Wisconsin - Saturday

I had the most lovely Saturday. The weather here is warm, sunny & in the 70s right now; there is nary a cloud in the sky & the landscape is technicolor green. Great weather for a drive!

So, I headed up to Cedarburg (just north of Milwaukee), one of those terminally quaint little towns known for its historical architecture, antiquing, shopping, etc. Walking the main street I saw alot of beautiful victorian "painted lady" type houses and old limestone buildings. But, my favorite part of Cedarburg was visiting the local winery, Cedar Creek Winery, for a tasting. I met up w/some other ladies there that were just a hoot, & it almost turned into ladies' night (if I stayed much longer, I might have had to take a cab home)! Mary, my "sommelier", was fascinating & did alot to help me develop my wine palate. She must have been pretty persuasive, because although i'm not a wine drinker I ended up buying THREE BOTTLES that i'm still not sure how I will get home. The Vidal and Hillside Blossoms were REALLY good. hiccupp.

Cedarburg is also known for their Covered Bridge Park. It was really interesting to walk through the inside & see how it is put together. It was built around 1890 out of huge criss-crossing wooden beams held together by 2" wood pins (no nails or bolts). The workmanship is something to see. There was also a nameless wooden footbridge there that I thought was even cooler. What is it that's so neat about bridges? I think it's something about being suspended between two places. The water rushing by feels like the past on one side & the future on the other. You're left in the middle with just the here and now. I love it!

After Cedarburg, I planned to take a scenic drive up the coast of Lake Michigan as far as Green Bay. My first stop was Port Washington, a little lakeside town that had the feeling of a New England fishing village. Getting close to Lake Michigan, you start to feel the onshore breezes, & it's very refreshing. Port Washington is mostly known for their cool art-deco style lighthouse. You can walk out to the end of the dyke & actually climb up into the lighthouse & see the keeper's quarters. By the way, did I mention that Lake Michigan is HUGE? Standing at the edge you I couldn't see the other side. With the surface chop & seagulls, it could almost fool you into thinking it's the ocean.

As I continued up the coast I passed one story-book farm after another. My next stop was my favorite of the day, Kohler-Andrae State Park. I had no idea, but it turns out there are some really nice sandy beaches along Lake Michigan. This park spans the beach, sand dunes covered with beach grass, coastal woodland, and cattail marshes FULL of red-winged
blackbirds. There are miles of boardwalk trails through the dunes, marsh & forest. I had a BLAST running around like a grown-up kid in a giant sand box. I sat for the longest time in the beach grass by the lakeside, scrambled through the pine trees and wild honeysuckle, and wished for the 500th time already that I had my bicycle. Next time!

While I was there I saw a bluebird, cardinals, red and gray squirrels, great bloomings of wild phlox, thistle and columbine, and a deer that I got embarassingly excited about! A local nature photographer was also there giving a wonderful slide show of his work in the evening. I didn't catch his name but he was like the Ross Hamilton of Wisconsin.

I had the good fortune to hike my final dune trail just as the sun was going down. I only had my camera phone, so the picture at bottom left doesn't capture the color very well. But, the fading sunset over the sand dunes and through the grass was a special thing to see. I left tired but happy, grateful for the sand between my toes and the prospect of a hot bath. It was one of those too-rare days when you are so happy to be where you are doing what you are doing. Wishing the same happiness for you.

Layla

Greetings from Wisconsin - Part I

Hello from the America's Dairyland and the Badger State! I'm just north of Milwaukee attending a class this week. I flew up on Friday & spent the weekend exploring. Having never been here before I can't speak with much authority about the place, but I do have a few impressions: the landscape is beautiful and green right now, with velvety grassy meadows and many lovely mature hardwood trees. They don't have the mostly brick construction that you seen in OKC or KC--instead, there is more hardwood or limestone. There seems to be an unusually large number of big, ornate churches. I was expecting the Lutherans, but turns out the Catholics also have a large presence here. Another thing that's a little eerie, I haven't seen a SINGLE WALMART in 3 days here. My southern friends know how strange that feels.

As soon as you get outside of town you see one picturesque farm after another. They almost all have huge barns, several grain silos & some even have actual corn cribs (something I thought only existed in sappy country-western music). There are alot more blonde-haired fair skinned people than i've seen anywhere else. I knew the German, Polish & Scandinavian immigrants had settled here, but didn't realize the Irish & Italian had left a big impression as well. It still seems to be a very cosmopolitan place now: walking around downtown Milwaukee I heard 20+ languages in one afternoon.

One very noticeable thing. The natives here definitely seem to have a distinct personality. It's hard to articulate but they seem very somber and unsmiling. Many of them have been talkative without being particularly friendly. Hmm, maybe that's what "salt of the earth" means. Speaking of salt, the regional food seems rather bland but tries to make up for it with extra cream and butter. Also, the drivers here are surprisingly impatient! Apparently driving the speed limit really pisses people off.

A small aside, my rental car smells like fish, & i'm still on the fence about whether it's worth returning before this Friday. It's not too bad in the cabin, but if you open the trunk after it's been sitting in the sun, it just about knocks you over. My question is, has it reached the point of maximum fishiness, & now will start to smell better? Or is it still on a plateau, or God forbid, upward curve. We'll see. Stand by for part II....