Third Time is a Charm

Our third stop this summer was Windsor, Colorado.  Our youngest grandchild was confirmed on June 12th.  That was the third confirmation in the last 6 weeks.  That also marked the end of the big events we needed to be at this summer.

Well, we got out of the "Arizona winter" weather as we left Wisconsin.  But neither of us expected it to be hot (99 degrees) for the Sunday Ella was confirmed.  What happened to spring???  That must have happened on the day we traveled across the Mississippi River and through Iowa. 😂

Roy and Char Beyer, Ella's other grandparents traveled to Colorado as well, which was great since we got to spend extra time with them.

Below is a picture of Ella and Abbie with Pastor Halldorson at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Greeley, Colorado.  

Officially now all of our children and grandchildren are confirmed.  No more grandchildren in grade school.  Where did the time go??!  

Ella and her family:  Nate, Bret, Ella, Kim, Tatum and Jonah (brother-in-law)

After church, Bret and Kim had an open house.  True to Lutheran tradition, there was more than enough food!  Besides Mexican food, there was an abundance of other salads and side dishes, plus cake pops, rice Krispie bars and cake. No one went away hungry.

There is always a lot of kidding around and laughter when our family gets together.  You can tell there was some sort of joke or snarky remark by the looks on Lisa and Bret's faces!  We sure are thankful for the Lord blessing us with family and friends.  🙏💖💕

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Alas, the rain returned yesterday and ruined the chances of us doing one more bike ride in Wisconsin.  Guess we have to be thankful for the days of sunshine and warmer weather that we did have.  The pics below were taken on Saturday morning.  This was the view of the Algoma lighthouse looking through a spider web.

We headed first to the lighthouse and the beach with no planned route in mind. 

As usual, I was stopping to take pics of the lake and a nearby statue that captured my eye.  Don waited patiently while I snapped away.  Notice how busy the street traffic was......

The statue was next to St.Agnes-by-the-Lake Episcopal Church which is situated across from the beach. Their congregation first met together in 1877!

After winding our way through town we headed for the hills, so to speak.  There was even less traffic out here.

On our way back we noticed some big objects on an old decrepit barn.  At first I thought they were metal sculptures.  We had just ridden past a house of an artist who had a sign outside advertising her sculpture business. 

Then we both realized the objects were birds!  Maybe huge crows?  Nope! They were turkey vultures!

The ugly heads gave them away.  I never thought I'd see this type of wildlife in Wisconsin!  These are certainly not the type of birds that congregate at Roy and Char's backyard bird feeder!  Talk about creepy!😨

Manitowoc Maritime Museum

 We were neither feeling "sub-par" nor "sub-versive" when we took a tour of the USS Cobia submarine docked at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.  No sub sandwiches were on the menu.  Okay, I digress.   So much for all the puns about subs and on to the focus of this post.  

Twenty eight submarines were built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin during WWII.  The ship building company here employed 7000 workers who worked three shifts 7 days a week during that time.  Before that could be done the company had to figure out how to side-launch the submarines into the narrow bay. Like they say, "Where there is a will, there is a way" and the process was developed and perfected.

The USS Cobia was built in Connecticut and has been dedicated as a National Historic Monument for her service during WWII.  Since 1986 she has safely rested in the Lake Michigan waters by the city of Manitowoc.

Before we did the tour, we sauntered around part of the large museum and came across this photo.  It made me chuckle, so I just had to include it in this post.  That's a teenager for you.

We quickly realized that living in a submarine would be easy if one was young, supple and thin.  For those of us in our older years, it is a real pain going from one area into another!  This was one time I was glad I was short or shall I say "height challenged"?

One of the most used places in the submarine is the head.  The tour guide told us that men had to learn how to correctly flush the toilet and that they hoped the previous person had done it too.  Otherwise they would wind up with brown freckles!  This is one time you hope all the newbies are quick learners.😖  Did you notice how much toilet paper they stored and this was pre-COVID!

