4952. Go to the Charlie’s drive-in in Hortonville

 After baseball, the hubby and I didn't really know what we wanted for dinner. Chinese didn't sound all that appetizing. We were hot and ice cream sounded delicious. Being responsible adults, we opted to head to Hortonville to try Charlie's Drive-In. We could get some sort of ice cram and protein. Win-win.

Open since 1965, Charlie's Drive-In is your typical old school drive in -- order from your car with a car hop after looking at a giant menu board, get a tray of food attached to the window, and eat in your car. 

We opted for cheeseburgers, fries, cheese curds, and milk shakes. 

Their butterscotch milk shake rivals Mickey-Lu-Bar-B-Q in Marinette. It tastes almost like a butterscotch candy. It was really refreshing after an afternoon in the sun.

The cheeseburgers were both agreed had a different kind of seasoning on it and we were not a fan. At first we thought it was bad meat but after nibbling just a small corner of the meat, I figured out it is either the seasoning or the ketchup. It was really disappointing. The fries and curds were fine.

Overall, the burgers ruined it for us. We'd definitely come back for shakes or ice cream just not for the burgers. It was not a complete bust but just not what our palates were used to. Who knows maybe next time will be better. 

AP US Mini Golf Tour 2022: Wisconsin Dells, WI

 We were in Reedsburg for the Ohio Valley Regional Tournament this year for Babe Ruth. We got into town a day early to meet with the local people in charge and found ourselves with a free evening since the coaches' meeting was moved to the next morning. After a delicious dinner at River's Edge Pub & Grub, it was time to some mini golf. 

Wisconsin Dells or The Dells is about 20 minutes from Reedsburg and offered two choices for mini golf. Pirates Cove or Timber Falls. The hubby wanted to play Pirates Cove. 

Pirates Cove offered 5 different courses -- 3 challenging courses and 2 easier courses. It is $10 for one course and each additional course is $5 as long as you buy it on the same day. We decided to play two courses. The second course was actually good up to one year. 

We started out on a challenging course -- Pirate's Challenge. After a walk up to the course, we started play. The course was pirate themed. 

I didn't find it too challenging and beat the hubby 48-50. I shot 2 over par which is really good for me.

Victory Stance

The second course was supposed to easier since every hole was a par 2. It really wasn't easier. The hubby and I both got hole in ones -- only time that night. We ended up tying. 44-44. 8 over par. So definitely not easier.

So far this year I am 1-1-1 in mini golf with possibly 2 more times out unless I find mini golf that is open in the UP in October. Will I finally take the crown or will lose in utter defeat again? Stay tuned the next couple of weeks to find out.

7039. See an outdoor soccer game

A few months back, I saw that Bayern Munich was coming to play a soccer match at Lambeau and sent out a who wants to go message on Facebook. A few weeks later, Stacy asks if I wanted to go um.. yes please. The hubby even said he'd go.

Now none of us are soccer fans. Stacy and I like Bayern Munich just because they are from Bavaria but neither of us could tell you the rules or much more than they wear red jerseys. The hubby figured it would be a once in a life time opportunity. 

Luckily, the Packers treated the soccer game like a Packer game and ran the same busses they do for a Packer game. That made getting to Lambeau super easy. We parked in DePere and rode the bus for free. No headaches trying to get in and out of the Titletown District, finding a place to park, or walking miles to get to the stadium after parking. 

Stacy got us great seats. We were in the new section so we had traditional stadium with backs versus metal bleachers AND we were under an overhang. This proved beneficial when the storms came and we (and our seats) stayed dry. We were in the corner which was fine because we could see the whole pitch.

Despite two rain delays (a rarity in soccer), the match was exciting to watch or as an exciting as soccer gets. The rainy weather I think benefited Manchester City since they are from England and deal with rainy weather more so than Germany. 

Manchester City won 1-0. There were more goals scored but apparently they were not counted due to penalties or something. Unlike baseball or football, there is minimal announcing due live play and so we rarely knew what was actually going on besides guys kicking a ball back and forth. 

The atmosphere was different than a Packer game. The weather did take some of the steam out of the crowd but it was much more subdued than what I expected for a soccer game. Because of our higher up seats, we did not need to stand the whole game. The main seating bowl was standing the whole game which from what I am told was normal.

Given the right opportunity I would definitely see another soccer match. I am not keen on learning the rules or playing myself but a really good match-up or even the World Cup  would definitely interest me. 

Salt Art Fun

 After wine tasting, the weather cleared up some so Danielle and I decided to head to Smith Park for Art in the Park. They said they would have a variety of crafts and just to stop in. 

Just like the City Carnival, it was geared towards elementary school kids and tweens. It said all ages. Yeah not really for adults. There was sponge painting, nail polish, bracelet making, play doh creations, and other things that just did not interest us. 

