if I would continue Robyn's
Nest Bakery in Whitehall, but really, there is no
need. Sweet Temptations is a delightful bakery and
cafe that services the town well. Though, they do have
an amazing ice cream flavor that I'm dying to try
with my Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chocolate
Chip Cookies. I'm pretty sure the combination of
flavors is going to be life-changing.

That'll be another post for another day though, I'm sure! 

We are homeschooling our kids this year (one year, one
kid at a time we say!), but we hear great things about the
Whitehall schools. The average class size is 15-20 kids,
and the elementary through high school kids are all
educated on the same campus, though they have their individual spaces. 

The city itself is only 2.8 square miles, but
the county has hundreds of miles of snow mobile
and bike routes. If I'm understanding it correctly,
it's not actual trails, just designated routes for
enjoying these activities.

The town itself is 2.8 square miles and is surrounded by other similarly sized small towns. While the footprint and population of any given town in this area is not large, this seems to be an area dotted with thriving farming communities, not small towns that are dilapidated or depressed. There is one chain restaurant in Whitehall (Subway), and a few other eating establishments (see chamber of commerce list for some local businesses), but the whole town closes down pretty early. 

It kind of feels like a step back in time.  

Every road we turn down outside of the city limits seems to have rolling green hills and barns standing alongside tall silos. It really is breathtakingly beautiful. I especially love seeing the Amish farms scattered through the hillsides with their plain clothes hanging from the clothesline, and watching their horse drawn buggies clicking and clacking through the town.

We are currently 2,000 miles from Oregon, the only home 3 of the 4 (or, rather 4 of the 5) of us had ever known. It's more than a little surreal to think that we up and moved across the country in less than a month. But we did. Here we are. And lo and behold, it's already starting to feel like home.