Imagine sleeping right above the torpedoes and sharing that bunk with someone else.  This was called "hot-bunking" since the bunk was probably still warm from the previous seaman.  One gentleman on our tour had served time on the USS Cobia and shared many interesting tidbits.  He said you also had to avoid touching the torpedoes since they were highly greased.  I can't imagine trying to get out of those bunks and making it to my morning cup of coffee without getting dirty/greasy.

Eating was done in shifts, with 24 men squeezed into the small eating area.  From the information in the museum, the men in the subs were the best fed guys serving in the war.  The gentleman in our group told us that after 3 weeks at sea there was no milk nor fresh fruits.  When they were at shore they could basically ask for anything they wanted (within reason).  I don't think lobster or sushi would have been available.  After all, what American young guy during the war years even knew what sushi was?  

 

I wonder how many cooks were in this kitchen at one time.  Two?  Possibly three if they were all skinny?

Below is the captain's quarters. The doorway was covered with glass to protect all the memorabilia.  The captain had donated his notes, pictures, shoes and even his cap to the museum so it would look just like it was during his tenure. 

All the men went through intensive cross training during their time onboard. Everyone had to know each job on the ship.  If the sub had to dive quickly or engage in evasive maneuvers, the men in compartments had to stay in place and do the jobs assigned to that area.   

Masks were required on the tour.  COVID is still around unfortunately.  It did feel a bit claustrophobic at times to me since it was warm and there was no air movement.  Roy waited for Don to bend over and get through the doorway. 

As we made our way through the larger bunk area our tour guide told us about the red lighting.  This was used because it was easier for the eyes to adjust if they had to go to other areas that were darkened or had little lighting to conserve energy.

All in all, the tour was quite interesting and enlightening. If you are ever in the area, do the tour!😀

Short Post, Short Ride

The weather FINALLY was nice enough yesterday for a bike ride.  Don checked, and it had been almost a month since we had ridden.  I think that must be a record for us because when we're home we are out and riding 5-6 times a week.

Char and Don discussed our planned route (there was none). Don was in the lead and we never knew which street he was going to turn on.  At that point it didn't matter.  We had virtually no traffic and of course, nary a stoplight since the closest one was in Luxemburg. almost 15 miles away.

It turned out to be part city and part country ride.  The last portion was on the Ahnapee Trail going west, one of our favorite places to ride.

And this was our turn around point:

This morning we rode another portion of the Ahnapee trail and also the Ice Age trail.  No pics.  The camera was forgotten back at Roy and Chars's.😞

On to Wisconsin

 Our next stop was Algoma, Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, the weather in Minnesota was never good enough to get in even one short bike ride.  It was either rainy, cold and cloudy or windy or a combination of the three😞.   We're hoping for better weather today in Algoma, but Roy was talking about how the wind is picking up all day long, except at 4:00 when the wind starts to die down and there is a chance of rain!!!  Good grief!!

As we drove the portion from Green Bay to Algoma we went through Kewaunee County which has only ONE stoplight.  The whole county!!!  Amazing isn't it when we have a stoplight just to get out of our Arizona neighborhood.  Rural Wisconsinites have no idea of what rush hour traffic is like(or they know what it is like and that is why they moved to Wisconsin).

We waited and waited for good weather.  I finally went for a walk with Char wearing Roy's jacket and Char's headband.  This was the end of May and I was dressed for winter weather, or should I say Arizona winter weather?  No need for gloves since the sleeves were much longer than my arms.  If I was back home, I'd probably be sweating in short sleeves and shorts.

Despite weather challenges, we are enjoying our stay in Algoma.  Roy has his special coffee made for us each day, we have had great meals and they are excellent hosts!  What more could we ask for? 

The gnome in Char's garden is peeking around the tulips and daffodils.  He's such a cute little guy.

Here is the serene view from their back yard.  We have watched a goose family waddle through the grass, people kayaking on the river, and a woodchuck, rabbits and squirrels waiting in earnest to dig up Char's plants.

