Quilt Barns

That's a falling down stone building next to the barn.  On the property of that pretty grey house below.

This is the front door to a beautiful home

The scrollwork at the top of this window was done by hand

9-22-2010  Southern Wisconsin, heading towards Chicago

This morning I realized that we were in the county of southern WI that is known for its quilt barns.  Quilt barns are barns that have big quilts blocks hung on the sides of a barn.  This particular county has many, many barns with quilts on them.  In fact, a whole brochure is dedicated to the barns and shows a quilting trail throughout the county that one can follow and view the quilts.

Quilt squares are 8' x 8'.  Square is drawn on 2 pieces of plywood, each 4 x 8.  They are hung on the barns and joined together when put up.

We chose a county road that was on the way to Belloit, WI.  We were on the way to Belloit because that is Dave’s hometown.

We saw lots and lots of red barns on BIG farms

"Stay away from my women!"

Milk bags are empty; eating again

Dutch barn at an apple orchard.  Purchased more Honey Crisp apples, white pumpkins, gourds, and sampled best apple cider I've had since a kid

Rocks outside that red barn above

Anywho, we had the most fun hunting for these barns, stopping to take pictures, and then off to the next one.  The countryside was rolling, the fields immense, and the cows plentiful.  We stopped at one place to take pictures and there was a big bull with a ring in his nose.  The bull was on a hill with a bunch of heifers.  He was giving Terry and Martha the evil eye, as if he was saying “these are my bitches and you just move on along”! 

When we got to the end of the road we came upon a cheese store.  Yep……we succumbed.  Each couple got a cooler and stocked up on cheeses.  They are sitting on ice in the car as I type.  Got some cheese curds, too.  Can’t wait for the fam to try them!  And, yes, cheese freezes well.

This home in Belloit was the northernmost site for runaway slaves to use as an escape route.   An underground tunnel ran from the house down to the water, about 50 yards away.

We beebopped on down to Belloit.  At first Dave couldn’t remember anything about the town, but soon it all started coming back.  He showed us an old house where the runaway slaves would hide and then go under the ground to the river either to hide from the law or to get on boats and go towards Canada.  We saw his old house, neighborhood, middle school, college, church, and his first girlfriend’s house.  We ate lunch at the Kline 88 Tavern, and had some of the best chicken fingers we’ve ever eaten. (Soak in milk, shake in flour, dip in milk, roll in panko; fry)  The Tavern is where he and a friend used to imbibe in the spirits occasionally.  The owner was very friendly.  We went to the college bookstore and Dave found a shirt with Belloit College on it.  I think Dave really got a kick out of going to his hometown again.  I’m very glad we took that in as part of our trip.

About an hour or so later, we arrived in Shaumberg, IL.  We are about 1 ½ hours from downtown Chicago, which is our destination for Thursday.

Two Eccentric Men

9-21-2010 Tuesday

We are headed down to southern Wisconsin today, to a town called Spring Green.  We are going to tour the home of Frank Lloyd Wright this afternoon.

Our drive this morning is thru lots of CORN fields.  We are seeing lots of farm land with rich black dirt and a few dairy farms.  We are seeing many geese flying their “V’s” as they migrate south.  They are landing in the corn fields to load up for their flights.  And we are seeing beautiful, big red barns. Terry is reading, there is music on the radio, and we have been munching on our sweet rolls that we purchased at Scaturo’s in Sturgeon Bay on the way out this morning.  My back is hurting from all the riding and sitting and not enough exercise.  Gotta pull out the rubber bands tonight and do some stretching.

We arrived in Spring Green at 11 a.m. and realized our tour was not until 3 p.m.  There were only two stores open in the town; all the others had closed down.  We had lunch and then went to tour a place called House on the Rock. 

This House on the Rock is another popular tourist spot for southern Wisconsin. The builders name was Alex Jordan and he built this big-ass house up on a mountain.  There was no road up the mountain at the time and he hauled all the materials up the mountain in baskets on his back.  And he built the house himself, which was built as his mountain re-treat.  In fact, there are no bedrooms in this house, as he only spent a total of 4 nights at the house in his lifetime.  The inside is dark, ceilings are low, and he incorporated rocks and trees in the inside of the house.   He collected art from all over the world, and had students who eventually came and worked at the house to build and design “artistic” things.  For instance, he has the world’s largest indoor carousel, and all the 269 horses are hand carved.  He has a dollhouse room that has over 200 fully furnished dollhouses.   At Christmas more than 6000 Santas are displayed.  He has garden areas and water areas that display beautiful flowers, waterfalls and little ponds.  One of the more spectacular rooms was called the Infinity Room.  This room extends 218 feet into space, 156 feet above the valley floor. 

