4700. Tour the Little Chute Windmill

The hubby wanted to tour the windmill in Little Chute. He knew the person that was in charge of the windmill a few years back but never contacted him for a tour. While browsing Groupon, I found a deal for the windmill and bought it.

Little Chute was settled by the Dutch and to commemorate this, the village built a windmill similar to the ones found in the 1850s in the province of North Brabant where most of the settlers came from. It is an authentic windmill built by a Dutch Windmill company and shipped over to Little Chute where it was re-assembled. It is actually a grain windmill that can be used to make flour.

I took a half day off from work figuring we would hit the windmill and the guitar exhibit downtown Appleton. I figured we would take a quick look around the windmill, maybe climb to the observation deck, and call it a day. But we were wrong.

When we got to the Windmill, we found out we actually get a guided tour of the windmill. There are several tour guides available everyday. We were the only ones there for the tour. While our guide was explaining a few photos two men came in and joined us.

Our guide explained how Little Chute was settled and how the windmill was built before we even climbed up to the grinding floor.

After the brief history of Little Chute, which I already learned while on a historical bike ride, we climbed up to the grinding floor. It was an easy climb and there was an elevator if needed. The hubby handled the stairs just fine.

Once on the grinding floor, our guide explained how the windmill helped produce flour. We also were lucky enough to have a miller working and he explained a few more of the technical aspects of milling flour and repairing the wheel.

Then we went outside to the observation deck. With the help of the miller, we learned how to turn the windmill to face the wind as well as how he puts on the canvas covers to help with turning the blades.

It was a fascinating tour. It was much more in depth than either the hubby or I thought it would be. I would suggest anyone visiting to take a tour of the windmill. You might need to wait to spring though since it's only open April-October unless you have an appointment.

6974. Make Shrinky Dinks

One of the gals in my book club is an artist and is always trying new art forms. She discovered shrinky dinks and incorporated them into her art. Stephanie decided to share her love with shrinky dinks and art with other people by hosting Shrink and Drink nights at local establishments. Her first one was at a brewery and I told her if she ever did one with wine, I'd sign up. A few months later, she posts one from Shrink and Drink at the Mondo Wine Bar downtown bar. Making good on my promise, I sent in my $40 and put it on my calendar.

I never made shrinky dinks growing up. Apparently they were quite popular but like a lot of things I discovered I was a deprived child. Somehow I was thinking (and the ones from my childhood probably were) that Shrinky Dinks are little plastic figures you melted in the oven until their shrunk and then played with them. However, Shrinky dinks is really coloring polystyrene and shrinking the image down.

Since we were adults, Stephanie left it pretty wide open to what we could make. We could free hand a design, we could trace images we found on our phones, she also had clip art books and coloring books for us to use to trace images. Tracing from our phones proved difficult as the image kept being resized as the polystyrene moved and you traced.

I came to the event wanting to make wine charms.. I ended up making WI team themed wine charms.

Making the wine charms was pretty easy.

1. Trace the team logo on the polystyrene. You want the design to be about twice the size that you want the actual item to be as it will shrink. We were told to trace on the shiny side and color on the dull side but it was easier to trace on the dull side since I didn't flip my image.

2. Using colored pencils, color the image on the dull side.

3. Cut out your design using regular scissors and punch the hole in it. Do not forget the hole.

4. Put the polystyrene in the toaster oven and watch the magic happen.

5. Attach whatever hardware you want.. hoops for wine charms, key chains, necklaces, earrings, charm bracelets.

I made a few Christmas presents along with my wine charms.

I have to admit it was pretty fun. I have enough polystyrene to finish a few more projects. When I run out either I have to buy more or go to another Shrink and Drink night.

If you have never been to played with Shrinky Dinks and want to make some fabulous art, I would recommend either buying some polystyrene on Amazon (or even a Shrinky Dink kit) or join Stephanie for a night of shrinking and drinking fun. Heck, she'll even put your jewelry together for you.

608. Go to a YMCA

When planning my ultimate bucket list year, crossing off go to the YMCA was high on the list. The Appleton Library offers a fan pass to the Y every month. I figured if I could snag a pass, it would be free to go to the Y. And that is exactly what I did.

Danielle and I headed to the Appleton YMCA. We ran into the first problem before we even got there when we realized the farmer's market was still going on and we had to detour around College Ave.. except the detour never really told us how to get to back to the YMCA after we got down in the locks. Luckily we were able to find our way there by sheer luck without the help of Googlemaps.

After we parked, which luckily I grabbed quarters for lockers since the parking garage only took cash, we headed into the YMCA. It turns out Danielle and I needed to live in the same house to use my FAN pass for both of us. Looks like the hubby and I got a new "roommate".

