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.

Author Visit - Amy Reichert

Last year for book club we read The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy Reichert. It was my type of book -- chick lit. So when Kimberly-Little Chute Library was having Amy Reichert talk at the library, I was excited. I bought her next book (Luck, Love & Lemon Pie) and read it on vacation. It was not at all like Coconut Cake and I didn't really enjoy it but that didn't stop me from going from going to hear Amy speak.

I am so glad I went. Amy is hilarious. She talked about how she got started writing books. It all started with NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month. It took her a few years and a few attempts to get published (and a few lucky breaks). We also got short synopsis of her books, all of which are set in Wisconsin.

We then got to ask questions. Because most of her titles have food in them or the books are at least food themed, I wanted to know if the recipes were family recipes or not. They aren't family recipes per se but definitely are part of her family. I received a nifty new magnet for my collections as an added bonus.

Because her books deal with food, the library also served coconut cake, lemon pie, and apple cider. The coconut cake in the book was much better than the coconut cake we had. It seemed dry. The lemon pie on the other hand was very tasty, extremely light and airy.

Of course there was a meet and greet afterwards. Because my book I picked up for vacation was already signed, I broke down and bought her other two books I didn't read. Then I wanted in line to get them signed. I also snagged a photo of us.

I love when libraries have authors come. I am disappointed when the author visits are during the day. Book festivals are the best. I can't wait for the book festival next month. Anytime I can hear an author speak, even if I don't buy a book, it's interesting especially to learn how they got started. I'm glad we have such good library systems by us that offer these events.

Baseball Stadium Tour 2018: Dow Diamond

Since we saw the Indians play in Cleveland yesterday, we hoped to hit a minor league game on the way home today. The minor league season ends on Labor Day and there are several teams between Cleveland and Wisconsin... South Bend, Fort Wayne, Toledo, several in Michigan. It turns out that only Great Lakes and Western Michigan were home. The hubby didn't want to go through Chicago on the way home so we headed to Midland, MI and Dow Diamond.

Dow Diamond is the home of the Great Lake Loons, the Single-A team of the Dodgers. Dow Chemical is a big sponsor of the stadium and town. And you could tell. Dow Diamond is magnificent. It has 2 gates -- the main gate behind home plate and the outfield gate which we entered through. The outfield seating has fire pits which probably comes in handy for those early season games. It is one of the few Single-A parks that we've been to that you can walk all the way around it. They are plenty of concession stands that offer a variety of options. The team store is even 2 stories!

Their mascot is obviously a Loon -- Lou E Loon to be exact. However, they also have a Rally Camel as well. I've heard of Rally Caps but never a stinky fish wielding rally camel. He was actually more entertaining than the game.

Speaking of the game, the Loons faced the South Bend Cubs.. still can't away from those pesky Cubs. In order to get home by midnight, we had to leave by 4:30-5:00. Too bad we couldn't stay because when we left in the 5th, it was a 0-0 tie. The Cubs did end up winning 1-0. We missed the end of a good game.

Including Dow Diamond, we've been to six different Single-A ballparks and 2 Tripe-A ballparks.  I was also to a Double A park. This is by far one of my favorites. The seats are comfortable, the concourse is wide, and the atmosphere is one of baseball. For those baseball fans that actually read this, I would definitely put Dow Diamond on places to visit if you are in Michigan and want to see a ball game.

2897. Go to River Raisin National Battlefield

Since getting the National Park Passport a few years ago and more so the National Park Pass this year, we have been trying to hit National Parks. There are several in Ohio but none that were on our way to Michigan. However, there was one in Michigan on the way to Midland. I told the hubby we needed to stop mainly because I wanted the stamp (and Heather was there).

