Listing Through Life

We drove south from Racine to Kenosha and parked near the harbor to see both lighthouses.

The old Southport Lighthouse is now about 150 yards back from the Lake Michigan shore. It was built in 1866. The tower is 55 feet tall, but as it sits on a hill, the light is 74 feet above lake level.

We walked along the harbor and out onto the pier to see North Pier Light. It was built in 1906 and is 55 feet tall. The light could be seen for 12 miles. It also had graffiti all over it, including one message that must have made one guy feel great (below right).

Some people use a GPS to navigate their way around unfamiliar areas. I use RTS — Random Turn System. As I was driving aimlessly around Racine searching for a Culver’s with my daughter and her cousins, we passed several bakeries advertising Danish kringle, a specialty of the area. My passengers decided we (I) should buy some after lunch. The problem was that when the time came, my RTS couldn’t guide us to any of the bakeries we’d passed. We wandered aimlessly some more. My daughter remembered the name of a street where we’d seen one of the bakeries, so when I happened upon that street we turned and soon found this place.

We had a lot of choices, but quickly settled on raspberry.

We each had a piece and saved the rest for dessert. It was good, but my daughter and I immediately proclaimed that my wife’s was better. The girls encouraged her to make some a couple days later and we were right — it was better.

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.

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.