Ruth's Life is Good: Monday 9-2 Labor Day

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Monday 9-2 Labor Day

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!!! Labor Day is the first Monday in September. It's a public holiday in the United States to honor the labor force.

Today we did a leisurely 100 mile drive that roughly followed along the coast of Lake Michigan. Along the way we stopped a few times. The first stop was in Green Bay at Lambeau Field. Lambeau Field is the home of the Green Bay Packers National Football team. The team was founded by Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau in 1919, not only did he start the team he was also their head coach for 31 seasons. Lambeau Field opened in 1957 as New City Stadium and was renamed in 1965 after Curly Lambeau. It's a hugh stadium and has a lot of parking. On the facility there are shops and statues. One statue was of Earl L. Lambeau, another one was fans cheering and of course they had a statue of Vince Lombardi. Vince Lombardi was the Green Bay Packers head coach in the 1960s, he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years and won two Super Bowls back to back 1966 and 1967. We had fun walking around the facility.

Lambeau Field entrance

Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau statue

Vincent T. (Vince) Lombardi

Statue of the fans

Our next stop was in Oconto City Park. It is located on the coast of Lake Michigan. It is very nice with a playground, civic building, a beach area, a campground with 9 sites is directly across the street, it cost $15 per night with no power. They have restrooms with running water but no showers. The park is very well maintained and the restrooms had soap and paper towels. Sometimes we find restrooms with no soap, sometimes they have no way to dry your hands, even worse sometimes they have neither. We always appreciate it when restrooms provide both.

Oconto City Park

Camping Area

Civic Center

One of the bars in the playground, it looks like a bug

The next stop was in Michigan at the Menominee Lighthouse. Before walking out to the lighthouse we had lunch. The Menominee Lighthouse is a small lighthouse, you can't walk in it but you can walk up to it and around it. It was first lit in 1877. The current structure and its light was lit in 1927 and was automated in 1972. They replaced the original light with LED in 1972. Over the years as the expanded the pier they would move the lighthouse, it has been moved three different times. In 2008 the city took over the lighthouse from the Coast Guard. Before walking on the pier there is a sign that tells you the history of the lighthouse. The original pier was a wooden pier, now it's concrete. The lighthouse is very nice. It was a little cool walking on the pier because the lighthouse is located on Lake Michigan and it was windy. While walking around we saw people sailing and boating, it was a little too rough for me. There was a gentleman playing the bongos and a lot of people fishing and walking around.

Standing in front of the lighthouse

Sailing on Lake Michigan

After checking out the lighthouse we continued north to J.W. Wells State Park. We decided on this park because tomorrow it's suppose to rain and have very strong winds. This park has power. The park was established in 1925 on land donated to the state by the children of John Walter Wells, he was a lumberman in the area. The park is 678 acres and runs three miles along the shores of Lake Michigan. Some of the sites are on the shores of Lake Michigan. Our site has a great view of the lake. After setting up for a couple of nights we walked around the park. The park has hiking trails, a beach, RV sites, tent sites, rustic cabins, horseshoe pits with horseshoes, a tether ball, basketball hoops, playground and restrooms with showers. The camp host sells ice cream for $1.00, Larry bought me a Klondike bar. We hadn't had a Klondike bar since we were in the Rio Grande Valley at Joe Saltel's Saturday night dances. We shared a Fudge Brownie Swirl Klondike and a Heath Bar Klondike. They were both delicious.