As he was building the house, many townspeople and soon people from all over came wanting to look at this curious attraction.  He originally built it for his own self-enjoyment (he was a batchelor, although he dated the same lady for over 50 years); but after so many came he told the public he would let them tour it for 50 cents.   So, with the income he made from the “tourists”, he was able to raise enough money to keep adding to his collection.  Very interesting; very dark inside; very impractical.  Don’t need to see it again.

Our 2^nd tour of the day was Taliesin, a home Frank Lloyd Wright built for his lover at the time, Mamah Cheney.  Wright was a man of huge ego.  He touted one should not concentrate on the practical so much as the impractical.   He was an architect who designed famous buildings that to this day are still being used.  However he was also known to frequently go over budget and had even bankrupted a few men after the buildings were completed.  He was a man short in statue, 5’6”, and the low ceilings in the house testify to that fact.  The house itself was built on a hill and he purchased a lot of the surrounding land so that he could control how the land was used.  He designed all the furniture, the flower gardens, and sometimes fabrics for the interior.  He had Asian tendencies in his interior decorations, although he stated he did not like Asian tastes.  In some of the rooms he had little Buddhas inserted into the rock walls just for whimsy.  Wright did not have a college degree, or even high school degree.  However he did establish a school on the grounds where young men came to study under him and learn his techniques.  To this day there are men in their 90’s who were former students and live permanently at Taliesin.  And to this day there is still a Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.  The cost is $30,000 and other types of design are studied in addition to Wright’s.

Wright also built a house in the west.  He started dividing his time between the west and Taliesin.  He died out west but was buried in WI.  When she died, she left in her will that his body was to be exhumed and the ashes scattered out west.  Her family came in the middle of the night, burned his bones and scattered them according to her wishes.  There was a popular bumper sticker at the time that read “Frank Lloyd Wright, bring your ash back home”.

Our guide told us that Wright built several homes for people.  There were times when he could get the buyers to agree for his total control of the house.  This meant the building of the house, the design and placement of furniture in the house and the placing of decorations in the house.  Years later he may pop in and head towards the living room area.  If things had been added or rearranged, he promptly would restore the room to its order according to Wright, and bag up all the extras, admonishing the owners for going against their agreement.  Talk about control!

Apparently he was quite a womanizer.  While I am reading a book called Loving Frank, our guide tells us that the book called The Women is much better.  I shall see. 

All in all, this tour was more interesting, mainly due to more lighting.  But again, the house was very impractical, and was more of a showplace than a home. 

Wine!

9-20-2010  Monday; Ephraim, WI

Today we toured around some more.  We headed down towards Egg Harbor.  Martha wanted to have breakfast at White Gull Inn.  However, the wait was 40 minutes and being it was already 10:30, we said no thank you.

After a breakfast of fresh blueberry pancakes and crepes we headed out to the shops.  We went to another orchard shop for Martha to pick up some cherry products.  Turns out it was also a winery.  Martha and I bellied up to the bar and drank lots of samples.  You know, trying to find the “right” wine to purchase.  It took awhile, but we each ended up with our token two bottles.  And more cherries.  Terry, not being a shopper, enjoyed taking pictures outside.  Dave, being the shopper, shopped. 

Anybody know what this is?  Smells divine!  This was outside lighthouse.

Martha and I sampled the finished products of these

Terry found this at winery

Like these!

Sunflower; don't know what red plant is called

We split up in Egg Harbor, each shopping where we wanted.  Terry walked thru a couple of stores with me, but he was quickly off to take pictures.  He has had the best time playing with his camera.  He’s experimented with different techniques and is getting quite good with his picture taking.  And most of all, he is enjoying himself.  Good to see him relax and play for a change.

Berry tree in front of birch trees

We drove to the eastern side of the county, looking for more lighthouses and just to see the terrain.  While there are lots of little bergs on the island, there is also a considerable amount of farm land and dairy cattle.  And lots of houses stuck out in the woods.  We found out from different people that most restaurants are only open about 5 months a year.  Most will close towards the end of October and re-open in the spring.  I asked one lady how much snow they have.  She said last year they didn’t have so much.  It was less than the 70 inches they had the previous year.  OOOOKay! 

Rather an unusual lighthouse, wouldn't you say?

Line up the light in the attic............

