Monday, May 23, 2022

Jurustic Park

 

Eileen with some new friends
Day 2 (5/23/22)

While sitting in the parking lot of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum we started perusing the internet looking for things to do in the area for an hour until it opened. We had already walked the downtown area looking for things to kill time but most everything was closed. Eileen found a reference to Jurustic Park. With a little more searching we found out it was about forty one minutes away in the wrong direction from our return trip home. We figured it had to be better than sitting and waiting for the museum to open so we took off in the direction of Marshfield not sure what we were going to find. Using the miracle of cell phone navigation, about an hour later we were entering the McMillan Marsh and the realm of Jurustic Park. At first it can be a little overwhelming. There are metal sculptures all over the place. Big ones, small ones and ginormous ones everywhere you turn. We made our way toward a building that looked like it was inhabited by a hobbit and found the office and gift shop. We started looking around and were soon welcomed by Nancy, the Lady of the House. She showed us around the shop and explained that when Clyde was finished with his current victims he would give us the grand tour. Soon we were on our way. Clyde is a born showman with years of honing his skills through jurisprudence. At eighty eight years young he still has a twinkle in his eye and a contagious enthusiasm for what he does. He will tell you that before retiring from his career as a lawyer he found his first fossilized metal remains in the marsh and started welding them back together. Many of the pieces are animated and he has a story to go with all of them. It is his world and he is their ring master. Some wiggle, some make noise, but all are candy for the eye. After the tour we went inside where Nancy demonstrated using the glass lathe. Perhaps because we were also artists before long it was like being with old friends. We talked about Nancy’s travels and their hopes for the future and what would become of the place. We hadn’t planned on staying long but by the time we left it was time to work our way home and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson would have to wait for another day. No regrets, it was a wonderful day.  

First Creature pulled out of the Marsh

Horses head with Hat

A Musical Couple

Bell Curves

Gong Turtle

A Soul Mate

One that Wiggles

The Pirates of the Marsh

Beware

Helidragon

Angler Fish

Another Turtle

The Shop

More Friends


Thursday, April 28, 2022

Hiking Rib Mountain State Park

 

View from the Top

Day 1 (4/26/22)

After a year of not blogging I decided I wanted to try to get back into it. On Tuesday we had to deliver some art work to the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau. We decided it would be a good opportunity to get some hiking time in. Rib Mountain is a granite peak “monadnock” that sticks out from the otherwise level landscape. Its stunning granite formations make for a great place to take in some scenic views while hiking. When we arrived Tuesday evening it was unseasonably cold and windy. We still took the opportunity to climb the observation tower, do some recon and plan our hike for Wednesday. Although still cool, Wednesday brought on the sun and it was beautiful. After walking around downtown Wausau waiting to deliver art we headed out to the park. Because of the granite formations the trails at Rib Mountain can be somewhat precarious. There are very few even surfaces so one needs to be careful not turn an ankle. The scenery however is wonderful ranging from distant vistas, fern covered slopes to towering rock formations. The ski hill in the park only closed a week ago so there was still snow on the trails. In spite of our planning we overlapped a few trails but ended up achieving our main objective which was to hike out to the abandoned quarry. Even though it ended up being short of 4 miles it was equivalent to climbing 38 flights of stairs so all in all it was a good workout.

From the Tower

From the top of the Tower

Snow Covered Runs


Treacherous Trails 

First Green

Steep trail

More Snow

Early Ferns

At the Quarry