Going West

Heading west from Madison this morning I responded as quickly as I could to the call “quilt barn!”  Sure enough, there it was….gone.

We were driving towards LaCrosse and made a short stop at an Historical Marker, just to see what it was all about.  In this case, it was commemorating John Appleby, the inventor of the knotter on the grain binder.

See?  Of course, you know all about why the badger’s there now as well, don’t you?

We were almost at our destination by then: Spring Green, Wisconsin.  This is where Frank Lloyd Wright’s family lived, where he grew up and where he returned to build his own home, Taliesin.

We’d booked a tour of the house before we left home and assembled in the Visitor Centre in good time to join the group for the shuttle ride up the hill to the house.

It was a beautiful morning, just perfect for being here.

We were very lucky indeed to have a great guide in Andy, who explained all the background to the site and told us the story of Frank, his wife, his mistress and the murder…

Read about it here

So this is Taliesin 3, because another fire in 1925, caused by faulty wiring, destroyed much of the living quarters once more, so the structure we see today is the third iteration of the building.

Andy explained all of this in detail and pointed out other significant features such as the house across the valley which FLW built for his sister (thank you, zoom lens on my camera!)

He went on the explain some of the fundamental principles of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, including the theory that buildings should look as if they have grown from the earth.  Perhaps you’ll recall other FLW visits we’ve made, to Taliesin West, to Oak Park in Chicago and most recently, to the Martin House in Buffalo last year?  What Andy was telling us resonated and we knew exactly what he meant.

As usual, there were no photos allowed indoors, so I’ll continue with the pictures I took outside and outline the points Andy made about FLW’s work and which I found fascinating.

First of all, upon entering the visitor centre this morning, we all ducked our heads because the ceiling felt so low.  Actually, there was no need to duck, for it was high enough for us to walk in comfortably, but Andy explained this architectural device as we came across the exact same feature in the hallway of the house and studio:  “Architectural Compression and Expansion”.  By reducing the height of an area (“compression”), one can be encouraged to keep moving into the open area beyond (the “expansion”), which means that the architect is able to manipulate the behaviour of the users of his designs and FLW did this particularly effectively.

Another of FLW’s design features is the hidden front door.  I remembered this from the Martin House last year and the same was true for Taliesin.  In fact, Andy took us around to the rear of the building, because he wanted us to see FLW’s favourite view.  Before we reached there however, we walked around the old stable block, now used by architecture students of the FLW Foundation which is based both here and at Taliesin West in Arizona.

FLW’s favourite view of his home was this one, from the rear driveway because of the varied roof shapes visible from this point.  I can’t say I share his favourite, but then that’s probably because I can’t appreciate the finer details of roof structures!

Asymmetry was another common feature and this house was a shining example of that.  No room was symmetrical in any respect, though Andy explained that the house had been an ongoing experiment for the architect to try out new ideas and things changed frequently. Certainly his preference for open space living was clear here, as one room led to another with only a few closed in spaces – bedrooms, generally.  The “rooms” were divided by compression spaces – low ceiling areas with shelving above or a narrow walkway with no door,  opening out to a larger, loftier space.

One thing we have noticed at all the FLW properties we’ve visited is the planting in the gardens.  Here, just like all the others, the borders were beautiful.  Deep, almost black hollyhocks alongside white lilies and spikes of blue flowers I didn’t recognise, all in lavish clumps.  I’d love to recreate something similar at home.

One last thing we’d noticed before leaving the house: Here, we had been viewing FLW’s own home and not a project built for a client.  The finish was something altogether different because not only was he always making changes and trying out new ideas, the extensive budget of a wealthy client wasn’t available to him.  So some aspects were far less than perfect and in the last room we viewed, the Garden Room, the window frame left almost an inch of fresh air where it didn’t fit properly.  Fascinating.

On our way again, then, towards LaCrosse, our overnight stop, past thousands of stars and stripes set out in readiness for Independence Day.

I ended the day in the same way as I set out – a quick snap through the windscreen, of this cute Amish family walking home along the road and in particular, the toddler all dressed up exactly like her Mummy, complete with jacket and bonnet.

Dinner plans tonight sound fun.  I might be back with another post later!

