5897. Have ice cream at Belts' in Stevens Point

 The hubby said we could do whatever we wanted on the way back from Eau Claire. I wanted to get ice cream at Belts' in Stevens Point. We tried one other time and it was super busy. 

Belts' is a soft serve ice cream stand near downtown Stevens Point. It is a walk up and order kind of place. It is open 11-10 every day during the summer. They only take cash but do have an ATM on site.

They serve cones, dishes, sundaes, slushes, and shakes/malts. You can get vanilla, chocolate, twist, or the flavor of the day. Belts' is famous for their large cone. It is like a foot tall. 

The hubby got a vanilla cone and I got the flavor of the day -- Blue Moon. 

I will be honest this was not one of my better ideas. The ice cream was just so-so. I thought the blue moon had no flavor. Dairy Queen is better.  Neither of us were impressed. I am not a huge soft serve fan to begin with so that might be part of the problem. I also forget that blue moon really has no flavor. 

So it was a disappointing stop but it did knock off have ice cream in Portage County. I will have to find some better ice cream in Stevens Point. I might have to send my nephew on a mission to find some next year while at UW-Point. 

Even though we were disappointed, if you like soft serve and huge cones do check out Belts'. Maybe you will like it better than us. 

5904. Go to the High Ground Veterans Memorial in Neillsville

 We had to go to Eau Claire for a funeral and since our friends were busy, the hubby was like if there is anything you want to do, we can do it. Doesn't he know that could be a very bad statement. I always have things I want to do. I gave him the choice between the Veterans Memorial and Jurustic Park. Since Jurustic Park is in the middle of nowhere and kind of out of the way, he opted for the Veterans Memorial. One day I will learn not to give him options. 

High Ground Veterans Memorial is located just west of Neillsville on Hwy 10. The grounds are open year round 24 hours a day. The gift shop and museum are open set hours. It is the largest manned Veterans Park in the US. The park is free and open to public. 

The park has over a dozen tributes, a museum, gift shop, and over 4 miles of hiking trails. The views are spectacular. They have room for large vehicle parking as well. 

The various tributes are spread out across the park all on paved or accessible paths. Some of the tributes are a single statue others are more involved. They span from WWI all the way to the Persian Gulf Conflicts. There are spots for picnics and spots for mediating and reflection. 

Down the hill from the gift shop is the Wisconsin Persian Gulf Tribute. Since this was really the  conflict I remember, it was moving to see such a well done tribute. I remember the yellow ribbons on trees and on the news growing up. 

The Korean War Tribute was quite impressive. It gave you a timeline of the war as well. 

The High Ground is also home to the only Native American Vietnam War Memorial in the country. 

There is enough a replica Liberty Bell that you can ring so you can "Let Freedom Ring". I did not get to do this.

The museum was under renovation when we were there which I why I would have rather gone to Jurustic Park. We did not go to the gift shop either. 

We only spent about 30 minutes there but it was definitely worth the stop. We pass it enough and I was like we just have to do it. So we did. I highly recommend stopping if you ever find yourself in the Neillsville area. 

688. Make daisy chains

Some times life goes as planned but often times you need to make adjustments as life throws curve balls. This year is not one that is going to go as planned. Things I thought would get crossed off the bucket list will still be on the bucket list come 2025. And that is okay. In order to try knock off five things off the original list, I am finding more random things to do. Things that I probably should have done 30-40 years ago.  Things like lay in a meadow and daydream, make daisy chains, see the Nutcracker, and collect nuts.

I happened to see wild daisies growing along the edge of the complex which made me think about daisies chains and how they are still on the bucket list. I had no clue how to make a daisy chain but that is what YouTube and Google is for. It seemed simple enough.

I collected a couple of bunches of flowers. I figured if I didn't have enough for a wreath, at least I could make a bracelet. The amount of flowers decreased from the time I thought about doing this and the time I actually got around to do it. I would have liked to pick a few more but I also wanted to like some in case others wanted to pick some.

I carried my flowers back home to where I attempted to make daisy chains.

To make a daisy chain, you slit the stem with your finger name and slide the stem of another daisy into the opening. Repeat until it is the desired size and then slit the first stem again slightly longer to put in the last stem to close it. 

I made a bracelet or a very small crown. 

It was actually kind of fun. It took me about 5-10 minutes. I learned the thicker the stem the easier it will be make the chain. A thin stem is not hardy enough to pry open and can lead to rips. 

However, I missed the step on how to make sure you don't have stems all of the place. Something I will have to look into for next time. I would love to teach my niece to make daisy chains. 

So the summer of adventure is going to be a lot smaller (and less expensive) than originally planned. Things will get crossed of the original and expanded bucket lists but they will a lot closer to home. You never know what you will find when exploring your state. 

7330. Make a homemade ice cream sandwich

 After going to Legendairy, I decided I could probably make the same thing at home for less cost. All an ice cream sandwich is 2 cookies and some ice cream. 

The better the ice cream and cookies, the more expensive it is going to be. Sure I could have used Chips Ahoy and Great Value Ice Cream but I felt soft, bigger cookies would work better. I went with Pepperidge Farm Captiva Dark Chocolate cookies. You could also use homemade cookies. For ice cream, I went with Haagen Dazs Mint Chocolate Chip. 

It was super easy to make. 

1. Put a cookie in a bowl, plate, or cookie sheet. 

2. Add a few scoops of ice cream. The more ice cream you add the thicker it will be. I stuck with about 3.

3. Top with another cookie.

4. Freeze to let ice cream set. This is optional and I did not do this.

5. Enjoy.

My ice cream sandwich was really good. I was initially slightly disturbed that the ice cream was not green but it tasted amazing. It is nice treat once in a while. Since I was using Pepperidge Farm cookies and Haagen Dazs, it definitely would not be an every night treat otherwise I'd be out of cookies quickly.

Sometimes homemade is better. 

An Urban Hike Through Appleton

 Appleton library was offering an Urban Hike through downtown Appleton. It sound like fun. The hubby had games so even though it was ungodly hot, I decided to go. I double tripled checked this was for adults and not kids though. It was. 

We met at Jones Park. Googlemaps took me to the Jones Park by the police station. I knew we were meeting at the one below the Convention Center. So I had to wind my way back down to the river. I got there with plenty of time to spare. It said it would be a 2 hour hike in about 1.5 hours. 

Our friendly librarian guide gave us a mini journals to use once we got to our half way point. He said we would stop periodically and point out some flowers and animals that we saw along the way.

The first stop was the bird mural, which I did not know existed. It is a lovely mural depicting many different bird species found in the area painted to look like paper cranes. 

We spotted a pelican on the bank of the river.

There were plenty of wild flowers growing along the side of the trail including these fake sunflowers or oxeyes.

We then continued down the path to the Houdini Sculpture. Here talked about the bat population and various volunteer opportunities people have been involved with. We also saw an abandon eagle's nest. 

Our next destination was City Park. Here we learned about journaling and was sent to observe nature. We were to use the I notice.. I wonder.. It reminds me of technique. 

There was a tree that caught my eye when we walked in. It had vines growing out of it. As I laid there studying it, it reminded me of a woodland fairy. That is about as in touch with nature I get. 

From there we headed back to Jones Park. We didn't see much of anything on the way back. I did notice horse heads protruding from the front of Cloe's building. Never noticed them before.

It wasn't a bad way to spend a summer night. I was hoping for a little more guidance and discussion instead of lets just walk. I wanted to see things I usually missed but there wasn't anything unusual. Oh well, at least I got a walk in.

I challenge you to take an urban hike through your city and see what you find.