About The River

Friday, February 6, 2015

On the Road Friday ~ Pattison State Park, Superior, Wisconsin

It is Friday. Today we are taking a trip to Pattison State Park, Superior, Wisconsin.
Pattison State Park is the home of Big Manitou Falls, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin.


 165 - foot - high Big Manitou Falls
Frozen on the outside, but you can hear the water gushing under the ice.

 Pattison State Park is full of history and beauty.

Civilian Conservation Corps helped shape Pattison State Park what it is today.

Camp Pattison

Until 1935, facilities at Pattison were modest: a small picnic area, some wooden overlooks, pit toilets and a ranger's cabin. Visitors camped on the lawn and parked along the road. A dam formed in 1928 had enlarged Interfalls Lake, causing a muddy and weedy shore.
One of the programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to end the Great Depression of the 1930s was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) [exit DNR]. Young, single, unemployed men were put to work on conservation projects. On July 25, 1935, Camp Pattison Company 3663 of the CCC was established at what is now Little Manitou Falls picnic area. For the next seven years, thousands of men labored to transform the landscape into what is now the main park area.
The CCC put in sewer and water systems, removed old roadbeds and abutments, planted trees, landscaped and built three miles of foot trails.
During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps quarried rock and chiseled it into blocks to create the park shelter building, nature center, bathhouse and former office building.
The CCC members began work on the campground and pedestrian underpass. One of the most ambitious projects was draining Interfalls Lake, rerouting the river channel and hauling sand from Lake Superior's shore to make the beach.
Once World War II was underway, the labor shortage ended the CCC program. Many CCC veterans often return to Pattison and reunions have been held at the park. The CCC left a legacy of beautiful buildings, practical facilities and a changed landscape in its wake. A booklet detailing the history of Camp Pattison is available at the park office. 
From Wisconsin DNR History Website
 
  
The beauty of a frozen waterfall.


Big Manitou Falls ~ January 24, 2015

 "There is more beauty than we can measure in this world of ours"
Gladys Taber

Thank you for coming along today.
Have a great weekend.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

It is a Pink Hodgepodge


It is time to do the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions
We answer the questions
 
 
 
 

1. Do you wear your heart on your sleeve, or keep your emotions tucked in tight?
 
Tucked in tight.
 
 2. How did you meet your closest friend?
 
My husband is my best friend. We met when we were young but did not think much of it. During our college years I worked for his parents at the restaurant they owned. Jeremy was also working for his parents for the summer. We both were surprised how much we had grown up. 
 
 
3.  Pink lemonade, grilled salmon, cotton candy, pink grapefruit, a strawberry milkshake, or raspberry sorbet...of the pink foods listed, which one is your favorite? Least favorite? Which one have you most recently consumed?

My favorite ~ pink grapefruit
 
Least favorite ~ pink lemonade
 
Which one I recently consumed ~ pink grapefruit
 
 
4. When were you last 'tickled pink' over something? Explain.
 

 Friday and Saturday we went out to Cross Country Ski. I am always tickled to take an adventure with my family. 

 
5. Are you a fan of television talk shows? Daytime, nighttime, or both? What's your favorite?
 
No.
 
 6. When was the last time you wanted to ask a question, but felt too foolish to do so?
 
During my visit to Chicago. My sister and I wanted to look like we knew what we were doing. My sister finally said, " I am going to ask" 
 
  7. My favorite __________________right now is _________________.
 
My favorite tea right now is Meyer Lemon Stash Tea. 
I am enjoying a cup right now.
 
  8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
 
 An unpublished novel by Harper Lee is to finally see the light of day, 60 years after the US author put it aside to write To Kill a Mockingbird.
 
My husband and I both love To Kill a Mockingbird. 
Yes, we named our son Atticus after Atticus Finch.
I am so excited to read another novel by Harper Lee. 
 

Monday, February 2, 2015

Catch the Sun


 Catch the Sun
Jessica over at Barefoot by the Sea Click Here featured her sun catchers a few weeks ago. My boys decided to give this idea a try. They enjoyed it and made four different sun catchers.

What You Need
A pie plate
A glass to set in the center of the pie plate
Bits of nature 
 Water
Strong string
Cold temps (we will have plenty of that in Wisconsin this week)


 Gather your materials. 
Fill your pan with water.
Place your nature, cranberries, orange peel or other fun ideas in your pie plate.
Freeze
We made ours outside. We used a tin pie plate.  We filled the pie plate with water. We set our glass in the middle and then decorated it. We added pine, pine cones and cranberries in our first sun catchers. In the second, we used cranberries and oranges. 
We let them sit over night, the next day we popped them out of the tin pie plate. 
We pulled our string through the hole and hung our pretty sun catchers up.
 


 Cranberries, pine and pine cones.


 Cranberries and oranges.


A fun surprise for us is seeing the birds land on the sun catchers and pick at the berries.
The sun glowing in the sun catcher is beautiful too.
A fun, simple idea to enjoy Winter's beauty.