Monday, August 3, 2015

Wisconsin drive-by


I came home Friday last, greeted my cat, went through the mail and turned the calendar page.  I am slammed by August; it will be one wild ride. Laura is in her band camp all week; Emily has marching band practice two nights, and we are visiting two colleges this week. Next week is equally crazy, including a day and a half trip with Linda for each of us to purchase weaving supplies. Then school starts—the upside of this craziness is the children will be out of school by the end of May.

Long ago I had a friend, an engineer, a Polish native. He and his wife emigrated via a trip over the Berlin Wall.  He loved the vastness of this country and delighted in showing the sights to visiting friends. He included the entire country in a week. The Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Ohio via Baton Rouge. “We saw them,” he said. I called it the Stan Dombrowsky school of driving: “Go like hell until you come up on the guy ahead of you, pass him, do it over again.”  


The wind blew lightly all week, and all the crops moved in the wind.


Hay harvesting.

So my drive-by account of my Wisconsin visit to Ann is we drove over half of Wisconsin to visit old friends I’ve come to know in the twenty years Ann has lived there. The scenery was beautiful, the harvest is starting to come in. We visited new restaurants for lunch, and one old haunt. 


This is Perc Place in Hartford.
It is women owned and operated.
It has grown too big for its britches and is moving to a new accommodation next week.
Not to worry; it's just two doors down on Main Street.


It reminds me of another favorite restaurant, Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville, Kentucky.
All the fittings seem to come from you grandmother's house.
Lynn's, sadly, is no longer in business.

The food is nice--wraps, panini, hummus, cucumber cream cheese--all the millennial stuff.

The hall to the ladies and gents has not changed in all these years


Alice down the rabbit hole (?) on one side,


Ladies gowns and hats on the other.

And on the inside:


Yes, that's my cane.





I wanted a peek in the gent's, but Ann would not stand guard.


28 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    Wonder if this discourages the application of random grafitti? Love the hallway. But best of all, love those wide open spaces! YAM xx

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  2. Wisconsin, one of those wide open spaces I've never visited. I'd spend the day in the bathroom just reading the walls.

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  3. your trip sounds wonderful. The ladies room of this place looks very much like Lynn's in Louisville, KY. Think we added to the wall one year and it was about your retirement from the craft circuit. had heard last october that is has re-opened but cannot confirm.

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  4. Love that wall art. And am very, very sorry that Ann was such a spoilsport.

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  5. Best ladies room ever! And as you may know, I'm a collector of off-beat loos.

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  6. Great ladies room some are a bit boring always good to find one that's different pity you didn't get a look in the mens.
    Merle.......

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  7. That is such a fun Ladies Room. It might make people stay in there even longer just to look at everything.

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  8. Gotta love non-standard washrooms! Pretty countryside. How did it go, driving so much and then having to get out and actually stand up and walk? ... that part is rapidly becoming the hardest part of travel for me!

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    1. I get out, stand up, lean against the car for a bit until my legs remember where they are. I don't rush into the rest areas, either.

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  9. You should just gather your courage and sneak into the men's room one day. You might find a whole new outlook.

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  10. I laughed at your Polish friend's idea of a country-wide tour. He obviously had a lot of stamina to go the distance so quickly. The scenery right now in Wisconsin is beautiful and the restaurant you featured sounds and looks like a place I'd very much enjoy. You have a full month in August. Make sure you get some rest :-).

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  11. I think I too would have wanted a pick in the gents' restroom :) Looked like a fun trip for you!! It is amazing it is August already! Sounds like it will be a busy one for you and the girls!

    betty

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  12. Just knock and if no answer just go on in. Camera in hand. Nothing funnier than having a man waiting to come as you walk by.

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  13. I love all of these pictures. But I especially love the inside of the woman's bathroom. I would have knocked on the gent's door and gone in too! I would love to have seen their walls. Sounds like you had a great trip!

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  14. Peek at the gents? Naughty girl. But does look fascinating in there.

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  15. I love the wall "graffiti", so much nicer than the usual "off" writings :)

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  16. you'd spend longer reading the walls than sitting on the toilet!

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  17. What a wonderful ladies room. I think I might be in there too long and my husband would be banging down the door thinking I had fallen in the toilet.

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  18. Sounds like a great trip.... especially the ladies room ;-)

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  19. What a fun place. I'm glad it is still going! That field in the sun looks so peaceful....

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  20. What a fun place. I'm glad it is still going! That field in the sun looks so peaceful....

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  21. What whimsical drawings in the bathroom! It would make one stay longer just to read it all. :-) The field photos look familiar. As you said, 'more trees up north.' and I might add, 'More corn down south.' :-))

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  22. One could spend hours reading in the bathroom, what a hoot, I wonder what it said in the men's room?

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  23. I would have stood guard for you as you checked out the gent's

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  24. What fun to get away and visit friends once in awhile. Liked the decor of the lunch place that had the gowns and hats. Yes, school time is just around the corner with all its necessary prep work. Looks like a busy August for you! -- barbara

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  25. A delightful post of your travels! :-)

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