Pizza Snob Adventures 2024 -- Cut Stone Pizza

 When Brenda Novak announced she would be stopping in Kenosha as part of her The Banned Books Club book tour, the hubby said we could go. Then came the problem of finding dinner before hand. Google maps to the rescue. I noticed there was a pizza place right next to the book store. I get to see Brenda Novak.. the hubby gets pizza out of it.

Cut Stone Pizza is located downtown Kenosha. The actual sit down restaurant is open 4:30-9 Wednesday-Saturday. They also have a fire engine pizza food truck which is around in summer. That has since gone on the bucket list.  

You order at the counter and then find a table. There is not much seating but we were able to snag a table. The menu consists of a handful of sandwiches, some appetizers, and pizza of course. There is pre-determined pizzas or you can build your own. I gave the hubby the option of meat or cheese. He went cheese. The person behind us laughed at that. I was like he's simple when it comes to pizza.

The pizza was very good. It was the perfect wood fire crust with just enough fire on it. It was not a huge pizza as wood fire pizza is but with the breadsticks it was perfect. The cheese breadsticks were fabulous too.

Next time maybe we will get meat... or ice cream for dessert. 

Cut Stone Pizza is definitely worth a dinner stop if you are in Kenosha for dinner. Even the bookstore recommended them. If we ever find ourselves in Kenosha for dinner again, this would definitely be one of our choices. Pizza Snob Approved. 

4983. See the WWII boulder and sand at Veteran’s Park in Kenosha

After all of our adventures in Kenosha yesterday, we needed something to do today. We really didn't plan this out to well. So based on what was left on my bucket list for Kenosha, we didn't have many options. Google really wasn't helping either. Since I wanted to eat at Frank's Diner, we decided to cross off the only thing left in Kenosha that would could do -- see the WWII Boulder.

To honor the Kenoshans that died in World War II, a memorial was created. To honor those that died in Okinawa a boulder from Okinawa was placed in a fountain. To honor those that died in the invasion of Normandy, sand from the D-Day beaches was placed around the boulder.

You can see the bullet holes in the boulder. However, I was unable to see any sand.

This is truly a hidden gem near downtown Kenosha. Anyone interesting in WWII or even history in general should take a minute or ten to visit the Memorial when in Kenosha. I am glad Stacy and I made the decision to head back to Kenosha for breakfast which didn't work out but that's a story for another day because the memorial definitely made up for the failed breakfast plan.

4984. See the Southport Lighthouse

After Stacy and I hit the museums and had a snack, we still had some to kill before we had to head back to Kenosha. Looking at things to do in Kenosha, we discovered we managed to hit all the major attractions in a few short hours. Since the Southport Lighthouse was on my list and not too far away, we headed over there.

The Southport Light Station is actually a museum. It consists of the actual lighthouse and the former's lightkeeper's residence. There is no cost to visit the museum but if you want to climb the lighthouse tower, it is $10. With an infant in tow, climbing the lighthouse tower was probably not such a good idea. The way it is we left the stroller in the car and just took the car seat in with us. There are stairs to climb to get into the keepers' residence.

The guide was very informative of the history of the lighthouse and the residence. The downstairs gives you a history of the lighthouse as well as the kitchen.

Upstairs is the keepers' room. Since it was added on to later, the stone is different and you had to step into the room. 

Also there is a display of the area shipwrecks. 

I would definitely take the time to check out the Southport Light Station. Take time to talk to the guide. I learned a lot. If you are able to climb the lighthouse, I would do that to. Then when you are done and it's not windy walk out to the Red Lighthouse down by the lake.

Having Chicken and Donuts

After checking out the dinosaur museum, Stacy and I were hungry. Based on the options available to us, we decided to head to Mike's Chicken and Donuts. It sounded like an interesting place. We really didn't want anything too big and a donut sounded good.

Mike's Chicken and Donuts is a bar/restaurant type of establishment. They have a few tables in front plus a whole regular dining room in back plus some outside seating. I ordered my donut at the counter. Stacy was undecided and asked for a menu. We sat at a different counter table and eventually Stacy went back up to the counter to order a snack. They weren't overly busy so I'm not sure why someone didn't come over to take Stacy's order.

With the name of Mike's Chicken and Donuts, I was expecting an assortment of donut flavors. I was severely disappointed but then again we were there at three in the afternoon. There were about six different donuts available and there were basically raised donuts with vanilla frosting and various toppings. It was nothing special. Yeah so, you could get cereal on your donut. Big Deal. I had a root beer float donut. It was alright... very sweet. The "float" part on top was way too much frosting with root beer flavoring. I also had a caramel shake was nothing over the top.

Stacy had buffalo chicken wantons. She said they were dynamite. They had quite a kick with them. She actually was thinking of things to make with wanton wrappers.

