Year in Review 2016

2016 was a busy year. I can't believe all the adventures I had, the experiences taken, and the memories made.

2016 By the Numbers

• 11 official bucket list adventures -- 3 of which were ones I wanted to do in 2016. The other 2... well there's always next year

•  14 states -- 1 new one

•  122 counties -- give or take a few
• 3 National Parks... I even have a National Park Passport now

•  5 Major League Baseball Stadiums -- 4 new ones. I really didn't think I would get to any. 3 of my top 5 stadiums were visited

•  1 state capital
•  12 5Ks.... I really wanted to do 13 but decided against it. Next year I'm only planning on doing 6 to have more money to visit Baseball stadiums... 1 race fee = 1 baseball ticket. 

•  3 rounds of mini golf .... and none in Wisconsin

•  4 state parks -- 3 new ones and a total of 5 visits

• 100+ books read. I even joined a real book club that exposed me to a few books and authors.
• 2 movies seen in the theater.. I don't remember the last time I did that

It was a great year. I can't wait to see what 2017 brings. 

3827. Go to the Grignon Mansion in Kaukauna

When I was looking for something for Stacy and I to do when she came up for cookie baking, I started going through the events on Facebook. I found the Grignon Mansion was doing Christmas at the Mansion from 1-7 on Saturday and Menasha was had a Christmas event downtown from 5-8. Based on the forecast, I decided to go Christmas at the Mansion, especially since I've never been in the mansion. The hubby took me by it once.

The Grignon Mansion was built in 1837 by Charles Grignon as a wedding gift to his wife. It became known as the Mansion in the Woods. The Mansion is normally open in Summer on weekends for tours. This is the first time in years that they did Christmas at the Mansion.

The Mansion was simply decorated for Christmas as it would have been in 1948. There were no trees, boughs of holly, or other decorations except for stockings hung by the bed. It wasn't until after the German settlers started to arrived did the Christmas tree make an appearance. Christmas in 1948 was a time for visiting and sharing a holiday meal.

The Grignon Mansion did not have electricity, except for the basement, and our tour was conducted by candlelight. We were met in the parlor and a re-enactor lead us through live in the parlor room and shown 2 guest rooms. From there we continued our tour upstairs where we saw the 3 bedrooms before heading down to the dining room and kitchen. By the end of the tour, it was quite difficult to see the script the guides were reading from by candlelight.

After the tour, Stacy and I made our way down to the basement where we enjoyed cookies and eggnog while making paper stars. For the 2nd time this year, I made a paper craft that actually turned out. We thought about making a wooden snowflake but even though basket weaving skills were required, it wasn't a real basket and it didn't meet the criteria of weave a basket.

Once we finished our crafts and snacks, we headed out to the blacksmith shop. We watched as the blacksmiths made a pair of tongs. Usually blacksmiths make shepherd hooks or horseshoes, so it was nice to see them trying to make something different.

Then we headed over to the trolley for a trolley ride through Kaukauna to see the Christmas Lights. It seemed as a very unorganized and random trolley ride but it was still cool to see the North Pole and other lights in Kaukauna.

The Grignon Mansion is a National Historic Site.  Stacy made a comment that maybe there is a list of all the National Historic Sites. I guess I will have to look for one and add all of them to the bucket list.

I enjoyed our visit to the Mansion. After looking the website, I see they have other events throughout the year including a Model A Car show and a Civil War Reenactment. I may have to keep my eye out for other events. It's a nice hidden gem and I'm glad I was able to visit it.

Craxi at the Movies: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

This is BIG year for me... I went to not 1 but 2 movies in the theaters. I probably haven't done that in over 10 years. Since I was turning 37, I wanted to go see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- the latest Harry Potter movie. Danielle and Erin agreed to go with me.

Before I tell you about the movie I, better tell you that we went to the theater by my house which I've not been there since they remodeled it. I will be going to Marcus Valley Grand Cinema for all my future movie outings. They have the Dream Loungers which makes watching a movie so much more comfortable. After further research so does Hollywood Theater and it really depends on which theater your movie is shown in. I think all the theaters need to be upgraded to the Dream Loungers.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was original written as Harry Potter textbook/companion book to the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowlings turned it into a screenplay set 70 years before Harry was at Hogwarts. Instead of being set in London, it's set in NYC. Newt Scammander comes to America to release on of his beasts in the wilds of Arizona. Before that can even happen, his beasts escape and another terrifying beast is on the loose in the city. He is accused of setting the terrifying beast on the city and is sentenced to death. Without giving too much away, I let you know that the world is righted again and no executions take place.

Besides Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, this has to be my favorite Harry Potter movie and Harry isn't even in it. It was funny yet serious. I laughed out loud at several parts. Besides knowing it was based on the Harry Potter textbook with the same name, I really didn't know much about the movie going into it. I thought it might have followed the Harry Potter books in a way but it really didn't. Even if you didn't read any of the books or see any of the previous movies, you would have been able to follow the plot. It had very few references to the series and made a great stand-alone film. It was much better than expected. I really liked that a Muggle or No-Maj (Non-magic people) had an important part in the movie and that he ended up helping the wizarding world.

