Downtown Two Rivers, Wisconsin

As you may have surmised from reading my posts - this is a wonderful area! After my hometown of Lawton, razed our downtown area in the name of Urban Renewal, I have become very observant of downtown areas that have been restored instead of torn down. This is another beautiful example of what Lawton should have done with our historic downtown - rehabbed it to a historic downtown shopping area instead of a big old ugly mall!! OK, anyway...we stopped in a place called Unique Flying Objects which had kites, flags and all kinds of other gizmos. Some of the kites were almost too pretty to fly! They also had something called Sky Lanterns which the clerk told us that on Labor Day thousands are released over the lake and it was a beautiful sight to see. The are made of paper in the shape of a hot air balloon  and a candle it lite in the bottom. The hot air of the candle makes the lantern fill with air and rise. They eventually catch afire, if the conditions are right, way up in the sky. Since we won't be here Labor Day here's a picture I found...

Sky Lanterns

Stopped in another store, Schroeder's Department Store, and talked to a very friendly sales clerk. Asked what life was like here in the winter...brutal! Snow, ice is always on the ground, just keeps piling up. And unbelievably COLD! Guess that may be one of the reasons that the houses are so nice and flowers everywhere - they go out and enjoy their beautiful summers since winter is so harsh. Bruce told her we'd found out that they call water fountains "bubblers" and sure enough the store had an actual bubbler. The water bubbles up not out in an arch. We have truly enjoyed our time in Wisconsin! If I had enough money I'd buy a house up here to spend summers here but since I hate being cold would have to leave for the winter!