Racine, Wisconsin

My niece and nephew had never been to Wisconsin, so we drove up on July 6 and spent most of the day along the shore of Lake Michigan in Racine and Kenosha.

We started at Wind Point. I’ve spent many hours on the shore by the lighthouse looking for ducks flying out over the lake.

July 6, 2009

The building in the photo below is the former fog horn house. (The horns were last used in 1964 and could be heard for 10 miles.) When I used to bird here, the building was a near-ruin. It’s now a museum  of sorts. The few exhibits inside are not terribly interesting and the woman “volunteer” couldn’t answer a single question. I asked her how long the building had been a museum. She didn’t know, she was just a volunteer. I asked her if it was possible to go up in the lighthouse tower. She didn’t know, she was just a volunteer. There were some brochures by the door and I took a couple. As we walked out, she yelled after me that the postcards were .25 each and that I hadn’t paid. I showed her what I’d taken and she apologized. But I didn’t blame her — she was just a volunteer.

The Wind Point Lighthouse was built in 1880. It’s 108 feet tall and its light, which still serves as a navigation aid, can be seen for 19 miles.

We hung around for about an hour, looking for rocks and beach glass.

We headed to the harbor to check out the North Breakwater Light at the mouth of the Root River. It was built in 1920. The light is 53 feet above the water and can be seen for 14 miles. The Wind Point Lighthouse can be seen in the distance.

We drove north to a point about halfway between the two lighthouses and walked along the beach for half an hour or so.

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