Heading Home

Last night we stayed at the Oscar’s Swan Country Inn in Geneva. I picked it because it was relatively close to the airport and seemed to offer a quiet peaceful place to stay. Our flight doesn’t board until 8:28 pm, so I knew there would be time for exploring. 

The original plan was to fly from Fargo and transfer to this flight. When I needed to cancel the first flight, I kept the second one for security sake which is why we depart so late. 

As I mentioned yesterday, when we arrived there was a full blown wedding reception happening in the inn. They finally all disappeared by midnight and I have to admit, the place fulfilled my expectations of quiet solitude. 

Breakfast was outside on the patio and was absolutely amazing. Spinach apple quiche, French toast, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit and pumpkin bread, just to name a few. We certainly had our fill! 

A second couple had somehow snuck into the B&B last night, during the wedding festivities, and they told me that their booking experience was similar to mine. 

The proprietor has owned the inn since 1985. She and her husband ran the place but he passed awhile ago. Or, as she said, "He upped and died on her". So she runs this place with the help of a handy man and hired staff to serve the events.

She has a website but only a phone number. No e-mail. No online reservations. She told us that she’s not a detail person but more a “whoopedy whoo” type person. 

Yep. That describes her perfectly.  In the long run, we were quite happy with our experience there because we could relax until noon before taking off. 

Here are a few photos of the grounds. 

I imagine a few weeks ago that these gardens were bursting with color.  Most of the flowers were already spent.  There was a lovely reflection pool on the grounds as well. 

We relaxed until noon, when we decided to head to St. Charles to walk along the Fox River Trail.  We had plenty of time to spare.

He certainly doesn't look to welcoming, does he?

The park was amazing: beautiful grounds, well maintained walks, and lots of activities to enjoy. 

Just the walk along the river itself was interesting. 

Just below the bridge stands this large statue of a native american representing the Pottawatomie tribe. 

The inscription states that these people were peace loving and friends of the settlers. 

The final paragraph is beautiful:

Our final prayer as we left our land 

was that you would love this Valley as much as we loved it. 

We were one with the earth, sky and water. 

We were the Neshnabek, the “People” of the Valley.”

Along the river trail, we headed to the municipal building that stand majestically at the bridge.

There is a small dam there with a fish ladder along the side.  But we didn't spy any jumping today. 

The flowers added to the beauty, and there had been similar gardens scattered along the trail. 

We headed back from here to the car to make the trip to the Chicago airport to return the car and check in for our flight.  The mileage was less than thirty, but the time to get there was three times as long.  Kind of crazy, but I will say that there was a LOT of traffic.  Quite the opposite of our experience in North Dakota!

We stopped at a farm market to pick up something for dinner at the airport.  Marty needed this photo.

So, this brings our trip to a close.  We've already had our gate switched three times since we arrived.  Travel can be challenging, can't it? 

But this trip was worth all of the aggravation that we encountered.  Nothing like a happy ending. 

Not sure when we'll be on the road again, but I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Thanks SO much for following along.   Until next time.....

 

Old World Wisconsin

Our morning began with an outstanding breakfast crafted by our B&B host. 

First course:  Yogurt parfait.

Main course:  stuffed blueberry and cream cheese waffle.

And as if that wasn't filling enough, there were two slices of home made banana bread for us to enjoy afterwards. 

That could be the motivation that pushed us to walk most of Old World Wisconsin once we arrived. There were several trams that moved people from location to location, but we decided to walk it.  It was a beautiful day and why not enjoy it while we can?

The Old World Wisconsin is an outdoor living history museum that features the immigrants into Wisconsin beginning as early as 1840.  There were numerous nationalities represented, primarily Scandinavian and Prussia countries.   

Three distinct sections are set out over acres of land.  One section is devoted to the original settlements.  The second section discusses farm life in various settlements, and the third is a town set up as it would have looked around 1880. 

We set off on foot. Our first stop was St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.  It was built in 1839 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and moved to this history center in 1975. 