Not far from Algoma is the tiny, unincorporated community of Sugar Bush. This "town" is so tiny that their post office closed in 1972.  I bet it has even less traffic than Algoma!   That is where our former neighbors from Tucson now live.  We were able to meet Ron and Terry Kapp for lunch at the Tlazo Cafe in Algoma for a delicious lunch. At one point we didn't even know if it would be open since it was Memorial Day but we lucked out.

My lunch: spinach salad with warm bacon dressing.  

Sure wished we had them as neighbors again.  If our dog Fraulein would ever wander off, she'd go directly to their house.  I babysat their daughter Jennell and Bret was just a small boy.  That's quite a few years, or should I say decades?  At any rate, it was wonderful to see them again.

The Wine was Fine

 We decided another trip to Morgan Creek Vineyards was in order.  After all, we sure wouldn't have wanted Norm to be in New Ulm and not have a chance to imbibe of some excellent wine.  It was brisk and cool on Saturday and only a few people were sitting out on the patio.  They had to be some of the hearty Minnesotans who think 50-degree weather means short sleeves, shorts and flip flops!  The three of us were dressed "appropriately" in jeans, long sleeved shirts and jackets.

A crabapple tree was in full bloom as we walked towards the entrance.

Norm and Don each ordered a flight of drinks, and I was happy to choose one wine that I knew I would like since it was a sweet one.  We munched on an appetizer plate and gourmet popcorn while sampling some of the different wines offered.  I even managed to drink all of the wine in the one sampler sized glass! 🍷  I think it was at least equal to 10 cups of communion wine, possibly more if the communion cups are half full. I can still count it as having a glass of wine.😉

Outside there was a fire going and propane heaters were situated close to a few of the tables. 

Here is what Don and Norm took home with them:

There were no "whiney" people in our group.  All of us were happy campers, so to speak.

What's New in New Ulm?

 The answer is: not much as far as we could tell! 😂 Maybe someone changed: the color of a particular house or perhaps there's a new business in town.  But these Midwestern towns seem to hold on to their charm with century old houses, familiar parks, statues and huge trees lining the streets.  There is something comforting in the fact that you can come back 10 years later, and the same buildings will be there.  Indeed, it is a much slower pace here than the frenzied one in Phoenix.

Our friend Norm came this week and was able to park his Oliver trailer right by the garage. He is also good friends with Verl and Clara and had received permission to stay for a few days. 

Our first outing was to show him Schmidt's Meat Market in Nicolette.  We ended up buying sausage, brats, meat, cheese, pork sausage and even homemade German potato salad.  The smell of smoked meat when you enter is heavenly (if you are a carnivore).  This definitely is not a place where vegans or vegetarians congregate. Here is part of the selection of meat sticks that come in all sorts of flavors.

This was Norm's initial visit to New Ulm, so we followed the suggestion of the New Ulm Visitor's Guide and showed him Martin Luther College, Hermann the German statue, downtown New Ulm plus side trips to Schell's Brewery and Morgan Creek Vineyards during the time he was here.  We are way too old to have accomplished this in just one day.

Our first place to stop in New Ulm was the Glockenspiel.  We did notice that this year the Dakota Indian was missing.  Perhaps the winter was too hard on him, or he's waiting to come back until he is labeled a Native American.  There was no one around to ask(maybe because it was 50 degrees and the cold wind was blowing). 

The three of us did agree that we would never, ever want to live in a house across the street.  The chimes are LOUD and the glockenspiel goes off 5 times each day during the summer. 

We supported one of the local businesses by visiting the local brewery that has been in business here for over 150 years.  Schell's beer has been enjoyed by generations of Minnesotans and students from Martin Lutheran College. 

Our granddaughter Tatum gave Don suggestions as to what beer to order.  Both Don and Norm liked what they got at Schell's. Cheers for the beers!🍺🍺

In fact, Norm liked the beer so much we stopped by the local liquor store so he could purchase some to take to his summer place in Wisconsin. 👍