6937. Play a player piano

 Our last stop in Sheboygan was the Sheboygan County Historical Museum. It was a free day and Andrea knows the volunteers. 

Since Stacy and I were there just over a year ago not much has changed so I didn't feel a need to explore the whole museum. While in the basement of the main building, Andrea decided I should play the piano. This is not always an option but since a volunteer was there, I could play the piano.

This is no ordinary piano. It is an old fashion player piano. The very nice volunteer helped me move my feet to get the piano to play.

However, I am not coordinate enough to get the pedals to move at the right speed to make much music. This is definitely for more coordinated people. 

It was fun trying but I certainly do not have the talent to try and play a player piano.

If you are ever at the Sheboygan County Historical Museum and they let you try the piano, go for it. You will probably do better than me.

5198. Go to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center

 While Andrea and I were strolling through the Kohler Arts Festival, I mentioned I don't think I ever been in the Arts Center. Since it was warm out and the Arts Center was air conditioned going inside didn't seem like a bad idea especially since neither of us had an urge to buy art.

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is located near downtown Sheboygan and is open Tuesday through Sunday and is free to visit. The building used to be the Kohler Mansion.

The first exhibit we checked out was Woody De Othello: Hope Omens. This was a ceramic sculpture exhibit. The sculptures were very good but I couldn't pose as the sculptures. It runs through September 25th.

We checked out the pin exhibit that was created by a blind women who can tell colors by the heat they give off. During COVID not all the colors were available so her pieces were a lot more monochromatic.

The Sarah Zapata: a resilience of things not seen exhibit was a fiber arts exhibit. Her work was unusual. I don't normally thing of rugs and other fabrics as art but her sculptures were very cool. Her exhibit is there until August 28th.

I really enjoyed the In The Adjacent Possible exhibit. It was bright and colorful. It features various artists and will be there until March 2023. 

Andrea made me sit in the green shag chair that was part of the exhibit.

Of course I had to do a tree poise as well

No visit to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is complete without checking out the bathrooms. Each one is unique. Where else do you check out the restrooms just to see what they look like?

Outside around the Art Center is various stone sculptures. You definitely need to check out some of them. My favorite was the castle.

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is worth checking out. Their exhibits are very modern and fun. I would go back and see future exhibits. 

5212. Go to Kohler Arts Festival in Sheboygan

 I promised Andrea I'd come down to Sheboygan after my last Sheboygan adventure and we'd go to the Art Preserve. I get to her house and she was like we could go to the Art Preserve or we could go to the Kohler  Arts Festival. Since the Arts Festival was closer to the beach where we needed to do a photo shoot, I opted for the Arts Festival.

The Midsummer Festival of the Arts is located in and around City Green and the Kohler Art Center. We found parking a block or so away and walked down to the festival. 

There was a stage with music. It was a Hispanic band that was quite good.

Several food trucks lines up on the street including this really cool one that had poke bowls. Since we already had lunch, we skipped the food trucks and opted for ice cream down by the lake later.

Since we weren't too crazy about wandering around outside of the Art Center looking at art we weren't going to buy and pretend to be interested in it, we opted to check out the Kohler Art Center. You can read more about that here. 

After touring the museum, we headed back outside and visited the craft tent. Inside they were featuring fiber arts and we could make our own coin purse using various fiber art materials.. plastic yard craft sheets, felt, fabric, yarn, embroidery floss, etc. There was glue and needles to help with the construction of the coin purse. 

Needless to say we weren't the greatest fiber artists. I forgot to sew the red circles on before creating my coin purse so I had to glue them and then attempt to stitch them on to hold them better. Andrea said she'd finish at home.

The Midsummer Festival of the Arts is fun for the whole family. Even though we didn't really check out the art vendors, there was still plenty to see and do... and eat. If I'm in the area again next year, I would stop by and check it out again.

A Morning in Sheboygan

 Last December Stacy and I decided we needed to spend another day in Sheboygan so we could visit Indian Mound Park. It was too cold and windy when we were in Sheboygan in December. It is not worth either us for driving to Sheboygan just to go to a park -- not with the price of gas. So we decided to make a day of it. In usual Amy fashion, I checked the bucket list and figured out how what we could all fit in the time we had. 

Our goal was to see the Marvel exhibit at the Sheboygan County Historical Museum. I planned our route leaving from Meijer and ending up at the museum. We had about 2 hours or so for some Sheboygan Adventures.

Stop #1 -- James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden (Bucket List #5170)

James Tellen created sculptures at his summer home from 1942-1957 out of concrete. He created over 30 historic, religious and mythic figures in the woods all out of concrete and similar materials. The sculpture garden is a bit hard to find. It has a small parking lot that you will miss if you're not looking for it.

There is a path in the woods that allows you to view his artwork. As Stacy said, this is even weirder than the creepy pyramid. At least the Concrete Park in Phillips was interesting. This stuff was bizarre. I am still not sure of the man on the door on the volcano.

