5266. Go to the center of the Northwest Hemisphere in Poniatowki

I asked the hubby if we could take the northern route to go visit friends in Eau Claire so I could go to half the counties in Wisconsin this year. I was one or two short to get to 36 counties for the year and needed to go through Marathon County to at least have a shot at hitting 36. He said "yes" if we could stop at that marker by Wausau. Of course we could.

"That Marker" he was referring to the was the 45N-90W Marker or the exact middle of the Northwest Hemisphere. There are only 4 points in the world were this happens and this is the only one easily accessible. 2 of them are in oceans (the two in the southern hemisphere) and 1 is a remote mountainous region of China.

Getting to the 45N-90W is pretty easy. Take 29 West and then either follow the signs or follow your GPS/Googlemaps. Googlemaps actually had us get off an exit before the sign and take some county roads to get to it. I would recommend just following the signs.

Once you get to the County Park, there is a small parking lot.

Follow the gravel trail about 1/4 of mile to the actual marker. With all the wet weather we've had lately there were a few large puddles and squishy grass. My socks and shoes were wet by the time we got back to the car. No fear the car heater dried my socks.

It's literally in the middle of a corn field. They made the marker of part of a county park to allow visitors without disturbing the farm fields.

If you happen to visit during business hours of the Wausau Visitor's Center you can actually get a commemorative coin saying you were there. We unfortunately were there early on a Sunday morning.

Don't be alarmed if you see a random dog. We saw him. He must belong to the farm. He didn't even bark as we walked down the path. He was like "eh.. more visitors."

If you are ever in the area, go check it out. It's worth the stop just to say you've been in the center of the northwest hemisphere.