2249. Go to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union

 Conversation I had with the hubby earlier this year
Hubby: Where is the Illinois Railway Museum?
Me (after confirming with Google Maps): Union, IL.. about 3 hours from here. Just over the border from Lake Geneva
Hubby: They have this Union Pacific Turbine Engine.. only one of two still around. We should go see it.

Mind you, I have been telling him about this place for years since Stacy and her family regularly visit. It never made a connection until he saw something on Twitter that interested him. We made plans to go over the 4th of July weekend. 

Illinois Railway Museum is located in Union, Illinois literally in the middle of corn fields. It is open May-October on Weekends (Sundays in April) and weekdays Memorial Day through Labor Day. The museum opens every day at 10 and closes at 4 or 5. There is plenty of free parking. Admission is $20.weekend and $14/weekdays. Kids save $2. It includes unlimited train rides. Depending on the day of the week/time of year, depends on how many trains are running. 

You can get tickets online ahead of time or day of. We opted for day of. I would suggest getting there about 10:15 to avoid the massive line of every one checking in/getting tickets especially on the weekend. Even if you get your tickets ahead of time, you still have to check in.

There are two buildings right next to the gift shop. One was a museum dedicated to Milwaukee Road Railway. It was had a lot of neat artifacts especially for someone who grew up knowing about the Milwaukee Road like the hubby did. 

The second building was their model railroad set up. It was quite an impressive set up especially the scenes of Wisconsin. 

Since the trains did not start running until 11, we wandered in to the train buildings. I would have liked to see all the trains but the hubby wasn't interested in it all (too much walking). We did check out one complete train barn. You couldn't go in any of the trains but they did have some unique pieces.

As we headed towards the depot for a train ride, we saw the Union Pacific 18 -- the massive turbine engine. It was similar to a jet engine and had a tender to carry the special fuel for the turbine engine. They did not last long as the fuel price skyrocketed. It was a mighty beast though. 

Then we decided it was time to ride the rails. Since it was the 4th of July Weekend, they had an expanded schedule of trains operating. Normally 1 electric train and 1 steam and/or diesel engine running on weekends. There was the electric train, diesel engine, steam engine, and a caboose train all running. 

The first train we took was a the electric train. It was a Chicago Transit Authority Train that was built in the 1920s. We road the train about 15-20 minutes in one direction and then headed back. With the electric train, the engineer was able to just switch to a different engine compartment on the other end of the train on the way back. It was a nice ride.

When we got back the steam engine was also getting ready to go so we hopped on that. It takes travels the same route as the electric train except when you get to the end of the line, the engineer drive the train in reverse to get bac to the depot. It is a straight track so it was a pretty easy to navigate. You could tell you were on a steam train with the herky-jerky movements. 

We took a break from the trains for a bit and road the trolley. Unfortunately they had to break to lunch so we did not get to do the whole loop.

The last train we rode was the Chicago and North-Western Bi-Level Train. We opted to sit upstairs. This was a new experience for us. Sitting up higher, you could really feel the train move. Like the steam engine, it only went one direction so it went backwards for half the journey. 

Three train rides on the same track was a lot. We were starting to get sick. We both felt another train ride would not be good. I guess I will have to wait to get my caboose ride or go to the Minnesota Transportation Museum. 

There is plenty to see in the yard as well. Signs, crossing signals, and various trains. 

We ended the day with a short electric bus ride. The bus was fun but the ride was way too short. 

The hubby can't stop talking about our visit. He says we need to go back. There is still stuff we have not seen and I still need to ride on the caboose. It is definitely worth the $20. We spent a good 4-5 hours there which is a long day for us in one place. I highly recommend checking it out if you or your kids have an interest in trains. 

5897. Have ice cream at Belts' in Stevens Point

 The hubby said we could do whatever we wanted on the way back from Eau Claire. I wanted to get ice cream at Belts' in Stevens Point. We tried one other time and it was super busy. 

Belts' is a soft serve ice cream stand near downtown Stevens Point. It is a walk up and order kind of place. It is open 11-10 every day during the summer. They only take cash but do have an ATM on site.

They serve cones, dishes, sundaes, slushes, and shakes/malts. You can get vanilla, chocolate, twist, or the flavor of the day. Belts' is famous for their large cone. It is like a foot tall. 

The hubby got a vanilla cone and I got the flavor of the day -- Blue Moon. 

I will be honest this was not one of my better ideas. The ice cream was just so-so. I thought the blue moon had no flavor. Dairy Queen is better.  Neither of us were impressed. I am not a huge soft serve fan to begin with so that might be part of the problem. I also forget that blue moon really has no flavor. 

So it was a disappointing stop but it did knock off have ice cream in Portage County. I will have to find some better ice cream in Stevens Point. I might have to send my nephew on a mission to find some next year while at UW-Point. 

Even though we were disappointed, if you like soft serve and huge cones do check out Belts'. Maybe you will like it better than us. 

5904. Go to the High Ground Veterans Memorial in Neillsville

 We had to go to Eau Claire for a funeral and since our friends were busy, the hubby was like if there is anything you want to do, we can do it. Doesn't he know that could be a very bad statement. I always have things I want to do. I gave him the choice between the Veterans Memorial and Jurustic Park. Since Jurustic Park is in the middle of nowhere and kind of out of the way, he opted for the Veterans Memorial. One day I will learn not to give him options. 

High Ground Veterans Memorial is located just west of Neillsville on Hwy 10. The grounds are open year round 24 hours a day. The gift shop and museum are open set hours. It is the largest manned Veterans Park in the US. The park is free and open to public. 

