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The Many Faces of Milwaukee...

7/22/2011

Where else can you get a full day of parking IN the city for $5.00? Well I’m here to tell you that it can be done in Milwaukee but then again it could be because there is no one visiting the city and it isn’t because it isn’t worth visiting. For an example, the Milwaukee Art Museum’s “Quadracci” Pavilion with its majestic, kinetic wings and breathtaking atrium,

and by the way, ranked #1 on the list of “Top Sexiest Buildings” is in my opinion, “a must see before you leave the area”. Milwaukee also has a “Hop-N-Shop, Wine-Dine” Red Trolley that will take you for a long loop through the city for $1…can you believe it, $1. I didn’t think you could get anything for a dollar anymore. The only problem was, it wasn’t running today, it was “Tuesday”!!! Oh well, we’ve got some good legs, good shoes, and the ability, so we took off walking the route that showed on the brochure. We did some of the River Walk, ate at one of the many Sidewalk Café’s, sampled and purchased, cheese at one of the Cheese Markets, spices at the Spice Store, sausage at Usinger’s Famous Sausage Mart, and took time to sit down and have an IPA at the Sprecher Brewing Co. Milwaukee also has some of the most amazing “Private Homes” that you can see as you drive along the water coming and going into the city. Also we found this amazing St. Maries Hospital Chapel which sits overlooking Lake Michigan. A huge surprise to us was the location of the Basilica of St. Josaphat.

It’s located about 5 miles outside of the city and in a suburb that “needs some cleaning up”. Sadly so does the landscaping circling the Basilica, but nothing that couldn’t be remedied by a few volunteers a weekend or two a year. The first church was built in 1888 but burnt to the ground a year later. Another smaller church followed but as time continued on so did the changes in the structure of the church.

The dome was patterned after St. Peters in Rome and is the largest dome ever built in the United States.

The Harley Davidson Museum took our heart the next day.

What an amazing story of beginning time after time which needed a lot of HEART. Today, no matter which highway you take across the country, you will see one of those large and beautifully done dealerships with a quanity of quality motorcycles.

The first dealership was here in Milwaukee, right in the middle of town as shown in this painting.

The war effort the Harley Davidson factory put forward was nothing but heart-warming and patriotic. As we toured the museum we had a chance to listen to the famous sounds of the different "Harleys" and sit in the saddle to get the feel of all that iron under you.

We had a great time and HIGHLY recommend to you that if you are in the area you take the time to visit this wonderful place.

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The "Mound People"...

7/21/2011

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She-boy-gan… We thought we would spend a day or two in Sheboygan but found that one afternoon would do just fine. The first thing we did was to find and explore the Sheboygan Indian Mound Park. It seems that over 1000 years ago the “Effigy Mound” people (500-750A.D.) made their mark by mysteriously making it a custom of burying their dead beneath mounds of dirt shaped like animals,(the picture above represents a deer), reptiles, and birds. These mounds varied in size from a length of 36’ to 118’ and a width running from 19’ to 39’. Those that we found matched those sizes but were only in the 1’ to 3’ height. Elsewhere in Wisconsin and Illinois they have been found three tiered mounds to be as high as 135’. Our next stop was two-fold… to see the Sheboygan Falls

and have lunch. It didn’t take much time to see it all as seeing the falls (not quite what we expected…) was accomplished by just driving to the city parking lot and walking across the lawn to the fence. Finding a place to have lunch took a little more time, but that too was accomplished quickly. As we've been on this trip, we've unfortunately noticed a lot of towns having a hard time making it, and Sheboygan Falls fits right into that package. They told us the weekends did bring out some of the public but it still is a great loss. Then all we had to do was drive back to Wal-Mart, re-hook the car, and continue our way to Milwaukee.

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This Is "Packer Country"...

7/20/2011

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Continuing east we find ourselves driving into Green Bay. The first thing on our mind now is to find a place we can land for 2 or 3 days. Heading north up the “finger” jutting out into Lake Michigan we found a very nice state park about 20 miles out from Green Bay. This gave us a great jumping off point to see some of the local sites. Our only regret was we didn’t get a chance to kayak around the Sturgeon Bay area…too hot to be out in the open, even with being surrounded by water while paddling. I did get a chance to BBQ the pheasant we were given in South Dakota, but to be honest, I'm not big on the taste of this bird...I'll stick with chicken.

We did get out to Algoma to see this quaint little town and its red lighthouse attached to shore by a narrow sea-break. We found a great “Hot Dog Stand” that was serving up the best hot Brat I’ve ever put my mouth around. It was run by a group of baseball players trying to make some money to send themselves to an out of state baseball tournament. From there we found an amazing local bakery which in turn gave us a hint about a place that makes “the best” cheese you will find anywhere… We had also been given a good lead for an orchard that offers freshly picked sweet cherries, but when we got there we found that they hadn’t started picking yet…bummer !!!

Another afternoon we went into Green Bay. We wanted to touch base with the AAA, a local Information Center, and see Rambo field for ourselves. While visiting the information center (which just happens to be directly across the street from the Packers home field) they mentioned The Lady of Good Help Shrine, which just so happens to be but 3 miles from where we have the coach parked. In October of 1859 the Blessed Virgin appeared 3 times to Adele Brise

at what was a 6 acre farm parcel and asked of Adele to establish a church to teach the Catholic Faith to the children of a people who were losing their faith through neglect. Well last year Bishop Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay issued a formal decree approving the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to Adele Brise as worthy of belief and designated this place as an official Diocesan Shrine.

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It's Always Wonderful To See "Family"...

7/7/2011

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6/7 July 2011

Today I (we) had the pleasure to see my cousin Armella and her husband Lyle. We have not seen each other for 60 years. No problem they made us feel right at home.

They have a beautiful home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and it’s right on the shores of the Eau Claire river. We had some great conversations about our families with both of us learning things about the other, Joel and Lyle spent time out at the river tossing the "bird" for their dog.

It’s funny how much alike or families were. What nice and gracious people I’m related too!! This morning (the 7th) we moved on to Wausau where I was born. We are parked at the Marathon County Park which is just across the river from the city. No sooner had we parked the coach and we were off for a ride north to Tomahawk.

This is where my Grandparents had a cottage on Road Lake. It was not too hard to find it although it has changed. Some parts were just as I remembered it. The rock wall and flagstone terrace with the water pump just outside the door were a step back in time.

I had a good time telling Joel the stories of the time I spent here with my grandparents. No one was home (it looks like it is a summer and weekend home now) so we walked around the property and out onto the dock.

I have very fond memories of that place including filling the fish pin (a wire box attached to the dock) with fish I caught all by myself, that is until I got a bullhead and then I yelled for grandma to come and take it off my line for me. We then drove over to Antigo where my mother spent her youth. It is a quiet friendly town. We looked for Bakes tavern but it closed some years ago. My grandparents Ellis had lived in an apartment above the tavern. The town has a beautiful railway depot that is now a museum.