Last night I pulled in after a whirlwind road trip to Iowa City, IA. The goal was visit this place, which was rad. We spent about an hour and a half there yesterday so that we could basically interrogate one of the owners (super, super nice girl) about her business and how they make it work. It's a craft supply store/workshop for sewers/knitters/printers/more. It's a pretty sweet idea, and they have a great setup there.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We took our time getting there... a six hour drive turned into closer to nine hours. We took all the scenic routes, only jumping on the freeways for short distances to catch up on time a little bit. Once we got down into the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, the drive became much more interesting. I used to drive around west of Madison in my spare time when I lived there, taking my camera with me down small country roads that curve around bluffs and hills in that area. This time, we went through Mineral Point to check out the Pendarvis Cornish Restoration site, which mom and I had both driven by before on separate occasions, but this time we stopped and did a self-guided tour.
I'm a sucker for historical sites.
It was quiet there that day, so we had the place mostly to ourselves. The woman at the gift shop was entertaining to talk to, and we left with Cornish saffron cake, old-fashioned sodas, and a recipe card for making not only the saffron cake, but Cornish pasties. Yummy. Can't wait for that!
We worked our way down toward the very northwestern corner of Illinois, where we stumbled upon Galena, another historic treasure that I didn't expect. We drove around in some of the neighborhoods where some pretty impressive old brick houses stood in good form, and then we walked around in the (touristy, but cute) downtown. We stopped into a couple vintage shops and a nice little yarn shop.
I was mostly impressed by the architecture, which is usually what draws me to these places. I wouldn't mind heading back there sometime to spend a little more time.
And to add to the other historical sites visited that day, we saw U.S. Grant's house, too. ;)
We kept driving on into Iowa, which was gorgeous in its midwestern way. It's high corn season, so the fields were full -- and a little unnervingly big when feeling a little lost in the country. The last time I was through Iowa was on I-80 en route to the west coast in 2003, so it's been a long time, and it was pleasant to be able to take it easy and drive the scenice Mississippi bluff scene routes.
I was pleasantly surprised by Iowa City. I'm thinking a lot of it had to do with the University of Iowa, which has an obvious presence there, even in the summertime. We had gelato at a total college-type coffee/ice cream place called Capanna (it was made all the more college-y because it was connected to a) a library, and b) a pizza place. Anyway, it was great. We stayed at the Sheraton downtown.
I have to say, I want to purchase all of Sheraton's furnishings. And not limited just to the bed, coverings, and desk chair, but this bathroom sink stand also:
It's pretty much the one thing on the Sheraton at Home shopping site that you can't purchase. Ha!
The drive home on Saturday was even longer, but I wouldn't have traded the curvy, scenic route we took for a quicker journey.
We stopped a few times to take in views and grab snacks, but mostly we enjoyed the view from the car and arrived back home around 9:30. A long day, but a fantastic little road trip. And as always, it was good to be home. :)
I'm no good at keeping exciting things to myself. Every time, I tell myself to just shut up (for once!) and wait to say something when things are more certain, but I can't help myself. I just have to share! It is a fault. ...I inadvertently let it slip to a coworker that I was thinking about pursuing something new. All it took was a sarcastic laugh in response to "You're going to be leaving next!" ...and the cat was out of the bag. Of course I had to tell my boss to make sure he didn't hear it through the grapevine, even though nothing is certain, and hardly even begun, and then everyone else inevitably found out some way or another. What am I doing? --or, I should say, what am I going to try to do?
Teaching English as a foreign language in South Korea!
I found myself at the local public library last week, trying in vain to find an adult nonfiction book or guide to South Korea -- or even just Korea -- that wasn't primarily about the Korean War. No such luck. So I left with a handful of children's geography books, which, as it turns out, where perfect for what I was after -- a basic overview (with pictures!) of South Korea.
I've typed up a resume and I'm beginning to search for positions in South Korea, probably Seoul, but possibly elsewhere. It seems to have come on suddenly, but the truth is that it's something that's crossed my mind occasionally for years -- I've been acquainted with a few people who have taught, or know people who have taught, and although I thought it was pretty cool and exciting, I never really thought it was for me.
