Racine

After spending an uneventful night in Kankakee, we arrived in Racine this morning at around 10:00 a.m. The S-man's co-hort's flight was delayed, so the Mayor took just the two of us on a tour of the artsy side of Racine. We took in the Racine Art Museum or "RAM" as it is called. They have something like the second biggest folk art collection in the world.

I saw many of the interesting chairs crafted by artist, Gary Knox Bennet, a 72-year-old who is currently producing a collection of one thousand chairs. They had about fifty at the RAM. We also made a stop at the local arts guild which had an exhibit of reproduction quilts used in the Underground Railroad. Racine, it seems, was a major player in the movement and women of the time hung quilts out on the line to send covert signals to those traveling to freedom.

After that, we met up with Mark and we all dropped our bags at our room, actually in a very nice B&B on the lakefront (pictured above). And, by the way, WHAT a lake front. It dwarfs our little riverfront to a mud puddle in comparison. Lake Michigan looks more like the ocean with no land on the horizon whatsoever. I snapped this photo just now after crossing the street directly in front of our B&B.

Then it was off to lunch at a nice enough downtown watering hole. I've taken to ordering my burgers medium well these days as it cuts down on cooking time. It turned out to be a grave mistake today, however, since my burger came out positively tar-tar. As in it MAY have been waved over the grill a few times. I sent it back and contented myself with Mark's fries which he was foregoing. They brought the burger back only slightly less moo-ish. I think it may have still had a pulse. Good thing the fries were tasty!

After that, I was taken on a short driving tour of the town by a super nice Racinian (sp?) named Fred who drove me by some interesting local landmarks along with his own painstakingly restored gingerbread-covered intricately painted Victorian.

And then it was back to the B&B for a blissful afternoon of quality time to myself with the camera, and a wireless connection. Heaven!