My only gripe was that I felt jipped at the end. I felt that it just ended with 2 characters recognizing each other and really should have expanded on that a bit more. A kiss would have been nice. However, I think I'm the only that felt this way. Either way it was a great movie with great characters. This one will be bought for sure.

Now I'm off to find myself of Niffler...

Asylum Revisited Walking Tour

Back in May, I saw that the History Museum was offering a historical walk on the grounds of the old Outagamie County Asylum. It sounded really interesting. Stacy decided to come up and join me on the walk.

The last walk I signed up for was cancelled because of the weather. I was really hoping this wasn't going to be the case since it was calling to be windy with a chance of flurries. It turned a little wind and snow wasn't going to stop the curator but it did keep some people away.

The walk was interesting but I felt it could have been better. I'm not sure if that was due to the weather or not since it was cold and windy -- making it miserable to stand outside in an open field. Because the actual asylum is no longer standing, we mainly walked around the the fields of where the building stood. Nick, our tour guide, would explain about a portion of the asylum that used to be where we stood and occasionally showed us pictures.

The asylum housed the long term mentally ill who had no chance of being "cured" and released back into society. The asylum had an open door policy where the inmates could come and go as they pleased which would not fly in today's society. Although the actual quarters were not very pleasant, most of the inmates had to help around the asylum either working on the county farm or in the kitchen. Some even took care of other inmates especially since at time they had very few paid employees since working conditions weren't very favorable.

After we walked the grounds of the old asylum, we walked down to the Outagamie County Cemetery where several of the inmates of the asylum was buried. Many of the inmates would be buried back in their home towns but if they had no family left, they would be buried in the plot behind the asylum. Since the graves weren't marked, it made it difficult to find where the actual bodies were buried. However, a group of people from the Outagmie County Cemetery Commission (or something like that) with the help of a Lawrence University Professor and his class, they were able to locate the graves and turn a piece of overgrown land into a proper cemetery.

Despite not actually being able to see the asylum, it was still very interesting to hear how an asylum operated. We were told the History Museum at the Castle just started an exhibit on the Outagmie County Asylum and we should go check it out. If I knew about the exhibit beforehand, Stacy and I might have made plans to check out it. Since the exhibit is open for a while, I may go check it out sometime.

There are several other History Walks around Appleton I'd like to do and hopefully they continue them next year. Since they only cost about $7, it is fun way to learn about the area and get my exercise as well.

A Painting Adventure

Heather has been trying to get me to do a create and consume event with her at Rooster Dreams in Neenah. We tried to find one that worked in September but it never happened. She sent me the list for October and we narrowed it down to 2 options… a pumpkin design and a home sign. Since we could use the home sign all year round, we opted to go to that one.

I was very hesitant to do one of these painting events because I am not a very good artist yet I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I was dreading taking home something that didn’t turn out to be very good. Heather assured me Kristine was very helpful and gave great directions. It really didn’t put me at ease but since I was willing to do anything once, I put my fears aside and decided to give it a whirl.

After grabbing dinner and a snack to bring with us at Q’doba, we head downtown to the Marketplace and Rooster Dreams. We get upstairs and settle in just before it was to start. I was expecting everyone to do the same painting with very little personalization but I was mistaken. We were told to pick out 4 colors we want to use as our background. I went with a lighter blue, a darker blue, a dark green, and a mustard yellow.

Kristine would show us what to do on the canvas before letting us do it which helped immensely since I need that visual. Our firs take was to make a patchwork quilt of color on our canvas. I started with the yellow and moved into the blues and greens. This was my first mistake. I should have started with one of the darker colors so when I started to blend and layer, the blue or green would not have stood out as much as the yellow did or turn to green as the yellow and blue did. Because I wasn’t happy with the bright yellow splotches mixed with the darker blues and greens, I smeared the yellow into the blues and to make more of green. Some of the yellow showed through but it gave it more of a blueish-green background that didn’t look bad.

Once we had the background painted (and dry) it was time to move onto the letters and compass. I was slightly apprehensive about having to draw the compass and the state of Wisconsin but Kristine quickly calmed my fears by passing out Wisconsin stencils and rulers and circles for the compass. It’s okay to cheat in the design of good art. I had no problems with the letters. The compass on the other hand really gave me trouble. The circles were easy the arrows were too much for my feeble mind to grasp or something. They did not line up properly. Luckily Heather and Kristine were there to rescue me and helped me realign my lines so they went to the correct points.

Painting the letters wasn’t that difficult. I had some difficulty adding dimension but they came out alright. Freehanding the latitude and longitude wasn’t horrible except I made the numbers too big and the 8s were a bit of a challenge. The compass still wasn’t being my friend though. I had a lot of trouble getting the arrows to have dimension partially because they didn’t line up exactly right. The other “issue” I had was the border of my compass was too dark in my opinion. I was told we can fix that with metallic paint and it was. The silver metallic greatly helped my compass and the gold added an extra layer to the background.

