Wisconsin Dells May 2013

 I posted a video of the Wisconsin Dells from our trip there in 2013!

Whaleback Steamer Christopher Columbus passing through Milwaukee

Sent in 1923 to a friend in Illinois.  This postcard shows a Whaleback Steamer, The Christopher Columbus going through Milwaukee.

This particular whaleback was scrapped in 1936 and it was the only whaleback made for passenger service.

Shipwreck Tales of the Great Lakes by Cris Kohl

Shipwreck Tales of the Great Lakes by Cris Kohl was one of those books I saw on my recent trip around Lake Michigan that I had to pick up!

The book is packed with stories about shipwrecks, how they happen, and what we know about the ships now.

As someone who grew up away from the Great Lakes, I guess I really never realized that some shipwrecks have been brought up, and restored to usable condition (and some have been sunk and restored more than once!).  I didn't know that some shipwreck sites have been found, and then that site is lost.  I didn't know that the Griffon may or may not have been found.

Also, I like Cris Kohl's writing style.  I read another book recently about shipwrecks in the Great Lakes that was difficult.  A book about shipwrecks can get technical quick.  Cris wrote this book in a way that even people with little to no knowledge of the lakes and ships can understand.

Kohl is careful to give the reader a clear, "here is what we know now" ending.  I really like knowing what became of the shipwrecks, the wreck sites, etc.  Cris even goes to Oklahoma to investigate a ship's captain who was thought to be dead!  Great fiction writers couldn't make this stuff up!

Cris Kohl did a lot of homework on this book.  I have read some other books about events and areas where I feel like the author slopped the book together over a weekend after reading a few other similar books.  This is not the case with Kohl.  As an underwater photographer and researcher, he has put MANY gorgeous color photos he took himself at the wreck sites in the book.  Old newspaper articles are included along with old postcards.  Cris uses a lot of vintage resources from his own collection, AND he has obviously done decades worth of research on his own.

Stone Cup Coffee House & Stone's Deil, Escanaba, Michigan

Another Great coffee shop we stopped at in Wisconsin was the Stone Cup Coffee House and Stone's Deli in Escanaba.

Cozy, clean and very casual, this place is great.  I had some perfect cherry coffee.  We also had scones.


I am not a scones person at all.  In fact, I am not sure why I ordered one here but man was it great!  Seriously, I feel comfortable saying the best scone I ever had was here.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stone-Cup-Coffee-House-Stones-Deli/297885473594

Theodore Roosevelt assasination attempt in Milwaukee Wisconsin

In October of 1912, a man named John Schrank tried to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee.

In the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, close to where the event occurred, there is a very nice display about this moment in history. 

I took some photos of the display while I was in town.

Wisconsin Dells Antique Mall

The Wisconsin Dells Antique Mall is amazing!  They get an A+ from me as far as antique malls go.  The place is an antique shoppers fantasy.

I know of a lot of antique malls where there might be a few booths wort stopping at, but there are mostly junk filled sections.  That is not the case here!  The mall is very clean, and there are some reasonably priced high end items!

I can cover most antique malls pretty quickly.  Not this one.  I had to stop and carefully exam each booth.  There were some finds.

My wife went to the craft mall next door- which she said was amazing too!  I wanted to make it over there, but I ran out of time at the antique mall.

I went over my spending budget for the day while I was here (I could have gone a lot more over budget easily).

When I got back home to Kentucky, I realized that I passed up a gorgeous Milwaukee Braves baseball button, and I was regretting it!

We called the good people at the Mall, and they were able to ship it to me!  Classy!

Make sure you stop here if you make it to the Wisconsin Dells!

http://www.wisconsindellsantiquemall.com/

Random Photos of the Wisconsin Dells

Kavarna Coffee in Greenbay, Wisconsin

I wanted to make sure that I mention Kavarna Coffee in Green Bay, while I am still on the topic of our trip around the Lake.

This is another of the GREAT coffee shops we found on our journey.

http://www.kavarna.com/

These guys had great coffee, a fun selection of food, and a very artsy vibe.  PLUS, it is located in the very cool downtown Green Bay area.

Green Bay Packers, Green Bay Wisconsin

Easily one of the most exciting stops we made on our trip through Wisconsin and Michigan was stopping at at Lambeau Field in Green Bay Wisconsin to see the home field of the Packers!

Let me take a moment to say that this is a CLASSY organization!  Our entire experience was tops.

We drove here early on a weekday in April- a very off day for NFL football.  Still, there was a good continuous crowd taking tours, going through the museum, and just hanging out.

AND the Packers organization STILL had the place looking perfect, even on this very day they still brought their A game.

When we got to Lambeau, we went to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets.  The very nice lady selling tickets had on a Super Bowl ring!  We said something about it, and she let my wife try her ring on!  VERY COOL!

She told us about how the organization actual took employees that had been there for a while to the Super Bowl!  She was also among the many employees who were given rings!

AND, everyone we talked to at Lambeau had a similar attitude.  Our tour guides, the people in the gift shop, the staff at Curly's....  everyone was great!


We ended up pretty much spending the entire day at Lambeau Field, which I hear is common.  We looked around the museum before our tour started, then we took our, tour.  After that, we had lunch at Curly's (GREAT FOOD by the way), next we finished up touring the museum, and lastly we spent some time in the gift shop. 

The tour of Lambeau was fun and casual.  It was easy to get from one point of the stadium to the other.  Our tour guides were a lot of fun.

The thing that impressed me the most was how the team is owned by the community- and the community takes great pride in this!

One of our tour guides mentioned that he is an owner, which, it seems provides a payout of only bragging rights, but those are some impressive rights!

For reasons relating to geography, I have always cheered for the Colts and the Steelers.  I love Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, and I have spent a lot of time in each town.  After hanging out there for so long, the local sports teams have grown on me (the same way of thinking does not apply to my former home city of Cleveland).

But, after touring Lambeau, and seeing how the team started and is ran today, I love this team! 

Top Secret- Wisconsin Dells

http://www.dellstopsecret.com/

Here are a few photos from "Top Secret" in the Wisconsin Dells.

This is a tough one to explain.  In fact, I am not exactly sure of its story even after taking the tour.

Think of a standard haunted house, but with more of a sci-fi kind of theme than a haunted theme.

We DID love this place though.  It is odd, strange, and it is the kind of place that can only exist in a place like the Dells!

Random Photos of Milwaukee Wisconsin