26 in 2026: Visit a New Ice Cream Place -- Creekside Creamery

 A Facebook poll rated Creekside Creamery the best ice cream in Valley. It beat out Leon's and Frogg's.  I figured that was a good enough reason to try it. When the smoke was going to be a potential issue for the T-Rats game, I suggested getting drinks at the game and then celebrating National Ice Cream Day with some ice cream. She readily agreed and suggested Creekside Creamery. 

Creekside Creamery is just off downtown Hortonville on Nash Street. It is open 7:30-8 Tue-Sat and 11-8 on Sundays. They are currently closed on Mondays. There is small parking lot in the back. 

Creekside Creamery features natural ice cream and coffee meaning no artificial colors or flavors. They have unique flavors of ice cream as well as dairy free ice cream. You can sample all 24 flavors if you want before making a decision. The rotation keeps changing so you never know what they have.

Some of the unique flavors they had was Lemon White Chocolate Scone, Quinoa Sweet Cream, Lemon Poppyseed, Strawberry Rhubarb, Mojito and Rum. They had basic flavor as well such as Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, Birthday Cake, Orange Dreamsicle, Sweet Cream, and Chocolate. 

Heather and I had lemon white chocolate scone. The hubby went with Birthday Cake. Her hubby had Lemon Poppyseed. I almost went with chocolate peanut butter cup but realized I wanted to try new ice cream flavors this year. I also almost got the quinoa but opted with the lemon white chocolate scone. 

My sample was fantastic. I was excited to get a scoop of it. I found the actual scoop disappointing. It lack lemon flavor through out. There was one or two burst of lemon flavor other than that, I felt it didn't have much flavor. The hubby said his birthday cake tasted like sprinkles and no real cake flavor. I think since it's natural flavor, it's not going to stand out as much as artificial flavors.

Overall I was kind of disappointed. I would go back but I'm not racing out to Hortonville when I get an ice cream craving. 

If you want to avoid artificial flavors/colors or need dairy free ice cream, this is the place for you. I definitely would recommend trying it. It is a popular place and I hope they make it. I would also like to try their coffee drinks. 

26 in 2026 -- Try at least one new beer, cider, or cocktail -- First Base-Fizz

 The Timber Rattlers always have specialty cocktails for their games. I try to get at least one a year. Heather mentioned it was definitely a day-drinking kind of game. We decided to head to Leinie's Lodge for some cocktails.

Today's drink of the game was The Buzzer Beater. The grape vodka and cranberry juice were a turn off. However, they had other vodka flavored drinks. One of them was First Pitch Fizz which Heather and I got.

First Pitch Fizz has Cotton Candy Vodka by Game On Spirits, Lemonade, and Starry. It sounded perfect for me. It was $8 in a plastic cup or $12 in a souvenir cup which is reasonable for a baseball game. 

The First Pitch Fizz was perfect. It was sweet, but not too sweet, and refreshing. I just wish there was some cotton candy add to the top. That would be so much fun. 

I hope we can indulge in another specialty cocktail before the season is over. Stay tuned to what else we may drink this year. 

26 in 2026: Visit a New Ice Cream Place -- Frankie's Ice Cream

I really wanted to get ice cream so I scheduled an ice cream date with Kristine. There were a couple of places in Port that I wanted to try. We picked Frankie's.

Frankie's Ice Cream is a seasonal ice cream stand in Port Washington that is ran out of an Airstream trailer. It is located on the corner of Pier and Franklin Streets downtown. They are open daily 11-9:30.

Frankie's serves Cedar Crest ice cream, Mini Donuts, and Jolly Good Soda. You can get a float with ice cream and Jolly Good. You can even get donut sundaes. Cedar Crest and Jolly Good are so a Southeast Wisconsin thing. 

I kept it simple just a scoop of Mint Mackinac Island Fudge in a waffle cone. It was $5.25 or so for my cone which I thought was reasonable. 

A dozen mini donuts were $7. I just don't get the fascination with mini donuts. Maybe it's that they are too sweet for me once you add all the toppings.