The park has over a dozen tributes, a museum, gift shop, and over 4 miles of hiking trails. The views are spectacular. They have room for large vehicle parking as well. 

The various tributes are spread out across the park all on paved or accessible paths. Some of the tributes are a single statue others are more involved. They span from WWI all the way to the Persian Gulf Conflicts. There are spots for picnics and spots for mediating and reflection. 

Down the hill from the gift shop is the Wisconsin Persian Gulf Tribute. Since this was really the  conflict I remember, it was moving to see such a well done tribute. I remember the yellow ribbons on trees and on the news growing up. 

The Korean War Tribute was quite impressive. It gave you a timeline of the war as well. 

The High Ground is also home to the only Native American Vietnam War Memorial in the country. 

There is enough a replica Liberty Bell that you can ring so you can "Let Freedom Ring". I did not get to do this.

The museum was under renovation when we were there which I why I would have rather gone to Jurustic Park. We did not go to the gift shop either. 

We only spent about 30 minutes there but it was definitely worth the stop. We pass it enough and I was like we just have to do it. So we did. I highly recommend stopping if you ever find yourself in the Neillsville area. 

688. Make daisy chains

Some times life goes as planned but often times you need to make adjustments as life throws curve balls. This year is not one that is going to go as planned. Things I thought would get crossed off the bucket list will still be on the bucket list come 2025. And that is okay. In order to try knock off five things off the original list, I am finding more random things to do. Things that I probably should have done 30-40 years ago.  Things like lay in a meadow and daydream, make daisy chains, see the Nutcracker, and collect nuts.

I happened to see wild daisies growing along the edge of the complex which made me think about daisies chains and how they are still on the bucket list. I had no clue how to make a daisy chain but that is what YouTube and Google is for. It seemed simple enough.

I collected a couple of bunches of flowers. I figured if I didn't have enough for a wreath, at least I could make a bracelet. The amount of flowers decreased from the time I thought about doing this and the time I actually got around to do it. I would have liked to pick a few more but I also wanted to like some in case others wanted to pick some.

I carried my flowers back home to where I attempted to make daisy chains.

To make a daisy chain, you slit the stem with your finger name and slide the stem of another daisy into the opening. Repeat until it is the desired size and then slit the first stem again slightly longer to put in the last stem to close it. 

I made a bracelet or a very small crown. 

It was actually kind of fun. It took me about 5-10 minutes. I learned the thicker the stem the easier it will be make the chain. A thin stem is not hardy enough to pry open and can lead to rips. 

However, I missed the step on how to make sure you don't have stems all of the place. Something I will have to look into for next time. I would love to teach my niece to make daisy chains. 

So the summer of adventure is going to be a lot smaller (and less expensive) than originally planned. Things will get crossed of the original and expanded bucket lists but they will a lot closer to home. You never know what you will find when exploring your state. 

7330. Make a homemade ice cream sandwich

 After going to Legendairy, I decided I could probably make the same thing at home for less cost. All an ice cream sandwich is 2 cookies and some ice cream. 

The better the ice cream and cookies, the more expensive it is going to be. Sure I could have used Chips Ahoy and Great Value Ice Cream but I felt soft, bigger cookies would work better. I went with Pepperidge Farm Captiva Dark Chocolate cookies. You could also use homemade cookies. For ice cream, I went with Haagen Dazs Mint Chocolate Chip. 

It was super easy to make. 

1. Put a cookie in a bowl, plate, or cookie sheet. 

2. Add a few scoops of ice cream. The more ice cream you add the thicker it will be. I stuck with about 3.

3. Top with another cookie.

4. Freeze to let ice cream set. This is optional and I did not do this.

5. Enjoy.

My ice cream sandwich was really good. I was initially slightly disturbed that the ice cream was not green but it tasted amazing. It is nice treat once in a while. Since I was using Pepperidge Farm cookies and Haagen Dazs, it definitely would not be an every night treat otherwise I'd be out of cookies quickly.

Sometimes homemade is better. 

An Urban Hike Through Appleton

 Appleton library was offering an Urban Hike through downtown Appleton. It sound like fun. The hubby had games so even though it was ungodly hot, I decided to go. I double tripled checked this was for adults and not kids though. It was. 

We met at Jones Park. Googlemaps took me to the Jones Park by the police station. I knew we were meeting at the one below the Convention Center. So I had to wind my way back down to the river. I got there with plenty of time to spare. It said it would be a 2 hour hike in about 1.5 hours. 

Our friendly librarian guide gave us a mini journals to use once we got to our half way point. He said we would stop periodically and point out some flowers and animals that we saw along the way.

The first stop was the bird mural, which I did not know existed. It is a lovely mural depicting many different bird species found in the area painted to look like paper cranes. 

We spotted a pelican on the bank of the river.

There were plenty of wild flowers growing along the side of the trail including these fake sunflowers or oxeyes.

We then continued down the path to the Houdini Sculpture. Here talked about the bat population and various volunteer opportunities people have been involved with. We also saw an abandon eagle's nest. 

Our next destination was City Park. Here we learned about journaling and was sent to observe nature. We were to use the I notice.. I wonder.. It reminds me of technique. 

There was a tree that caught my eye when we walked in. It had vines growing out of it. As I laid there studying it, it reminded me of a woodland fairy. That is about as in touch with nature I get. 

From there we headed back to Jones Park. We didn't see much of anything on the way back. I did notice horse heads protruding from the front of Cloe's building. Never noticed them before.

It wasn't a bad way to spend a summer night. I was hoping for a little more guidance and discussion instead of lets just walk. I wanted to see things I usually missed but there wasn't anything unusual. Oh well, at least I got a walk in.

I challenge you to take an urban hike through your city and see what you find.