Wisconsin trip #2- pretty close to perfect

I say close to perfect because it started off a little rocky and caused a last minute change of plans. The original plan was that I would fly out of Washington Dulles to Detroit, Michigan and, after a brief layover, fly to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, rent a car and drive to Holy Hill and attend 11:00 AM Saturday Mass.

Well, I made it to Milwaukee but some of my luggage didn't. Waiting for that bag to arrive on the next flight set me back 3 hours and a delay in getting a rental car cost me another hour.

I ended up abandoning the idea of going to Holy Hill bet was determined to complete that 3rd First Saturday at a new location.

I pulled it off by going to Mass at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic church in Manitowoc. Manitowoc is famous for 2 things- the site of the 1962 Sputnik crash and the location were Manitowoc Ice machines- on of the biggest commercial brands in the world- are made.

For me, it was Catholic Mass in a small town among some really sweet people.

First Saturdays now in Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and Wisconsin.

I knew Sunday was off to a good start during breakfast at the hotel when I saw on the wall an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I will see the actual Guadalupe in November. It is one of the roughly couple of a dozen approved Marian apparition sites in the world. Champion, Wisconsin is another and that is where we went Sunday morning.

In 1859, Our Lady appeared to Adele Brice. Exactly 1 day short of the 12th anniversary of that first apparition, Adele and others were miraculously saved from the great Peshtigo fire- the greatest fire in American history.

This was my 2nd visit to the Champion shrine and both times it affected me deeply. In January, I came by myself and it was bitterly cold and hardly anyone else showed up. This time, the weather was beautiful and there were hundreds of people there. I was also not alone. I was part of a group of 5 people.

This statue is placed at the exact location where the apparition appeared.

After leaving the Champion shrine, we made our way to Green Bay, about a half an hour away.

We went to watch the Notre Dame vs Wisconsin game at historic Lambeau field.

The connections between the Green Bay Packers and Notre Dame are significant. Curly Lambeau played for Notre Dame and was one of the founding members of the Pack. The game featured Notre Dame players donning uniforms that were modeled after the Blue and Gold uniforms the Packers originally wore. Lambeau also adopted Notre Dame's box offense and used it to win 7 world championships.

On Sunday night, this Notre Dame team did their part with a 41-13 win!

The field in Lambeau was the site of the coldest game in NFL history. On December 31st, 1967, the Packers played for the right to advance to Super Bowl II. The temperature at kickoff was -13 degrees. The opponent was the Dallas Cowboys. Next month, I will see the city of Dallas for the first time.