There is plenty of seating and if not the lake is only a few blocks away.

If you are ever in Port, grab an ice cream for Frankie's.

There's still a few ice cream places in Port that I need to try. I'm sure one day I'll get to them all. 

26 in 2026 -- Try at Least One New Restaurant -- Geno's Steakhouse

 The hubby had a rare Saturday off in the middle of baseball season. He asked for dinner suggestions and I gave him my list of restaurants we wanted to try. He narrowed it down to two different supper clubs. After asking around, he chose Geno's Steakhouse in Black Creek.

Geno's Steakhouse is off Hwy 47 in Black Creek, closer to Nicholas than Black Creek. It is open Wed-Sun 4:30-8, except Friday and Saturday when they are open to 9. There is plenty of parking. Geno's Steakhouse looks like a regular house even on the inside.

Like a typical supper club, you make your way to the bar where they took our drink orders and gave us menus. I had an old fashioned while the hubby had a Mountain Dew. It was only like $9 for both. And my old fashioned is not a little one either. It was a decent old-fashioned.

Once we said we were ready to order, they gave us a number. Then our waitress came to take our order. I went with prime rib and the hubby had tenderloin and haddock combo.

We were then seated shortly after in the back room and advised to help ourself to the salad bar.

The salad bar was in the front room. It was not very big but offered plenty. There was also two kinds of soup. I knew if I had soup I won't eat all my dinner even the taco soup sounded good.

We had fresh bread at the table.

Our food arrived fairly quickly. I'll be honest my prime rib was boring. It was not very flavorful. Maybe I am just used to tenderloin. It was good just boring. The hubby said his tenderloin was very good and wondered why I would even consider prime rib when there was tenderloin. Next time I will get tenderloin. 

They offered us dessert which we declined as we were too full.

It was all very good. We would definitely go back. The hubby said it took him over 40 years to get to Geno's... hopefully it doesn't take us another 40 to get back. 

I wonder where our next dining adventure will take us. 

26 in 2026: Try One New Pizza Place -- Antoinette's Casual Dining

 After we went to the PEEP show and stop by my parents, we decided we wanted pizza for dinner. I looked for a new pizza spot around Sheboygan. I found a few and the hubby picked Antoinette's Casual Dining in Plymouth.

Antoinette's Casual Dining is located on Mill St and is open Wed-Sun starting at 11 each of those days. There's plenty of parking across the street.

They have more than just pizza. They say they are "elegant French Bistro and contemporary cuisine". There is pasta, burgers, salads, pizza, chicken, and mac and cheese. Since we wanted pizza, we ordered pizza and cheesy bread.

The cheesy bread was good.

The pizza not so much. It looked good in the pictures but the blend of cheeses they used just did not work with pizza. The crust was fine. You know it's not great pizza when we bring home over half the pizza. The hubby claimed he was full from lunch. It was the pizza.

We said we would go back and try something else on the menu but skip the pizza. I would say give them a try. The rest of the food looked good coming out.

The best part was the giant cow in the parking lot. Of course I needed a picture.

6211. See the PEEP Show at the Racine Art Museum

 The Racine Art Museum puts on an art show every year featuring PEEPs candy. Artists from all over enter their creations including the public. It runs about 3 weeks around Easter each year. I have said I wanted to go and this year I told Stacy we were going. 

The Racine Art Museum is open 10-4 Wednesday-Sunday which is part of the reason it made it so hard to get to. I had to find a Saturday that worked for me and Stacy in the midst of baseball season. There is street parking or a parking garage nearby. Since the hubby came along, we just Stacy and the kids at the museum. We parked in the ramp. It is $10/adult for admission into the entire museum not just the PEEP show.

This year the PEEP show made the main gallery downstairs. I was impressed by the number of pieces of art. 

Bad Bunny was a common theme. We saw several Bad Bunny half time show works of art.

Some were play on words.

Some were from pop culture.

Each piece was unique and some were better than others.