A Capitol day

Whenever we are in a state capital, we like to visit the capitol.  Here in Madison, the Capitol stands high above the surroundings and dominates the city centre and we looked forward to taking a look inside.

The first tour was at 10am so after breakfast we walked the few blocks from our hotel and found the step-free entrance.  The Capitol is built around a central lobby and has four wings aligned to the compass points and is set in a square of lawn in the centre of the city.  In the old days, Capitol Square was a bustling, busy commercial place but now it’s set amongst bank, insurance companies and suchlike and the area bustles no longer, except for the office workers of course.

Inside, it’s as grand as any capitol we’ve seen.  Walls and floors of different colours and varieties of marble, each one sourced from a different part of the world and costing a fortune.

Standing in the central lobby, high above our heads was the dome with the central painting of Wisconsin and her handmaidens.

A little lower down, on each of the four sides there’s a richly coloured mosaic depicting Liberty..

Government,

Legislation

and Justice.  They set the tone for the whole place, being very much in the style of the early 1900s – and very much to my taste, too.

We began the tour in the Governor’s Meeting Room.  Well, I’m not sure how frequently the Governor holds meetings in this room but if I were he, I’d take every opportunity.  Beautiful paintings on every wall and the ceiling too, again in the style of the early 1900s.

I really liked this painting, which hangs behind the Governor’s chair.  Sadly, all of them are dark and the light wasn’t so good either – not the best for photography.  But there’s a website with, hopefully, better images.

Leaving the Governor’s meeting room, we passed the bronze of the State Animal – the Badger with the very shiny nose, resulting from the custom of rubbing it for good luck.

Our tour continued through meeting rooms, lavishly built of marble and with stunning frescoes just beneath the ceiling.  I especially liked this one which was so much of its time, depicting steamships, the railroad, early motor cars and very faintly in the sky, one of the new fangled flying machines.

I liked this small vignette too.  There’s so much Native American heritage here, most obviously for us in the form of the place names. 

Who should we come across next but Chief OshKosh on trial for murder, illustrating an incident in the state history, recorded in a painting high up there on the wall of the Supreme Court.

The tour continued through both houses before returning to the central hall, giving us a chance to take a few more photographs and to try to find the step free exit – hopefully in a direction which would lead us to a coffee shop!

Ta Dah!!  The bonus was it happened to be Cafe Colectivo, the same brand as we’d enjoyed at the Mud Creek Cafe the other day.  Mmmm.

A short walk away was the Wisconsin History Museum, where we learned a little more about the State and became a little more aware of the wider landscape, particularly up north by the canadian border.  Brrrrr!

We also learned a little more about what’s made in Wisconsin.  Bicycles!  Also, there’s paper packaging, beer and Harley Davidson motorbikes.  There’s probably many, many other things but there’s one which just keeps coming to the top of the list.

Cows.  Well, yes…

Milk.

Of course.

Cheese!

Thankfully, just down the street was Fromagination where a cheese sandwich was exactly what we needed for lunch.

Delicious!

Fresh air and fun

We left Milwaukee this morning and headed west.

We had a fairly short day’s drive and had earmarked one potentially interesting spot along the way.  Old World Wisconsin is an open air museum; a collection of reconstructed buildings from all corners of the state.  It all sounded pretty interesting except for one aspect.

The costumed interpreters/re-enactors.

I know, they are there to enhance the experience, to add authenticity and to add some historical perspective to the exhibits.  But they are frequently prissy, precious and frankly, we are inclined to find them embarrassing, especially if they insist on staying in character.

As we left the car and walked over to the entrance, a uniformed chap greeted us enthusiastically, handed over a map and then explained what was what.  Just when we thought he’d finished, he thought of some other helpful information to share and some ten minutes later, we escaped to go and get our tickets.

They talk a lot in Wisconsin.

Everyone we’ve met has been super-friendly, super-helpful and this chap was typical of others we’d come across – he was simply doing his job and doing it very well, of course.

His recommendation was that we should go straight to the German farm area, where there were some tiny piglets to see and a couple of interesting houses.  We took the shuttle service and rode past some really lovely buildings, very attractively presented with beautiful gardens around them.  This blue lupins look stunning in front of the grey wooden farmhouse, don’t you agree?

