Keep reading about our adventures in Whitewater.
Hillbilly Back Roads
Holly plugged in the address to pick up the race packets in Whitewater in her GPS and selected the fast route. Now I’ve been to Whitewater last year and had a vague clue how to get there. Well, apparently the iPhone’s GPS fastest route doesn’t necessarily mean Highways. We took country roads with actual names like Bill Road. Along the way we did get to see a tractor graveyard and some pretty scenery. I have to say that it was definitely shorter since we by-passed all those towns we would have gone through on 26. It may not have been longer if we got stuck behind a tractor or other farm machinery. Now if I could remember the route for next time we have to go to UW-Whitewater since brought is in directly by the softball/baseball fields.
Tractor Graveyard
Duck Inn
When we were planning dinner, we had to find something that we could all agree on. Holly said she loved a Friday Night Fish Fry. I can do a Friday Night Fish Fry. We could have gone to Duck Inn or Evergreen Golf Course. Holly said that the Duck Inn had better reviews, let’s go there.
I am thinking we should have gone to Evergreen. Holly and I were not impressed with Duck Inn. I agreed to go to Duck Inn because the Fish Fry was reasonably priced although the rest of the menu was a bit pricy for me.
The Fish Fry was $11.70 for All You Can Eat Cod or $16.20 for All you Can Eat Perch. There was also Shrimp and Smelt. Both Holly and I were disappointed that there was no Haddock. I found that Haddock doesn’t really exist in the southern part of the state at a Fish Fry. Your choice is Cod instead. Holly wasn’t sure about cod and asked for a sample. The sample really wasn’t that good and even I was hesitant to order the cod but I only planned on spending $12 for dinner so I really didn’t have a choice.
With the fish fry, you had a choice of French fries or potato pancakes. I’m used to having at least a choice of a baked potato with the French fries. We also had Cole slaw, applesauce, and rye bread. The Cole Slaw and applesauce was shared among the table….the small pudding dish was supposed to be
shared among the 4 of us. I didn’t try the applesauce but the Cole Slaw was very vinegary and peppery. I l am more of a creamy Cole Slaw kind of girl.
Itty Bitty Little Dishes of Cole Slaw, Applesauce, and thick tartar sauce
I was truly disappointed. I expected it to be better especially after I found out it was listed in the Our Wisconsin Magazine Restaurant Guide. Maybe I just had a bad experience but I’m not sure if I would give it another shot.
Whitewater K9 5K
When Holly was looking for people to join her team, I thought this sounded like a fun race. There was a 5K or 10K to choose from. Jenn never did a 5K before so we stuck to the 5K. My only concern was they said hills… I don’t like hills.
Holly likes to pick up her race packet the day before to avoid the people on the day of. When she texts me that we were stopping in Whitewater on the way to Elkhorn, I thought it was odd until I looked at the map and realized how close they were and coming from Appleton it made complete sense. They said that packet pick up would be in the building at the east end of Cravath Lake Front Park and to park in Lot A or B. Uh..um.. which direction is east? I don’t have a lake to go by. Well after wandering around for a bit and looking confused, a nice lady pointed us in the direction. We picked up packets (YEA! Another lime green t-shirt), acquired a giant bottle of grapeseed oil from the random lady who apparently knew Jenn and headed to Jenn’s house.
Definitely not the building they were talking about
The course wasn’t bad. The hill wasn’t horrible. Holly got tired at the 2 mile marker and decided to take a nap. I joined her. I finished in 43 minutes. Not too bad.
It wasn’t the most exciting race I’ve done but it was better than the chicken chase. Holly said it wasn’t the best one to do as your first 5K because there was no enthusiasm and cheering at the finish. For a novice runner, it wasn’t anything spectacular. The race course volunteers didn’t really cheer you on. It lacked the excitement that other races have but at least they had fun signs posted periodically and 2 water stations. At least it didn’t rain for the race.
After relaxing and talking to people after the race, we headed back to Jenn’s house for showers and then to find breakfast since Holly wanted breakfast even though it was noon.
I can’t say that I’m itching to do this one again but if the right opportunities presented themselves I might consider it.
Elk Restaurant
Holly wanted breakfast and Jenn gave us 2 options in downtown Elkhorn neither of which she was sure served breakfast all day. Since we were standing in front of the Elk Restaurant, we decided to eat there. This is my kind of place. It has an old fashion soda fountain and seating for about 50. The food was good. The prices were reasonable. The coffee never stopped getting topped off. The service was quick.
Everything you except for a good diner especially around lunch time on a Saturday. In case you’re wondering breakfast was served all day.
I would love to go back and have an old fashioned ice cream soda and sit at the counter. If I’m ever in Elkhorn again, I definitely would stop again. I’m sure the rest of the menu is as good as breakfast.
Pirate Fest
While at lunch, I showed Holly pictures a fiend post on Facebook from Pirate Fest and she was like let’s go. And since Port Washington technically wasn’t completely out of our way, we decided to go to Pirate Fest. I’ve always wanted to check it out but never wanted to drive to Port just for Pirate Fest when there was stuff to do at home.
The entire way from Elkhorn to Port it rained. By the time we got to Pirate Fest, it was still raining. Neither of us were prepared for the rain or cooler near the lake. I had a baseball cap and sweatshirt to shield most of the water. Holly found a cardigan. Luckily we got a parking spot right by the entrance to the festival.
Because of the rain, there wasn’t much going on. Many of the pirates were huddled under overhangs or in one of the tents trying to stay dry. We caught the very tail end of a show that was modified because of the rain. We wandered through the shopping tent which was overly crowded because of the rain. We did get to see a sword fight between 2 pirates and a lot of pirates walking around. We tried to find the pirate ship but it didn’t seem to be out in the rain.
If it wasn’t raining, Pirate Fest would have been awesome but the rain made it lose most of its luster. We only stayed about 15 minutes. By then we were cold and wet. I would love to go back when it was nicer out and actually be able to enjoy more of it. Holly said she wants to go back next year in costume.
In a nutshell the weekend was fun. I need to take more road trips with Holly. Hopefully we will get to road trip again in the future together.
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