WISCONSIN

As many cows as humans call WISCONSIN home. About four million of each eat to their hearts' content in this rich, rolling farmland, which has a higher proportion of overweight people than any other state. However, America's self-proclaimed "Dairyland" is more than just one giant pasture. Beyond the massive red barns and silvery silos lie endless pine forests, some 15,000 sky-blue lakes, postcard-pretty valleys and dramatic bluffs.

The state, whose Ojibway name means "gathering of the waters," is bordered by Lake Michigan to the east, Lake Superior in the north and, to the west, the Mississippi and St Croix rivers. Only the southern boundary, with Illinois, is dry. The history of Wisconsin exemplifies the standard formula for westward expansion. Seventeenth-century French and British explorers began by trading with the Native Americans and soon ousted them from their land.

The European settlers who followed – predominantly Germans, Scandinavians and Poles – tended to be liberal and progressive; such major national social programs as labor laws for women and children, assistance for the elderly and the disabled, and unemployment compensation were rooted here. On the downside, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the infamous 1950s witch-hunter, was born in Grand Chute, former headquarters of the right-wing John Birch Society.

Wisconsin today is best known for its liquids. The milk from all those cattle yields cheeses of all kinds, while the beer, as the song says, is what made Milwaukee famous. Sparkling Madison apart, Wisconsin's other cities – LaCrosse, Green Bay, Oshkosh – can veer toward the dull side, but they're also clean, safe and amiable. The smaller towns can be distinctive and charming.

Wisconsin's eastern shores
North of Milwaukee, eastern Wisconsin is a melange of the industrial and the maritime, with a nod to agriculture, shaped by its proximity to Lake Michigan and the smaller Lake Winnebago. Of its towns, Appleton was the birthplace of escapologist Harry Houdini, Green Bay is home to the legendary Packers, and Oshkosh is a household name for its overalls and baby clothes, but it's all best seen as a prelude to the most romanticized part of the state, Door County.

Southern Wisconsin
Assorted highways and back roads lace up southern Wisconsin, passing over rolling hills and deep dales. The immensely likeable lakeside college town of Madison doubles as the state capital. Cozy Madison area communities like New Glarus or Mount Horeb, and historic settlements like Little Norway, attest to a mixed European heritage. Wisconsin Dells has a picturesque setting, but may appeal only to those who revel in tacky attractions and Americana. Stretches of the Mississippi River, undulating down the western border, are designated as The Great River Road, a scenic highway that runs from near Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Upstate Wisconsin
Sparsely settled northern Wisconsin has no large cities (and few small ones), and no interstates. It's a lake-studded wilderness, covered by enormous tracts of forest. Canoe its rivers, fish for record-breakers or ski or snowmobile cross-country trails without having to fight for space. Bayfield and the Apostle Islands in the northwest are the obvious destinations, but Hayward, southeast of Superior, is home to the amazing National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame (mid-April to Nov daily 10am–5pm; closed on weekends after Nov 1; $5). You're invited to "Walk through the biggest fish in the world!" – a four-story, 500-ton, fiberglass monster.

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