Overall I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out and the hubby wanted to know if we could frame it. I told him we could hang it up without being frame. He said it almost looked professional… I wouldn’t go THAT far.

Would I do it again? You bet. However, it just has to be when it’s in the budget as Kristine doesn’t accept cards just cash and checks. I’d love to get a group of friends together and all of us go paint. As much as I would love to do a winter scene, I’m thinking the budget says we need to wait until spring. I will be definitely be painting again. It may be one of those things that I do often enough that I run out of room to hang my paintings.

Art After Dark

Art After Dark at the Bergstrom-Mahler Glass Museum popped up in my Facebook Feed offering free museum admission after hours to see the Bending Brilliance: Neon and Plasma Sculpture Exhibit. Three things caught my eye: Museum, Glow in the Dark, Free. I like all those things especially free. Danielle and I checked out but opted not to go in costume.

The exhibits were constructed using Neon, Plasma, or other light up material. There were several exhibit halls filled with light up sculptures both upstairs and down. Some of the exhibits featured glass objects already found in the museum that were made with certain material (which I can’t remember the name to) that under lights (like black light) it glows in the dark.

The museum staff was dressed as scientists answering questions, forbidding me to take a picture of a really cool piece of art, and showing us how the glow in the dark glass worked. To make sure, we didn’t get too close to the exhibits, they put black adhesive tape on the floor so you could get up close but not too close to knock them over. Danielle had to pull me back from one b/c the tip of my shoe crossed the line which was at a diagonal.

I am not one for art museums and art but this is my kind of art… more than just paintings. The various ways the artists incorporated neon or plasma into their sculptures was mind boggling. I was expecting neon signs and lights not sculptures and moving “lava lamp” type designs.

Some of the pieces incorporated other objects into the design such as pins to make a centipede.

If you get a chance before the exhibit closes in February go check it out. The Museum is offering additional Art After Dark events every 3rd Thursday of the month between now and February. It is free and the art is amazing to see.

#3951. Go to Peninsula Sate Park in Door County

I not so casually mentioned to Rick and Shannon I’ll go hiking any time with them and kind of invited myself to go hiking with them on Saturday. Luckily they let me come. They wanted to go to Door County and at first Rick mentioned Potawatomie State Park. I didn’t have a real preference since the three they were thinking about were all on the bucket list. We ended up going to Peninsula State Park.

Peninsula State Park is between Fish Creek and Ephraim on the bay side of Door County. It is an extremely popular 3700+ acre state park that features hiking, biking, an 18-hole golf course, a lighthouse, a sandy beach, plenty of camping and summer theater performances. There are high bluffs and rocky shoreline. Up until a few months ago, there was an observation tower but it had to be taken down to do being structurally unsafe. They plan on rebuilding it.

When we got up to Peninsula State Park, we decided to have lunch before going hiking. We stopped at the first picnic area we found and had a nice picnic lunch. It was right on the water which made it chilly. We were the only people there when we got there but after our hike the place was full of people. It only had 4 or so picnic tables. I’m glad we ate when we did.

We wanted a short trail to hike. Every trail on the map we came to said 5+ miles. I joked we could walk a mile and turn around. Then we found the Eagle Trail. It was marked difficult. The map showed that it made a giant loop and didn’t seem all that long. It seemed like a fairly popular trail. We decided if it was too difficult we would just turn around.

I am not sure what they meant by “difficult”. The trail was easier than the Lime Kiln Trail at High Cliff and way easier than the trial Tanya and I hiked at Devil’s Lake last year. I think it was difficult because it was “rugged” and not a flat trail lined with gravel or wood chips. There were

Stones and rocks walk on

Stone steps to climb

Muddy inclines to navigate

Tree roots to avoid tripping over

Dead trees to climb over (and sit on)

This was my kind of hiking. Yes you hiked down to the water level but unlike High Cliff or Devil’s Lake, it was more of a gradual descend/ascend rather than all at once.

My favorite part of the hike was the “caves” or openings in the bluff. Once I realized what trail we were on, I was hoping that we would get to see the caves.

Some of them were small that you could barely fit in them.

Others I could walk into.

They are not very deep and aren’t really worth exploring but are still cool to see. I believe there are more “caves” down on the water level that you can actually kayak into. Yes, it’s on my bucket list.

It was also a great day to take pictures with the leaves starting to change. I always love posing for pictures and so does my niece. We had fun taking pictures. I won’t recommend lying on the stone beach for long though. Those rocks hurt.

Out of all the State Parks I visited this year, this one is my favorite. I loved the ruggedness of the trail, the scenery, and caves. I want to go back and explore other trails (which I’m sure I’ll be disappointed by the lack of difficulty) and find the water caves. I know the hubby won’t go hiking and exploring with me so I jump on any chance I get.