The collection of German farm buildings were set around a field of barley, waving beautifully in the breeze.  I can’t recall the last time I walked through a barley field – I’d forgotten how lovely it is!

A warm welcome awaited us as we approached the house and several interpreters were busy in the garden and the house.  We were so thrilled when they spoke normally – none of the precious re-enactment stuff here!  Our fears were gone – we really enjoyed chatting to these intelligent, incredibly knowledgeable people and learned so much about the lives of the early settlers as we did.

We all admired the beautiful fencing around the property – authenticity and impeccable maintenance extended to every corner.

We also loved that in every house, there was some activity.   Here, in the first German home, a loom was set up and as it was cranked into action, we chatted about the meagre possessions of the family.  In every case, the house was rebuilt as the original owners had left it and staged for a specific year.  Here, the owners had emigrated from Pomerania bringing only the minimum of “stuff” with them.  All the the wooden parts had been replaced upon arrival and in the case of things such as this loom, built from scratch.  The fibre was linen, processed from flax grown in the fields and spun into thread, ready for weaving.

But much as we were interested to hear about the linen, the family and their home, we really wanted to see the piglets!

So, off we went, over to the other German buildings – built by another family from Pomerania – and onwards.

Everywhere we looked, there was another lovely vignette, a photo opportunity and a scene worthy of a magazine spread.

The second German home had been built as a kind of showhouse, a fine example of what the master carpenter owner could create for his customers.  As a result, it was rather more elaborate than the first and clearly, the family owning it were far more prosperous.

The log cabin quilt was lovely and clearly, the lady of the house was a skilled needlewoman.

Evidence was in another room, alongside a treadle operated sewing machine and a collection of notions on the table nearby.  The quotation on the paper there was taken from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “The House on Plum Creek” and the scene was indeed resonant of some of the stories in that book.

Across the way was the master carpenter’s workshop, where a craftsman was demonstrating the manufacture of wooden pegs for use in construction.  Yes, of course we accepted his invitation to have a go ourselves.

Next stop was the Danish farm, where a woman had cooked a few rather strange looking recipes in a simple kitchen.  Buttermilk soup looked horrible with lumps of fat (?butter) floating in a grey liquid.  No thanks!

The Raspberry School was another great experience – named after the location it had originally stood, in Raspberry Bay.  The schoolmistress was delightful and explained sweetly how life would have been for both children and teacher.  Mary took her punishment well – a couple of minutes standing with her nose to the blackboard!

And so we went.  To the Norwegian home, where wool was being spun, dyed and knitted and where pancakes were being prepared.

Everywhere we went, we stopped to take another photo, to admire the flowers set alongside the grey planked walls and to reflect on the stories we’d just been told.

Oh, and if it looks as if we were the only ones there – it’s true!  Well, at least until lunchtime, the only other folks we came across was one family with a few young children who were enjoying the freedom as much as we were.  So, we felt we had the whole place to ourselves – wonderful.

After a bite to eat in the cafe, we settled ourselves in the theatre for a performance of Caroline Ingall’s memoir – a one-hander lasting about half an hour, telling the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s mother’s experiences.  Very clever, professionally acted and of course, to the fangirls among us, incredibly interesting.

There remained just one or two buildings to see, including the blacksmiths, the shoemakers and the general store.  Here was a remarkable selection of dress fabric which drew my eye so that I didn’t notice the hairpieces at first.

A short, sharp shower sent people scurrying indoors and we were glad we’d left the collection of buildings closest to the car park till last.

Thankfully, the sun came out again as we made our way over to the shuttle stop to return to the car park.

Our final interaction was as charming as the first – whether we were chatting about the amazing woodburning stoves in each house or the joy of wearing a corset (!) the enthusiasm and genuine delight shared by every single member of the staff here made our visit one to remember.

If ever you find yourself in Wisconsin, this is the place to visit.  Oh, and don’t come on a weekend with everyone else, will you?  Wait until Monday and have the place to yourself!

Tonight, we’re in Madison, the vibrant and rather attractive state capital of Wisconsin.  As I sit and type, the sky is lit by flashes of lightning, there are loud claps of thunder and it’s pouring with rain outside.  The weather seems to move through quickly here, so here’s hoping it will have gone by the morning.

