Take a Fall Road Trip

FROM WHERE I SIT      Take a Fall Road Trip    Sept. 24, 2012       Pat Spilseth

A road trip affords a traveler numerous views and experiences not available from an airplane.  Riding in my little Mazda Miata, Dave and I encountered pounding hail, drenching rain, warm sunshine, and tree leaves turning yellow and orange with brilliant splashes of red sumac.  I didn’t have to take off my shoes and jacket, remove the computer from my luggage, and have my body scanned either by some uniformed guard or that tube machine.  What freedom a road trip grants its riders!

This past week we decided to celebrate our anniversary with a road trip.  We ventured into Wisconsin with its stands of stately pine and birch trees along the interstate and drove through rolling farm fields where the corn and beans looked good.  Traveling the back roads, we rode through little towns, each with its own beer joints where folks gather daily for a glass of foam and ale plus the requisite Friday night fish fry.  It had been years since I’d had tasty, deep fried perch and fries with cole slaw and a pickle.  My cholesterol meter went into overdrive!  The neighborhood taverns reminded me of the TV program “Cheers” where Clint and Norm had their reserved bar stools to chat with Coach and Sam, the baseball hero, with Diane slinging one-liners and her coy smile.  We were the “outsiders”.  Other patrons rolled dice and knew each other’s names.

Peninsula Players was featuring the play “Lombardi” at their playhouse.  This Big Voiced, strong personality strut and stormed his mighty way through his players, wife, and any journalist brave enough to confront the famed coach.  We sat next to true Packer fans in their green and gold jackets and caps, bundled in a hand-knit, red, white and blue afghan keeping their knees toasty warm.  The play is coming to Mpls. later this fall. 

Door County is filled with gift shops, restaurants, B& B’s, and numerous galleries.  We met several artists I’d known years ago on the art circuit who had sold their wares in my shops called “next?”  As we viewed pottery, glassware, wood, leather work, and paintings, it was fun to encounter artists I’d known years ago and see their current work.  It’s not an easy way to make a living as an artist, hauling displays and art work around the country to sell, but it’s a rewarding life for many.

We traveled down Hwy 42 through Door County into Green Bay, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan, where I had lived for several years.  Downtown, the 1873 Victorian building, which my business partner and I had purchased in the ‘70’s, has been completely restored by its new owners, a bank.  The cream brick, three-story building had new windows and a beautiful fresh tri-color paint job.  My business partner and I had restored the first floor and had the brick building tuck-pointed, but installing an elevator and completing the top two floors was too expensive.  However, our restoration earned an honored plaque from the National Historic Registry in Washington, DC.  Current staff offered to take us through the building and gave us copies of the building’s history since the 1800’s.  Our grand tour felt like I was meeting a grown-up child.

Our friend Auds in Sheboygan took us to Bookworm Gardens, an amazing outdoor display of favorite children’s books.   Bookworm Gardens has been created solely through large and small donations.  One admirer said, “Bookworm Gardens is exactly what’s right with the world.  It’s peaceful, whimsical, educational, imaginative, thoughtful and so perfect for families to spend a few hours exploring, reading, and bonding.”  We saw Peter Rabbit’s garden and the construction of The Secret Garden, Mama, Papa and Baby Bears’ chairs, the Three Little Pigs’ straw, wood, and brick houses,  the barn of Charlotte’s Web, the Magic School Bus with its fairy flying wings, kids giving Harry the Dirty Dog a bath, and a humongous tin pipe snake with knobs and buttons crawling down a tree.

The Kohler Company gifted the John Michael Kohler Arts Center to the local community.  In addition to many gallery displays, the lovely historic home has amazing bathrooms that I’ve never seen in any other facility.  The Women’s Room features over 2000 carved, cast relief, and hand-painted tiles depicting playful interpretations of women’s roles alongside colorful women’s undergarments, hats, shoes, handbags, shoes from the past 150 years.  The Women’s Room is just one of six artist-made washrooms at the Arts Center.

In Madison, we visited the gift shop which our friend Leslie manages at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.  Students, parents, tourists, and business folk are frequent customers of the well-chosen displays of handmade pottery, jewelry, gloves, purses, menorahs, paper products, and glassware, including several pieces by world-renown glass artist Dale Chihuly.   

Driving into the countryside we arrived in Briggsville where Leslie and Bill have their own pottery studio and home in the woods by a creek.  Amidst dogs, six cats (who can open doors), and frogs, is a cozy kitchen where we ate and chatted near a potter’s wheel and kiln, drying pots, slips and glazes, a quilting table, sewing machine, drafting table, and orchids.  Life at their country home is a constant menagerie of people, animals, interesting objects, and activities.  It’s a vastly different life than our life on a Minnesota lake in Suberbia.  What a fabulous trip!  899 words