After we checked out the PEEP show, we did check out the rest of the museum. Upstairs was an exhibit on paper cutting. 

Some were nothing more than snowflakes.

Others were very intricate.

Back downstairs in the lobby, the hubby was found the metal work pieces impressive. 

If you have never checked out the PEEP exhibit before, definitely put it on your list for next year. It is worth the visit. Even the hubby, who isn't an art museum kind of guy, found it tolerable. 

26 in 2026: Go to at least 1 author talk -- Shelly Van Pelt

 When Fox Cities Reads announced that Remarkably Bright Creatures was going to be the Fox Cities Read for 2026, I knew I had to attend the author talk. I read the book back when it first came out and loved it. I even convinced that my book club to read. Unfortunately my book club meeting was the same day as Shelly Van Pelt's visit. I hoped to be able to do both but figured it would have been doubtful. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a delightful book about an escape artist octopus, an older woman, and a lost soul. Even though an octopus is a main character, it is truly a book about friendship and life. It is Shelly Van Pelt's debut novel.

Shelly Van Pelt was scheduled to speak at 6 at the Appleton Library. Having seen several well known authors as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival and know how many people will show up especially for this book, I knew how I had to get there early. I got there at least 90 minutes before hand. I was not the first person there. We waited outside the room for about 45 minutes before being allowed in. I chose a seat about half way back. By the time it started it was standing room only.

Shelly Van Pelt not only is an amazing author, she is also a great speaker. She spoke for about 45 minutes about how the story developed and the upcoming movie. I loved how she would spend hours at the Atlanta aquarium watching and observing the animals as part of her research. She took questions for about 10 minutes. 

After she was done speaking, she was going to sign books. This is where it got insane. I ducked out while she was still answering questions. There was at least 50 people in front of me. The line snaked from the outside the conference room, down the hall, and into the library. The moved slowly but it was worth the wait.

I got my book signed and even got a picture. I made a comment about it being a long night for her and she was like I get to sit here. You guys have to stand the entire time. She was very personable and nice. 

If you ever get a chance to hear her talk, do it. If you get a chance to hear any other speak do it. They love meeting readers and share their books. 

26 in 2026: Try One New Pizza Place -- Copper State Brewing Company

 The hubby saw a commercial for a pizza place one night. He said the pizza looked good and we needed to try it but he couldn't remember the name of it. He thought it was Copper Rock and I'm like that's a coffee shop. I thought he meant Vault 202 -- the brewery and pizza place next door. Nope it was Copper State Brewing Company. 

Copper State Brewing Company is open 6:30-10:00 Mon-Fri and 7-10 on Saturdays. They are closed on Sundays. It is located in downtown Green Bay over by the Neville Museum. There is plenty of parking.

Just like Cool City Brewing in Two Rivers, Copper State features coffee and beer (hence the early hours). Since I needed to cross of a brewery in Brown County, I opted for a flight. They had enough sours on the menu to do a whole flight of sours. You can do a flight of 4 or 6 beers. Since I was only one drinking them, I went with 4. 

Since they were out of one of my choices, I went with 

Bougie Blue -- I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I wasn't sure I was going to like it since it was blueberry but it was actually quite good.

Sugar Plum Elderberry Tart -- This one wasn't bad. Not as good as the Bougie Blue but still a decent sour. 

Pomegranate Pucker -- I am not a huge fan of pomegranate so it's not surprising I wasn't a huge fan of this one. 

Star Studded Pucker -- This was my least favorite and the one I was looking to try the most. It had a weird spice mix to it that didn't go well with the rest of the flavors. I think the vanilla came on too strong. 

We also obviously got pizza. It is wood fired pizza. We went with sausage. 

The pizza was very good. The hubby didn't like the fresh parmesan on it even though we had it at Cesario's in Georgia. I thought it added a depth to the pizza. 

We would definitely come back for pizza again. We would go early before they get busy to enjoy the quietness like we did this time.

If you find yourself in Green Bay and want pizza or beer, check out Copper State Brewing Company.