Mike's Chicken and Donuts is famous for their Chicken and Donuts. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is a chicken leg on top of a sprinkle donut.  It is definitely unique but not something I would ever think of ordering. I am not one to mix breakfast foods with dinner foods besides I don't like chicken legs. Chicken and waffles is not really my thing either.. but it could be.

Would I go back to Mike's? Maybe. I wasn't overly impressed. The menu is small but their might be something I could find I like. The donut choices would have to improve for me to get another one. I can go to just about any other donut place and get a better selection. However, don't let that stop you from getting an order of chicken and donuts for yourself if you're ever in Kenosha.

Hitting Up the Kenosha Museums

Kenosha has several free museums that served as my main reason for wanting to go to Kenosha for a day. The Public Museum, The Civil War Museum, and the Dinosaur Museum are located relatively close to each other well within walking distance.

Civil War Museum

Our first stop after perusing the farmer’s market and lunch was the Civil War Museum. This is the only one that is not free ($9 for adults) but if you do not want to see the main exhibit, you can check out the exhibits upstairs for free. Trust me though, you will want to pay the admission because the main exhibit is worth it and it comes with a movie.

The exhibit itself was very life like and showed what it was to be a soldier and a civilian during the Civil War. We thought the mannequins were going to move at any time. There was an encampment along with daily town living. If was very interesting. I probably should have spent more time reading about the exhibits.

They also had a uniforms and artifacts from each of the wars starting with the American Revolutionary War. These were on display around the outside of the main exhibit each in its own case.

We did not watch the movie. It was going to have special effects and lots of shooting. I know my college roommate and family are in the movie. It would have been nice to see but the time was not going to work out. Maybe next trip.

Upstairs featured artifacts from wealthier area families. There was a wedding dress and accessories. Again, I probably should have read more.

Kenosha Public Museum

The Kenosha Public Museum is a free public museum next door to the Civil War Museum. It has one main exhibit area downstairs and a gallery upstairs. 

It is mainly a natural history museum at least in the main gallery. As you walk into the exhibit hall there is a giant fish hanging from ceiling and you learn about the sea creatures. As you move through history, you get into other plants and animals. Finally, you end up with the Native Americans.

Before heading into the Native Americans, you get to meet the Schaefer Mammoths. These wooly mammoths were found in the Kenosha area in 1964. Even though they are only replicas of the actual bones, you can still see the size of these enormous creatures. The Schaefer mammoths is one of the most complete mammoth skeletons in North America and research shows that these bones indicate the one of the earliest human settlements in all of the Americas. This was by far my favorite part of the museum.

Upstairs is an art gallery. Various types of printmaking was on display with an underwater theme. Since that seems to be my theme for the year, I found it especially interesting.

The Kenosha Public Museum is nice. I would not just drive to Kenosha for this museum as I was through it before Stacy was done feeding her daughter. Maybe if I had kids that got excited for the sciency stuff it would be better but I just sped through the museum.

Dinosaur Discovery Museum

The dinosaur discovery museum is about the size of a living room. It was one exhibit of various dinosaur bones. You can walk around it but there is not much to it. There is a small hands-on play area for kids upstairs. Downstairs is an observation room.

If you are going to Kenosha just for the Dinosaur Museum, it is not worth it. However, if you are planning to do other things (or live in the area), it would be a good rainy day activity. I just was not overly impressed.

Overall doing the three museums only killed an hour or two and that is with waiting for the streetcar. I am sure with kids it would take much longer. Good thing we had other things to do in Kenosha and it was not a long drive. I would say check them out but be prepared to have time left in your day.

4993. Ride on the streetcar in Kenosha

I mentioned to Stacy that I wanted to go to Kenosha to see the museums this year and we decided it would make a good Girls’ Weekend. I sent her my Kenosha/Racine Bucket List and she worked out a rough outline of the weekend. One of the things on the bucket list was ride the Kenosha Streetcar.

Kenosha Streetcars have been in use since 2000. There are eight streetcars from around the US. It is $1.00 each way to ride the 2-mile loop around downtown. You can get an all-day pass for $3.50. You can pick up the streetcar at various stops around downtown.

We picked up the streetcar near the Dinosaur Museum and rode it into downtown by the farmer’s market. It was a pleasant ride especially since a theater group serenaded us with songs from their upcoming show.

We wanted to take the streetcar back to the Dinosaur museum but it was taking forever and we decided to walk and nearly beat it back to the museum. So it’s not always the quickest mode of transportation depending on traffic.

I would definitely ride the streetcar again especially if we are going to spend most of the downtown. However depending on how often we’d ride, I would look into the daily pass because to come up with a dollar each ride was difficult. Stacy was literally counting dimes and nickels since neither of us had anything smaller than a $20. A ride on a streetcar no matter where is always a blast from the past and something everyone should do at least once.