Butchertown

Last post from our recent trip to Kentucky...I think.

There were a few cool murals in Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville which is named for the butchers and stockyards originally located in the area. When a creek was rerouted it became a good place for the animal remains to be dumped in the creek and such businesses were banned in the downtown area for sanitation reasons. Um, yeah.

Bubble lights on the chandelier - genius!

Now the area is filled with chic shops and the only livestock I spotted was the painting of a giraffe... and maybe a few painted cows and chickens.  But Katrina and I have a thing for giraffes so it gets to be the star.

On a recommendation from the sales clerk we ate at Butchertown Pizza Hall where All cultures, races, genders, religions and people are welcome.  But not giraffes.  Only cows and chickens inside were cooked and served on a plate.

My plate came with a slice of cheese and arugula pizza.  It was so good that I've had this at home twice since then!

Across the street another mural telling the story of Butchertown's history from past to present.

Linking up to Monday Mural.

Tired of Winter Already

The weather has been frightful here in Wisconsin for the past month.

Team spirit across from Lambeau Field in Green Bay

Poking your head outside is always a risk, especially during the recent Polar Vortex event.  Temps were down around -50F with the wind chill for two days in a row.  I cancelled all my appointments for work and stayed home, I was not risking my car not starting miles from home.

Giraffe sculptures in Racine

Even the U.S. Post Office shut down those days, but snow has been an issue the past month as well.  Seems like at least half a foot falls once or twice a week.

And the blowing snow can be as bad as the falling snow, leaving roads with a thin glaze of unexpected slickness to worry about.

It makes for some pretty trees while I'm driving around, but I am quite tired of snow plow sightings.

Kettle Moraine views

I'm not the only one who has spent a lot of time indoors lately, Wayne and the cats have taken a hibernating approach to life as well.

More body heat, please

I'm at a hotel in Appleton this morning because another winter storm hit the state, and I didn't make it home from my route up to the Upper Peninsula in time.  Snow would have been one thing but it was ice I was worried about - they were calling for up to half an inch of ice overnight south of Fond du Lac.  I wonder what the neighborhood will look like when I get home?

Twin Lakes after our most recent snowfall

All Aboard the Wausau Mural Trio

Some more murals from my morning run in Wausau

Giraffes were waiting in line next to the railroad tracks.

This guy was waiting to board a train also.

Linking up to Monday Mural.

Meanwhile Back in Wisconsin

We've had a few "nice" days here in Wisconsin since we've returned from Tennessee and Georgia.

turkeys in Lake Geneva graveyard

It's all about perspective, "nice" in April in Wisconsin means the sun came out and maybe it stayed above freezing for a few days.

mural in Waukesha

The wind has kicked back up though, making even those few days it got closer to 50F frigid if you were out in the open.

While in Milwaukee for work I finally stumbled upon the Colectivo Coffee that is located inside an old pump station built of Cream City brick in 1888.

I wish I could say I resisted the temptation to get a goodie, but all that cold weather tricks you into thinking you need calories to put on fat.

175 feet of Victorian Gothic architecture - North Point Tower

Just up the hill from Colectivo I finally passed North Point Tower in Milwaukee on a day that the sky was blue! It was part of the first water works that began pumping in 1874 and it remained in service until 1963.  Like Colectivo it also features some Cream City brick, but on the inside.  The exterior is made from Wauwatosa cut limestone.

Sheboygan harbor

The sun came out to play in Sheboygan one day too, but it was 30 degrees colder the next morning.  Welcome to Wisconsin!

Giraffes on the road! Katrina always gets sent my giraffe photos

There has been lots of snow here still, I drove through the beginnings of a blizzard up near Wausau last week...

...and yesterday another winter storm blew through the state.  I had one group of daffodils valiantly greet the spring only to get clobbered with sleet and then buried by about 6 inches of snow.  That's okay though, because Green Bay and other points in Wisconsin got hit with another blizzard and up to 2 feet of snow so we feel fortunate in comparison.

Dr. Goga's mural plays with color deficiency test design in Wittenberg

I'm supposed to be on my way north to the Upper Peninsula...but as you might imagine with 2 feet of snow piled on top of ice to worry about I just rescheduled and stayed home instead.  I still have to post about Georgia, so warmer pictures yet to come this week.

Linking up to Monday Mural

Ants, Blues, and A Windmill

I'm on the road working with my mother tagging along again, this week we've had a bit more time to stop and...well, not smell the roses.  This is Wisconsin in January after all.

Cedarburg is a great town for walking and window shopping

But, there has actually been some more sun, and most of the time the temperatures have been bearable.  I drop her off at a shop, go do my sales pitch and then we're off again to the next town.

Ants for sale in Cedarburg

Cedarburg is a town we've both spent a lot of time in, and this time she spotted the giraffe!

Giraffe alert!!

While she was shopping in Cedarburg I dashed over to Grafton where I normally pop in and then hit the road right away.  I slowed down for a look around to give her more time in the shops and saw this water fountain sculpture which was designed and created by local artist Norm Christianson.  News to me, Grafton was once site of a Paramount recording studio.

Most of the African American blues artists probably went back to Milwaukee to stay according to a quick internet search, but a few indicated staying at the Hotel Grafton next to the Paramount Plaza where the water fountain and other tributes are located.