Sunday in Wisconsin

A day for driving out and exploring further afield.  My hero had identified Lake Winnebago as a potentially interesting destination, with the opportunity to see a little more of the Dairy State.

Green fields, slightly rolling landscape and wide open spaces with fairly large farms dotted around.

But no cows to be seen!

We reached the conclusion that dairy farming here is much like it is at home now, with cows kept indoors for the bulk of the time and the land farmed for arable crops.  Sure enough, there were fields of corn, wheat and barley to either side for much of the way.

When we reached the southern tip of the lake and the town of Fond du Lac we thought it might be a good idea to drop into the visitors centre and get some detailed ideas.  But a glance at the opening hours meant that we could access only the leaflets just inside the door – much the same information which we already had in our AAA guide.

Driving alongside the lake wasn’t as scenic as we’d hoped – the road was a fair distance from the water and a line of houses and trees meant for the most part, the water wasn’t visible.  So a “Scenic Lookout” signposted from the road seemed promising.

Ha.

Would you apply the “scenic lookout” label to this patch of grass?  No, we wouldn’t either, though it did have a fine view of the road down there.  No lake though.

Our next stop was Meuers Farm where we’d hoped to get a flavour of the Wisconsin farming lifestyle.  Sadly, it wasn’t to be – at this time of the year, it’s basically strawberry picking and since they’d had a busy day yesterday, there weren’t even any strawberries left to be picked.  Oh well, never mind, we’ll move right along!

We’d been driving just five or ten minutes when my hero gave a shout – “quilt barn!”  A quick left turn and a snap from the window sufficed.  Nice one!

The next eyecatcher was in a different league.  We’d turned off the road to make our way back to a good-looking coffee shop when we came across this garden.  The key to the theme was the phrase “Nearer my God to Thee” above the window.  A closer look revealed countless Titanic references.  Oh my.

After a great coffee at the Mud Creek Cafe, we drove on to Neenah.  Great name, eh?  My hero told us at this point that one of his “Roadside America” treasures was to be found here – oh my.  Those are an occasional feature of our adventures here and they range from the slightly strange to the downright weird at times.  What was this one to be?

Huh?  Here we are in Wisconsin and there it is, the Statue of Liberty.

Now, we’ve only seen the real thing from a distance, so I can’t say if she really does have this rather strange pose from the side?  A kind of curtsey?

Now, the Statue of Liberty was quite an interesting diversion, unlike the next one – a rather sad dinosaur in a derelict golf driving range.  We moved right along.

Good grief, he had a third surprise up his sleeve – Muffler Man!  By this time, Mary and I were beside ourselves – what on earth!?!  But such is life on a road trip…full of surprises

At this point, the word for the day was “expectation”.  Mary advised us that by limiting our expectations there would be less chance of our being disappointed. So, my expectation that the people of the next city would all be dressed in red and white striped dungarees needed to be pulled in a little, b’gosh.  (I’m sure I have a photograph of Edward wearing such an outfit but he will be relieved that it’s not something I can access from this side of the Atlantic – breathe again, Edward!)

Actually, there wasn’t anyone around at all, for it seems as though the city of OshKosh has been hit hard by the closure of the clothing factory some twenty years ago when manufacture was transferred to Central America.  So no red and white striped dungarees to be seen anywhere here, sadly.

So we made our way back down the western shore and seeing a place to stop and get out a little closer to the water, we did exactly that.  Lake Winnebago is rather lovely, it was bustling with little boats on this Sunday afternoon and the breath of fresh air was exactly what we needed.

On the way back to Milwaukee, we even spotted some cows!

We made a little stop on the way home too – well, with a 40% off everything coupon, it’d have been rude not to, wouldn’t it?

Dinner tonight was slightly less raucous than last night too – our food came on a plate and not in a glass!  Very good it was, too.

In the city

One of the principles of our road trips is that we don’t drive every day.  We spend at least one day exploring a place before moving on and today was a day for exploring Milwaukee.  So we didn’t rush to get up, we lingered over breakfast and it was almost ten before we set out.  We decided we’d make our way through the Grand Mall opposite our hotel and catch the loop trolley for a bit of an orientation tour around the city.

Except the trolley didn’t start until 11am.

