The Wade House

Sorry for my silence the last few days. Tuesday I was too tired to blog after walking all over campus to get to a shared governance reception (I am the representative from my district for the University Staff Congress) and of course Irish class. At the reception I was hanging out with our big boss, and the Chancellor knew him and came over to talk to him. We have the same first name, so when she saw my name tag, she said, “Great name!” She was very personable. We also talked to my fellow congress member who works at a University crop research area where the old Badger Ammo plant used to be. Think how far he had to come for this reception! So I couldn’t really complain about having to walk almost a mile to get to it.

Yesterday I took the day off and went with Travalon to the Wade House, another stop in our historical taverns book. It was an old stagecoach stop halfway between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, a big boarding house with a tavern on the main floor, but once the railroad passed it, it lost most of its business. However, the family kept it in good shape, and it was kind of a century-old time capsule when it was donated to the State Historical Society back in the 1950’s. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, so we got a bit wet as we trudged between the Wade House and the other buildings, a forge with an actual blacksmith working, and a sawmill. Everyone working there was in a period costume. All the buildings were quite a distance from the main building that houses a very cool carriage museum, but fortunately they took us out to them and back in a covered horse-drawn carriage. At the gift shop in the main building, Travalon picked up another book of historical places to visit around the state by the same authors, this one of gas stations, and on the way back we stopped by one in Fond du Lac. Our next great pilgrimage… This has been a wonderful way to see the whole state. 

Once we got back to town, we had dinner at a roadside restaurant in DeForest we had been wondering about, and it was quite good. Then I went to confession but was going to skip choir practice, only Rich could see where my iPhone was so he knew I was there and texted me. Busted! I told Travalon I had to go, so he was going to an exhibit of Vietnam War art, but it was closed, and all the shops were too… and then he couldn’t get back up into the church because they had locked the door to the upstairs! I forgot to tell him about the unlocked side door. I was going to blog last night but had to get a bunch of steps in because we hadn’t gone hiking in the rain, so there wasn’t time. Sorry about that!

Famous Hat