The Great Appleton Mural Walk

One of the events that popped up in my Facebook feed was a mural walk in downtown Appleton with the muralist, Chad Brady This sounded like fun. I’ve seen the murals pop up and it would be interesting to learn about them. The problem was it was the same day as the run in Whitewater. I was fairly certain that Holly and I couldn’t run a 5K, shower, eat, and get back to Appleton by 1 PM. So when we were at breakfast after the race, I saw that it was rescheduled for the next Saturday due to rain. Yea!!! I could go now.

Despite being 90 degrees out, I still wanted to go. The hubby had games starting at 2 so I had to be home by 1:15 which should have been a problem since the walk started at 11 especially since the Flag Day Parade started 2.

The Mural Walk was a joint venture between the Post Crescent Newspaper and the Trout Museum of Art. We met at the Art Museum and there were about a good 20-30 people there for the walk. They handed out maps of all the stops. I was impressed that they were prepared for the heat and had bottle water for any one that wanted some. I brought my own since I knew what the heat could do to me.

Photo Courtesy of Mural Walk Facebook Page

Many of the murals were outside. However, sometimes the group of us would troop inside and through a business to see the mural inside. At each stop Chad would explain the mural, what was behind it, and answered any questions. It was very informative yet casual. He even pointed out a mural that wasn’t his that we should stop at.

Stop #1: The Ambassador

Stop #2 Shear Chaos

Stop #3 Vagabond Imports -- Chad touched up and added his touches to this mural

Stop #4 The Alley Project at the History Museum at the Castle -- Chad got around the rules by painting the background different colors. The murals can only be a certain size (356 sq. feet or something)

Stop #5 The Fire -- The Original Mural

Stop #6 Antojitos -- Chad painted some of these, the owner painted others. 

Stop #7 Parklet -- this was a community project

Stop #8 Cozzy Corner -- I think the diners thought we were weird

Stop #9 Vacant Building -- soon to become a beach bar. And the tear drop was added after his death.

Stop #10 Fox River House -- Adler Brau was originally brewed across the street

After 10 murals, it was time to board the trolley and head into the flats to view the last 3 murals. However by this time it was almost 12:45 and I was pretty sure we would not get to the last 3 murals in and back to the transportation center in 15 minutes. I decided to bail and head home. I was greatly disappointed that I couldn’t see all the murals but it was still a great morning.

I can’t wait to see where the next mural is going to be. I will be on the lookout for more murals in downtown Appleton. I get the murals but I’m not so sure about the knitting except for this guy.

Maybe they need to do a walk to explain about the random knitting around town next.

Exploring the Newton-Blackmour Trail

I love when I discover a new trail or path. I may have seen signs for the Newton-Blackmour State Trail before but never walked it. The Newton-Blackbmour State Trail connects New London, Shiocton, Black Creek, and Seymour.

The hubby suggested I get all my walking in done sooner rather later in Seymour because of the threat of severe weather. I heeded his advice and set out to explore Seymour. I ended up downtown where I found a sign for the Newton-Blackmour State Trail. Not releasing it ran in both directions, I opted to cross the street and head east under the sign for the trail.

You can walk, bike, or horseback ride on the trail. For these reasons, the trail is gravel which is fine unless you are wearing sandals and have to constantly dig pebbles out of your sandals. Further down the trail, it connects with the Duck Creek Trail and you can walk all the way to Oneida…. 6 miles away. I walked about 1/2 mile or so before turning around.

Honestly the part of the trail I was on was nothing spectacular. There was a sawmill type business on the one side towards the beginning. Then there was a small subdivision further up. No woods or anything that would allow me to commune with nature. I get it was only a trail and most trails are used for biking but it would be nice to be scenic. The next time I will head west see if it any more scenic.

I am glad that there are state trails that we can get out and get some exercise on. I like walking on trails and paths. It beats walking the same route in the complex night after night but I don’t like getting in my car just do so. I use the hubby’s games as an opportunity to explore these different trails and paths. Who knows where the next one will be.

Reading with Craxi: Agatha Christie

After we were done discussing The Rosie Project last book club, as a group we decided what books to read for the next 3 months. Since Neenah Players were putting on And Then There Were None by Agatha Christi as their first play for the summer, we thought it would be fun to read it. I was excited to read it since I never read Agatha Christi before and she was one of the authors that I wanted read but never quite made it officially on the bucket list.

I was a little worried when I went to reserve a copy of the book. I was number 5 on the waiting at Kimberly. Not knowing how long the book was, I placed a hold at Neenah as well and for a copy of the e-book. I don't know where I was on the hold list at Neenah but I was 103rd on the digital copy list. Then I received an email from Goodreads telling me I can buy the book for $1.99 for my nook. Since I wasn't sure how long it would take to get a copy or actually read the book, I bought it. It turns out a week later, my copy at Kimberly was ready. I called and let them know I no longer needed it. I figure let someone else read it.