After talking it over with one friend, and hearing tales of others who have had good experiences and had advice to impart, I pretty much decided that there were fewer reasons not to do it than to just go ahead with it.
So there's obviously a lot more where this came from. I'm diligently researching the country and the programs/education system there, and there's a lot to learn. Of course, there's no guarantee that I get a job, but I think my chances are good. And if all goes accordingly, I'd be en route to eastern Asia probably in February sometime for the beginning of their school year in the spring.
So, barring any unforeseen hangups or other opportunities... there's a big adventure ahead. :)
Yesterday was my cousin Mackinnley's 6th birthday. Six is a pretty exciting age, if you ask me. He's getting ready to start the 1st grade in the fall. He plays soccer and can hold pretty awesome conversations. At six years old, of course, he knows absolutely everything. And birthday parties really start to mean something! So we drove two hours south to the town of Waterloo (where Trek, the bicycle manufacturer is based -- they were hosting their 22nd annual century ride yesterday, too) and joined up for a double-cake kind of birthday party. Mack's mom made a strawberry cake, per request, and then a family friend brought a Simma's cheesecake (a Wisconsin treasure) along for good measure.
We scarfed down buttermilk pancakes and homemade breakfast sausage strata, and, astoundingly, still had room for a LOT of cake.
After brunch and present-opening (which included a Nintendo DS and an MP3 player to Mack's utter astonishment), we took a detour to one of our favorite antique malls, Jefferson Street Market.
This is the place where I found my beloved Lucite chairs, which I have currently in my living room. The clear ones, with the gray seats. Yup. Love. No luck finding anything quite so amazing this time, although some of the dealers' booths didn't fail to impress, and I still found some fun stuff. Such as...
1950s plastic kitchen containers!
Or maybe ceramic deer.
Or perhaps an entire vintage kitchen! Yes, please!
Regardless of not finding anything to purchase, we had a great time looking around. Then, it was homeward. We stopped at a little water mill town to take pictures of a mill on the Crawfish River, however they had recently removed the wheel so it was a little less idyllic looking. Still nice:
Stopping to take photos there put us in the mood to meander (as my mom would say, with a capital 'M') home. We started northeast and ended up in the town of Ashford, where my mom suddenly had a revelation that there was an ancestral cemetery in Ashford, so we plugged in the location on the GPS and found ourselves at the Rauch family cemetery, where I found the resting places of some great-great-great relatives, and even my great-great-great-great grandparents. Whaddayaknow. Crazy. (My mom, later on, showed me pictures of these relatives so I could put faces with names.)
We stopped a couple times to take in some Wisconsin vistas...
All day was overcast, but I think we defined "made the best of it."
Today, the weather is gorgeous, I did some grocery shopping, I'm off to work, and there's always more to come!
I had the day off of work today, and it being a lovely day -- clear, dry, insectless, and not too hot -- my mom and I decided to take a day trip southeast, namely to Kohler, where I haven't been in years. We stopped at the Woodlake shops, which were mostly dead, to peek in at their garden center and the Woodlake Market, which has a small selection of locally-grown produce. We had deli sandwiches and salads there for lunch. Mine was egg salad on a whole wheat croissant; totally yummy:
Next, we meandered (word of the day!) eastward to Sheboygan where we tooled around the marina and took in all the boats. Quite a few people were out on the beaches, sunbathing and probably attempting to swim -- although I imagine Lake Michigan is still frigid.
The seagulls were loving it.
We ended up going through the tiny town of Sheboygan Falls, back through Kohler in search of their "downtown," although I believe it truly consists of the American Club hotel and a spa. And the Kohler factory. It's a planned garden community, so I imagine the downtown is a lot less like a typical, traditional main-street Wisconsin town. Just looked like a big hotel to me! Looooots of cute, cute houses, though. We had fun looking around and yard-peeking. Commenting on cute houses or complaining about ugly ones is a favorite pastime.
Then it was just a scenic drive home, through Kettle Moraine State Forest.
