A walk at Old World Wisconsin

It's been a while since we last visited Old World Wisconsin. I'm pretty sure one of the kids was still in a stroller the last time. So this trip was a lot easier, and the trams helped with getting us from one cluster of buildings to the next. We got there around noon and headed over to Caldwell Hall.

Caldwell Hall
Education Center

The education Center also had a baby animal exhibit

Our next stop was the Crossroads village, where we went through most of the homes and shops, including a demonstration at the village backsmith.

Blacksmith Shop
- part of the Crossroads Village

From here we took the tram over to the Finnish area. This barn has some interesting construction with dove-tail joints (usually only seen in cabinet making) on the corners of the buildings.

Finnish Area Barn

The Rankinen farm was a little hike off the mail road, in the same Finnish area.

View of the Rankinen Farm House,
from the access road

It was a great way to spend a warm and lazy Sunday afternoon, in the midst of these 1800's era farms and buildings. We topped it off with somethings to eat and drink in the Clausing Barn Restaurant.

Saying Goodbye to a Grandparent

It's difficult to express how the death of my grandmother has effected me. There is the loss of a loved one and the memories that she takes with her, both the ones she can no longer share and the ones that we, as her family, have of her.

As a kid, growing up in the 60's, I remember spending time on the farm where my grandparents lived. It was a self-sufficient family farm, one where the crops that were grown went to feed the livestock. In those days these farms supplied milk, eggs and chickens to the surrounding community and small towns, before mass distribution and Super Markets had become the norm. There's not much of that today except maybe among the Amish.

My favorite times on that farm were playing in the hay loft of the barn or in the corn crib. My cousins lived close by my grandparents, so the four of us had a lot of fun using the farm as our playground. I can also remember Grandma giving the kids a treat by putting m&m's in the tin lids from a glass jar. Somehow m&m's just don't taste the same today.

Here's one of my favorite pictures of my Grandparents with all of their grandchildren. That's me on the far left, then my Grandmother, Verla Bryan, with my sister Laura in her lap. In the middle is my cousin Jeff, then cousin David in the lap of my Grandfather, Dale Bryan. I'm not sure of the exact date, probably around 1963-64.