Green Bay

Back from Green Bay. We did the Heritage Hill State Park first, where we saw restorations and reproductions of housing and stuff from mostly nineteenth-century forts, farms, homes and so on. (The photo is of the Belgian farm.) One particularly entertaining woman spent much of her tour explaining why everything that was wrong in the nineteenth century was due to men being in control and girls not being allowed to go to school. I'm not sure how much of that was for show and how much was just her own opinion. At any rate, it was a hoot.

Then it was on to the National Railroad Museum. (Maybe I will have photos to post later.) It was interesting, especially the historical exhibits. They have a lovely shop, but it made me feel pretty good about ours, which has far more variety and prices that are better on most comparable items.

We lucked onto an Indian restaurant near the place we were staying, and it was excellent. I had a vegetarian thali and Tom had the non-vegetarian thali.

A thali is a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray. Sort of like a "fisherman's platter" at a seafood place. I can't tell you exactly what I had, but it was great. I don't know much specific about Indian food (beyond curry, chutney, tandoori chicken and samosa), which is why I always liked the buffets. I get to taste everything and then get more of what I like.

One of the things I miss from Chicago is the rich diversity of foods. Just within walking distance of the apartment in Hyde Park you could get Thai at a half dozen places, Lebanese at Cedars, Greek (and Mexican and great omelets) at Salonika, good Chinese at Wok 'n' Roll -- still my favorite for sinfully unhealthy General Tso's chicken --, American southern at Dixie Diner and Bait Shop or Ribs 'n' Bibs, Italian and other things at places like the Medici or Piccolo Mondo, coffee with French pastries eaten al fresco at Bonjour Cafe on Sunday morning or a complete French meal at La Petite Folie nearby. A quick trip up to Devon not only meant an extensive Indian buffet but a walk through shops filled with saris, Indian art and books. And there were tons of really good Mexican places in the city. Not so much variety in the Dells, although Madison is not that far away and trips to see Bob Mitchell in Milwaukee often include a visit to an Indian or Greek restaurant.

This morning we stopped at the Oneida Nation Museum on the way home. It is small but very well laid out and informative. They also have a casino, but Tom and I had already learned at the Ho-Chunk casino near us that we are not even able to work slot machines without instructions. There is really no point in throwing money away. As the husband of a friend of mine who liked to go to the casinos in Atlantic City once told her, it would be cheaper just to mail the casino a check and save the cost of the gas to drive there. Making a small contribution to visit the museum was difinitely a better use of resources.

The weather was rainy off and on all the way back, but we saw lots of small towns (inlcuing Seymour which claims to be "Home of the Hamburger" and Rural -- totally rural, where the sign pointing to the Business District was along a highway marked "Rustic Road.") We also stopped for a brief visit to the Grand Army Home in King. This was a retirement village for Union veterans of the Civil War, with small cottages located on the shore of Rainbow Lake. The last such veteran died there in 1951 at the age of 105. Today a veterans home and hospital occupies the site with some of the original Home's buildings.

We also passed a buffalo ranch and saw cranes in fields and flying overhead. We got home in mid-afternoon and I took a nap. The motel was comfortable, but Tom snores (a bit louder than Sundance, whose snoring I am used to) and the people in the room overhead seemed to drop bowling balls (more likely it was workboots) every twenty minutes or so, just as I was drifting off.

PS: We did drive by Lambeau Field, but it was only because of a detour. [Wisconsin is one of the midwestern states with two seasons -- winter and road construction.]