Ledge Park 2015 Spring Adventures

Since I don't want to get behind on our weekend adventures, I am going to give you a brief over view of our spring trips to Ledge.  This park is a county park that is close to home. 

There are "two" sections to the ledge, the upper and the lower.   For our first little mini hike, we were basically on the lower ledge after we checked out the campsite that we would be calling home for a weekend in May.

There are no campsites in the lower section only picnic areas, a pond, and a playground.  During periods of great amounts of rain, it can be closed to vehicles due to minor flood (as seen above).

This is the Contemplation Tree.

 

That sums up the April excursion.  Fairly brief.

Then in May, we took the new camper out there for a test run.   It is is the perfect spot for that since it is close to home.  And this weekend we needed the whole close to home.
First off does anyone recall this book?  They have a little library located within the ledge and we just happen to have stumbled upon this book.

 

 Our first evening was a rough one.  Not because of the park, but due to the dogs.  We were right across the way from a group which had hunting dogs that were kept in a truck in the evening.  So their random barking would set off our dogs.  Sleep did not go very well.

 

And in our lovely morning stuper, we had the nice reminder that it was birding weekend at the marsh.  So that whole group of people above happened to be looking at birds, which really felt like they were staring at you. At least they were quiet.

After running home and playing a small rotation game with the dogs, we decided to hike a portion of the upper ledge on our quest for the last geocache we had to find in the park.  Here are some pictures from the hike. 

It was a strategic climb down to find the cache, but we made it.

 

It is hard to tell by these pictures that we are actually in Wisconsin.  Yes, we have coolness like this here.

 

We found the cache and you literally had to crawl thru a tunnel to find it.

 

We picked up the hubbie and the rest of the puppies to finish off our hike for the day.

 

In the evening we were joined by my parents and of course, we had some marshmallows.

 

 

Our last night was uneventful.  This maybe in part that we left the dogs at our home with the other teenager.  In the morning, we packed up and headed home before the rain set in.

 

Overall our first camp trip in the new trailer, went well.

 

And there you have a little glimpse into our spring trips to the ledge.  Watch for more details on this park in the future.

 

 

The Satterlee Clark House

Let's go way back on this Wednesday to another period in time.  A glimpse back to what my town used to be and where it has came from.  Back in February the Phoenix group in conjunction with the Satterlee Clark House, historical museum, had a winterfest celebration.  The teaming up of these two organizations equates to a fantastic idea.  All to often you live in a place and forget about the little local places that you haven't seen in a while.

 

 

The Satterlee Clark house consists of three buildings.  There is the main house, a barn and a one room school house.  We will start our little tour in the main house in the kitchen.  Not many photographs of the main level because you need to go see it yourself.

 

In the basement area, they had old uniforms from the post office.

 

There were also various trinkets from 50's and 60's.  It was interesting because some of the items we were wishing were still available today.

 

The upper level consisted of bedrooms set up for the different period.  Yes, I am slightly clothes obsessed especially when it comes to looking at the older dresses.  No mass production going on there. A number of the settlers in the Horicon area were German, so there were a few items in German located throughout the house.  When my grandmother was growing up her family still spoke German in her home.  Another area offered in the main home is a genealogy area, where an individual can review census records and old articles.

 

After our exploration of the main house, we wandered to the back barn. 

 Here we were treated to a demonstration by a blacksmith.

 

The amount of skill it takes to do this just amazes.  It is very tedious how they have to heat, mold, heat, bend, etc. over and over.  One of my must exciting moments in the barn area was the realization they basically recreated a restaurant named Manolis that once stood in our downtown area. 

 

It was owned by two greek sisters and I can honestly say that was not the first time I sat in that both.  Since then it has sadly became a parking lot.  I was overjoyed when I saw it was almost like it used to be "back in my day" when I stopped.

 

 

And the above picture speaks for itself.  Newspaper fonts from 1883.  Could you imagine printing a whole paper by placing stamps in a machine to print out the news.  Wow.

 

After the barn, we headed over to the one room school house.  Of course being a school house, there were various old desks in it and it was set up like a classroom.  now I am not going to lie there were one or two desks that I couldn't reset lifting the top on to see if my name was on it.  Aside from it being set up like a school there were huge displays of indian arrowheads that had been found around the Horicon area.

 

 

And that ended our little hometown excursion.   If you are up in the area, take a stop and check out the history of Horicon.  Or if you have lived there for a while, take a walk down memory lane or discover that you learned something new about our little town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock Island State Park, WI : Beach Time

Welcome back to Rock Island for our last installment.   It is time to kick off those hiking boots for some flip flops and head to the beach.  A little hint here on the map it is listed as a sandy area, but it is a beach.  A little hidden also....just look for the sandy trail that goes up a hill. Follow that and boom...

Enjoy the beauty of the beach.  Both of our puppies took there little "swimming tests" here.

While Chuck may have did ok...he was not very happy about it and couldn't wait to get back to the beach towel.

 

Ready for way to many beach pictures in 3...2.....1

Here you have a little tadpole that some of the kids caught...

 

Also make sure you take sometime to walk down the beach area....

So much relaxation seems to bring out people's creative sides..

And now we must get ready to go or as Chuck said oh....

Catpoop.

 

When it is time to go you find yourself patiently awaiting the next ferry and saying goodbye to a very beautiful island.  Take the chance and pay a visit to Rock Island.

 

 

Rock Island State Park, WI : Island Exploration Part 2

Welcome back to Rock Island once again.  It has been quite sometime.  After all of those steps that we climbed in the last post, a well needed rest was definitely in order.

 

We shall now continue our journey around the island via the Thordarson Loop.

As you journey down this trail you will come across a few cemeteries.   Take some time to look at the gravestones here.  Keepers of the lighthouses and members of their families rest here.

Aside from lingering in the cemeteries, don't forget to stop at the various overlooks along the trail and take in the beautiful views of the lake.

The next stop and snack break on our little tour is the water tower.

 

To be quite honest I am not really sure why it is called the water tower.  It is not like a water tower I have ever seen before.   Of course one time while we were hiking it was rather rainy and we hung out there until the rain or water passed.

 

As you continue on you will pass the Rutabaga Field and the beach area.   After the beach area along the shoreline cliffs you will find some old Indian carvings.  These are not right along the trail you will need to go in search of them...good luck and enjoy the views.

By this time you will be back into the campground area and heading back to your site for some well needed rest from your little island walk. 

Stay Tuned for some Rock Island Beach Tales.