And Then There Were None tells the story of 10 random people selected to visit a deserted island. Each person received an invite from someone they slightly knew asking them to come stay on the island. When they arrived, their host, U.N.Owen, was delayed weren’t be there until the next day. The guest began to mingle and then a phonograph recording mysteriously starts to play announcing the "murders" each of the guests committed. These were "murders" that looked like accidents and the person would never get charged with murder. Everyone is panicked and one of the guests, admits his "guilt" and everyone tells their own story. Soon the first person dies and then another and another. They think there is a murder on the island but find none. 10 guests arrive on the island but three days later no one is alive. Who killed them??

If you want to find out who killed them, you must read the book.

There is a poem at the beginning of the book called "Ten Little Indians" which the murders are loosely based off of. None of the guests immediately recognize this until the after the 3rd one was killed and that is only because there were 10 Indians on the table when they started and then there were 7. The only bad part of reading the book on my Nook, I couldn't flip back to the poem after someone was killed to see how the next one was going to die.

I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely read more Agatha Christie. The book club gave several other books by her that I jotted down that followed the similar trend of mysterious murders. Until then I better get started on the 500 page tome for next month.

Exploring Pewaukee

The hubby had a double header in Pewaukee last week and I figured I would tag along since I had PTO that I had to use by the end of the month. Since the game was being played at a park in town, I figured there was going to be plenty of walking. The hubby was a little concerned about me walking until his partner informed him that it was safe and the beach was just down the road.

I set off in the direction we came and followed the signs to the Lake. It turns out Pewaukee is a cute little town. I ended up going for 2 walks, taking different routes both times. I told the hubby he needed to do another doubleheader like this next summer because I still have streets to explore.

On my wanderings, I took pictures of anything that looked interesting, pretty, or intriguing. They were exploration walks and I like exploring new cities. Maybe next time I will bring some money and explore the stores, get some ice cream, and lay on the beach dreaming of being on the coast because downtown Pewaukee reminds me of being at the beach on the ocean instead of some inland lake in Wisconsin.

I found the lake and the beach

I still can't believe something like this exists in the middle of Wisconsin. I wish I had another change of clothes so I could take a dip in the lake.

After strolling past the lake, I passed the train depot and onto Historic Watertown Plank Road

Where I found this Church

On my second walk, I went up High Street and found:

An octagon house

A really cool looking fire hydrant

Some pretty flowers

On the way back to the park, I found this boardwalk

And this is where it ended

Yup, it went absolutely nowhere.

So I went back and watch some baseball

I can't wait to continuing to explore Pewaukee and other random towns. Too bad I have to work or I would wander through a different town every day.

Racing Road Trip

When Holly was looking for someone to do the Whitewater K9 5K with her and said she’d drive, I said sign me up especially if we registered as a team it was only $10/person. Then she was like we’ll stay with my friend, Jenn, in Whitewater Friday night so we don’t have get up extremely early to get down there on Saturday. Road trip! I really expected to go down Friday night, run the race, and head home. I didn’t plan on stopping anywhere or doing anything except for dinner Friday night. Holly would have stayed all weekend if her friend didn’t have other plans. Being the Rockers Weekend, I wanted to be back for some of the tournament. Initial plans were dinner on Friday, Race on Saturday, and Lunch in Madison before heading home. Then I figured we were close enough to Watertown that we could go to the Octagon House. We decided to stop on the way home before going to lunch. As usual the best laid plans are subject to change based on the individuals doing the planning. Instead of the Octagon House and lunch in Madison, we ended up at Pirate Fest in Port.

Keep reading about our adventures in Whitewater.

Hillbilly Back Roads
Holly plugged in the address to pick up the race packets in Whitewater in her GPS and selected the fast route. Now I’ve been to Whitewater last year and had a vague clue how to get there. Well, apparently the iPhone’s GPS fastest route doesn’t necessarily mean Highways. We took country roads with actual names like Bill Road. Along the way we did get to see a tractor graveyard and some pretty scenery. I have to say that it was definitely shorter since we by-passed all those towns we would have gone through on 26. It may not have been longer if we got stuck behind a tractor or other farm machinery. Now if I could remember the route for next time we have to go to UW-Whitewater since brought is in directly by the softball/baseball fields.

Tractor Graveyard

Duck Inn
When we were planning dinner, we had to find something that we could all agree on. Holly said she loved a Friday Night Fish Fry. I can do a Friday Night Fish Fry. We could have gone to Duck Inn or Evergreen Golf Course. Holly said that the Duck Inn had better reviews, let’s go there.

I am thinking we should have gone to Evergreen. Holly and I were not impressed with Duck Inn. I agreed to go to Duck Inn because the Fish Fry was reasonably priced although the rest of the menu was a bit pricy for me.

