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World Tour

jw0752

I got the idea for this Blog from . Since the Covid 19 has kept us from getting out and traveling I thought it might be fun to give you a short tour of my home town Chippewa Falls Wisconsin USA and to invite you to add your own tour of your home town in the comments. I am suggesting that we make it a short tour with six pictures or less. If you can highlight an industry that relates to electronics all the better. Background information and history is always appreciated.

 

Very close to Chippewa Falls is Lake Wissota. If you have ever watched the movie "Titanic" this lake was reference by the hero Jack as the place where he and his grandfather went ice fishing. Unfortunately this was an anachronism as Jack and the Titanic sank in 1912 and the Lake didn't fill with water behind a newly constructed hydroelectric dam until 1917. The Lake draws lots of tourists and the local people use it for fishing, boating, water skiing, swimming, and in the winter they do indeed do a lot of ice fishing.

 

 

In the early 1960s native son Seymour Cray returned to Chippewa Falls to develop the first Super Computer. In its heyday Cray had dozens of research and manufacturing facilities in Chippewa Falls. Today this is the only building that remains. The rest are now filled with other companies such as HP, TTM Technologies, and a host of small specialized companies.

 

 

This is the Chippewa Falls version of Notre Dame Church. It is wife Millies' church and it has a good view of the city in the Winter time when there are no leaves. I went up to the Church to take a picture of the city for you but there were so many leaves that all one could see was forest. Therefore not to waste the moment I took a picture of the church.

 

 

No it's not about the roses. In the background you will see the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company which has been putting Chippewa Falls on the map for the last 153 years. While I am not a beer aficionado myself I have heard that it is a great brew and they like to specialize in many seasonal products. They also have a nice hospitality center and give brewery tours when things aren't locked down by the Corona Virus.

 

 

Chippewa Falls was originally in the early 1800s a lumber town with saw mills to process the White Pine timber that was being harvested and floated down the Chippewa River. One of the people who became wealthy in this enterprise was William Irvine. Part of his legacy to the area was the donation of a beautiful section of land which is now known as Irvine Park. There are hiking trails, a very nice Zoo, picnic areas, play equipment for the children, and this water falls called Glen Loc. It is actually an abandoned mill dam with the water overflowing the top.

 

There you have a 5 picture overview of my home town.

 

Please take some pictures and share what is interesting and beautiful about where you live in a comment to this blog. I look forward to touring your home town.

 

John

Anonymous

  • I forgot to add a picture to do with electronics - not sure this counts but robots are definitely a thing on this site:

     

     

    It's a Starship delivery robot and they are now a fairly common sight around town although still novel enough to be fascinating.  I think this one is on a practice run looking at opening deliveries into our neighbourhood as I can't use them right now.  They're very clever and able to navigate the Redway system in MK, cross roads after waiting at give way markings for oncoming vehicles, avoiding people and so on - http://www.aboutmiltonkeynes.co.uk/qa-on-mk-starship-delivery-robots/.

     

  • in reply to jw0752

    Thanks again, this was my next-door neighbor, who died last year. We all called her "Mama". If I remember she was only one year younger than myself. 

    And this is the ceiling in the train station waiting area and ticket counter. It is pure Art Deco that hasn't been mucked with like our Post Office. Below is an air vent. Fort Worth is a strange town. It has embraced the past and is looking to the future. Also, there is a snap of the old railroad and in distance, you can see the turntable.

    And BTW pigs do fly.

  • in reply to jw0752

      Thanks here are a few more the old fire station. And my pal Jim. below is a photo I

    call Rust.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

          And one of my favs! Shot back in 2015 @ Hops & Props. This pic was taken inside a helicopter in

    which Rahr  & Sons had samples on tap, of which I had more than a few!

  • in reply to phoenixcomm

    Thanks Cris,

     

    Great pictures. The little girl was awesome!

     

    John

  • in reply to jc2048

    Hi Jon,

     

    Thanks for the great Tour of your town.  It is nice when a city can still retain a feeling of rural open spaces.

     

    John