6416. Go to the Railroad Depot History Museum in Waupaca

Last year Mom said Our Wisconsin magazine has an article about the train museum in Waupaca. I'm thinking there is no train museum in Waupaca and she must have been mistaken. But when I got our copy of the magazine, sure even there was an article about a train museum in Waupaca. Even the hubby didn't know it existed. I knew we needed to check it out.

Railroad Depot is part of the Waupaca Historical Society. It is open Memorial Day Weekend though Labor Day Weekend on Saturday and Sundays 12-5 which makes it difficult for us to visit. It is located by the Waupaca Foundry and if you weren't looking for it, you probably wouldn't even notice it was there as it's off of downtown. It is free to visit. 

When we arrived, a volunteer asked us to sign the guest book and suggested we start downstairs with the model railroad. There really wasn't much upstairs in the depot to see to be honest. 

In the basement, there is a model 6 scale train of Waupaca and surrounding area in the 1950-1960s (I believe). Another volunteer told us all about his work on the model railroad and stories how the railroad depot came to be in the hands of the historical society. He also mentioned how their acquired their extensive library collection. 

We headed back upstairs to view the train cars outside but first our volunteer showed us the tracks and explained how it looked in the hey day. A train was going to be coming through in about 10 minutes according to the digital scanner.

We headed over to the caboose. Someone turned it into a man cave. It was very cool to see.

Then we saw the Soo Line Potato Car. I didn't even know Potato cars were a thing but it make sense that they needed to haul tons of potatoes before the days of the semi. It was smaller than a regular box car. 

We thanked the volunteer and drove down the hill to check out the car barn. Our volunteer met us there. He explained about the baggage car from the Waupaca Trolley, the horse drawn cart, and the old Model T. He bought (or assisted in acquiring) all of it. 

Our volunteer made our visit into a personal tour. 

Before heading home, we drove across the street to the another caboose and old Soo Line Building. 

If you are into train, the Railroad Depot in Waupaca is definitely worth checking out. Then go check out the Red Mill and Grand House as well. The Grand House is on my bucket list yet. 

5109. See the North Pole Christmas Village in Chilton

 When Tracy tagged me a Facebook post about a Christmas Village in Chilton, I knew had I to check it out. This is the same village that moved from Kaukauna to Chilton after it got too big. I asked Stacy what she would like to see more the tin trees in Manitowoc or the Christmas Village. She opted for the village because it was closer.

The North Pole Christmas Village is really closer to Potter than Chilton out in the middle of nowhere. It is open Tuesday-Sunday 4-8 until December 23rd. Admission is free. There is a small parking lot close to the building otherwise you can park in a field. 

The North Pole Christmas Village is dubbed Wisconsin's Largest Indoor and Outdoor Christmas Walk-thru. There is not much outside to see escape the Grinch in jail and a drive in movie theater

Inside is a different story. The North Pole Christmas Village is in a barn. You enter and immediately see a Christmas Village display. It is very nice. You think it is all going to be like this.

After going through a path of lighted trees, you reach the North Pole. Here there are animated elves in various North Poles scenes. This wouldn't be so bad if the elves didn't remind me of the creepy doll that my uncle has on his sofa.

That is on the right side.. on the other side is the reindeer pens. And they are just as sinister looking.

Since we missed picking up a scavenger hunt, I don't know if the pig in the sled shop is part of it or not. It does seem a bit random as does the Minion and Mrs. Potts and Chip in the classroom.

The next room you get to is Santa's Teddy Bear Village.

It is just like it sounds and whole room of moving teddy bears. Stacy wants to know if the army bears are volunteers or forced labor. 

The bears are definitely cuter than the elves.

Well until we got to the random talking moose...

Then he throws in some penguins for good measure.

In all honesty, I don't know what to think. It is very nicely done but those creepy elves.. Maybe I am the only one that found the elves creepy. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. There is even a separate room with Santa at the end. Maybe I just don't like creepy dolls. Don't let that stop you from checking it out if you get the chance. Like I said it is beautiful.. weird but very well done.