Beam me up, 'Sconsin
After some hugs and kisses, we bid my mum farewell, and began our drive to St. Paul, Minnesota, where more of my royal family were preparing the the velvet carpet for our arrival. But it wouldn’t be a successful drive without visiting some more weird Wisconsin landmarks along the way.
We had fairly high expectations before our first stop, but when we saw the Forevertron, it blew us away. At the center of the sculpture park stands a three story amalgamation of soldered metal scraps, rusty farm equipment, and laser cannons. The artist, Dr. Evermore, built his Forevertron to blast him into space on an electromagnetic beam. Seriously. Now, it stands as the focal point amongst other smaller sculptures of flamingos with knife blade wings, giant spiders with headlight eyes, and other unrecognizable metal things. Best of all, the park is free of charge. We had a chat with one of the artists responsible for this quirky park and then headed off to good ole’ Wisconsin Dells for some more photo opps.
Our first stop in the Dells was for…you guessed it…food. We found a veggie restaurant called The Cheese Factory which really had nothing much to do with cheese and a lot to do with cooking up satisfying veggie meals. We had a Rueben (with pastrami made from wheat gluten) and a ham (again, wheat gluten) and cheese omelet. So good. While we were eating, we noticed a strange vibe amongst the waitresses and hostess…an ethereal/spaced out/stoic demeanor, but we bought the cookbook anyway and hit the road. We discovered later that The Cheese Factory is, indeed, run by a cult. No joke. But the food was so good, we’re thinking about joining it.
Next stop wasn’t really a stop, but a few pauses on the road to capture some great Dells monuments like the Trojan Horse and the upside down White House. Other interesting sights included a water park that looked about as cramped as a rush hour subway train and a giant unicorn in a swimming pool. Was it real? The world may never know.
Then onto to St. Paul to visit more of my fam! We arrived at my Aunt and Uncle’s house bearing Kringle, of course. It was so good to see them and my two cousins who are growing up to be such smart, funny, and artistic girls. From there, we got to see my favorite Grandma, who looked like a million dollars and put my T-shirt and jeans to shame. The night wouldn’t have been complete without a stop for pizza at another one of the top 10 pizza places in the US. Punch Pizza was fresh and delicious Italian style pizza and tasted even better because we were with such a great group of people!! Thanks, Pat and Tina, for a wonderful night in St. Paul.
The next morning we attempted to get up and on the road early, but didn’t quite catch the rush bug and hung with my fam a while longer…including a stop off to see another Grandma who was watching drag racing when we arrived. I have the best relatives ever.
Next stop, only 9 hours away, the Badlands in South Dakota.
Too much cheese
After some veggie beefy mac n cheese at my sister’s house, we kissed everyone goodbye and headed towards Wisconsin for a few fun days with my mom. Since Wisconsin is my place of origin, we wanted to make sure to get a little history and some cheesy (get it?) sights in during our visit.
Our first day was a bit chilly and rainy, so we headed down to the Racine historical museum to see some cool exhibits. As many of you know, the midwest was the main stomping ground for famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The museum had an exhibit on him and one of his most famous buildings, Racine’s own Johnson’s Wax headquarters building…pretty cool. Next stop, coffee at Dunn Brothers Coffee where they roast their own beans and carry fair trade and mighty delicious coffee.
The night ended with dinner and a movie. Dinner=scrumptious. Movie=not so good. We ate at Wells Brothers Pizza, which (close your ears Brooklyn-ites) is renowned across the US for incredible mouth watering pizza (it’s one of the top 10 pizzas in the country)...and it definitely tastes better because it’s cut into little squares. Seriously yummy flat crust pizza put us in the mood for more sitting and we zoomed over to the new theater (by new I mean they have cinnamon donuts, kettle corn and stadium seating) for a showing of September Dawn. Interesting premise (Mormons murdering innocent travelers), but poorly executed. We all left with a bad taste in our mouths…except Nick who was eating Tiramisu during the film.
The next day we (the 3 amigos: emily, nick and moms) headed to Madison, the state capitol and the UW main campus, for some strolling, eating and hanging. After some strolling down State Street and some munching at a seafood lunch place, we lounged on the public rooftop garden at Monona Terrace, another Frank Lloyd Wright creation. The views of Lake Mendota were amazing from up there. Next onto more food consumption at Ella’s Deli, a childhood favorite of mine and the best Jewish Deli this side of the Mississippi. This place has a working carousel out front (yes, we did ride on it) and crazy circus things flying across the ceiling (check out the photos). Makes for a distracting dinner, but still good.
