Algoma

 After driving 10 hours from New Ulm, we arrived in Algoma, Wisconsin on August 9th.  For those of you unfamiliar with this quaint little town, Algoma has a population of approximately 3000 people and is situated on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Ahnapee River..  There is not a single stoplight!  In fact, there is only one stoplight in the the whole county of Kewaunee.  It's a town where you can step in the middle of the road to take a picture and not get run over!  You sure can't do that in Phoenix.

As we biked around town one morning, I stopped to take a shot of the sign that had been erected since the last time we visited.  If you look close, you can see their lighthouse in the middle of the "o".

Also around town are various paintings depicting former times. The Ahnapee trail was once used by the Ahnapee and Western Railroad primarily for logging, but it also was used to transport German prisoners of war to Door County to help with the fruit harvests.  

The sign on the building above let us know you could have a room upstairs and go to the bakery in the basement for a 5 cent piece of pie.  Seemed like a great idea to me.

And no visit to Algoma would be complete without a stop at Von Stiehl Winery, Wisconsin's oldest winery.  We picked up a case for an unnamed relative and got a few bottles for ourselves. One of their signatures wines is made from Door County cherries.

Roy and Char's house sits a few blocks from Lake Michigan and their back yard butts up to the Ahnapee River.  We spent many hours on their back porch looking out towards the river, at times seeing herons, the local woodchuck, duck families and people kayaking up the river.

Here is one pic that I captured of a Heron looking for it's next meal in the shallow water.

This older house has many amenities that you would never find in a home today.  It was obvious that the man who built and owned the house previously made sure every available space was used. Under the stairs to the basement is a small wooden holder just for Kraut recipes!  Any good German would certainly be thankful for this.  After all, doesn't every household have more than one recipe for sauerkraut?

A locked cabinet for guns and ammunition is located just above the basement steps.

And also above these steps is a special cubby for shoe polish.  Roy and Char were told that is what this was used for so they also use it for this sole purpose.  I know of no other house builder in Arizona that offers these options.  You always know where your guns are (if you own any) and the same goes for shoe polish.

One other nice feature in their lovely home is a laundry shoot.  You can drop your dirty laundry from the first or second floor and it will end up in the basement.  Saves a lot of time going down 2 flights of stairs. It also has a holder for some type of paper (maybe more recipe cards for kraut).

A large cute gnome is a new resident in Char's back garden.  But she also has a two sided one that lets you know whether or not you are welcome. I was glad the gnome had the happy welcome face for us!