It had been built by Irish and German immigrants and the interior was beautifully preserved. 

At the end of the town was a boarding house from the same time era.

The rooms were a bit more extravagant than what I would have imagined. 

Down the street was an 1880 Yankee Townhouse.  The house had been originally built in 1858 by James Harvey Sanford who migrated to Wisconsin from New York. (thereby the nickname "Yankee"). 

By 1880, the house had been handed down to his son who made improvements by adding wallpaper and painting the door panels to give a more sophisticated look. 

These keyhole door frames were added as well as they were considered to be a sign of wealth. 

Just across the street was the creamery where I spotted this photo on the wall.  Note how the cow is looking right into the camera! 

Walking along, we passed the 1890 Finnish Farm and stopped to chat with a young woman at the 1910 Finnish farm. 

She had give Marty a small plastic vial of whipping cream to shake and make into butter.  So, as we walked along, he shook.

Through the woods until we came to the 1880 Danish Farm. This homestead was the property of Christen Pedersen who immigrated from Denmark to Polk County in 1869.  The cabin was moved to Old World Wisconsin in 1976 and was actually dedicated by Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who happened to be visiting on a bicentennial tour. 

There was a copy of the deed to his property.

A one room schoolhouse was on the grounds dated from 1897.  It was moved here from northern Wisconsin.

Set across the road was the 1860 Norwegian Farm. 

The house featured Norwegian handiwork.

This wood painting is recreated by volunteers on site. 

But the trunk was decorated in Norway and brought to the US by the family when they emigrated. 

A little ways a way was a Pomeranian House from 1880.  Pomerania was of German/Polish nationality situated just south of the Baltic Sea. 

They would have woven flax that was grown on the farm, into fabric.

There were two Kerry oxen on site who are retired and just enjoying life.

The barn stems from the 1840's.  It was there that the wheat would have been thrashed to release the seeds that would have been ground for flour. 

We found it interesting that there was a motorized thresher that came all the way from Pottstown!

There were chickens clucking around.

And we got to meet Bentley.

In the barn for the 1860 Norwegian farm, there was a lot of equipment as well as newspaper flyers for particular items.  I had thought this was a joke.  

Until I was shown the actual item.  A sheep is urged up onto the machine and encouraged to run

that, in turn, churns butter. Speaking of which....Marty was still shaking his.

The house associated with the farm was a "model" home.  The owner built houses, so this one was decorated in such a way to entice families to want to buy one of their own.

You can see all of the extra details.

It even included a photo of the original owner/builder.

Moving on, we came to the Hessian homestead

And a small Polish cabin from Shawano county. 

Making our way back to town, we spied the Boot Shop

which featured lots of shoes from days past.

Across the way was an 1870 Yankee Townhouse, which you can see is beautifully decorated similarly to the one featured earlier. It seems that New Yorkers liked their interiors to have lots of color.

By now, my phone had run out of battery, so no more photos.  Probably a good thing!

We had walked over 10,000 steps according to Marty, and it was time to make the 2 hour trip to Geneva to get closer to the airport.  Oh, and by the way....the cream did turn into butter which Marty enjoyed on his saved banana bread from this morning's breakfast! 

We are  now staying at the Oscar Swan country inn in Geneva.  When I called yesterday to see if there was an available room, I was told that there was and to just show up. There was a party scheduled for the evening, but none of those guests would be staying. 

Well, we arrived and soon realized that there was a full blown wedding reception going on!

It's 11:30 PM and the party has almost completely broken up.  The bride and groom are long gone and I'm hoping that the stragglers leave soon as there has been a LOT of celebratory noise and commotion right outside our bedroom windows. 

Funny...but I had picked this thinking it would be a quiet, relaxing venue to ready us for our transition  home tomorrow. We are about an hour away from the airport, but our flight isn't until late, as it was supposed to be the second leg of a journey from Fargo, ND, but Hertz rental and American Airlines complicated our plans. 

But I'd say that we made the most of our crazy situation. We'll see how the morning goes! 

In the meantime.....

Until next time....