PETALUMA & THE MARIN HEADLANDS

Between moving my 86 year old dad closer to me & all that goes along with that endeavor, my life has been on the verge of out of control for months. BUT crazy-ass dreamer that I am, I still believe my life will eventually return to some degree of normalcy.

Yesterday, I was able to take an entire day “off” (or so I thought).  Lou & I planned a day trip to Petaluma. It is a quaint little town about 30 miles north of San Francisco with tons of historic sites.  The first hour of the trip had me ranting, raving, swearing & bitching as I dealt with doctors office calls & my dad’s phone, internet & TV that wouldn’t work!

As we stepped out of the car in Petaluma, my dad’s caregiver texted that all was working again. We began our outing with a walking tour of Historic Victorian Homes.

We had printed out a guide from Petaluma's website that described 19 different buildings. I'm not sure which this is but since none of you will remember the date it was built or the original owner anyway, it probably doesn't matter.

This small little home had some intricate decorations. I do remember that the fish scale shingles seen on the far left above the windows was quite popular in Petaluma in the mid-1800s. 

I'm pretty sure this is a birch tree of some sort. I really liked the bright green & gold combination of autumn leaves.

Couldn't resist snapping this shot of  some Birds of Paradise - or is it Bird of Paradises? I love photographing flowers & vegetation.

The bustling downtown area features many buildings that date back to the early & mid-1800s. It is filled with shops, restaurants & antique stores. We explored a few, visited the local museum & had a wonderful lunch at Dempsey’s Brewery overlooking the Petaluma River.

One of the historic buildings on downtown's Kentucky Street. Petaluma boasts 63 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. 

This bridge crosses the Petaluma River. Dempsey's Brewery is located just to the left - great food & excellent beer! To the right is an old mill which now houses lots of interesting little shops & eateries.

The Old Historic Library in downtown is now a museum. I asked the woman at the desk how old you needed to be to get the senior discount. She replied, "Sixty-ish." I said, "I qualify, but he won't be sixty for a few months." She said, "Close enough" & gave us both the senior discount. There needs to be some perks for getting old!

One of the displays inside the Petaluma Historic Library Museum.

Lou says one of his favorite views in the world is of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands with San Francisco in the background. He has wanted to take some night shots so with darkness settling in around 5:30 PM now, we headed south to grab a parking spot in one of the overlooks.

Just as the sun was beginning to set, the Golden Gate Bridge seemed to glow.

Downtown San Francisco seen through the Golden Gate.

As the sun went down, the full moon began to creep over the horizon.

Lou having his "dinner" while waiting for the darkness. After our big lunch at Dempsey's, I had a Snicker's Bar & a diet Pepsi for dinner while Lou munched on a cinnamon roll. 

We had a couple of guests who showed up the minute the food came out. We did NOT feed them but I thought one was going to climb into Lou's lap & help himself!

We drove higher up the Marin Headlands for this view as the lights came on in The City. The crowds had thinned out leaving just us & one other couple so we put away the cameras & simply enjoyed the spectacular view for awhile.

This photo is a little grainy since I zoomed way in while balancing it on a fence post. It shows the lights on the Bay Bridge way across town. You can see the Trans-America Pyramid Building lit up on the right.

Naturally, the traffic was horrendous on our return trip to Sacramento which made the journey home long & boring. Overall though, it was a great getaway if I could have just ditched the first hour & the last couple of hours. But I guess you have to take the bad with the good to enjoy this beautiful state of ours! 

EASTERN WISCONSIN

We just returned from a week-long vacation in the great state of Wisconsin. Those of us on the west coast pronounce it “WIS-con-sin”. But back there the natives change the emphasis saying “Wi-SCAWNSIN”.

Wisconsin Gas Building - one of several Art Deco buildings in downtown Milwaukee. 

Built in the 1870s, the North Point Water Tower in Milwaukee on the shore of Lake Michigan looks more like a castle.

Lighthouses are everywhere in Wisconsin & we love lighthouses. The North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee was the first of seventeen lighthouses that we found & photographed on this trip!

The Small House - the first of many Frank Lloyd Wright designed structures we viewed or visited. You can see a glimpse of the Arthur L. Richards Duplex Apartments (also designed by Wright) on the left of the photo.

Milwaukee is a beautiful lakefront city – & we were treated to what is likely the best weather Wisconsin ever gets. We enjoyed temperatures in the high 70s with low humidity. Everyone was outside savoring the beaches & gorgeous weather. My guess is that I would not like their winters even a little bit.

Our first full day we packed in a ton of activities as usual.

We couldn't resist this photo op at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. I'm not much of a motorcycle fan so this is probably the closest I'll get to actually riding one.

The Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion (of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer fame) is an amazing home on the campus of Marquette University in Milwaukee. 

Our tour of the Miller Brewing Company was great. Of course, pretty much any brewery tour is great since you get free beer! I sampled some Redd's Apple Ale & it tastes just like apple juice.

Our first full day ended at Miller Park for a baseball game between our San Francisco Giants & the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Giants won 7 - 4 for a terrific end to a full day of sightseeing.

We continued our exploration of downtown Milwaukee, its shoreline & many interesting buildings. Their art museum is certainly a unique structure. The “wings” move in the wind & fold up at night.