And the shops didn’t open until 11 either.  At least there was an interesting design in the floor!

So, we decided we’d walk over to the Historic Third Ward, which allowed us a glimpse of the river on the way.

It was a fine morning, sunny and quite warm, so it was surprising to find so few people around.

We soon found ourselves in the historic area and here, there was a little more life, thank goodness.

The market was the centre of things this morning and we were happy to dive right in and see what was going on.

Loads of yummy things – bakery, sweets, chocolates, a wine bar and, as we’re in Wisconsin, cheese!  Lots of cheese! 

We had a quick tasting and chose a couple for a lunchtime picnic.  The day was shaping up nicely.

Resisting the lure of the foot-long king crab legs (my favourite!) we carried on through the market to explore a little more of the district.

It was full of life, the sidewalk bars and cafes were buzzing and we were happy to stroll around for a while.  This couple were enjoying a HUGE bloody mary at the Wicked Hop, somewhere I’d recognised from our Godson Paul’s facebook page recently.  Maybe we’d return for dinner this evening?

A little further along the way, there was a fun paper store – not Paper Source but somewhere pretty similar.

Just across the road was a Pendleton shop and a life size bronze of a chap sitting outside.  Why?  We had to go and find out – he was a fireman and this was a converted fire station.  OK.

Inside was a selection of goods commemorating America’s National Parks – of which we are fans.  But there was nothing we really wanted to buy so we pushed right on past the cute chap sitting wrapped up for the winter and back out into the sunshine.

Actually, this historic district wasn’t quite as extensive as first impressions had suggested, so we walked back to the market, enjoying a fine view of some of Milwaukee’s grand old architecture on the way.

Returning to our original plans, we waited by the loop trolley and hopped on board here.

Being naughty children, we scooted to the back seat and enjoyed the ride around the city.

A few questions were answered – we’d wondered what the large and important structure on the hill there was, so were pleased to learn it’s the courthouse.  Except, just how enormous a courthouse does this city need?  Good grief!

We continued through one or two small parks, including this one with a statue of Robbie Burns.  Why?  I have no idea.

Now, we were almost at the lake and a glimpse of the waterfront was sufficient to tempt us further.  We’d like to see more of that area – perhaps this afternoon?

We got off the bus near our hotel and walked over a different bridge to get there.  I rather liked this little bronze of Gertie the duck on the bridge structure – read her story here.

So, having collected our car, we drove right back down to the waterfront, past the Art Gallery.

A procession of old cars was passing along the lakeside road and though I’d have liked a closer look, the traffic was moving quickly and we had to keep going.

We were getting hungry and spotted the ideal picnic spot by the lake.

Who’d have thought it?  Sand between the toes!

I’m not sure the water was very clean though, even if a few children were paddling.  Our cheese and fig marmalade picnic was delicious, with a fresh loaf of bread, sweet nectarines and some handmade cookies from the market too.  We were well set up to drive a little further along the lake shore, ogling the million dollar properties as we went. 

What a great place to live!

But soon, we ran out of things to see and without a real destination in mind, we decided we’d go in search of dessert – Mary had a recommendation for a great ice cream cafe and of course, when we’re at a loose end, there’s always Chicos

We didn’t find the ice cream cafe…but we did find the Chicos.  They knew we were coming too, because everything in the store was 40% off!  Though I tried on several tops, only the black one came with me and the others stayed on the rack.

And though we didn’t find the recommended ice cream cafe, we did find an alternative!

With a Barnes and Noble right opposite too, we couldn’t resist a late afternoon browse of the magazines.  But when did they become so expensive?  I picked up a copy of Modern Quilting and got as far as the till before spotting it was $14.99.  I decided to spend a little longer browsing and returned it to the shelf when I was done.

Back in the city, we left the car back at the hotel and decided to keep going.  By now we were all feeling a little weary, so didn’t stop and returned along the riverwalk to the Third Ward where we’d begun our day.  There, outside the market building a bridal party was gathering for photos in the early evening sunshine.

We were heading to the Wicked Hop, having learned that not only are their Bloody Marys special, they are said to be the best in Wisconsin.

Three plates of baby back ribs later, we were delighted with our choice.  Yes, the Bloody Marys are pretty remarkable too!