Hotel Grafton

Also of note in Grafton is Lime Kiln Park where lime was quarried by the Milwaukee Falls Lime Company. The kilns were used to fire the lime to 2000 degrees, which converted it into calcium carbonate, calcium oxide, or lime. It was then crushed into a fine powder and shipped out on the nearby railroad tracks to be used by the many tanneries in Milwaukee. The quarry was closed in the 1920's, it was used as a town dump for many decades.  Eventually a park was built over the dump in an effort to clean up the Milwaukee River. Three of the original 5 lime kilns remain and in addition to the nice park a dog park is located across the street.

Over the weekend I got outside also. I headed over to Glacial Park and walked out to the windmill which is technically outside the park boundary I think. Usually I just look at it from the top of the big kame, so I was pleased to get out to it and then circle the bottom of the kame and head back to the parking area.  The whole walk took me almost an hour, which is great because if I didn't mention it yet I'm trying to get back outside due to a big trip I'm hoping to take a month from now...

More on that as I get my plans squared away, for now just enjoy this barn I saw outside Reedsburg on a sunny day last week!

Frank Lloyd Wright, Giraffes and Origami

Imagine my surprise last evening to open up Fantasyland on my kindle and discover that Chapter 20 begins by talking about how even Midwestern architects could become famous in the early twentieth century.  They mentioned Frank Lloyd Wright's distaste for the cities and his longing for pastoral landscapes and how this was when the notion of working in the city and commuting to the "suburbs" began.  He returned north to Wisconsin from Chicago and built Tailesin...which we happened to pass on our rounds that very day!

Wright's artificial lake on the grounds of Tailesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin

One of the few places in Wisconsin I haven't toured, for even the grounds are off limits unless you buy a ticket.  Tours run May 1st through October 31st, but a 2 hour tour of the house and grounds costs $54.  You can see why I have yet to indulge, even though I love architecture.   The Visitor Center across the road is free and has a gift shop, bookstore and restaurant so maybe next time I come to town I will at least swing in to check that out.

There's never much to see in Platteville so don't go out of your way, but I do like the sign for the Owl Cafe.  My mother and I had lunch there today...we weren't overly impressed.

Always quick to spot a giraffe on the side of the road I pulled over to visit this purple one as we left Spring Green.  There are less than 100,000 estimated living in the wild.  None of those currently reside in Wisconsin.  A running joke in our family, since my daughter Katrina once said she thought she saw one running toward the road when she was 17.  She may be tired of getting sent pics of giraffes, but I will delight in it until the day I die.

When we checked into our hotel in Reedsburg after a long but productive day we were greeted by a collection of Origami at the front desk.  You just never know what treasures you will stumble upon on your journeys!

Mural Monday on the Road

When we were driving around Lexington I had to swing the car around and get a shot of this mural for Mural Monday.  I'm still giggling over it.

We also spotted a giraffe on the side of the road...a running joke in our family because Katrina once mistook a deer for a giraffe while driving down a Wisconsin country road.  Gotta love her! Here's a giraffe for Trina, and quite a colorful one at that!

Goober Says Hey!

We left for North Carolina on Friday, the miles flying by as we drove through Illinois and all the way to the Indiana/Ohio border where we stopped for the night at the Walmart in Richmond. We were up early and making our way through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and then finally into North Carolina.

The drive was beautiful, getting hillier with every mile, and when we were almost to our destination Wayne started having trouble with the brakes on the truck. We pulled into the Mayberry Campground in Mt. Airy and he took a look, declared it beyond his skill-set, and we went to the office to see if we could get any advice. The staff was very accomodating and even made some calls to see if we could find a mechanic...on the Saturday night before Easter! I won't include any photos of the campground, the photos and descriptions on their website are very accurate. We were devastated about the truck, assuming we were going to be stuck in Mt. Airy for at least 3 days instead of just a quick stopover. We cancelled our reservations at the Croatan National Forest campground on the coast in order to keep the late cancellation fees down. Later that night Wayne called a mechanic friend who diagnosed the problem as the brakes probably being overheated from the hills and advised we increase the braking on the trailer if the brakes on the truck seemed to be working in the morning. Luckily, he was right, and after some morning sightseeing we were on our way, with a complete change in plans of course!

Before we hit the road again we took a drive around Mt. Airy, the fictional setting for The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith incorporated several community places and names from his childhood home into the show.

Well, Goll-ly!

 

23 cents for regular, 25 for "hi-test"

We also saw a few items of interest as we were driving through Cana, Virginia, just a few miles north of Mt. Airy. We came upon a Leonard's Market and stopped to take a few photos because that's our last name. We've also seen the name Wayne everywhere we look in this area!



I just had to take a picture of this giraffe on the side of the road...my daughter will understand why!

Giraffe for sale

We had just enough time for a quick hike around the top of Pilot Mountain on Easter morning before hooking up the camper and heading down to Mooresville to see the race attractions. I took all of the pictures on this blog entry with my new point and shoot instead of my DSLR, and it was great not to have to drag my backpack full of accessories around with me. I'm sure it would have been fun trying to get a shot of the birds soaring around the top of Pilot Mountain with my zoom lens and tripod, but I was pretty pleased with the shot I got without them.  

Pilot Mountain

Starting 'em young!