We took a detour up to a tiny little itsy bitsy town called Collins where a restaurateur I recently met renovated an old saloon and turned it into a restaurant. It was an odd time of day so we didn't stop, but it's definitely on the list as a destination dinner spot in the [verryvery] near future!
Day trips keep me in line. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my small hometown makes me crazy. It doesn't help that I live next door to a bar, which in turn is next to two other bars, and across the street from another one. It's Wisconsin! It's loud! And rambunctious! Downtown after dinnertime is nothing but bar-goers, which is great if you're a bar-goer, and not-so-great if you're trying to sleep.
It's an amazing release to be able to drive twenty minutes out of town and find back country roads and scenic spots that take you somewhere else altogether. We drove through some tiny towns I've never heard of, some with absolutely gorgeous old houses and gardens, and some with adorable old bank buildings and gas stations from decades past. And it felt so awesome to be so close to where I grew up--and know everything so well--and simultaneously feel worlds away. Everyone deserves to get out every once in a while; in my case, it keeps me sane.
So I'm back in town now, and there is cornbread in the oven. I had a bunch of buttermilk to use up, so I'm making bread, and mom is making buttermilk oven-fried chicken. We're meeting up to share chow.
Of course, full report will be provided a.s.a.c. (as soon as consumed).
Cheers to a beeeeeautiful heartland day.
Wow, you know? Today was a day for the books. One of those, gee, I didn't think it could be so good, but LIFE IS SO GOOD.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's my day. And more will inevitably spring from what I found during my short escapade:
I had grand intentions of thrifting all morning, which is hands down one of my favorite ways to spend a day off of work. But while at stop numero uno, my mom called and said that she and dad were headed to an architectural salvage place, and would I like to come along? I'm fairly sure I gasped in response -- of course!
I guess I thought they meant an architectural salvage place here in town, and I was a little confused when we got on the highway and started very clearly heading out of town. To Berlin, Wisconsin, it so happened, and in Berlin, Wisconsin did we find the. coolest. ever. salvage store. It's called Saving Grace Salvage Company, which sits in an old foundry building just off downtown. Floor to ceiling on three levels are windows, drawers, chairs, hardware, paintings, antiques -- an entire bookcase of typewriters!! --and just about anything one can imagine. Farm implements and jewelry, benches and planter boxes, you name it. Heaven, is what it's called. I left with some items that are bound to, in some incarnation, make it onto this blog, such as a small, weathered, wooden crate, various mason jars, the cutest-ever tin recipe box from the '50s, and a teapot..
From Saving Grace, we found a drive-in burger stand called Shepard's Drive-In, where we enjoyed delicious burgers, onion rings and mushrooms (fried mushrooms are an obsession with me lately). Oh, and chocolate malts, can't forget those! Delish to the max.
From Berlin we drove eight miles down the road to the vacation town of Green Lake, although the downtown was smaller than we anticipated. We did stop into a couple of small shops and took a look at the lake around which is green. It was quiet for a vacation weekend Saturday, I thought, but that was okay. Quaint and very Wisconsin, and we meandered through some residential lakeside streets to check out what the architecture was like. As might be expected, my envy meter was high, but my adoration for cute houses was higher.
Late afternoon called us back home where family waited at my nana's house for brats and steak on the grill, homemade bean-and-bacon salad, fruit salad, and just-out-of-the-oven rhubarb cake. Ugh.
We enjoyed dinner outside on this clear, mosquito-less, cool evening. Does that sky not just totally sum up how a summer evening should look?
I have two young cousins, brothers, who are nearly-four and five. The youngest performed a constant, repetitive rendition of the Ludacris bit in Justin Bieber's song "Baby." The eldest was inexhaustible at playing catch. My sister's new puppy, Charlee, joined us and amazed everyone at her astoundingly calm behavior. Having my whole family there was beautiful.
Forget-me-nots in full bloom.
I brought home a handful of amazing rhubarb, so expect a tart/pie/cake soon!
After dinner, my sister built a lovely fire in my parents' backyard (woods) when darkness curled in, and it turned into a lovely way to wrap up the evening. I'm exhausted, but the picture of content. Goodnight!