Over at Bailey’s Harbor we saw a couple of lighthouses.  We bought drinks at what we thought was a little grocery, but it turned out to be a hardware, clothing, souvenier, gift and grocery store!  We also went to a refuge center.  It looked like a church from the distance and was reachable by a long wooden walkway.  Nature trails were trekking off the sides into the woods.  There was a small lighthouse at the entrance to the walkway.  And in the attic of the house was a light.  The light from the house and the light from the lighthouse could be lined up by the shippers as they went thru the area.  Somehow this would prevent them from getting too close to the rocky shoreline as they passed by.  Whatever.  At any rate, the shore was truly rocky.  The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was cold down by the water. 

.....with the light in this little house, and you have another light house!

We drove back to town and ate pizza at Wild Tomato, another place Martha said was recommended.  The boys had-----guess?!-----pepperoni and sausage, and Martha and I had Farmer’s pizza, with prosciutto, fresh tomato sauce, roasted eggplant and pesto.  Pretty good. 

We returned to the motel.  And slept.  For dinner we went to this restaurant called Summer Place.  It was a placed that prided themselves on their daily selection from 5 different soups that you could have with whatever else you chose.  For instance, you could order sandwiches, Mexican, fish, and everything was accompanied by soup, but only ONE cup of the soup, as the waiter was sure to stess over and over.   May not be funny to you, but it was certainly humorous to us. 

We had to change rooms this morning from downstairs to upstairs.  Our room is hot and stuffy.  It’s gonna be a long night.

Panic!

Terry should have been a dentist.  He wood'a made a mint off her! 

9-19-2010  Sunday.  Today we mostly just drove around the area we were staying.  But first, Martha and I had to wash clothes.  I was down to my last pair of underwear and I am not free-spirited enough to go without!   We went to a Laundromat in “Sister Bay”, the community up from where we stayed.

Afterwards, we were driving thru the town and saw a restaurant with goats on the roof.  It was called Al Johnson’s, and was a Swedish restaurant/gift shop.   The roof had grass on top and three goats were on top, feasting on the grass.  Terry found a fair maiden, but he decided she was a little wooden in her personality and decided to stick with me. 

Goat on roof of restaurant

Yes, they were real!  We saw them walking and eating.

We wondered how they get down

We visited an apple and cherry market where we stocked up on fruit products.  I wanted to ship some Honey Crisp apples to Tifton, but it cost $43 to ship 20 apples.  Ridiculous!!  So we bought 4 to go with our cheese we bought earlier. 

We drove to the tip of the county and looked across towards Washington Island.  Although the island can only reached by ferry, it apparently has a year-round population.  I believe I read that the school has 81 students.  It has an eye doctor and a visiting dentist, and a library, plus restaurants and shops.

Water of Lake Michigan is very cold and clear

Dave looks for birds; Martha takes pictures.  Washington Island in the background.

That evening we went to a play at Peninsula Park.  The play was in a new building that was surrounded by walls that apparently could be opened in the warmer weather.  There was no heating but the floors had the capability of being heated.  As we sat outside waiting for the doors to open, a big roaring bonfire was going.  We were able to watch the sun set over the water.

The name of the play was Panic; it was a murder mystery.  There were only 5 people in the play.  I was able to spot the killer early on but the acting itself was pretty good.  We had a good time.  Afterwards we headed back to the motel and ate our cheese and crackers and apples for supper.

Cooking with Kerosene

9-18-2010 Houghton, MI to Ephraim, WI

Today was a full day of riding, again.  As we drove down from the UP of Michigan, we saw leaves at their peak.  In fact, some of the trees were beginning to drop their leaves already.  The colors were intense!

Our side trip today was to a cheese factory.  We were disappointed they were not in operation today.  However we did get some cheddar, pesto and pepper cheeses to enjoy for the next few days.  Shipping 3 pounds of cheese was almost $30.  Too bad, so sad….we didn’t get any shipped home.  I did sample a fresh cheese curd, tho’.  It was still along the lines of a string cheese stick in consistency, just more rubbery and not stringy.  I think the grandkids would like them.

We drove around the northern part of Green Bay and into what is referred to as The Thumb of Wisconsin.  We were headed towards Door County, which is considered to be one of the top vacation spots in America.  It is surrounded by Lake Michigan to the north and east and the bay of Green Bay to the west.  The county is 70 miles long and has 300 miles of shoreline, including 5 state parks, 10 historic lighthouses and 30+ beachside parks.  Due to its natural beauty the county is also a magnet to artists and is a year round arts community.  Professional artists call Door County home and their works are found throughout the county at galleries, studios, on stages and in concert halls.  Art education classes are in constant demand.

Towns in Door County include Sturgeon Bay, Carlsville, Jacksonport, Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, Sister Bay, Ellison Bay, Rowleys Bay and Gills Rock.  The island off the coast is named Washington Island and can only be reached by boat.  Each little town is small and has its own flavor.  The homes are quaint, the shops are unique, and restaurants abound. 

