Draco the Pet Rock Snake

 As Danielle and I were strolling through downtown Neenah in search of musical chimes, we passed a flower bed where Draco the Pet Rock Snake was residing. I told Danielle I needed to add to Draco.

Apparently community Pet Rock Snakes are a thing. If you search Tik Tok or Facebook for Pet Rock Snakes, there are several pages and posts about them. I vaguely remember seeing something on Future Neenah's Facebook page about Draco. 

Draco is a "snake" made of painted rocks. The community helps by adding a rock to it. It was pretty long when we first saw him. Draco is located in front of Smile Creations SC.

I really meant to paint a rock to add to Draco. I found a rock that was perfect for the design that I wanted. However, I just ran out of time. I ended up using on of the Mandela dot rocks I painted in Kaukauna last year.

After I ran the Fox Cities 5K and we checked out the farmers market, Danielle walked to add to Draco. It was a lot farther down than I remembered.  We left another rock at the end of Draco and hiked back to car. 

If you are looking for a fun activity before winter sets in, find a smooth rock paint it and add to Draco. Or start one in your yard. 

4985. Make music on the musical dance chimes in Neenah

 One of the Fox Cities Experiences check in was the Musical Dance Chimes in Neenah. Neenah has several Fox Cities Experiences check ins including the Helen Stuart Trail and Hiram Smith Octagon House I visited earlier this year. Since Danielle wanted to go to Neenah Farmer's Market, I suggested we knock off the remaining downtown Neenah Fox Cities Experiences as well which included the Clock Tower and I thought the painted electric boxes and the George and Abe statues. 

The Musical Dance Chimes are located just outside Neenah Plaza behind where the Christmas tree is during the holidays. It is also where you pick up the Loop the Lake trail from downtown Neenah. I was looking for vertical chimes. When I could find the chimes, we pulled up the app and realized we need to look down. It is built into the ground. Danielle found it first.

There are several songs with the foot steps to follow to make music including Hot Cross Buns and Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

I stuck with the simple one of Hot Cross Buns. It does require a certain amount of coordination which was difficult. 

It was actually kind of fun though stomping on the ground trying to make music. It is definitely worth checking out if you have kids that like to bang on things or just want to be a kid yourself. I really do love public music stations. 

Note: The painted electrical boxes are the ones in downtown Appleton even though Neenah has them too. The George and Abe statues are the ones by the mall not the ones in Neenah. We walk by the Clock Tower on the way to the car. I know only have 2 left in Neenah (Bergstrom Mahler Museum and Doty Cabin) both of which I have been to before and waiting for the right opportunity to go back and check in. 

Music on the Plaza

 Neenah's new Plaza is a summer gathering place. They are planning on have music and events all summer long. I decided I want to try Globe Coffee and check out the plaza. Every Sunday they are having concerts and the first one was going to be Listening Party. Who? I have no clue but the weather was nice and I was decided to go check them out.

We got there shortly after 11 which is when the music started. Danielle and I went to grab drinks from Globe Coffee from the outside window. Bad idea. It took forever to get waited on and there were only a few people in front of us. Then it took like 30 minutes to get our drinks. Finally someone said mine was inside. Lesson 1 learned: Order inside which I didn't even know was a thing.

I ordered an Italian cream soda but they forgot the cream. I don't think I was charged for it so no big deal. I am excited they have Italian Cream Sodas and Italian Sodas. Danielle had a Chai Latte.

Danielle snagged us some seats at one of the fire pit. We were in the back but that was great for people watching. Lesson 2 learned: Bring your own chair just in case. There is a lot of space but not a lot of seating. 

The music was good. I couldn't tell you what they sang but it wasn't too loud and was enjoyable. We spent about an hour downtown listening to music and people watching. The music went from 11-2. 

I would love to get back to another concert or two yet this summer. We shall see how the summer goes. I hear there are movies once a month on a Friday night. I might need to check that out. I also spied a pickle ball court. Hmmm. might need to check that out too. So much to do and so little time. 

Downtown Neenah Decorated Tree Beds

In way to get people downtown Neenah, the downtown businesses decorated the tree beds along Wisconsin Avenue. They were ready for Downtown Neenah's Spring Fling event right before Mother's Day. I wanted to check them out but didn't want to deal with the people so I opted to go another day.

I started at the library where 3 of them were located and walked west to The Plaza and back to the library. I walked the south side of the street and then crossed over and walked the north side making sure I hit all the tree beds.

Many of them were very well done. These businesses got creative and used the whole space including the tree to create their design. They were bright, colorful, and fun.

Others were basic but still creative. I didn't enjoy these as much but the business did try and it they were still fun to look at.

Then there were the advertising ones and those were less fun. Some tied into the theme of what their were advertising (music, farmer's market). 

Others were mainly just signs. Not so much fun.

This one outside of Tricia's Treasures was probably my favorite.

If you get a chance before the beginning of June, go check out the tree beds. They are works of art and I can't believe how much work went into some of them. Hopefully they continue to do this every year.