After Ella’s Deli, we made our way to our hotel, The Usonian Inn (designed by a student of good ol’ Frankie Wright). Kind of just like an ordinary motel, but with a weird window box thing and a recessed ceiling light thing. With no WIFI we were forced to watch hundreds of channels of Direct TV.
Next morning off to The House on the Rock which was built by an architect named Alex Gordon, rumored to have been a student of Frankie, but one that Frankie didn’t really trust. The house is literally built into/on a rock and is pretty creepy inside. All the low ceilings are carpeted, there are 5 piece bands that operate on timers and play by themselves, an infiniti room that hangs precariously over the forest floor, excessive amounts of stained glass lamps, and other eccentricities that we just didn’t want to pay to see (like the world’s largest carousel). But we did make sure to check out the chocolate store, and by “check out” I mean pick out 10 different things to eat. I blame my mom. Go caramel apples!
Next on to New Glarus, a small “Swiss Village” with a pretty rad brewery. We took a self guided tour around the facility, saw the old german vats for boiling grain and sipped a few samples. Then, of course, Nick bought a couple six packs…but who could blame him-this beer is only sold in WI and tastes pretty damn good. The night ended with more fudge/bakery purchases and an early dinner/snack at local Swiss restaurant Glarner Stube, known for its cheese fondu, cheese curds and gigantic chest high urinal. The cheese was cheesy and good, but gave me a stomach ache to remember. Then back to mom’s condo for some late night fish fry (a WI tradition on Friday nights) and a movie.
Our last day in Racine was spent hangin by the pool, going for a run, cooking up a delicious dinner, joining some fun boaters (see you in Utah, Barb and Jim!) for a party on the dock, and finally, checking out mom’s favorite Irish ballad singer, John Ward, at the Yardarm Bar.
Our days in WI were full of fun, adventure and eccentricity and best of all, were spent with one of our favorite people ever, my mom. We really can’t thank her enough for an amazing stay. You rock, Barb!
Arrrrrrrrrrrrr, thar be suburban Stonehenge
We spent the last four days maxing and relaxing in Grand Rapids, Michigan with Emily’s fam (including her three little rascals: Isabelle, Connor, and the new baby Kate). Besides getting to do some laundry, sleeping on a real bed, and eating home cooked meals (including a stocked freezer of all our veggie meat favs – thanks Jen!), we had lots of fun hanging out with the little ones.
Saturday was Isabelle’s birthday party. Among the cool presents she received, this 9 year old now has a brand new blue (her favorite part about it) ipod shuffle. She’s been rocking out to High School Musical ever since. We also played some kickball, and later on a game of scrabble so intense that Emily fell asleep halfway through it.
The next day we all gathered up in a car for a little road trip to the Muskegon Pirate Festival. How do you get to the pirate festival? Arrrrrrrrrr! (Don’t worry, I don’t get it either). Unfortunately, it was a little bit of a disappointment… imagine a Renaissance Faire (and I hope you can) with some eye patches and Pirates of the Caribbean movie paraphernalia, tucked into a dirt parking lot not much larger than our old apartment. Our little man Connor was able to buy a cool pirate hat and some gold coins, only to lose them 15 minutes later… bummer. The pirates were pretty friendly though (I mean, for pirates that is).
After a pretty unfortunate eating experience at Captain Jack’s (salt and pepper flavored pizza, plus indoor smoking is still allowed in these parts – M+R, we are counting on you), we left picturesque Muskegon. On the trip back, we had an important stop to make… a replica of Stonehenge in the rural town of Nunica, MI. Pretty impressive actually, but I’m really hoping to see Carhenge in Nebraska. You can find interesting attractions in your own state on “RoadsideAmerica.com“http://www.roadsideamerica.com/.
That night we all gathered around the campfire: Em’s mom and sister Jen were the s’mores team extraordinaire; Big Daddy Joe was in charge of keeping the fire going and setting off fireworks; Em was roasting wieners to perfection; I was in charge of chopping sticks and eating; and the kids just got to be kids (kinda like at Chuck E. Cheese). Despite a warm bed waiting for us inside, we chose to camp out with Isabelle in the backyard and tell non-ghost stories.
Then, two more days of eating ice cream, burping babies, and watching Kenny The Shark. Next stop, party down with Em’s mom in Racine, Wisconsin with some day trips to Chicago and Madison, hopefully checking out some taxidermied squirrels and blasting off with the Forevertron.
