Dawn of a New Era” Celebration of 140 Years of Lighting the World

 When we made pickles this year, Janis mentioned going to the Hearthstone House because they were celebrating 140 years of being the first hydroelectric house in the US. Danielle and  I said we were interested in going. Janis said we could go to the lighting of the house because the reception was for members only. We were fine with that.

Danielle and I ended up going by ourselves. Because the Hearthstone House has a small parking lot and we didn't know where we'd have to park, we got there early and actually ended up with the last spot in the lot. They said to get there by 6:20 and the program would start at 6:40. 

6:40 came and went. Finally Henry J Rogers, the owner of the house in 1882, appeared along with his family. He came out to the front porch to make a speech.

He had his maid extinguish the candles.

Then he flipped the switch and there was light in Appleton.

It was actually very cool to see what the residents of Appleton saw 140 years ago when they first turned on the lights to the house that was powered by the Fox River. 

Then he invented everyone inside for the reception. I guess since there was not a lot of people there, they could invite everyone in or Danielle and I just crashed the party -- very undressed.

Not only were we able to do a self guided tour of the house which neither of us ever saw before, we also enjoyed cheese, crackers, and fruit along with wine in crystal (gasp) wine glasses while we toured the historic home. There was a pianist to entertain guest while they mingled like there would have been back in 1882.

After we finished our tour, we indulged in some cake before leaving. 

The house is amazing and I would love to take a tour of it maybe even see it decked out for Christmas. I did not truly get to appreciate the house while we were there since it was more of reception than a tour. I honestly felt out of place. 

I am so glad Janis mentioned this piece of history to us and that I was able to attend. If you haven't checked out the Hearthstone House, definitely put it on your list of things to see in Appleton. It is ornate and gorgeous insdie

5539. Go to Warrens Cranberry Festival

 Last year Stacy mentioned that we should go to Warrens Cranberry Festival some time. It just happened that Cranberry Festival Warrens was going to be the same weekend we decided on for Girls Weekend and Warrens was not that far from La Crosse. We couldn't have planned it better if we tried.

Warrens Cranberry Festival is always the last full weekend in September. It opens at 7 am on Friday and Saturday and 9 am on Sunday. It goes until 5 each day. The entire festival is throughout the main streets of Warrens. It literally shuts down the town for three days. 

We headed to Warrens first thing in the morning on Sunday. Parking is in 3 main lots on the outskirts of the festival. Logistically we wanted to park in the blue lot since that was the easiest to where we were going but due to road closures through town we ended up paying for parking in the Red Lot. We just took the shuttle bus down to the festival. It really was in hindsight a better choice.

To beat the crowds, we opted to do the pancake breakfast at St. Andrew Catholic Church. For $8, we got pancakes, sausage, milk, and cranberries if we wanted them. They had a great system and the food was good. If you plan on going to cranberry festival ever, this is a great option for breakfast.

It was misty and overcast. Really not a nice day to be outside but such is life. All Cranberry Festival is a giant craft fair and flea market. If you are into shopping and arts and crafts, it's three miles of vendors. I was on the look out for a new wooden badger sign. Other than that we the whole craft fair/flea market was not that exciting. It might have been the weather too. 

We did check out the cranberry tours. I naively thought it was going to be guided cranberry tours in the cranberry bogs but they were self-guided. It was more of look at the bogs, check out the pictures, and ask the volunteers any questions. Not quite the experience I was hoping for. Cranberries grow on plants. When it is time to harvest them, they flood the fields to make the bogs. To my disappointment, the bogs aren't there all year round.

The other thing we did was go to the Cranberry Discovery Center. For $5, it got us out of the weather and we got to learn the history of cranberry growing in Wisconsin. It was very interesting, hands on, and definitely worth the money. It is open all year round.

We did do some cranberry wine tasting as well but after yesterday more wine did not sound appealing. 

The one thing we did not do and that was mainly do to weather and timing was eat. There are a lot of food vendors but since we had a big breakfast we weren't in the mood to try anything. I was hoping for some good cheese curds but there were the same ones I could get around here. 

I am glad we went on a Sunday and the weather was not nice as there were less people. I would not want to be there on a Friday or Saturday when it is nice out as it can get really busy. Like wall to wall people crazy. 

I would go again on a Sunday but I would check the weather to make sure it was going to be nice out. Walking around in the mist was not that appealing. I think I'm getting old. 

Ice Cream at The Pearl

 When Stacy wants to add something to the Girls Weekend agenda, it is usually some place good. The text I got saying we need to add this to the list was for an ice cream place in La Crosse. I am not one to say no to ice cream.

The Pearl Ice Cream Parlor has been around since the 1930s. It is downtown La Crosse, a short drive from the Friendship Gardens. When booking the ghost tour, we had to confirm how long it was so we knew if we needed to get ice cream before or after. The Pearl is open until 10 pm so we were good going after the tour.

The Pearl is an old school ice cream parlor with 30 different types of ice cream and homemade waffle cones. There is no freezers to look at the ice cream. Instead there are menu cards and a chalk board with all the flavors. This was a hard for me since I like to see the flavors before I pick one. 

I went with Mississippi Mud in a waffle cone. With all the time we spent on or crossing the Mississippi, I thought it was an apt flavor besides it is loaded with chocolate. It was very good. 

Besides an ice cream parlor, The features a confectionary, coffee shop, and soda fountain. We peeked in the confectionary while waiting for our cones but since they were closing for the night didn't buy any.

