Great Lakes Tour, Day 6

We stayed around Green Bay a second day because we had time before we had to pick up DH and there were so many cool things to see! First stop, National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.
From the website:

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is a place for all who seek help and healing through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Whether you are Catholic or not, whether you believe or are still searching for faith, you are welcome here. Following the example of Adele Brise, who first encountered the Queen of Heaven at this site, we journey together, seeking a deeper relationship with Christ through Mary.
Pilgrims from around the world have been experiencing the Shrine for over 150 years. The Catholic Church officially confirmed the Marian apparitions in 2010. And in 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) officially designated these grounds as a National Shrine.

I hadn't heard of this place until recently but it was a grace to stand in the only recognized place in the US where Our Lady has made an appearance. We prayed for people we know who need prayers and we prayed for the Church and we prayed for one another. It was a very special morning.

The kids were pretty excited to be personally welcomed by the Shrine ;0)

Beautiful Lady

Mass here was lovely. Typical daily Mass but wait...see the cushions and the altar rail???Yes! Everyone knelt and received by mouth. Beautiful reverence.

Adoration chapel downstairs staring our homeboys C&M! That's Our Lady of Levoca making sure we remember her as well. We lit a candle here to pray for a baby for a couple at our parish.

So many beautiful things to explore on this gorgeous day.

We walked into this Rosary Walk and a huge swarm of butterflies alit (alighted?) from the flowers and plants.

I was tired enough to think we were still in Canada for a minute!

An example of a roadside chapel from the area. People set them up so travelers could stop to pray.

So grateful every shrine gives us an opportunity to visit our sweet Bernadette!

After Mass we headed to the other side of town for some not-religious sight seeing. First, though, we had to head to Once Upon a Child to buy a set of "summer" clothes since the promised "fall" temps did not materialize (and the kids were sweating to death with the mostly long clothing we had packed.) When in Green Bay, act like a local ;0)

Mama's Brew Crew!

The National Railroad Museum happens to also be in Green Bay and we got in free with reciprocal privileges from our Science Center membership. Yay!

The zephyr was technically closed but the engineer took us for a tour anyway

pretty swanky way to ride

Did you know that "hobo" originally stood for "homeward bound"? It referred to Civil War soldiers post-war who hopped trains trying to make it back home. Learning is everywhere

GE's failed luxury train. A case of bad timing.

I wished DH would have been here...he's so much better with train stuff.

The engine...I think.

This, however, was the coolest thing I've ever seen. A mail car on a train. Every slot had a different state, city or geographical region.

bags of mail to sort as they traveled

Dining car in the middle

then up the stairs...

to the observation car! Sooooo cool!!!

They had a kid's train barn and it was full of good stuff to read and learn while we waited for our train.

Beautiful day to ride around the grounds

A very fun outing at a very neat place...which just so happened to be right up the road from a certain football stadium. Dinnertime!

I'm not a football fan, I admit it, but it's kind of hard to not be impressed when you walk into the place and see a 2 1/2 story Lombardi trophy.

Seriously. It was impressive.

We went to the second floor brewpub inside the stadium and had a good meal and some fun before we had to head back to the hotel.

Home of the Packers!

and a pretty amazing poutine...the cheese curds were deep fried. Y.U.M.

The only adult beverage I had...cheese beer bisque. #1 screwed up her face and said "oh, there's beer in that!" Indeed.

Silly man...

Silly mommy

Somewhere in the middle of the meal a woman who had been watching us from the bar came over and said "you have some wonderfully behaved children." I thanked her and mentioned something about yelling a lot. She smiled and said, "well, I was a school teacher in South Texas (she was...heavy accent) for about 102 years and I yelled plenty. People don't yell enough these days. Keep it up." I sure will, ma'am. For one more day at least...tomorrow night we pick up daddy!

We are blessed.