There was one thing that we decided wasn't too easy and decided since we drove all the way here, we might as well partake. That was salt painting.

Salt painting is rather simple.

1. Draw a design on paper with glue. 

2. Pour salt over glue

3. Using water color paints or water with food coloring in it, paint the salt.

4. Let Dry. This step is very, very important. Failure to let it dry, will result in the colors running and the artwork.  I learned this the hard way.

Okay so it was not a masterpiece art project, I was hoping for but as Danielle said, it got us out of the house and gave us something to do. 

Hopefully next year Mother Nature cooperates so they can do balloon paint art. If not, I'm not going. 

This is a great activity if you have kids that like art and need to burn off some creative energy. If you are an adult looking for a fun art project, check out the local libraries. 

A Midweek Wine Tasting

 Danielle and I talked about going to Art in the Park at Smith Park but the weather wasn't really cooperating. She then mentions that Club Liquor was having a wine tasting and it was free. Free wine? Of course, I'll leave the house for that.

The featured wine of the evening was Heitz Cellar, a wine out of Napa Valley, CA. Neither of us ever heard of them but we were willing to try them. 

There were four wines to taste -- all Cabernet Sauvignons, just from different years. There were also a few nibbles.. salami and tomatoes to munch one.

My favorite was the last wine we tried which was the 2010 vintage. I'm not a huge Cabernet Sauvignon fan because it's usually a dry red but this one was really good. Danielle said we couldn't afford any bottles. It was good but not that good anyways. The hubby won't like it.

I did not know Club Liquor did wine tastings but I would definitely go to another one given the chance. It was a nice time with good wine. Now I just need to figure out how to learn about their tastings.

5198. Go to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

 While Andrea and I were strolling through the Kohler Arts Festival, I mentioned I don't think I ever been in the Arts Center. Since it was warm out and the Arts Center was air conditioned going inside didn't seem like a bad idea especially since neither of us had an urge to buy art.

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is located near downtown Sheboygan and is open Tuesday through Sunday and is free to visit. The building used to be the Kohler Mansion.

The first exhibit we checked out was Woody De Othello: Hope Omens. This was a ceramic sculpture exhibit. The sculptures were very good but I couldn't pose as the sculptures. It runs through September 25th.

We checked out the pin exhibit that was created by a blind women who can tell colors by the heat they give off. During COVID not all the colors were available so her pieces were a lot more monochromatic.

The Sarah Zapata: a resilience of things not seen exhibit was a fiber arts exhibit. Her work was unusual. I don't normally thing of rugs and other fabrics as art but her sculptures were very cool. Her exhibit is there until August 28th.

I really enjoyed the In The Adjacent Possible exhibit. It was bright and colorful. It features various artists and will be there until March 2023. 

Andrea made me sit in the green shag chair that was part of the exhibit.

Of course I had to do a tree poise as well

No visit to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is complete without checking out the bathrooms. Each one is unique. Where else do you check out the restrooms just to see what they look like?

Outside around the Art Center is various stone sculptures. You definitely need to check out some of them. My favorite was the castle.

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is worth checking out. Their exhibits are very modern and fun. I would go back and see future exhibits. 

5212. Go to Kohler Arts Festival in Sheboygan

 I promised Andrea I'd come down to Sheboygan after my last Sheboygan adventure and we'd go to the Art Preserve. I get to her house and she was like we could go to the Art Preserve or we could go to the Kohler  Arts Festival. Since the Arts Festival was closer to the beach where we needed to do a photo shoot, I opted for the Arts Festival.

The Midsummer Festival of the Arts is located in and around City Green and the Kohler Art Center. We found parking a block or so away and walked down to the festival. 

There was a stage with music. It was a Hispanic band that was quite good.

Several food trucks lines up on the street including this really cool one that had poke bowls. Since we already had lunch, we skipped the food trucks and opted for ice cream down by the lake later.

Since we weren't too crazy about wandering around outside of the Art Center looking at art we weren't going to buy and pretend to be interested in it, we opted to check out the Kohler Art Center. You can read more about that here. 

After touring the museum, we headed back outside and visited the craft tent. Inside they were featuring fiber arts and we could make our own coin purse using various fiber art materials.. plastic yard craft sheets, felt, fabric, yarn, embroidery floss, etc. There was glue and needles to help with the construction of the coin purse. 

Needless to say we weren't the greatest fiber artists. I forgot to sew the red circles on before creating my coin purse so I had to glue them and then attempt to stitch them on to hold them better. Andrea said she'd finish at home.

The Midsummer Festival of the Arts is fun for the whole family. Even though we didn't really check out the art vendors, there was still plenty to see and do... and eat. If I'm in the area again next year, I would stop by and check it out again.