Yesterday we drove the 20 miles up the river to Winona to the Maritime Museum, one of my very favorite places that we don't get to often enough. It sits right on the Mississippi River in Winona, which is also home of the Polish Museum and the Watkins Museum! Click on the title to this post to get to their website. Actually I love museums, but this one is special because the exhibits change frequently and there is always more to see and such a diversity that Jerry doesn't grumble about going as there is usually something he enjoys as well. 
The primary attraction for me this trip was the Norman Rockwell exhibit of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn which was so wonderful as it reminded me of the tales, 16 signed prints that define the characters created by Mark Twain. Two original print books from the 30's are out for public display and better yet, the public can pick the book up and ruffle through the pages, matching the artwork to that on display. I love touching things in museums and in most museums that is a big time No No. But not at Winona, we are invited to touch. This exhibit will only be here until August 1, on loan from the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Every summer I like to read a classic novel or two, and after yesterday I will reread Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn this summer.
There are several galleries inside and one has the most magnificent marine related paintings and other artwork, by Story, Renoir, Monet, and more. Sadly as most museums, no photographs of any kind are allowed. Private collections often loaned to the museum for a brief time are all there, in the inner galleries, where knowledgeable curators abound. But even in that inner sanctum, I can touch the frames of the great works. I do so ever so lightly and just thrill to the tactile awareness. The last time we visited Henry Bosse's work, all in shades of blue, ala blue prints of the Mississippi River abounded and the high bluff country was the featured display. He is of interest to me because he was born November 13, 1844 exactly 100 years before me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Peter_Bosse
Speaking of tactile sensations, another small corner had costumes to be worn in the current Winona Feted Great River Shakespeare festival featuring Othello. There were costumes from previous years, Lsdy Macbeth and Macbeth right there displayed with the sketches and swatches, and available to touch. Here is their website http://grsf.org/ So far I have not had the opporutnity to attend on eof the plays, but it may surface to the top of the bucket list this season.
Yesterday one gallery displayed the Titanic Survivor's Story. We have seen other Titanic artifacts there but yesterday one of the famous deck chairs was on exhibit. I recalled my career days and my best friend Roberta who often said, we fiddled in the bureaucracy of state government rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic when we should have been heading for the life boats! Yesterday's exhibit featured the diary pages and personal letters of Laura M Cribb, a young survivor of the Titanic disaster. I am in awe reading around the display and shuddering to think of what happened, recalling John Astor and his wife. I loved the Titanic movie and could hear Celine Dion singing, "near far, where ever you are,,,,,,,my heart will go on and on.... "
Museums are great places for me to lose myself, always have been. I remember taking the bus from our town to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh all alone to spend a day more than once in my senior year of high school because I could not convince any of my friends to go along. I suppose my love of museums accompanies my love of history.
This museum is in a beautiful place along the Mississippi and yesterday there were many empty barges in the river, awaiting to be filled with grain, or other goods and shipped down the Big River for ports southward bound.
Well my fascination with all things museum leads me to consume more time inside, than many folk, Jerry being no exception, so he has to spend time awaiting and at the Winona Maritime there are beautiful fields and flora surrounding where he can sit and watch the river and wait for his dawdling wife to reconnect. As I came outside, I found him there amid the black eyed Susan's waiting ever so patiently! Hah!
Winona is one busy port along the Mississippi in Minnesota, but one can merely cross the bridge and tootle down the Wisconsin side as well, which we did yesterday ending up in Trempeleau, a nice cozy fishing village. By the time we arrived in Trempeleau, named for the French fur trappers, we were thirsty and needing a snack as well, so we stopped at the famous Trempeleau Hotel, Bar, Restaurant to have an adult drink or two and visit with locals. We enjoyed their famous walnut burger meatball appetizers to take the edge off. That was a good way to try those out, and about the only way Jerry would sample them being a guy who prefers his burgers to be beef. I think I enjoyed the walnut burger meatballs more than he did, but again it is something to experience; wished I'd snapped a photo, but I was consuming and enjoying a great glass of Chardonnay while he quenched his thirst with his usual, Budweiser beer. I found the walnut balls, quite good and crunchy, pieces of crushed walnuts and all sorts of breading and spices, deep fried with a spicy mustard alongside for dipping. He commented that they reminded him of stuffing which I found weird as he never eats stuffing, something I alone enjoy! The hotel bar was just beginning to get filled for the dinner time crowd, but we had a pleasant talk with the young bartender and other locals while we quenched our thirst.
Then I missed the photo op of all time as a guy walked in from the river side patio with a woman companion, they were both about late 50's or so, not young, but he had unruly unkempt blondish greyish hair, sticking outside his cap and down his shoulders, a much greater hairdo than hers. I would not have noticed them if not for his appearance as it is not the sight we usually see around these parts and I said something like "look what's coming" but once again Jerry was way ahead of me, as he signaled the barteneder for another beer, "For cryin' out loud, he's wearing a dress!" I had not noticed at first, and sure enough, what a sight continued through the bar out the other door to the hotel entrance. It was not a dress but was a woman's gauzy ruffled longer skirt with his tank top tucked inside and flip flops on his feet! I really wanted a photo because I have seen nothing like that since CA and the transvestites. The bartended said the man's name is Gary and he lives there in the hotel upstairs and all things considered is a nice person, he said that if I'd asked I could have gotten a photo and here I sat small camera in my purse wondering. Well after that we departed for home where no more surprises awaited. It had been a very pleasant afternoon, ending with sights we could laugh about and wonder once again acknowledging that it takes more than all kinds to keep the world spinning round, no matter where we live...... .
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