The Fish Fry was $11.70 for All You Can Eat Cod or $16.20 for All you Can Eat Perch. There was also Shrimp and Smelt. Both Holly and I were disappointed that there was no Haddock. I found that Haddock doesn’t really exist in the southern part of the state at a Fish Fry. Your choice is Cod instead. Holly wasn’t sure about cod and asked for a sample. The sample really wasn’t that good and even I was hesitant to order the cod but I only planned on spending $12 for dinner so I really didn’t have a choice.

With the fish fry, you had a choice of French fries or potato pancakes. I’m used to having at least a choice of a baked potato with the French fries. We also had Cole slaw, applesauce, and rye bread. The Cole Slaw and applesauce was shared among the table….the small pudding dish was supposed to be
shared among the 4 of us. I didn’t try the applesauce but the Cole Slaw was very vinegary and peppery. I l am more of a creamy Cole Slaw kind of girl.

Itty Bitty Little Dishes of Cole Slaw, Applesauce, and thick tartar sauce

I was truly disappointed. I expected it to be better especially after I found out it was listed in the Our Wisconsin Magazine Restaurant Guide. Maybe I just had a bad experience but I’m not sure if I would give it another shot.

Whitewater K9 5K
When Holly was looking for people to join her team, I thought this sounded like a fun race. There was a 5K or 10K to choose from. Jenn never did a 5K before so we stuck to the 5K. My only concern was they said hills… I don’t like hills.

Holly likes to pick up her race packet the day before to avoid the people on the day of. When she texts me that we were stopping in Whitewater on the way to Elkhorn, I thought it was odd until I looked at the map and realized how close they were and coming from Appleton it made complete sense. They said that packet pick up would be in the building at the east end of Cravath Lake Front Park and to park in Lot A or B. Uh..um.. which direction is east? I don’t have a lake to go by. Well after wandering around for a bit and looking confused, a nice lady pointed us in the direction. We picked up packets (YEA! Another lime green t-shirt), acquired a giant bottle of grapeseed oil from the random lady who apparently knew Jenn and headed to Jenn’s house.

Definitely not the building they were talking about

In the morning, we headed to the park, took the usual pre-race pictures and stretched since we had a lot of time to kill. I stretched which I have discovered that it’s better if I don’t stretch beforehand. My calves were tight the entire first mile or so.

The course wasn’t bad. The hill wasn’t horrible. Holly got tired at the 2 mile marker and decided to take a nap. I joined her. I finished in 43 minutes. Not too bad.

It wasn’t the most exciting race I’ve done but it was better than the chicken chase. Holly said it wasn’t the best one to do as your first 5K because there was no enthusiasm and cheering at the finish. For a novice runner, it wasn’t anything spectacular. The race course volunteers didn’t really cheer you on. It lacked the excitement that other races have but at least they had fun signs posted periodically and 2 water stations. At least it didn’t rain for the race.

After relaxing and talking to people after the race, we headed back to Jenn’s house for showers and then to find breakfast since Holly wanted breakfast even though it was noon.

I can’t say that I’m itching to do this one again but if the right opportunities presented themselves I might consider it.

Elk Restaurant
Holly wanted breakfast and Jenn gave us 2 options in downtown Elkhorn neither of which she was sure served breakfast all day. Since we were standing in front of the Elk Restaurant, we decided to eat there. This is my kind of place. It has an old fashion soda fountain and seating for about 50. The food was good. The prices were reasonable. The coffee never stopped getting topped off. The service was quick.
Everything you except for a good diner especially around lunch time on a Saturday. In case you’re wondering breakfast was served all day.

I would love to go back and have an old fashioned ice cream soda and sit at the counter. If I’m ever in Elkhorn again, I definitely would stop again. I’m sure the rest of the menu is as good as breakfast.

Pirate Fest
While at lunch, I showed Holly pictures a fiend post on Facebook from Pirate Fest and she was like let’s go. And since Port Washington technically wasn’t completely out of our way, we decided to go to Pirate Fest. I’ve always wanted to check it out but never wanted to drive to Port just for Pirate Fest when there was stuff to do at home.

The entire way from Elkhorn to Port it rained. By the time we got to Pirate Fest, it was still raining. Neither of us were prepared for the rain or cooler near the lake. I had a baseball cap and sweatshirt to shield most of the water. Holly found a cardigan. Luckily we got a parking spot right by the entrance to the festival.

Because of the rain, there wasn’t much going on. Many of the pirates were huddled under overhangs or in one of the tents trying to stay dry. We caught the very tail end of a show that was modified because of the rain. We wandered through the shopping tent which was overly crowded because of the rain. We did get to see a sword fight between 2 pirates and a lot of pirates walking around. We tried to find the pirate ship but it didn’t seem to be out in the rain.

If it wasn’t raining, Pirate Fest would have been awesome but the rain made it lose most of its luster. We only stayed about 15 minutes. By then we were cold and wet. I would love to go back when it was nicer out and actually be able to enjoy more of it. Holly said she wants to go back next year in costume.

In a nutshell the weekend was fun. I need to take more road trips with Holly. Hopefully we will get to road trip again in the future together.