Our last two stops in Wisconsin!

There's nothing more inspiring than seeing someones dreams come true...and we saw two really big ones while we were in Wisconsin!

The first was Curly Lambeau's for his Green Bay Packers, and the second one was The House on the Rock in Spring Green.  In 1945 Alex Jordan climbed a rocky tower and his imagination took flight.  Not to much is known about the man, other than he was a "dreamer" with almost inexhaustible energy, expectations & creativity.  He just kept adding one room on to another, then filling them with wonderful "gadgets" he would learn about or find.  I think the "ultimate" room is his Infinity Room, an engineering marvel envisioned by Jordan in the 1940s.  It is 218 feet long and has 3264 windows.  It is counter balanced by 105 yards of concrete, making it possible for the last 140 feet to extend unsupported 15 stories above the valley floor.  It's beautiful. 

A lot of the Main House, which he built first, had low ceilings (which was odd, since he was 6'2") and built right into the rock, so pretty dark.  Since it was built in mostly in the 1950's it was "dated", but still had massive fireplaces and nooks of waterfalls that were really nice.  It was like a maze, going from room to room, nook to nook (like little reading areas). 

The tour is done by "sections" and we only opted to do the Main House and gardens, so we didn't go to see the Carousel, or some of the other buildings, but saw videos of what they offered...mind blowing, all the collections he had, more than many museums.  He did something unusual, I think, One year before his death Jordan sold The House on the Rock to his close friends Art & Karen Donaldson.  He did this (with the knowledge) that they would continue his dream. 

Our last stop...the one, you have to make when in Wisconsin, is to see cheese made!!  That was at Carr Valley Cheese Factory in La Valle.  Now, Carr Valley Cheese Factory wasn't a very big place, and that turned out to be a good thing, because they make it the "old fashioned" way...by hand!  Part of what that means is, we got to actually see it being made...not just some big metal containers sitting there with labels on them and a sign telling you that "cheese" is inside.  No, we saw humans standing along side long bins with all the ingredients mixing and "making" the actual cheese, then squeezing it into containers, cutting it into "curds" and...we got to taste fresh, just made curds! 

How about that!  Ha! "Finally", I though, as I had seen it offered at so many places throughout Wisconsin, and so wondered what it tasted like!  Well...now I know.  Hmm, kind of bland.  I'll take the "aged" cheddar, thank you!  ;-)  We got to sample 2 year, 5 year & 10 year aged cheddar and what a difference in each one!

 Jack likes Swiss and found a smoky one that he really liked, so we bought a few items and left very happy. 










...on the road to Minnesota,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

The County Fair!

What do you think when you hear it's time for the summer county fair?  Well, if your from a big area, like Jack and I, where hundreds of thousands of people attend, you expect large crowds, bumper to bumper traffic, long lines for food, elbow to elbow as you walk down row after row of vendors hawking hundreds of items "you just can't live without", some you see year after year (yea!), some you can't wait to see "whats new this year".  Rows and rows of rides in the Fun Zone, multiple barns of animals to gawk at and learn all about, and endless entertainment, all day and all night, always ending with fireworks, of course!  A day filled with excitement, loaded with calories, arms filled with stuff you probably will never use and ended with exhaustion and wonderful memories.

We've spent years going to "our" very big county fair, so naturally, I've wanted to experience what it would be like to visit a small county fair.  The kind I've seen in the movies, where local people bake pies and bring jars of pickles to be judged, where they actually know each other!  So, when I saw that the Marquestte County Fair was starting the day we were about to leave, I suggested we stay on an extra day and go to it, after all, it was "senior day" too!  So, we did, and...what an experience it was!

First off, it wasn't in Marquette...so, we drove, and drove and drove, way out into the country, only stopping a couple of times, until we finally found it, tiny signs and all!  Paid our $1(each) and entered.

First area was a barn that housed the vendors (they had about 30, maybe?), their "Arts & Crafts" (photos, quilts, knits, sewing, collections, and yes, pickles! etc) vegetables, gardening, and one of the two entertainment scheduled "Wayne the Wizard" Magic Show.  A second barn was attached that had a nice display showing "Treasures of the Past" antiques and collectables, but there sure was plenty of room for the few of us to roam around and see everything!  No "elbow to elbow" rubbing here, and certainly no hawking going on, very quiet, gentle people here.

Outside, not much bigger, I had to giggle.  Jack kept hushing me to stop, but I just couldn't help it!  I expected to see "small", just not so "tiny".  The food area was about a dozen spots, at the most, and I know we were there on the first day and all, but I think Jack had to stand in the longest line of, maybe 5 people at lunch time!  We listened to the other entertainment during lunch, which was a trio playing music on the bandstand.  After lunch we wandered over to the animal barns and watched the judging of the 4 H kids and their lambs, which was pretty cool...not that we understood a thing about it, mind you!  I just know that my own grandchildren are in 4 H and work really hard with their own animals and compete in their county fair and really take pride in winning ribbons as well, so it's special when they are standing up there and the judge is rambling off his stuff and the crowd is clapping away at them, so we did too!

We went over to the Fun Zone, what there was of it, maybe a dozen rides, mostly for the little ones, a couple for the older ones and I only saw one game and a couple more food vendors, but I did spot one thing that our fair never had, and probable never will...Fresh Deep Fried Wisconsin Cheese Curds! Ha!

With that, we figured we'd seen it all...and called it a day...












...on the road to Wisconsin,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/