The Summer of 2015 - A Bit of History (Part 2)

Now for the rest of the summer story . . .

August: Pig Roast at the Gibbsville Orchard. Our friends, Bill and Anna, joined us as we partied with other friends, Lori and Jeff Dutter at the Orchard. Their son, Dustin, is the proprietor and Mom and Dad help out frequently. Two bands performed. We camped overnight in the orchard.

Cooking the porker. It was delicious!

The MilBillies - one band

This Big Life - the other band

The Apple Lady - one of Lori's creations.

August: Richfield Days. It's the annual firemen's festival where Rick lives. We went to the Friday fish fry, hosted a party on Saturday, and saw the community parade on Sunday.

The Village (formerly Town) of Richfield is showing
 folks how their taxes are spent. Roads are cleared
quickly after snow falls - especially in August.

Richfield Service has fixed most of Rick's
vehicles over the years - and he's probably
contributed plenty of $$ to this truck!

One of several groups of dancers in the parade.

The educational float in the parade.

September: Midwest Vintage Trailer Rally in Montello. This was our fifth year to participate along with 50 or so others. This year Rick brought another new rig - a van camper. Every year we've had a different camper at the rally. Turned out that this one is a bit too small and Rick will probably sell it this summer. Takers anyone?

Nelson & Pade Aquaponics is next door to Buffalo Lake Camping Resort where the rally is held. We toured the place and learned how auquaponics, the raising of fish and vegetables in an integrated soilless system, is an efficient, sustainable, and local means of food production.

Fish are grown in the blue tanks. With a system of filtration, nutrients
are pulled from the water and used to grow the lettuce shown in various
states of maturity. The white styrofoam sheets float on top. 

Fish raised on site are scaled and cleaned by the owner of the facility.

Our rally hostess, Kimberly Steiner, had another contest this year - best decorated flamingo. The rules were that it could only be decorated with material that we had in our trailers.

Our "chicken" flamingo didn't even place but we had a good time fixing her up.

One of the winners.

The rally is always a good time - and a great way to reconnect with friends we've made over the years.

September: Doors Open Milwaukee. Again, another annual tradition. 

Some of the places we toured included Milwaukee Blacksmith (518 E. Erie) where the smithies forge candle holders like this one.

The Basilica of St. Josaphat is magnificent. This beautiful structure was built by Polish immigrants. Even the women helped. They carried away dirt in their aprons that the men shoveled from the site. 

The rotunda.

Exquisite stained glass windows.

Ceiling detail.

The basilica designation came in 1929.

Franciscan monks minister in urban settings
rather than in rural areas. I'm sure this order was
delighted when the current Pope took the name
Francis. 

This was the first year we toured on a Sunday so  must have been a day to check out religious buildings. One more stop of the day was at the School Sisters of St. Francis.

Even though the St. Joseph Chapel looks like a cathedral, it is technically
a chapel because there is no outside entrance to the space.

A mural depicts the history of the Sisters.

If you like to look at great buildings in Milwaukee, be sure to mark your calendar for the 2016 Doors Open Milwaukee - Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

October:  Volo Vintage Camping Trailer Rally

Once again our hostess, BJ Frantz, put on a good party. It was our last rally of the season. And another good time with our vintage friends. (My apologies to all - I don't have any good pictures this time!)

Here's a teaser for my next blog post!

The Summer of 2015 - A Bit of History (Part 1)

Since my blog is written after the fact, I didn't think it was too late to do some catch up and write a summer summary - the summer of 2015, that is!

Here is the first part of the highlights of the past summer -

June: Driveway camping at Larry and Vicki's, friends from Menomonie. We were joined by two other couples and had a great "practice" pancake breakfast at the Menomonie Airport. Larry wanted to perfect the pancakes he would cook the following weekend for the annual fly-in at the airport. Larry was instrumental in raising the funds to build the airport in the late 1980s.

Larry took us up in his plane for a tour of the city. The bodies of water are the Red Cedar River and Lake Menomin.

This year's Menomonie Airfest & Autorama is June 25, 2016. We'll be there. How about you?

July: Independence Day Parade in Knowles. This has become an annual tradition for us. We sit on our friends', Amanda and Troy's, front lawn and watch the world's largest 4th of July parade. One band (Lomira High School) followed by vehicles from 10-12 local fire departments, implement dealers, trucking companies, and civic groups. By the way, the paraders throw out the most (and good) candy - better than what a kid can collect at Halloween.

Historic as well as new emergency vehicles parade down Main Street.

The bigger the better for new tractors.

July: Iola Old Car Show

In the campground at the Iola Old Car Show (July 10). Someone
likes flamingos! The "official" show now goes from Thursday
through Saturday, no Sunday hours. I guess people were coming
on Thursday and not Sunday so the Show changed its hours. In
future years people will start to come on Wednesday!

Who can resist Tow Mater - from Cars - inspired by a
1951 International Harvester tow truck. He's one of our grand boy's favorite. 

The theme was Pace & Race this year.

A souped-up 1938 Fiat racer. - put together
like ingredients in soup.

A 1952 Cunningham two-seat roadster.

One oldie on the blacktop outside the theme tent.

July: Camping with the family at Peninsula State Park. Another annual tradition. This year there were three grand boys, the youngest being 2 1/2 months old. We picked LOTS of cherries this year at Falcon Orchard, Sister Bay. 

Rick and I highly recommend Bay Shore County Park  at 5637 Sturgeon Bay Rd (Hwy 57), New Franken WI. It's atop the Niagara Escarpment, has a terrific playground for kids, and even washers and dryers on site (something usually only found in private campgrounds). Plus - it's only a short drive from Green Bay. 

We paid homage to the Packers at Lambeau field and toured the Neville Public Museum. A former colleague, Beth Lemke, is the director. 

Last stop - Kalbus Country Harbor camp-
ground on Lake Winnebago.,

Sunset over the lake.

Watch for the rest of the summer story in another blog post - coming soon, I hope!