A Visit with Family

Our next stop was at the home of Pat’s first cousin, Diana (their mothers were sisters), and her husband, Tom, in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  Diana and Tom live in a historic home that was built as a brewery in 1850.  They have turned the bottom floor into a pottery gallery called Brewery Pottery and live on the upper floors.  They have been creating art and making pottery since the 1970s, moved into their historic home in 1992, and opened the gallery downstairs in 1994.

Diana and Tom also recently purchased the house next door to their home.  It was not being used during our visit so it was there that we parked the RV.  Tom and Claire (Tom and Diana’s daughter) helped us to plug into an electrical outlet in the garage (we would use our freshwater tank for the toilet and sinks, shower inside the house, and dump sewer at our next campground).  This was the first time we had plugged into a regular 110/120-volt household electrical outlet, so we weren’t sure how much power it would provide to the RV and didn’t want to overload the circuits.  Reading the RV manual, we learned that most of the plugs and lights work off of 12-volt DC power, while the larger appliances like the air conditioner and microwave require 120-volt AC power; but nothing in the manual told us what we could run at the same time and not overload the circuits.  We chose to keep it simple and not run big appliances like the air conditioner or the microwave.  We had no trouble with plugging phones, laptops, and other devices into the RV electrical outlets, and running the television and refrigerator at the same time; good information to have for the future.

After we leveled the RV and plugged in, we went to the historic home and chatted with Diana, Tom, and Claire.  Pat and Diana reminisced about their mothers, and we all chatted about an endless number of topics (you would have thought we all had known each other all of our lives instead of just Diana and Pat).  Diana made us all dinner, which included mixed salad and ravioli (with a delicious homemade sauce).  We had fruit and chocolate for dessert.  We returned to the RV with full bellies and huge smiles on our faces from the wonderful company.  

The next day, Diana was gracious enough to give us a tour of the entire historic building! The historic building sits upon caverns and a natural spring.  The building has many rooms that are tucked into the caverns where the brewery used to store the materials for making the beer and ultimately the finished product!  Diana explained that there are bats that live in the caverns, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources comes annually to inspect and track the bats.  In fact, Diana, Tom, and Claire have many hilarious stories about the critters that they’ve found in their home (mostly when they were first moving in and renovating).  Diana also gave us a tour of the gallery and pointed out the various products that they created and purchased from other artists for sale in Brewery Pottery. 

Then, Diana helped us make bowls of our own.  We used lace that Diana got from her and Pat’s grandmother, Lucy, to create the design for our bowls.  Then Diana showed us how to smooth out and cut the finished bowls on a potter’s wheel.  We put our initials on the bottom of our respective bowls.  Diana and Tom will need to bisque fire the bowls in a kiln and glaze them before the bowls are ready for use.  Diana said she would send the final products once these processes are complete.

That evening, Claire’s boyfriend, Bill, joined the five of us, and Diana ordered pizza.  We all chatted for hours again about our lives (and other people’s lives).  

On our second full day in Mineral Point, Tom kindly let us borrow his car so we could drive to the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, which is located nearby in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  Wright called the property Taliesin (pronounced Tally-ESS-in), which is a Welsh name meaning “shining brow,” a name that symbolizes Wright’s intention to create a home that was “of the hill,” not on it.  Taliesin includes Wright’s 37,000-square-foot home, studio, school, and 800-acre estate.  In 1976, Taliesin was designated as a National Historic Landmark and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.  We took the two hour “highlights” tour, which included his studio and home plus the Hillside School that Wright designed for his aunts; the Romeo and Juliet Windmill Tower he designed; the home Wright built for his sister; and the barn that is adjacent to Wright’s home.

On the way back to Diana and Tom’s home, we stopped to buy some groceries.  We tried to get some cheese curds in a shop downtown, but it was closed that day (sadly, we never got cheese curds while we were in Wisconsin).  When we got back to Diana and Tom’s home, their daughter-in-law, Christie, was there with her son (Diana and Tom’s grandson), Torin.  We gave them a tour of the RV and it made Christie really ready to start her RV adventure (if she can convince her husband).

That evening, we went to a restaurant called Corralejo Mexican Grill for dinner, along with Diana, Tom, Claire, Bill, Christie, and Torin.  This was a new Mexican restaurant in town and the food was delicious!  Tim had a chicken burrito and Pat had enchiladas verdes.  

The next day, we had to say goodbye to Diana, Tom, and Claire.  Diana and Tom’s son, Parrish, came by with his son, Torin, and we gave them a tour of the RV.  Torin had us all in stitches pretending to drive the RV and getting stopped by the police for falling asleep at the wheel (he got off with only a warning though).  It was sad to leave, and we vowed to see each other again soon.  We look forward to getting our finished bowls that Diana helped us make as a beautiful memory of our time spent with our wonderful family.