Neither of us have been to the Appleton YMCA before so we didn't really know everything they offered. Before we decided what we wanted to do, we were given a tour. We saw everything from the gyms, to the pools, the workout areas, and even the member only women's locker room which was enough to make contemplate getting a membership... that and the fencing room.

Once we seen the entire YMCA, we decided to go into the pool. We had about an hour before I needed to be home which was the perfect amount of pool time. The pool was fairly empty except for a few lap swimmers and a mom with her daughters. The kiddie pool had more people in it. Danielle and I spent out time walking and doing water aerobics of sorts. I actually did lunge walks for majority of time. I tried to do laps and tired after there and back.

It was really nice way to spend a few hours. I would love to get a membership but I can't justify it. I really don't think I would use it all that much and if I ever get the urge to use a treadmill or elliptical I can always go to one of the complex fitness rooms. The Y offers great programs which could be an incentive down the road though. For now if I get the urge to head back to the Y, I'll just make sure I get a FAN pass.

An Author Talk I Didn't Overly Enjoy

When I saw that Bill Stokes was going to be talking about his book that discussed the POW camps in Wisconsin, I was really interested. I knew there was a camp in the Appleton area but I wanted to learn more about it.

Well... I was greatly disappointed. He really didn't talk much about the POW camp. Sure there was some information but nothing I already knew. He did tell about one POW and how he came to meet him. I also learned that these POW weren't really treated as POWs when they went to area farms to help with the harvest. Some farmers' wives would offer the prisoners to eat lunch with the other farmhands.

Bill Stokes was very difficult to hear and maybe I just missed parts of what he was talking about but I left feeling disappointed. He didn't use a microphone and I was only in the three row. I was advised to sit closer but I thought three rows back was close enough. Maybe I should have sat in the front row.

I think being a newspaper man, he was very good at writing but public speaking might not be his forte. I am going to chalk it up to his age (over 80 crowd) that he couldn't elaborate more on his story than the basic information.

I had such high expectations for this talk and left feeling disappointed. I am sure his book Margaret’s War is very good and might even answer some of the questions I that I've been wondering.

Let's Go to Polo

The hubby has been wanting to go to Polo, IL for a while now. His baseball partner is from there and it's a middle of nowhere kind of town and the hubby HAD to go there... mainly as a joke.

So we stopped in Polo on our way back from Iowa.

There is not a whole lot in Polo. It's your typical middle of nowhere Midwestern small town.

You have a cute little Main Street which on Labor Day isn't all that happening.

You have a cafe that looks to be closed.

There is the high school where the hubby's partner played football.

That's about it.

Yup.. Been there.. done that... don't need to go back.

2392. Go to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch

Driving back from Arizona, the hubby is like we should go there sometime meaning the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. We had a chance to go last summer but opted to hit a new county in Wisconsin instead. When planning our Labor Day trip this year, this was one of the places we needed to stop at since we were going to be in the area.

The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is part of the National Park system and is located in West Branch, IA. It is right downtown West Branch and only a few miles off the Interstate. The historic site features his boyhood home.

There are also several neighborhood houses, a blacksmith shop, and the church/school where he attended for a bit. All these buildings are free to visit. and are self-guided. If you have time, there is also a movie in the visitor center.

Herbert Hoover's grave is short drive or walk from his boyhood home. There are two paths that lead from the parking lot to to his grave. One is steeper than the other. If you look down the hill and through the trees, you can actually see his boyhood home.

Also on the grounds is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. We did not visit this due to time constraints. Maybe one day we will make it back to visit the library.

This is a great stop if you are in the area. You learn a lot of our 31st President and where he came from. Even if you have only 30 minutes, you can see his home and grounds plus drive up to his grave site.

AP US Mini Golf Tour 2019: Cedar Rapids, IA

What do you do in Iowa on a Sunday night? Well if you're in Iowa City not much. There's not even mini golf. We ended up driving up to Cedar Rapids to go play mini golf since no champion was crowned for 2019 yet. The hubby and I both won one round while in Arizona in March and haven't played since.

After a quick Google Search, I found some mini golf in Cedar Rapids. What would we do without Google???? Cedar Rapids was only 20 minutes away so not too far for a round of mini golf. It was that or sit in the hotel room.

We played mini golf at Waterfall National Miniature which is part of Airport National Public Golf Course in Cedar Rapids. It is actually a few nice course. It looks easy but is quite challenging. Most of the holes have a par 2 especially on the back nine.

Because it was Labor Day weekend, it was quite busy. We had to wait to play every hole. It wasn't too bad. Everyone was just waiting their turn. It was quite nice. It was useless to let someone play through since there were more people behind them. No one caught up to us though.