River Raisin National Battlefield in xxx Michigan is a relatively new National Park. River Raisin is the site of a War of 1812 battle. According to Wikipedia, "During the winter of 1813 as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of Frenchtown occurred near the river. British and Native American troops were allied against a division of ill-trained Kentucky infantry and militia. Cut off and surrounded and facing total slaughter, Winchester surrendered with British assurances of safety of the prisoners. The British and Potawatomi allies marched those who could walk to Detroit. But the next day, many of the severely wounded prisoners left in Frenchtown were killed by the Native Americans allies of the British."

We got there in time to see an introduction video explain the battle. There is a little museum inside the Visitor Center.

The hubby didn’t think there was much else to the battlefield so we didn’t actually explore the grounds. However, the actual battlefield is outside. Off to the left, was a trail which I really wanted to check out but the hubby wanted to get back on the road. Personally I’d rather have explored the ground than watched the movie.

Also you saw the actual battlefield and the enemy line. That was cool. I actually got to step foot on the battlefield and cross the enemy line. The hubby stayed in the car.

River Raisin may be a small National Park but for a history buff it is very interesting. I am not sure how you could keep children entertained inside but they can run around on the battlefield. The National Park is free so if you’re in the area, it’s always worth checking out since it’s a few minutes off the highway.

Baseball Stadium Tour 2018: Progressive Field

The hubby really wanted to go to Progressive Field in Cleveland this year… that and Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. Since we did Kansas City for our vacation, we headed to Cleveland for Labor Day. I know most people are trying to hit the beach or some other one last summery weekend, we are going to Cleveland. That’s what baseball does to fanatics.. makes them take crazy trips all over the country just to see a baseball game but I won’t have it any other way (most of the time).

Progressive Field replaced Municipal Stadium as the home of the Cleveland Indians. It is smack dab downtown and next to where the Cavaliers play. There’s plenty of parking garages around so parking isn’t a problem. It was pretty easy to get in and out of downtown before and after the game.

The stadium is average. For all the history in Cleveland, I wasn’t feeling it too much at Progressive Field. There is a nice Honor Walk in left field but everything else was just meh. 

Maybe it was because we were in nose bleed heaven. about 7 rows from the top or maybe it was because it was kid's day. I just wasn't digging Progressive Field.

I have to say thought the concourse up in the boom shakes was quite impressive. They had a fair amount of concessions and even a souvenir stand or two plus plenty of bathrooms.

The Indians put a fair amount of emphasis on Kids' Day and the whole indoor play area designed for kids. Before the game they kept broadcasting live from inside the kid zone. I get they want to have a spot for the kids and it was kids day on all but it was way over done. 

The baseball game was unremarkable. The Rays took a 6-0 lead and held on. The Indians tried to make a come back after we left but fell short. The one unique thing about the game, the Rays pitched a bullpen game like they did  most of the season. They didn't use a starting pitcher but worked from the bullpen the entire game so a pitcher may work an inning or two at most.. maybe just a batter. That was the first time we've seen that.

Milwaukee has the racing sausages. Washington has the racing presidents. Cleveland has the racing condiments.

To be fair, I would give Cleveland another shot especially if it wasn't a Sunday. I would even pay to sit lower so it doesn't feel like we were so far from the action. Progressive Field isn't one of my favorites but it' my least favorite either. 

See the Blue Angels

The Blue Angels were something I wanted to see ever since I heard about them. When I found out they stopped flying, I was sad that I would never see them. Then out of the blue, they started flying again.

I figured one day I would be lucky enough to see the Blue Angels in the person somewhere. I never thought that somewhere was going to be a baseball game in Cleveland.

The hubby and I decided to go see the Indians play and while we were waiting for the game to start, the Blue Angels flew by. I figured it was part of the National Anthem or something. Oh no. The Cleveland Air Show was going on this weekend and they were part of the air show.

We got to see climbs and dives and barrel rolls and inverted flying. Sure we only got see what the stadium didn’t block out but it was amazing.

Do I want to see them again? Sure and preferably at an air show itself and not as a backside of the air show. We probably did have a good view because we were so high up at Progressive Field. I’m not complaining because the Blue Angels were way more interesting than the baseball game.