3987. Go to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc

Last year I discovered the Smithsonian Free Museum day where various Museums in the area offer free admission up 2 people. I was really looking forward to this year’s event  which was held on Saturday, September 26, especially when both the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc and the EAA Museum in Oshkosh were a part of it. Although EAA was closer, I really wanted to go to the Maritime Museum.

To partake in Free Museum Day, you must request your ticket online through the Smithsonian. You provide your email address and they send you a voucher for 2 admissions to whatever museum you select. Even though you provide your e-mail address, you never get annoying emails from them the rest of year.

I met Ryan and Tracy at the Maritime Museum on Saturday. They have a similar philosophy when it comes to museums as I do – we like to browse and not read every single piece of history. They are bigger browsers than I am. I tend to read what catches my eye where they seem to just look at everything. I also really like hands-on displays which luckily for me so did Ryan and Tracy.

The museum is three stories plus the Submarine outside with the top floor being mainly offices and a rooftop view. We started downstairs after checking out 1 exhibit upstairs. Being the kid at heart that I am, I gravitated towards the Children's Waterway Room where we played with pipes and water. Luckily we were there early enough and no one else was in there so we could be kids again. I tried to race a boat through the the locks but it kept sinking....

After we played with water, we continued exploring the exhibits downstairs including the Wisconsin Built Boat Gallery and Maritime History Gallery. Before heading upstairs, we checked out the Chief Wawatam Steam Engine. Back upstairs, we pretended we were passengers on a 1900s ocean liner before heading to the USS Cobia.

The USS Cobia is the highlight of the Maritime Museum. It is a World War II sub and touring the sub is included in your admission. Our tour guide was very informative and even though the group was large, did a very good job at explaining things and letting us see everything before meeting him on the other end of the sub. It is just a very cramped ship and is hard to have a group of 15 or so adults in one place at a time.

The Maritime Museum is a great place to learn about Wisconsin's Maritime History, tour a WWII sub, and learn about the locks systems throughout the greater Fox Valley. It is very family friendly and if you took the time to read everything, it would probably take you several hours to go through the museum. We did it in about 2 with the sub tour.

I really enjoyed the museum. I am glad that I decided to go to the Maritime Museum instead of the EAA Museum this year. Apparently I was there as a kid years ago but it's fun to go back as an adult. I just wished I had more to say about my experience. It's another museum, with cool stuff in it, that you really need to see. It's one of those museums that's hard to describe I guess. Don't just read my poorly written blog, next Free Museum Day go check it out yourself so you can really see what it's all about since I've not a bad job explaining it.

Stadium Tour 2016: Miller Park

The Brewers had 1 last home stand before the end of the season and the hubby wanted to go. He wanted to go bad enough that he was okay skipping a meeting to go. Honestly, I checked out of baseball when football began and really didn’t care if we went or not. It’s not like we have never been to Miller Park before.

The hubby found front row tickets for $100/person just past the Brewer’s dug out and camera pit. We’ve never sat in the first row. We got lucky and ended up sitting 2nd row a few years ago when a guy gave us his seats when we were walking in. He just wanted the Robyn Yount Bobblehad. Now not only are we going to another game this, we’re sitting in the first row. Great! Duck and Cover Territory and neither of own a glove anymore.

Close enough to smell the dirt

I am glad Miller Park has a roof since it was calling for rain. I would not have been happy if we spent $200 on tickets and the game got rained out. Luckily the rain didn’t start before we got inside so we didn’t even get wet walking to the stadium from the car.

We have been to Miller Park (and County Stadium before that) numerous times. Until we visited other stadiums, I didn’t realize how drab and unimpressive Miler Park truly is. It is missing the WOW factor that many of the other stadiums have that we have visited. Miller Park feels industrial. Everything is painted in this enchanting shade of gunmetal green and industrial grey. Even the concession stands are drab in comparison to other stadiums. I understand that it is a dome stadium but it feels more like a warehouse or a factory than a baseball park.

Sitting in the front row does have its perks if you don’t mind 50 other people in your space trying to get players’ attention before the game for an autograph. Keon Broxton stopped by and let people sign his cast, sign autographs, and take pictures. The hubby got his hat signed and I get my picture taken. Scooter Gennett was over for a little bit after the National Anthem until he realized he better get on the field. I would have liked a picture with Scooter.