It was not my finest night of golf. The hubby took home the crown of Mini Golf Champ again. I would get with in a couple of shots and then have a really bad hole. There's always next year and 3 more courses to try at the place in Arizona.

2407. Have pizza in Iowa

Since we were spending the night in Iowa because we wanted to see Hoover's birthplace before heading back to Wisconsin, I figured pizza was going to be a good choice for dinner. Being the pizza snobs we are, we like to check out different pizza places as we travel. Amazingly enough we haven't tried pizza in Iowa yet.

Pizza in Iowa City was hard to come by if you wanted to avoid chains. Since are not Chicago-style pizza fans, our choices were pretty limited. I thought a college town would have a lot of pizza but apparently not so much.

We went to  A & A Pagliai's Pizza which was right on the edge of Iowa University campus. I figured it was going to be a college hangout spot. I was very surprised when we got there and there were several booths of senior citizens enjoying pizza. If the old folks go there, it must be good.

A & A Pagliai's only serves pizza and only has booths. So if you have a big group, you are going to take up several booths. There is no such thing as garlic bread or appetizers. Pizza and drinks. They keep it pretty simple. You don't even get Parmesan cheese to shake on your pizza.

The hubby was befuddled by the crust. It was nothing like he ever had before. It wasn't crispy but it wasn't chewy. It was different in a good way. The sausage was really good too.

I wish they had more than just pizza. Some garlic bread would have been nice. If we are ever passing through we would definitely stop again.

2019 Baseball Stadium Tour -- Modern Woodmen Park

When we saw that the T-Rats were closing out the season at Quad Cities and the Brewers were home against the Astros on Labor Day, it made sense that our Labor Day weekend trip was a close one.. Davenport and Milwaukee.

Quad Cities River Bandits play in Davenport, IA which is one of the four cities in the Quad Cities. They play at Modern Woodmen Park which is just south of downtown. Googlemaps actually had us going through town instead of taking the bypass around then getting off the highway. We thought that was easier after we took it getting out of town.

Modern Woodmen Park is right on the Mississippi River. Being so close to the river, it does flood from time to time and home runs could land in the river. There are several lots near the ball park. The website really didn't say where to park so we winged it and it worked out.

The stadium was built in 1931 and has gone over several names and renovations throughout the years. You can tell it's an older ballpark with the having to climb stairs to enter the stadium once you get inside. It is actually a very nice, modern stadium.

Beyond left field is a small amusement park, for a lack of better term. There is giant Bandit Ferris Wheel which if the hubby wasn't afraid of heights I would have insisted on riding. There is also an old school carousel plus a few smaller rides for kids.

The netting pretty much runs from the length of the seating area which is pretty much dugout to dugout. There is some picnic areas and grass seating along the outfield lines but the actual seats extend dugout to dugout. We sat behind the T-rats dugout and had really good seats.

It was a pretty good game with the T-Rats winning (I think). We spent most of the game talking to the bus driver who we met when the hubby went to say hi to someone he knew that is a host family.

We would definitely come back here. It's a nice park with good amenities and the food isn't bad either. Only two more stadiums left in Iowa to hit and they aren't usually home at the same time.

In case you are keeping track, I've been to 13 major league and 12 minor league parks.. the hubby is at 12 and 11. I have Fenway and Jacksonville Suns on him.

Where will our travels take us next year? Stay tuned to see where the 2020 baseball stadium tour takes us.

5235. Visit the First State Capital in Belmont

The hubby has been wanting to see the First State Capitol for a few years now. However, we never seemed to be in the area when it was open.

The First State Capitol is located in Belmont which is essentially halfway between Dodgeville and Platteville. We are usually down in that part of the state at least once year. However, the first capitol is only open Saturday and Sundays from June 1 to September 1. Hello that is baseball season. There's not usually a lot of time to plan a quick jaunt down to other side of the state.

Since Belmont is on the way to Davenport, we stopped on way down to the River Bandits game. The First State Capitol is ran by the Wisconsin Historical Society and has free admission. It is not far off highway 151, just a few miles down a country road.

There are two buildings to the First Capitol -- the Court House and the Council House. They were moved slightly from their original locations to where they sit today. The Court House tells about early Wisconsin History and the Council House is set up to look like the Council House would have been back in the mid 1800's.

While everything in the Court House is pretty much original, the desks in the Council House are reproductions as students were ruining the originals. The stove and one other piece are originals though.

I learned some interesting pieces of Wisconsin History but wasn't overly impressed by either building.

They are worth seeing but I am not sure driving the 3 hours just to see them would be worth it. If you are in the area between June and August, go ahead and check them out but don't make a special trip just to see them.