2021 Year in Review

Despite the pandemic, I managed to knock a few things off the bucket list and have a few adventures. I made 5(!!!) trips to Door County and crossed off many of my Door County bucket list items.

Official Bucket list Adventures -- not bad since there we really didn't go to any place new this year

1. Carve my initials in a tree
2. Make tamales
3. Go to Juneteenth
4. Go to Hannibal, MO
5. Go to the Audubon Nature Center
6. Play horseshoes
7. Plant a flower garden

Unofficial Bucket list Adventures – 69

States -- 5
WI
IA
MO
NE
IL

Again not bad since we really didn't go to any new spots and stayed close to home.

Counties -- 98

Baseball States -- 4
WI
MO (2)
NE
IA

Major League Stadiums – 3
American Family Field (7)
Kauffman Stadium
Busch Stadium

Minor League Stadiums – 5
Fox Cities Stadium (4)
Pohlman Field
Werner Field
Modern Woodman Park
Perfect Game Field*

Counties with sports
1. Milwaukee
2. Outagamie
3. Winnebago
4. Manitowoc
5. Portage
6. Shawano
7. Rock
8. Brown
9. Eau claire
10. Ozaukee
11. Door
12. Calumet

Counties with pizza
1. Winnebago
2. Outagamie
3. Brown
4. Oconto
5. Eau Claire
6. Door*

Counties with ice cream
1. Brown
2. Eau claire
3. Milwaukee
4. Sheboygan
5. Door

Football stadiums
1. Lambeau
2. Arrowhead

OVRs - 2
1. 16-18 Year old in Green Bay
2. 15 Year Old in Eau Claire


States with Pizza
1. WI
2. NE
3. IA

States with Ice Cream
1. WI
2. IA

States with mini golf
1. IA
2. WI

National Parks
1. Effigy mounds
2. Gateway Arch

National trails
1. Ice Age Trail

State parks
1. Peninsula (2)
2. Harrington beach

State Forest
1. Northern Kettle Moraine

*New in 2021

Hopefully 2022 brings some more adventures.

My Adventures with Buddha's Palm

I am not an adventurous eating. However, when Stacy said she bought this fruit and then discovered there are only two ways to eat the fruit and I needed to try it, of course I did.

For Halloween Stacy bought Buddha's Palm. It is a yellow citrus fruit with tentacles that kind of look like goblin fingers. It smells good and makes a great centerpiece. That is all it's really good for. You really can't eat it. 

After some googling, Stacy discovered you can candy it or infuse alcohol with it as well. She opted to candy. So that's how I ended up trying Buddha's palm. She candied it and brought me some. She also used the candied liquid as a simple syrup in a drink and it was really good.

What does Buddha's palm taste like? Citrus peel. It is like you are eating the peel of a lemon or an orange. It is tart yet sweet because it's candied. It was actually really good and I will enjoy the Buddha's Palm that she left me. 

Would I buy it myself? Probably not. I don't need a good smelling centerpiece and I have no desire to candy the fruit itself. But if someone else buys it and candies it, I will have no objection to eating it. 

So the next time you are wandering through the produce island of Woodman's and see Buddha's palm remember unless you want to candy it or infuse alcohol with it, you might want to pick up a different fruit.

5155. Go to the Sheboygan County Historical Museum

 Every year when Stacy and I do cookie baking we try to have an adventure. There were several options and we decided to fly by the seats of our pants. One of the options was the Sheboygan County Historical Museum. I have never been and they had a H.C. Prange Company Christmas Decoration Display. I remember Prange's and wanted to see their decorations. 

The museum is broke into three buildings -- the museum, the cabin, and the Taylor house. Admission is $9/adult. Masks are currently required. They open every day at noon. 

We started in the main museum. The Christmas Decorations were impressive.

The rest of the museum gave you a history of the area from the stone age to the industrial age. I personally liked the Flintstone exhibit. 

There was a nice display about all the fires and disasters in Sheboygan. The fires spanned 120 or so years. 

Santa had his own little workshop as well. He was a bit lonely when we walked by. 

After checking out the museum we checked out the cabin. There were old time wooden games in the small cabin. I tried to catch the ball in the cup and Stacy played with the Jacob's Ladder.

Our last stop was the Taylor House. The house is gorgeous. It was a self guided tour. The only part of the house that was open to the public was the kitchen. It was beautifully decorated.

Also in the Taylor house was a penguin scavenger hunt. Thirteen penguins were hidden throughout the house. Each penguin had a letter attached and you had to figure out the phrase. There were small prizes if you wanted to take one. We figured out the message. The "F" threw me for a loop though. Luckily it didn't stump Stacy. 

Overall it was a good choice of an adventure. It was fairly quiet and on the way back to Appleton. It is definitely worth checking out any time of the year but the Christmas displays make it even better. I'm sure I will check it out again in the future.. and maybe even get a personal tour.