Some of it was actually interesting. I did like the mythic creatures better than the religious ones.

The saints made sense.

Some mother nature got the better of and they lay in ruins.

You can wander the path past the sculptures but after a bit you are crossing fallen trees and guessing where the path was. Since we had more adventures to go on, we turned around and headed to the next stop.

If you like creepy and bizarre, this definitely worth checking out. If not check out the other Kohler Art Museums in town.

Stop #2 -- Indian Mounds Park (Bucket List #5183)

This was our main reason for going to Sheboygan. We actually past this on way to Sculpture Garden. Again it has a small parking lot. This is exactly what it sounds like. Indian Effigy mounds in a park. 34 mounds were discovered in 1927. By 1958 only 18 remained and in 1960 the land became a park with 16 restored mounds. 

The is a well signed path to follow to view the mounds. Each mound has a sign that tells you what animal the mound is supposed to be. Like usual I was not able to really identify the shape of the mound with or without the sign. The signs were definitely useful.

This is definitely worth checking out when in Sheboygan. The nature trail is great for a quick morning hike.

Stop #3 -- Lottie Cooper Shipwreck  (Bucket List #5173)

Little did I know there was an actual shipwreck in Sheboygan.. not in a museum, not in the water but in a park and you can walk through it. A definite must see and a quick one too.

In April 1894, the Lottie Cooper set anchor to ride out a storm in Lake Michigan near Sheboygan. They never made it and by the next day the ship sank. 5 of 6 crew were rescued though. When constructing the harbor in 1992, the remains of the Lottie Cooper were found and a large portion of her was brought ashore to be put on public display. Unless it is properly preserved, Mother Nature will get the best of her again.

The Lottie Cooper is interesting to see. It is an old wooden schooner. I've seen shipwrecks on the Lake Michigan but this is the first time I was able to get up close and personal with it. 

This is a quick 5 minute detour while headed to other Sheboygan adventures or the beach as the beach is literally right there.

We assessed our time and had to adjust our plans. We grabbed a quick lunch while figuring out our next stop. We had to be in Cascade by 1:20 for a wine tasting so it didn't leave much time for the museum. Since we saw the museum in December and the exhibit was not the artist I thought it was, we opted to skip the museum. With a little time to spare, I made one request on our way to the winery. 

Stop #4 -- Acuity Flagpole (Bucket List #5172)

I wanted to see the World's Largest Free-Flying American Flag. I've driven by it enough. I didn't realize that you could actually go up to it but you can.

On the grounds of Acuity Insurance Headquarters, the World's Largest Free-Flying American Flag is visible from the highway. It is tucked away in the back corner of the grounds where you can drive up and actually see it. 

The World's Largest Free-Flying American Flag is 70 by 140 feet and the flag pole is 400 feet tall. That's quite large. Around the base is a Veteran's Memorial that lists the names of Sheboygan County residents killed in active duty going back to the Civil War. 

After a few pictures it was back in the car so we could go wine tasting. If we didn't have the wine tasting schedule, we probably would have explored Sheboygan some more.

Since there is more on Sheboygan to do list, I will probably need to make another trip or two. Andrea already said I need to come down and go to some art museum. Maybe next time I will spend an afternoon in Sheboygan. What will be on my next Sheboygan adventure? Stay tuned.

5155. Go to the Sheboygan County Historical Museum

 Every year when Stacy and I do cookie baking we try to have an adventure. There were several options and we decided to fly by the seats of our pants. One of the options was the Sheboygan County Historical Museum. I have never been and they had a H.C. Prange Company Christmas Decoration Display. I remember Prange's and wanted to see their decorations. 

The museum is broke into three buildings -- the museum, the cabin, and the Taylor house. Admission is $9/adult. Masks are currently required. They open every day at noon. 

We started in the main museum. The Christmas Decorations were impressive.

The rest of the museum gave you a history of the area from the stone age to the industrial age. I personally liked the Flintstone exhibit. 

There was a nice display about all the fires and disasters in Sheboygan. The fires spanned 120 or so years. 

Santa had his own little workshop as well. He was a bit lonely when we walked by. 

After checking out the museum we checked out the cabin. There were old time wooden games in the small cabin. I tried to catch the ball in the cup and Stacy played with the Jacob's Ladder.

Our last stop was the Taylor House. The house is gorgeous. It was a self guided tour. The only part of the house that was open to the public was the kitchen. It was beautifully decorated.

Also in the Taylor house was a penguin scavenger hunt. Thirteen penguins were hidden throughout the house. Each penguin had a letter attached and you had to figure out the phrase. There were small prizes if you wanted to take one. We figured out the message. The "F" threw me for a loop though. Luckily it didn't stump Stacy. 

Overall it was a good choice of an adventure. It was fairly quiet and on the way back to Appleton. It is definitely worth checking out any time of the year but the Christmas displays make it even better. I'm sure I will check it out again in the future.. and maybe even get a personal tour.