Oshkosh, WI

Two days to report on today.  Yesterday, was a busy day and by the time we got done “doing” it was after our bed time.

We went to Taliesin, near Spring Green Wisconsin yesterday after breakfast.  We had arranged for a tour of the house designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright.  The tour was a two hour guided tour of the outside and inside of the house.  Typical of Wrights style it was not built at the top of the hill, but just below, thus preserving the view from the top.  The house wraps around three sides of the hill.  It is also typical of most of his homes being very angular, but with colors that blend in with the natural landscape.

We were only allowed to take pictures of the exterior.

This was a working farm so had lots of outbuildings such as a chicken coop, horse stables, etc. But they all were designed to match the house and often shared a roof line with the house.  Since the original construction many of the out buildings have been converted to living space.  The views from the house were very beautiful.

The landscaping around the house incorporates the natural beauty of the area and includes many areas to sit and enjoy the gardens and outdoors.

 

After the tour we enjoyed a nice lunch at the visitors center.

Yesterday evening we went to see the musical “Wicked” at the Madison Overture Center.  The play was fun.  It is an alternative story about the “wicked witch of the west”, Galinda the witch of the north, with Wizard, scarecrow, lion and tin man.  It was fun and an excellent production.  It even had live music.

Today, it was a short drive to Oshkosh.  No road pictures because it was rainy most of the way.  We did lunch at Fratellas Water Front.  The resutrant is located along the Fox River.  Excellent food.  It is a brew pub and has a wide selection of wines.  We were intriged by the skulls boat suspended from the ceiling.

After lunch we went to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) museum.  Lots of interesting displays of aircraft that tell the history of aviation and some military history.

         Wright Flyer (replica)

         Spirit of St Louis (replica)

             Pushy Galore, home built racer

            B-25 Mitchell

              P-38 “Marge”

                                   Aero car, the only one to be air worthy

This evening we had dinner at the Ground Round with is in our hotel.  Lovely meal.

Tomorrow we are going to Minocqua to visit/meet a cousin.  Minocqua is about 170 miles Northwest of Oshkosh.  Should be a fun day.

Dubuque to Madison

What a fun day.  It started with a lovely breakfast at the motel.  As I indicated yesterday we poked around Dubuque for a while before we drove to Madison. 

There is a “funicular” called the Forth Street Elevator.  It is 296 feet long with a vertical drop of 189 feet.  For the low cost of $3.00 per person you can ride it round trip. 

The cars hold 8 people in each car.  It is cable driven.  As one car goes down the other car goes up.  Since both cars share the center rail, there is a “wide spot” in the road so the two cars can pass.

The view from the top looks over downtown Dubuque and the Mississippi river.

At the bottom of the track is an area of old homes and shops.

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This is the first time I have seen railing pickets with knitted warmers.  It must really get cold in Dubuque!

From Dubuque we traveled North and East toward Madison.  We saw a sign for the Belmont Mound state park.  We have always had an interest in Indian mounds so decided to stop.  Turns out to be more of a hill.  It had an old playground and a picnic bench.  A narrow road went to the summit.  There we found an observation tower that was so old that it was marked as Closed and Off Limits. 

It did get us off the beaten path on to a road seldom traveled.  It was a fun adventure.

Once we arrived in Madison Katie’s cousin Jill and Scott and Laura arrived.  It has been fun afternoon and evening.

We went to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens and walked through the gardens.  This time of the year there were lots of plants in bloom.  It was lovely.

We ended the day at a lovely resturant called Quivers Grove.  We at in the converted horse stall. 

On our menu was pretzel coated perch and tenderloin medallions.

So here is a toast to all of you with Spotted Cow lager

Tomorrow we are touring Frank Lloyd Wright studio at Taliesin and tomorrow night we are going to see Wicked.

Dubuque, Iowa

First day of travel.  We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.  It was partly cloudy and cool for the entire trip.  Beautiful sky and clouds all the way across Eastern Nebraska and Iowa.

This looks like an interstate but it is actually just a federal highway and definitely a “road less traveled”.  Traffic was light.

We made a quick stop in SAC City and noticed the Raccoon River was fairly high.  There has been a lot of rain across Iowa resulting in some minor flooding of fields and most of the rivers are high and in some cases at or slightly above flood stage.

Lunch was in Fort Dodge at a Perkins.  One of our rules of travel is to generally not eat at a place we have at home.  We don’t have a Perkins so it was on the “approved list. But one is coming to Norfolk, so it was a chance to sample.

After checking into the motel in Dubuque, we drove down to the river front (Port of Dubuque area).  It has been rebuilt and is well worth visiting if you are in the area.  Question of the day:  What is the purpose of a “shot tower”?

The rail bridge across the Mississippi river has been here for year.  It has a section that pivots so the river barges can pass up and down river.  Just across the river on the Wisconsin side the tracks enter a tunnel.  You can see that in the following picture.  The Mississippi River is high also.

The old Dubuque Star Brewery (1898) has been converted into shopping and office space.

Stone Cliff Winery has a tasting room in the brewery (right corner in the picture).  Of course we had to try some of the wines.  It was very comfortable tasting room.

The river front has a nice walkway and includes art work that you can view as you stroll along.

Dinner was at Champps americana.  It consisted of a Gyro sandwich and a bowl of chili.

Tomorrow, on to Madison after exploring Dubuque a little more in the morning.

Out and about–again

We are getting ready for a second road trip for this year.  The planning is done and the packing has begun.

The plan is to meet up with Katie’s cousins Jill and Laura along with cousin-in-law Scott.  Here is a map from Google Earth showing the planned route.

I know kind of small, but you get the idea.  Actually you can probably double-click on the picture and see it a little larger.  Why the trip, you ask?  Because we can!

Plans include, seeing Wicked in Madison, visiting Taliesen (think Frank Lloyd Wright), the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, and visiting another relative in Minocqua.  And of course the plans include eating and laughing.

So, if you are interested, please follow along with us.  I will be updating this blog at least every other day.  We will only be gone for a week this time.

Cheers