Our first stop was in Sturgeon Bay.  We were hungry!  We walked into this little restaurant, called Scaturo’s, and it was a combination bakery and family owned restaurant.  We had delicious sandwiches and took off again.

About 30 minutes later we arrived at our destination for the next three nights.  We were staying in Bay Breeze Resort in Ephraim.  It is located right across the street from the bay.  Fall decorations were all around the motel and the summer flowers were still in full bloom.  They had corn stalks w/corn wrapped around the light poles and hay bales and Halloween decorations all around.  Very pretty.

Across the bay from our resort

We spent the afternoon walking, sitting by the bay, and looking at the boats and birds.  Terry and I saw an eagle fly overhead, twice!  There were several ducks dining on the algae that had washed ashore.  

Our resort

Sailboat anchored out in the bay

Sunset

That evening we participated in a Door County tradition:  a fish boil.  We had to make reservations ahead of time for this one.  I was the only one who was brave enough to try it.  The other three chickens ordered ribs and chicken.  When we arrived to the restaurant we stayed outside around the fire.  Since it was cold, it felt good!   Anyway, there was a large cast-iron pot over the roaring fire.  Inside the pot were potatoes that were boiling.  About 3 pounds of salt had also been added to the water.  After the potatoes had cooked about 10-15 minutes, onions were added for about 8 minutes.  Then the guy brings out white fish that had been caught that morning.  It was cut into chunks.  He added them to the pot and let them cook for just a few minutes.  As the fish cooked the oils of the fish rose to the top of the pot and began to run over the top.  Just as the oil began to run over the top, the guy threw about a quart of kerosene onto the fire.  This caused the fire to just explode, bringing the pot to a real roaring boil, causing the water to boil over the sides and the oil to burn out.  The fire is doused as the water boils over.  They immediately remove all the food from the pots and everyone goes inside to eat.  As we were seated with our plates, the server came around and picked the bones out of my fish.  The fish was delicious!    Terry and Martha said the fried chicken was very good and Dave gnawed all his ribs to the bone.  To top off the meal, it is traditional to serve a big hunk of cherry pie.  We all were full as ticks after our meal.

Start with a big fire and put potatoes and salt in pot.  Outside logs help stop wind from blowing out fire.

Onions have been added.  Almost time for fish.

These whitefish were in the lake earlier in the morning.

Throw on the kerosene to burn off the fish oil.

Supper's ready!!!

P.S.  Terry saw a restaurant the next day that advertised Fish Boils on Fridays.  Under that sign was another that said Restaurant Closed Due to Fire.  Guess those fish boils can be dangerous!

9-10-2010 Copper Harbor, MI

Today we drove from Eagle River right up to Copper Harbor, Michigan.  Copper Harbor is located in the Upper Peninsula and is the beginning of Highway 41.  We took a scenic detour, which again, was well worth the drive.  We drove alongside Lake Superior, which looks like the ocean.  It even has waves, and it was VERY cold.  Can't even see to the other side of the thing!  

We saw an ore boat way off shore.  We also happened upon a monastery and a bakery run by the monks.  It was a tiny little building and people were constantly dropping in to purchase things.  We bought several jars of jams and jellies made from the local berries.  And cookies.  Bread, too.  Hmmmm....think that is all.  No, wait...a piece of brittle and a piece of caramel.  Oh, and a piece of peanut butter brownie with jam.  

This is the Jampot; run by Monks; out in the middle of the woods; doing a splendid business!
Sign says "Thou Shalt Not Park Here"

We finally arrived in Copper Harbor and had fish chowder at a local restaurant.  This is a small community with a population of 7000.  The average winter snowfall is 200 inches------can you even imagine that?!  Who in their right mind would stay there in the winter?  The wind was whistling today.  I can just imagine how it would be in the dead of winter.  But I gotta say this......the fall foliage was simply beautiful.  I'm going to post pictures of some of what we saw.  The pictures won't be able to describe the beauty of the canopy made by the trees as we passed beneath them.

For supper we had a "Friday Fish Fry".  I've heard of them all my life and now I know what they are.  Go to Captain D's, order their fried fish basket, and you'll have a Friday Fish Fry.  Except we got the ambiance of eating in a building built in 1916 with the original tin ceiling and wood floors.  And we had our choice of Lake Erie yellow perch, haddock or halibut.  And the batter was probably better than Captain D's.  Other than that......

Tomorrow we head down to Ephraim, WI to a place called Door County.  Supposed to be really great.  We are staying there for the next three days.