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/

Go Pack Go!

"Go Pack Go!" We all shouted with gusto, and as instructed, listened for the echo...and there it came, WOW!  You could almost see the 80,000 plus fans cheering as their team scored one more TD!  We were a small group of about 10 taking an hour and a half tour of the Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers Football team in Wisconsin.  You just can't visit Green Bay without going to Lambeau Field whether you are a sports fan or not!  What a great tour it was too.  They have three to choose from, we choose the middle one, not to short & not to long we thought.  You get to go from the luxury suites to view the stadium (and for the best echo effect) to the  players tunnel complete with sound effects of fans cheering as you enter the field itself.  For those of you that know Jack & I, you know then that neither of us are really sports buffs, well, to put it honestly, about the only football we really watch is the Superbowl, and we are lucky to even know who's playing in it the week before, so that tells you something!  Anyway, even we know who Vince Lombardi was, so it was really interesting to hear about the history of not only how he came to the Packers, but how the Packers themselves came to be.

By the time we learned about Curly Lambeau and how the team isn't owned by a "single owner" (because Curly sold shares at $5 each!) and is the only team in the National Football League to be owned by the fans, and saw how beautiful the field was, and the incredible size and unbelievable gift shop (there wasn't anything, and I mean anything-even a truck-that wasn't for sale), it made me want to be a fan!  Another really cool thing, one that you can't help but go "aww" at, is a time-honored tradition that the players have during training, that I don't think any other professional team does...See, their practice field is just one block from Lambeau Field, and prior to practice, young Packers fans line up near the stadium eagerly waiting for players to choose their bike to ride to practice.  The kids run alongside the player carrying his helmet as the player rides their bike over!  Now, I think that's pretty cool!

The field was originally build in 1957 and started out with seating for only 32,150, but over the years has upgraded and enlarged to it's current capacity of 80,735.  Our guide didn't think they could enlarge any further.  So that's probably it, and they sell out ever one of those seats.   I've never experienced anything like it.  The whole town is alive with "Pack Fever".  When you think that all of Green Bay is just over 100,000 people, that means almost everyone goes to the game!  Think about that, what town can say that?  The very cheapest seat is $78 and that was way up in the far corner at the very top, with the most seats costing around $100-$300...and they are all sold out, every game, every year, with a waiting list.  Season tickets are passed down to family members with about 80, yep, only about 80 going on sale a year.  Wow.  That's dedication.  That's love.  

 

 

...kicking back in 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/