Wisconsin Capitol

Here I am sitting and waiting for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court justices to enter and take their seats. I am a little nervous, but this is not the first time I have been in court!

Here is the capitol building in Madison; it is the third Capitol building for Wisconsin and was built between 1906 and 1917 at a cost of $7.25 million. The interior features forty-three varieties of stone from around the world. The Supreme Court room above is decorated with German and Italian marble, mahogany furniture, and four murals by Albert Herter.

After visiting the Capitol, I strolled down state street and ended up at the UW-Madison campus. I think most of the 41,000 students were also out on state street, and it was the middle of the day. I did find a new friend on state street whom I will be bringing with me to Colorado next month.

The weather has been great this week. Hope it hold for the next week or so before I begin the trip to Colorado.

Warmest regard, Cuzzin' Gus

Historic Cedarburg, WI

Today I traveled to Cedarburg, WI, just northwest of Milwaukee. Here I visited a number of special places, but I was very impressed with the stonework on this old mill located on the Cedar River. There are many historic buildings in town constructed with Niagara limestone from two local quarries as well as cream city brick. The town was first settled in the 1840s by German and Irish immigrants. The railroad reached town in 1870. No matter where I go, I seem to get a history lesson about what was happening in other parts of the country at the same time as a local event. Of course the Civil War ended in 1865 and the country was trying to recover when the railroad came to Cedarburg.

I have been tasting a lot of great cheeses and sausages here in Wisconsin. Since I am not old enough, I have not tasted the wines but I have also found some excellent chocolate, some of which I found in Cedarburg today. Do I look a little heavier in the pictures?

Just north of Cedarburg I found this old covered bridge. It is reputed to be the only remaining covered bridge left in Wisconsin. It is not as old as some I have seen in Pennsylvania, but it is a nice bridge. There were no nails used to build the bridge when built in 1876, only hard wood pins hold it together.



It is now off to Madison so see the state capitol.

Hope all is well. Your friend, Gus.

Here I am in Milwaukee with the "Fonz." I met two nice guys from Minneapolis when I spotted Fonzie standing near the river .
I am having a great time on the River Walk and seeing some of the sights. It is not quite the same as the River Walk in San Antonio, but they are working on it.

The real highlight this past week was meeting Walt and Myl Rundle. They used to teach in suburban Chicago and owned Black Bear Lodge in Red Lake, Ontario. I have heard so much about them and how good they were to Pat and Jim. Cousins Jim and Pat had not seen the Rundles in 40 years. They live here in Milwaulee to be near their daughter, Jill.

After walking around for several hours today, we wanted something to eat. We found a great German restaurant (Mader's) and had a great late lunch. We sat at the same table used by Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers several years ago; the waitress wanted my name so they could put up another placque by the table, but I don't think they'll do it.

Missing picture and more...

Here is a picture of Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior along the Minnesota coast, north of Duluth. I walked down about 175 steps to the water to get this picture.




Here is the picture that did not open for some on yesterday's blog. Since I am trying to do these blogs without the help of cousins Pat and Jim, sometimes my technical skills fail me.

Hope this finds all well.

Sturgeon Bay, WI

At the left, I am sitting in front of one of the exhibits at the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. It is a very nice museum, although not quite as elaborate as the one I visited last summer in Astoria, Oregon. I didn't realize the major role the people of this area played in building ships for World War II. There is still ship building here, but nothing like in the 1940s and 1950s. There have been some very nice yachts built here too, one of which sold for $35 million.

As I toured the museum and followed the news the past few days, it brought back many fond memories of my stay on Galveston Island last April. We were parked at Galveston Island State Park, about 100' from the Gulf of Mexico. From the pictures I have seen on T.V., I assume the campground is gone. We walked along the seawall shown in so many newscasts and ate at one of the restaurants facing the gulf.

One of the special sites I visited in Galveston was the Bishop's Palace. This is (was?) a beautiful mansion built in 1887 for a local attorney and features a hand-carved staircase, jeweled glass windows and a mantel than won first prize at the 1876 World Fair. The mansion survived the hurricane of 1900 that killed thousands of people and then was purchased by the Catholic Diocese for the local bishop in 1923. I have not seen any report about the mansion. I hope it survived again.

While I am up here in Door County, I hope see more of the beautiful countryside and maybe visit a lighthouse. If the weather is good, I hope to take the ferry to Washington Island. I think this area is a lot like New England. I was told the cherry crop was not too good this year, but the stores do have lots of cherry products.

The weather has been rainy here, but nothing like what other parts of the country have seen. I will keep you posted on my travels in Wisconsin. I have met some people who are still upset that Brett Favre left Green Bay, but the Packers winning the first two games of the season has softened the blow.

Turtle Lake, Wisconsin

The reason we came to Turtle Lake was to visit Bill and Janet Burhop, some friends I made at Llano Grande Park in Mercedes, Texas. One of their dogs was afraid of me then, but now we get along just fine. Last Saturday he took me out to the dog trials agility course where he trains and tried to teach me some the tasks he does in competition. As you can see above, I am not very agile going over the jump.

Then he tried to get me to go up and down the ramp--going up was fine, but going down looked scarey. I guess that is why I don't ski.

Finally, I decided it was best if my friend Betty and I just hung out on the ring and watched as the others worked.

Here I am "hanging out" on the street sign in front of the motor coach. I like this spot, since Pat and Jim's grandaughter's name is Danielle. I am wearing hand-me-down clothes from Danielle's older brother Christopher. They both live in Colorado Springs and I will get to visit them in October.

Today Jim took me out to a farm to see some horses, sheep and peacocks. The weather turned cooler, and the low temperature this morning was in the 40s. I will try to post more regularly, so keep checking my site and please post comments.

Gus