Looking for a quick getaway? Check out Kenosha's Petrifying Springs Park, on Highway 31, between county A and county JR, which mixes a peculiar natural feature with lots of amenities, including what many consider Kenosha's best golf course. The park is the oldest and largest in the county's park system.
The 360-acre park is named for the contact springs found in a ravine along the southern edge of the park. Although there is not really any petrified rock here, early visitors thought that the lime residue that emerges after rainfalls was petrified matter.
Early settlers first described the springs more than 150 years ago. But in the years since, southeastern Wisconsinites have focused on some of the park's other aspects.
Features include great cross-country ski trails, sled hills, baseball diamonds, picnic facilities, bridle paths for horseback riding and more than 11 miles of trails for biking and hiking along the Pike River from which visitors can spy the "petrifying" contact springs.
{INSERT_RELATED}The Pike River, with its small rapids, also makes for easy canoeing in a serene swiftwater setting.
Petrifying Springs Park also has a wide variety of birdlife and trees, including Kenosha County's largest maple, basswood and black maple trees and the largest stand of white cedar trees (in the northwest ravine).
Golfers will want to check out the 18-hole, 5.979-yard Petrifying Springs Golf Course, which opened in 1930. The par-70 course is open from 5 a.m.-8:30 p.m. daily and offers a host of amenities, including cart rental, a pro shop, a snack bar, club rental, locker room, chipping and putting greens and a bar and grill.
For more information on the golf course, call (262) 552-9052.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