The Pearl is a definite stop while in La Crosse. The old school charm makes it worth the stop even if you don't get any ice cream. There aren't too many places left like this any more and we have to patronize those that are still around.

Ghosts of Historic La Crosse Walking Tour

 Even though La Crosse is a college town, there is not much to do after dark unless you want to drink. Since we really didn't find much to do, we figured we'd hit some breweries in the evening. Then we went stopped at the Friendship Gardens earlier in the day and saw that the library was offering a ghost tour at 8 PM. Stacy took down the contact info and texted our RSVP later that morning. 

I remember vaguely finding something online when I searched ghost tour La Crosse over the summer but it was not very specific and sounded like we needed a group of people. I promptly forgot about it. It turns out it was the same ghost tour. 

We met our guide, Michael Scott, at the Friendship Garden at 8 pm. Due to the weather we were the only ones on the tour. The other group no-showed. It wasn't raining any more and it was pretty nice out so perfect for a walking tour around downtown La Crosse.

Over the course of about an hour and 15 minutes, we walked about a mile and visited eight different stops. For the most part all of our stops were restaurants, bars, and other similar establishments. Michael talked to witnesses or read about eye witness accounts of paranormal activity at each of the places from doors closing, knocking on doors, shadowy figures. 

My favorite story was about the former owner of Bodega Brew Pub. Workers would find beer bottles knocked over. As you can see these bottles are not easily reached from the inside to knock them over.

If you are in La Crosse and need something to do at night, check out the Ghost Tours. It seems that they would be pretty accommodating to any group size on the weekends during summer and fall. October is a popular time to take the ghost tour. It was definitely worth the $10/person. 

2022 Girls Weekend Alcohol Tour: Skeleton Crew Brew

 Since the winery closed at 6 and the ghost tour didn't start at 8, we had about 2 hours to kill between Trempealeau and La Crosse. Stacy mentioned a Pirate themed brewery and despite having cider and wine, we decided to kill time at the Skeleton Crew Brew. It was about a 30 minute drive between Elmaro and the Skeleton Crew Brew.. long enough for me to sober up and get ready for round 3. 

We opted to walk the plank and split a flight of four beers. The flight was only $7 which was not bad. All the beers had a pirate themed name. Our choices were Swab the Deck Seison, Stern Chaser Sour, Run a Rig Raspberry Wheat, and Farthom Fruitzer. 

Honestly none of them had a wow factor. They all were just okay. I would admit my favorite was the Strawberry Rhubarb Sour. I'm thinking that combination in alcohol is starting to grow on me since the Strawberry Rhubarb wine at the Yooper Winery was my favorite. I do not like rhubarb at all and strawberry flavor is not high on the list either. Maybe the fermentation does something to it that makes it palatable. 

Since we had time to kill and it was still relatively nice out, we decided to go sit on the patio. There was no one out there. Then it started to rain which turned into a thunderstorm. We were undercover at least but kind of stranded because we would have gotten soaked trying to get back inside with the flight of beer. So of course we just stayed outside and waited it out.

During the storm, Stacy introduced me to the washer game. The option is to get this washer on a string on the hook. No matter how often we tried we couldn't get it to stay on. We think it wasn't set correctly. 

However I had fun trying.

If you went to the women's restroom, you may turn into a mermaid.

They also have wine. Maybe the winery is better than the brewery because we were not impressed.

Skeleton Crew Brew was fine. We just didn't care for the beer. I would consider going back and trying the wine. If you have time to kill and looking for a themed place, check it out. If not there are plenty of other places in La Crosse to check out since it is a college town.

2022 Girls Weekend Alcohol Tour: Elmaro Vineyard

 When we realized the Ecker's Orchard did not really have food, we decided to head back up the road about a mile to the winery we saw. I saw that it had charcuterie boards as food options. This would be perfect.

Elmaro Vineyard is located just outside of Trempealeau. It is open Tuesday through Sunday at noon to at least 5 pm. With the weather being somewhat nice by then, we decided to check it out. We had about an hour to enjoy some wine.

When we walked up, the hostess explained the tasting process. We could sit inside or outside. They had pre-determined flights of 3 individual bottles. You could also order by the bottle or glass which had a much more expansive menu than the flights. There was also a small food menu.

We went with 2 flights of wine and local cheese plate along with some bread and spreads. We got our wine flights right away. Since we were splitting the flights, they gave us glasses otherwise we would drink from the bottle. They also had water available in self-serve water jugs. Water would come very necessary as the afternoon wore on.

We went with The Semi-Sweet Flight and the Fall Flight. They were all very good. The apple still wasn't exactly what I was looking for. The six samples on top of the cider from the orchard really started to get to us. Good thing we ordered some food.

The cheese and sausage was nothing special. The cheese could have been cut smaller but trust me it was still good. 

The bread on the other hand was amazing. Stacy picked out Honey and chevre and creamy olive salsa . The honey and chevre was to die for. We wanted to know how to make it because it was the perfect mix of sweet and savory. Even the olive salsa was good and I'm not one for black olives. Maybe it was just that I had too much to drink and didn't care at the moment.

The patio was great to sit and relax. It was quite full when we got there. This is another great spot to hang with friends and family on the weekends when out in Western Wisconsin. I will definitely be back when in the area. I told my cousins we need a girls weekend out that way to hit up all the wineries and distilleries. We shall see.