What a great surprise welcome! As we pulled into Seagull Marina & Campground in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, our cousins were waiting for us. They had signs, balloons, flowers, and huge smiles on their face! For over a year we had this stop planned so we could see them. They surprised us by being at the campground with all things welcoming. 🙂
We have the best campsite! Out our big windows we see green grass and just beyond that the marina channel and next to that is Lake Michigan. What a thrill!!!!
The cousins (Robin, Jordyn and Bev) followed us to the site and waited while we got set up quick. Kevin got out our camp chairs so they could sit down. We showed them inside our 5th wheel and sat and visited for a little bit.
They took us to see Rowley Point State Forest & Lighthouse. The area is heavily wooded, you walk along a wood-slat path and then soon you are at the beach of Lake Michigan. The lighthouse was erected in 1894. The beach is fun to walk along. We got some fun pictures with all of us.
Picture & text from Robin. Jordyn & Charla watching videos.
Jordyn liked having me watch music videos – with captions on- with her. Later we walked along the jetty. Beautiful; saw several people fishing off it and several boats moving around. So great to see them and excited to be here.
It was fun watching the fishing boats go out and in the marina. We also saw a honking-big ship in the distance. Kevin found an app that shows a lot of the ships real time. That is fun to see. Later we met Robin at her work. She was so thoughtful and had gotten it approved for her to give us a tour. We had to wear tennis shoes, earplugs, and safety glasses. The place she works at is called Manitowoc Tool & Manufacturing: https://mantoolmfg.com/
Kevin’s thoughts: We went to Robin’s work – Manitowoc Tool. The building looked small on the outside, but it is HUGE on the inside. It looks like they specialize in metal stamping. Coils of steel come in one side, and metal parts are shipped out the other. They have stamp mills that seem like they are two stories tall. They do work for different businesses. They make treads for Freightliner, flame outputs for Lennox furnaces, and a bunch of other things. There are crews that make the dies for the stamp machines. The founder started in his garage, and expanded many times. The whole plant seemed well organized and productive. Robin seemed to know a bunch of people, and they all seemed happy to see her.
Back to Charla: I really enjoy seeing how things are made. Things we don’t think about. It was fascinating to see this huge roll of metal go into a machine that did 1-4 or so presses and out the end comes something new. We saw semi truck hoods, step treads, BBQ grills, brackets for chairs, etc. Really really enjoyed it.
We met up with Robin and Jordyn downtown Manitowoc. We walked around the area and saw the old buildings. I read today that white settlers came to this area in 1836. We walked over the draw bridge to WI Maritime Museum. We knew it closed at 4:00pm but Robin wanted to show us outside of a submarine.
The sub is very long, compared to the ones we have seen in the Pacific. (Hum, that just got me thinking…why did they build 28 subs here for WW2? This is a long ways to the Pacific! Need to get an answer at the museum.)The answer: “At the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, President Franklin D Roosevelt called upon America to rearm. Increasing the number of submarines became a goal. Because existing shipbuilders could not meet production schedules, the US Navy approached Charles C West, president of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, and requested that his firm build submarines….USS Peto, launched in 1942, became the first of twenty-eight fleet submarines built at Manitowoc….Four Manitowoc submarines along with 336 officers and enlisted men were lost during the war.”
Then we walked to Jordyn’s karate class. It was fun watching her. There were 10 students. And there I meet my new young friend. HAHA My new friend is 9 years old and deaf. Robin had sent a video of her signing to me the other day. New Friend was jumping with excitement to see me today. She was signing to me and very animated. I also met her sister, who after class signed to me, “Can we be friends?” Yes. She bounced up and down with excitement. The mom, is very nice too. She signs beautifully and I asked her how she learned ASL. Turns out she was an ASL interpreter before even having kids! What special people.
Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse. Fascinating history: https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=250 You walk along a pier which gave me the feeling like walking on top of a submarine. The lighthouse is privately owned now but you can walk around it. There were several people fishing off the base. On the way back I saw a very nice metal bench with these words: “In loving memory of ‘Jim’ Hsing-Yao Chen, From his family and friends, He loved to walk this trail!” That is a sweet way to remember him.
Red Arrow Park. What a place! It is along Lake Michigan and has a lot of displays and memorials for the 32nd Infantry Division. I get such a strong feeling of patriotism watching Robin when she sees anything patriotic. Her love of this country shines through bright and strong. We are thankful for her service in the Army. Inspirational.
Another evening Robin and Jordyn took us to Lower Cato Falls to see a waterfall. Just a few feet high, but, very pretty. This is where the salmon jump the falls to go up stream. We were hoping to see some. We only saw a few fish, large, jump in the flat part of the small river. We just keep marveling how this whole upper midwest that we have been through looks just like northwestern Missouri (Where Kevin grew up).
Saturday at 9:30am we watched Jordyn bowl. This was a group event that meets every other Saturday and is part of Special Olympics. It was really fun to watch people. Jordyn scored her best game ever with 124. Impressive. Kevin and I would cheer for people and soon they would look over at us for us to raise our thumbs and say way to go and great job. It was cute. The people were of all ages.
I had heard Wisconsin is known for their cheese so I needed to see a dairy and wanted to get some cheese made there. Bev drove us to Pine River Dairy. On the way, Bev said, “I will buy dessert for all of us.” Wow, that is very sweet. Then Kevin made a joke about going to someplace that has $0.25 cones. We laughed. We got to the Dairy and as we walked to the door I saw a sign that said, “$0.25 cones”! Oh boy did we laugh out loud. Bev said the look on our faces was so great. The place doesn’t have tours on the weekends and didn’t have sample. I bought a few varieties of cheese that was made there. With our tummies full after a lunch of pizza, it was time to hit the quilt shops. 🙂 First we went to The Quilt Shop of Two Rivers and boy is this place huge! The ground floor is classrooms. You take the elevator to the second floor. The layout is a large center room and then 4 rooms along the sides and two in the back. It looks like it use to be offices. There is fabric everywhere! So much, it was kind of overwhelming to me when I tried to find something to buy. Kevin said when he put out his arms to hold fabric bolts, all the ladies laughed and knew exactly what he was doing. HAHA So sweet. I didn’t buy anything there. Next we went to a new fabric store in downtown Manitowoc. They had a cute shirt “Farm Fresh Fabric, Hand Picked Daily” and a picture of a farm truck and barn. Too cute! There I bought some fabric and a cute kit that is patriotic.
I edited this picture in black and white so that Robin would blend in. Then brought back the colors of the flag. Can you see her?
DID YOU KNOW: Lake Michigan has a shoreline of 1638 miles! That is as far as New York City to Denver, Colorado!
Travel Means Life 
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