Even though we were sitting Duck and Cover Territory, we had only a few balls come our way. One there was a scramble for and the guys next to us go the ball. That was the closest one. The other one was a pop up in foul territory that the first baseman caught. Because it wasn’t third out, he had to give the ball back to the pitcher. Even the players were stingy giving balls away on the third out or after warm ups.

The game itself was kind of boring. The first 3 innings took forever. The Brewers end up losing 4-1. We had more fun watching the first base umpire. It’s pretty sad when I notice his pants are wrinkled and that he’s not in a traditional position. He spent most of the game pacing up and down the line.

The other highlight of game was when Counsell got thrown out of the game for arguing a foul ball didn’t hit off the batter’s foot. He really went at the home plate umpire The hubby said watching the replay of the game later the ball clearly didn’t go off the guy’s foot. Counsell should have asked to see the ball.

This was my fifth and final Major League Baseball game of the year unless somehow we end up getting Cubs play-off or World Series tickets. I have seen all 5 National Central Teams play at one stadium or another. I’ve been to 3 of 5 National Central Stadium. It must be the year of the NL Central.

As long as the hubby keeps on wanting to visit more stadiums, I will continue to go. His short list includes Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. My Top 5 Stadiums now are Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and PNC Park in Pittsburgh (last of the NL Central Stadiums). Turner Field (or whatever they end up naming the new stadium) makes the list at Number 6 only because Pittsburgh snuck in there after we went to St. Louis. Until we find out if and where the hubby would go for a World Series, I am waiting to find out what stadiums we get to go to next year.

A Multicultural Afternoon

Last week, I saw something about a Pow-Wow in Neenah on Saturday on Facebook. It was going to be the first time in over 25 years that Neenah was going to have a Pow-Wow. It sounded cool but I really had to get my photo book done besides T wanted me to come to the Children’s Museum with them. On Saturday morning, Holly texted me asking if I wanted to go to the Pow-Wow. Oh how I wanted to go. I said if I get enough pages done in the book, I would go. My free photo book code from Shuttefly was expiring on Sunday and I really wanted to take advantage of it. Well I got the photo book half done and could spare a few hours to check out the Pow-Wow. B, T, and J came with.

The Pow-Wow was being held in Shattuck Park. The Menomonee Indians were hosting the Pow-Wow. Shattuck Park was the perfect venue for a Pow-Wow. It has circular, tiered grass seating, and there is enough parking nearby. Having a Pow-Wow outside is so much nicer than having it indoors… especially on a sunny day.

This was the 2nd Pow-Wow I attended this year and it was much better than the Potawatomi one at State Fair Park. The one at State Fair was indoors and there were a lot of people making it difficult to see the dances. This one was much easier to see with the slight tiers for seating and fewer people.
The Emcee was great. He had a humorous presentation. It made it very enjoyable.

The dances were very cool too. At first we were standing behind the crowd but then I met up with Holly and Julie who had front row seats and kinda squeezed myself on their bench. I had a much better few.
My favorite parts were the drums and the colorful costumes which hare key to any good Pow-Wow.

After a few dances, I was over the Pow-Wow. To me, all the dances seemed the same. We left to get lunch since B hadn’t eaten yet. As we were walking towards Subway, we see tents set up and a couple food trucks. We decided to head over that way. It was Oktoberfest put on by Lion's Tail Brewing Company.


It was neat little Oktoberfest. There was beer, German Food, and big tables meant for meeting new people. The only thing we were missing was the Oompa Band. Maybe it was coming later as there was a stage. It wasn’t quite like being in Munich but for downtown Neenah, they certainly tried especially since it was early in the day and not many people were there yet.

B had pizza from Broken Tree which was really good. Broken Tree was offering an Oktoberfest pizza with sauerkraut and bratwurst or something like. I’ll stick to pepperoni. He also had a pork shank that looked really good. T had a hot dog in a pretzel bun. I love pretzel buns. Then she had a pretzel which she shared with me and it was a bit harder than I expected but still really good.

Holly and Julie showed up with steins of beer. The grapefruit beer Julie had was actually really good and I don’t like grapefruit. The beer Holly had tasted like your regular Miller Lite. I wasn’t impressed. I would have loved to have a beer but based on the size of the beer and the time frame, I knew getting one was not a good idea.

Overall it was fun couple of hours. I am glad I decided to go. It was a gorgeous day to sit outside and enjoy the free things Neenah had to offer. I would go back to both the Pow-Wow and Oktoberfest again in the future.