Although Wisconsin’s Horicon Marsh is hugely visited each year, its size means that it is easy to feel alone in the wilderness. Birds of all sizes and kinds wheel and cry over this gigantic wildlife preserve, filling the blue sky with their wings. Bullfrogs croak from the cattails, and butterflies dance across the marsh. This is the ultimate destination for any nature lover. But first you have to get there!

Wisconsin is one of my favorite places to go for a drive. And since Horicon Marsh is in the middle of the Wisconsin countryside, we got to enjoy a quiet drive through farmland! Classic farms spread wide in every direction, and fields full of corn and soybeans line the roads. Listen, and you’ll hear the distant moo of cows as they graze in pastures. If you watch carefully, you can sometimes spot red-tail hawks sitting in the forest glades that border the farmland! Driving through the idyllic Wisconsin countryside is a real treat.

As soon as we arrived at the Horicon Marsh Visitors Center, we were greeted by a volunteer. He soon had us wandering around the building, looking at the interesting exhibits. Inside were multiple stuffed specimens, including a moose, multiple birds, a fox, a badger, and more!

The volunteer was also the very proud owner of a local specimen of snake, namely a corn snake. He showed it off to us, while spouting a hundred fascinating facts about his pet... none of which I remember. In the end, we were all allowed to hold the snake. My Mom shudderingly declined! I thought the patterns in its scales were beautiful! Luckily for me, snakes have never frightened me, especially the nonpoisonous varieties.

We then moved on to the next room, where a group of around twenty people were crowded together. An old woman finally walked in. Her face was wrinkled, bright eyes shone out just above her beak-like nose, and her resemblance to a red-tailed hawk was extraordinary. As it turned out, she was the expert on raptors in the area. Now some might think I’m talking about dinosaurs, but the word raptor also refers to a certain type of bird. For example, owls, hawks, vultures, and falcons are all raptors.

After the show finished, I headed outside to experience the real beauty of the marsh. Following a short path behind the building, I enjoyed seeing wildlife so tame, you could walk right up to it! I have never seen so many birds, small mammals, and butterflies in one place in my life! Birdhouses had been set up all over the marsh, and the songbirds kept the entire walkway filled with the sound of their music. These are dried milkweed pods I found by the trail. All of the plants were really gorgeous. 

As we loaded back into our van, I thought about all the things I had learned from this experience. First of all, I learned a lot about the local plants, animals, reptiles, and birds.   I learned that beauty is all around us. We don’t have to travel hours to other destinations. But more importantly, I learned that in order to see the true beauty in a place, you have to look closer than you’d think. Sit down in one place and look around at even the smallest details all around you for five minutes at least, and I can guarantee that you will discover as I did, that beauty can be found in the most everyday things.

Hannah Miller is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

All photos courtesy and copyright Hannah Miller