Wisconsin

We were caught in some rush hour traffic last night exiting the Chicago area, and finally settled for the night in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, just over the border into Wisconsin and adjoining Kenosha. It is about 30 miles south of Milwaukee, along the shores of Lake Michigan. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Famous Dave's, after seeing the new movie Elizabeth. Despite the fact the critics have not been too complimentary, I liked it - my kind of movie. We were up with the sun, and hit the nearby Jelly Belly facility as it opened its doors. I thought they made them there, as it has a tour, but they are actually made in Fairfield, California, and Chicago. They did have a nice tour, where they showed you the large distribution warehouse and demonstrations of how they make their various candies. They are actually a family-owned business that has been making candies far longer than the life span of the Jelly Belly. The Goelitz family has been making candies for well over 100 years and specialized earlier in candy corn. The 4th generation is now making candies of all kinds, including over 50 flavors of the Jelly Belly. After the tour, we went through the warehouse store, where you could, of course, buy almost anything "jelly belly", but they also had a sample counter with all of the 50+ flavors. Heartburn. They had a large chart over the sample bar where you were instructed as to the combinations of flavors to sample together, such as strawberry and peanut butter, for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Good marketing technique. I asked the helper what was the sum of the "vomit" and "dirt" jelly bellies called - she just looked at me like "you are weird". We had to wear the little hats on the tour for "sanitary reasons".

We drove through Milwaukee and past the new Brewers' stadium, Miller Park. It is huge. Appears much bigger up close than Safeco, but I would guess they are similar in size. It has an impressive accordion roof, similar to Safeco.

We turned due west at Milwaukee and our next stop was Madison, Wisconsin, where we had lunch. A beautiful city, with a unique placement surrounded by Lakes Monona and Mendota. The University of Wisconsin is here and is also enhanced by its wonderful setting. The drive up the Washington Avenue, with the state capitol building looming in the distance is very impressive.

Our goal for the evening was Dubuque, Iowa, so we set out through the immaculate farms of southern Wisconsin. Cows, corn, silos, and silage, one farm after another. All basically uniform and equally well-kept. The corn harvest was in progress as we traveled through the area.

We were caught a little off-guard in Dubuque, as we arrived in the late afternoon and all of the hotels were full. We really had to scramble. We did not want to get too far away from Dubuque, as we found church services there. It was Saturday night and Dubuque is a regional tourist area (who would have figured that?). We called all the places for miles around and.........all full. We got in the car and went to the old seedy downtown area, hoping for a lucky break, and found two rooms at the old Canfield Hotel on the waterfront. It actually was kind of a cool place. Our room was on the back side of the large neon sign with the "F" glowing through our window....kind of like that Seinfeld episode with the Kenny Rogers Roaster sign shining through Kramer's window. We did have our own bathroom in the room - yes, right in the room, nooooooo....RIGHT in the room. Were people smaller in the 1930's? The shower was tiny and I actually got wedged in it for a few seconds. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as a non-smoking room and KR, like a good trooper, wore her towel to bed. Classic Mom. Ric & Sharon had the Western Room and we got the Bird Room. I was jealous. The Canfield does not have a website of any kind....that ought to tell you something.