Central

Central Wisconsin is the largest of the state’s regions — 29 counties wrapping the Fox Valley, the Wisconsin River corridor, the Mississippi shore at La Crosse, the Lake Michigan shore from Manitowoc to Sheboygan, and the rolling country of the Driftless Area’s eastern edge. The terrain is varied: glaciated dairyland in the east, the long Wisconsin River valley through Stevens Point and Wausau, the unglaciated bluffs along the Mississippi, and the broad farmland of the Fox Valley between Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan. Green Bay anchors Brown County with Lambeau Field and the Bay shore; Appleton and Oshkosh run the Fox Valley through Outagamie and Winnebago; Sheboygan holds the Lake Michigan shore and Whistling Straits; Manitowoc holds the SS Badger ferry to Michigan; Eau Claire and Wausau anchor the central interior; La Crosse sits on the Mississippi at the western edge. Trips here usually pick a corridor. The Fox Valley handles paper-mill heritage, EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, and Lambeau game weekends; the Mississippi Great River Road runs through La Crosse and Trempealeau; the Wisconsin River touches Stevens Point and Rib Mountain near Wausau. Summer is the working season for the lakeshores; fall pulls leaf traffic up the river valleys.