France Park

We don't have a lot of chances to see waterfalls when traveling, so when I heard there was one near Logansport, Indiana, I made plans to visit.

France Park is a lovely site to visit in the fall.

Driving in to the wooded park, we were greeted by the Fouts Cabin, a Beech log cabin built in 1839.

We paid our $2 each admission and got directions to the falls. After a short drive, we reached the parking area and got out to see the falls.

The waterfall itself is not very tall, however the site is scenic and beautiful.

I walked up the wooden staircase to the top of the falls, then joined my husband back at the bottom to go search out a Geocache hidden in the woods nearby.

Getting back in the car, we drove around the park a bit more checking out the scuba diving area where a couple of divers were in the water on this cool October day.

We also saw a brick box structure that my husband said looked like a brick oven. Later I found out that's exactly what it was.

Referred to as the Italian Oven, the recently restored oven was used by Italian immigrants who built the Wabash and Erie Canal which runs from east to west through the center of France Park, or by those who worked in the quarry. The canal operated from 1840-1875 and was used was to transport the stone mined at the quarry.

The oven, located near the entrance of the park, was used weekly as a community resource for those needing to bake their bread.

France Park is also home to camp sites and hiking trails, plus much more.

France Park

4505 W US Highway 24

Logansport, IN 46947

Standard Oil Gas Station

Built in 1932, the Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, Illinois was modeled after a 1916 Standard Oil of Ohio design, in the house and canopy style.
The work bays were added at a later date.
At least nine other stations besides this one lined this part of Route 66 through Odell.
In the late 1990s, the Village of Odell purchased the station for historic restoration. The Route 66 Association of Illinois took interest in the project and nominated the property for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, which was granted on November 9, 1997.
A bypass was constructed around Odell in 1946, and traffic was directed around the strip that held the gas stations so businesses started to disappear. This station persisted until 1967, largely because it offered services as well as gasoline.

We've driven by this nicely preserved station many times, and took this photo on April 12, 2009.
We also visited in October of 2006 and found a geocache hidden on the property.

Standard Oil Gasoline Station
400 S West Street
Odell, IL‎ 60460

Tinker Swiss Cottage

On our visit to Rockford, Illinois in March, we stopped to see the Tinker Swiss Cottage.
The architecture of the building was beautiful, and StfRon was interested in taking the tour, so we paid our $12 admission in the gift shop and waited for the tour to start.
On this rainy Saturday in March, we were the only two waiting for the 3:00 tour, so we got a private tour of sorts.
Built in 1865 by Robert Hall Tinker, the house is filled with stunning woodwork. We started in the sun porch area, and I don't think I would ever have grown tired of studying the room.
The gentleman who gave us our tour was engaging and full of interesting stories, and the house was very impressive with all of its beautiful wood and hand painted scenes on the walls and ceilings.
The property was left to the Rockford Park District by the family, and all of the belongings were intact when the park district took over. As a result, there is a lot of good information on the history, including some diaries kept by Tinker.
I had heard about the suspension bridge on the property and was looking forward to walking across it, but it was closed during our visit.
Due to the heavy rain that day, I forgot to get a photo of the exterior (photography is not allowed of the interior). I'll stop back on a sunny day and take a picture of the house, and hopefully get to test out the suspension bridge as well. Actually, we also need to go back to take another stab at finding the geocache located on the Tinker Swiss property. We looked for a bit, but the rain eventually sent us back to the car.

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum
411 Kent Street
Rockford, IL 61102

Metro Milwaukee and homeward bound

This weekend we squeezed in a short trip to the Milwaukee area.
My mom found a German restaurant online she wanted to check out, which was located in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Weissgerber's Gasthaus turned out to be a lovely European styled building with beautiful decor.
The Gasthaus has been serving German favorites for more than 30 years.
My mom and I both started with the spinach salads with hot bacon dressing (a la carte for $4) and both chose the Sauerbraten ($21) as our entrée.
StfRon went with the pork shank ($25), over three pounds of roasted pork on the bone. My dad chose the Rouladen ($22).
From the pretzel rolls and ciabatta style bread to the spinach salads topped with savory dressing to the tangy Sauerbraten and red cabbage, everything was wonderful. I didn't finish it all, and didn't even get to sample the sauerkraut. If it was anything like the red cabbage, I surely missed out.
We've sampled a couple of German restaurants in the Milwaukee area over the years, and I would rate my meal at the Gasthaus the best meal I've had in Wisconsin thus far.

Unlike Saturday, Sunday dawned a picture perfect Milwaukee spring day. Because of the great weather, we enjoyed breakfast outdoors and ended up hanging around the city a bit longer, taking our time on the way home. We checked out a couple of antique shops, and started the trek south sometime after noon.
StfRon pulled off the Interstate in Delavan, WI, to see about some lunch options.
Interestingly enough, it turns out Delavan has some fun history. We noticed the statue of Romeo the elephant along the main brick street, and got out to see what the town's claim to fame was.
In 1847, the Mabie brothers, owners of the U.S. Olympic Circus, then the biggest traveling show in America, selected Delavan for their winter headquarters. This was a year before Wisconsin became a state and 24 years before the Ringling Brothers raised their first tents in Baraboo.
Delavan’s land and water was a great fit for the circus animals. The Mabie brothers' circus stayed on Delavan Lake, where their dynasty survived in Wisconsin for the next 100 years.
From 1847-1894, as the circuses grew in strength and numbers, hundreds of performers from over 26 circuses wintered in Delavan.
P.T. Barnum Circus was also founded in Delavan, in 1871.
Delavan's circus run came to an end in the mid 1980s when the E.G. Holland & Co. Railroad Circus shut down.
More than 250 members of these circuses are buried in cemeteries in Delavan.

Our next jaunt off the Interstate was Clinton, WI, because StfRon spotted an 1895 limestone water tower from the highway.
We decided to see if there were any geocaches in the area, and I found one that I wanted to check out.
The cache was placed near a historic bridge spanning 400 feet across the Turtle Creek Valley near the village of Tiffany.
The Tiffany bridge is a 5 arch stone bridge built with no steam or power in 1869, one of the most scenic railroad bridges in northern IL/ southern WI. It is still in active use on the Janesville branch of the Union Pacific Railroad.
On such a beautiful day, the site was quite peaceful. We saw several people canoing and had it been a tad warmer, I probably would have stretched out on the grass where I could hear the water bubbling along the creek and taken a nice rest. But we had to get home some time, so off we went.
I'm glad we found out about this site and were able to check it out.

Weissgerber's Gasthaus
2720 N Grandview Blvd
Waukesha, WI 53188

Delavan, WI 53115

Tiffany, WI 53511