This is the lakeside view of the Milwaukee Art Museum taken on our narrated boat tour of the Milwaukee River & Lake Michigan. 

Later in the day we visited the art museum. Here is the view from the front of this unusual building. I was a little disappointed in the content of the museum since it will be undergoing internal renovation & much of the art work has been removed.

The Milwaukee River has several drawbridges to accommodate the large number of watercraft in the area. This is a train trestle drawbridge that is no longer used.

More of the Milwaukee shoreline from Lake Michigan.

Frank Lloyd Wright was quite prolific with his designs in Wisconsin creating everything from apartment buildings to research labs to churches to homes, including his own in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which we visited a few years ago. The SC Johnson Company of Racine commissioned Wright to design an administration building in 1939 & a research tower in 1950. The admin building & tower just opened up for daily tours in May of this year.

The SC Johnson Research Tower is no longer used but Raid, Pledge, Glade & other products were developed here. 

This is yet another Wright designed building which was moved to the SC Johnson complex & houses the visitor center.

The "lily pad" design of the covered walkway between the tower & the administration building is similar to the interior. Photos are not allowed inside the building since it is still used by employees.

I loved this incredible garden park on the grounds of Wind Point Lighthouse on Lake Michigan.

Wind Point Lighthouse in Racine.

Wingspread House was designed for H.F. (Hib) Johnson (the son of  SC Johnson) by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is a pinwheel design with four arms extending from the Great Room. The clear structure on the roof was a Crow's Nest included for Hib's son, Sam.

The upper level of the Great Room shows the spiral staircase to the Crow's Nest & the vertical fireplace that Wright designed. We heard a story Sam related that when they lit the logs for the first time as the bottom burned one fell out into the room. The men had to grab the log & toss it off the balcony to prevent a fire! Not too functional & typical Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Relaxing in the Great Room of Wingspread House. This is only the second FLW home we've toured that has allowed interior photography. The other fun thing is that we were allowed to just roam around on our own snapping pictures.

We drove a few miles south to Simmons Island for a view of  the Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse along with two breakwater lighthouses in the distance.

Being this close to Chicago (about 75 miles) we took a day trip to the Windy City where Lou photographed lots of Art Deco & other historic buildings. I explored a few with him then enjoyed sitting in Millennium Park people watching.

The Great Lawn in Millennium Park. They had just finished a huge Zumba class for hundreds of citizens of Chicago.

The Chicago skyline reflected in the shiny surface of the "giant kidney bean" sculpture in Millennium Park.

On our way back to Milwaukee we stopped in Evanston, Illinois, for a quick visit to Grosse Point Lighthouse.

Being a huge sports & football fan, I had to make a pilgrimage to Green Bay. After dropping Lou at the National Railroad Museum, I drove the short distance down Lombardi Avenue to Lambeau Field. Being a die-hard Forty-Niners fan, I just can’t root for the Packers but I definitely respect the city for their love of the team.

Our drive up the coast of Lake Michigan included several more lighthouses. This is Port Washington Breakwater Lighthouse. It gets to be a fun challenge trying to find unique ways to photograph yet another lighthouse. J

The clouds helped out tremendously in making this view of Rawley Point Lighthouse in the Point Beach State Forest a bit more interesting.

Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. The Packers are the only publicly owned sports franchise in the country. The tour was great & Green Bay operates a first class operation.

The tour includes walking through the tunnel the Packers use to take the field on game days while they play crowd noise on the loudspeakers. It is truly an exhilarating feeling when the door opens to reveal the bright green field. I can only imagine what it must be like when the stands are filled with 80,750 screaming fans.

Our trip continued with a drive around Lake Winnebago. The beautiful weather certainly contributed to many idyllic settings on the scenic waterfront.

This is the Kimberly Point Lighthouse in Neenah, Wisconsin. We ate our lunch at a picnic table next to this lighthouse on the shore of Lake Winnebago.

I hope you aren't sick of lighthouses yet! There are just so many different ones to see. This is Asylum Point Lighthouse north of Oshkosh on Lake Winnebago.

We drove by several Frank Lloyd Wright homes that are privately owned. Many are obscured by trees & have cars in the driveways but this was one of the few that had nice views for us.

The EAA Airventure Museum in Oshkosh. With an ex-husband & son who are flying fanatics, I know way more about airplanes than I really need to know. But this turned out to be a good afternoon since I knew a fair amount about these planes & performers.

AND one last lighthouse - the Fond du Lac Lighthouse in the town of the same name at the southern end of Lake Winnebago. This was the only one that was open for climbing to the top, which we did.

Our luck ran out weather-wise on our last morning as the much needed rain finally came down. Fortunately, our last couple of activities before flying home were indoors so we didn’t mind.

Our last morning, we toured the Widmer Cheese Cellars to learn how Wisconsin cheese is made. We certainly couldn't spend a week in the state & not visit a cheese factory, could we?

The final stop was a quick visit to the Pettit National Ice Center. I found it in the AAA tour book. This is one of two Olympic speed skating tracks in the country. Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, Shani Davis & Apolo Anton Ohno all trained at this facility.

Wisconsin does a great job in covering their state with tons of beautiful flowers in the summer. I'm guessing it is because their winters are harsh that they want to enjoy the beauty of nature when they can. Here are a few of the numerous floral shots I snapped this week.