Summer of 2007 | our-summer-travels

We stopped along our way to see family and friends but not much sightseeing until we saw the newly opened Lake Barkley Classic Car Museum. They just opened eight months ago so we just had to go check it out. There were a few cars sitting out front but they were cars for sale to be restored and a couple looked really bad. There was even an old bus that had been gutted out. Inside the building were 40 cars completely restored; 57 Chevy, 56/57 Crown Victoria’s, 1947 truck, etc. They had an old garage set up inside, a drive-in restaurant and gas pumps. There was also a mint green 56 T-Bird that was owned by Conway Twitty with a whole display case with pictures and other memorabilia.

Grand Rivers, KY

Patti's 1880's Settlement Pictures

May 9, 2007

We then went west on SR-62, picked up SR-453 south over a small stretch of land that goes between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake and stopped at Grand Rivers, KY. Grand Rivers is a small town of two blocks wide by two blocks long but the most interesting thing about Grand Rivers is Patti’s 1880’s Settlement. The entire place has old 1880’s wooden buildings with gardens and waterfalls. We walked around the gardens, into the gift shops and the restaurant called Patti’s. Patti’s Restaurant is something else. Their brochure said Patti’s was voted No. 1 by Southern Living Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for best small town restaurant in Southeast United States. Inside each room has old wood paneling decorated with wood furniture and loads of flowers everywhere, even on the ceilings; they even had a fireplace in one room. Apparently Patti’s is famous for their sauces, two inch thick pork chops and mile high chiffon pies. Outside you walk around pathways through gardens of flowers, trees and bushes with waterfalls, ponds and statues. There is a small chapel and they must have been catering a wedding because the pavilion was all decorated with white roses, ribbons and bows. There is a mini golf, a large water wheel, gazebos and four gift shops. There is also an Antique shop across the street and a What Not Shop across from that. What a really nice place. We must definitely come back to this place again.

Illinois - 2007

Benton, IL

Saturday Night Summer Cruise on the Square Pictures (Rend Lake, Car Cruise)

May 12, 2007

Today we drove around Rend Lake. We followed SR-37 north to Franklin Rd. (SR-154) that crossed over the lake at several parts then turned south along the western side of the lake following Rend City Road. The lake is very pretty, big and very busy with boaters at every launching area. We stopped at the Rend Lake Dam and watched lots of people fishing on the lower side.

We drove to the square downtown to see the Saturday Night Summer Cruise on the Square. By this time most of the Square was full with old cars and others were driving around trying to find a parking place. They ended up parking in nearby parking lots and double parking on the Square. We walked over to the carnival, there was nothing new or different from most fly-by-night carnivals but the young people we saw there were all over weight and I saw enough pot bellies to last me a lifetime! We walked around the Square and looked at all the cars; there were some really nice ones too.

Missouri - 2007

St. Louis, MO - St. Louis Botanical Gardens Pictures

May 14, 2007

It was one beautiful day with a high around 82 degrees. We decided to drive to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We pulled into a building that said Missouri Botanical Gardens on it but found out it was a learning center. A woman there told us to just continue down the road we were on and we would see the parking lot on the right. The Missouri Botanical Gardens was open in 1859 and is the oldest continuously operating botanical gardens in the nation and a National Historic Landmark. They contain 79 acres of beautiful landscaped grounds and several conservation and education centers. Just inside the entrance is a rose garden; unfortunately the roses hadn’t bloomed yet but looking at the layout, must be really beautiful when it is. We then walked into the Climatron, a large glass domed structure with a tropical rain forest and waterfalls inside. There were some really pretty flowering plants and a few birds but we were both looking for the butterflies. There is a pretty reflecting pool with fountain, a Children’s Garden, a Victoria Garden, a English Woodland Garden and what I thought was the highlight, a Japanese Garden. The trees were such beautiful colors and the settings around the lakes were so peaceful and beautiful. We spent about two hours there. What a beautiful place to just enjoy the day.

New Franklin, MO

Birds Attacking our Motorhome

New Franklin, MO - May 18-19, 2007 All Pictures (Birds, Katy Trail, Rocheport)

We were now in the Katy Roundhouse campground and once settled in, we kept hearing something like tapping on the motor home. No one was at the door and it kept happening. We finally realized that two birds were flying at our windows and would sit on our window seals and peck at the window. Don’t know if they were fighting with the birds they saw reflected in our windows or what but they just wouldn’t go away. Even opening the window and blowing air at them wouldn’t make them leave. They were beautiful birds too. One was brown with black, one was black and yellow and the other was black and orange. They were so persistent and it wasn’t until after 8PM they finally stopped. We wouldn’t see any nest in the tree where they were trying to protect it so the only thing we could think of was fighting their reflections. The next morning we were awakened at 5:45AM by the birds tapping on the windows. Opening the windows and hissing at them didn’t make them stop and we put paper towels on the windows hoping it would scare them off. It did for about an hour when they realized that it was only paper and they could still see their reflection they continued tapping on the windows. Now there were four or five birds. Boy are they persistent! In one of the shops downtown, we saw a painting of the very same birds that were attacking our motor home; the Blue Mountain Warbler. Maybe now that we know their name we can tell them not to keep tapping our windows! We closed the door to the bedroom last night in hopes of not hearing the birds and it helped a little, at least it wasn’t 6AM when we heard them. Yep, they were still at it this morning but this time when I opened the window, they flew away and haven’t been back.

Rocheport, MO

May 18, 2007

We walked down by the Missouri River where they had laid down sand bags to keep the river from flooding the town during the recent flooding. We heard the entire town was surrounded by water and we could see areas that were still flooded. We then drove to the Katy Trail State Park and stopped at the Les Bourgeois Vineyards Bluff top Winery and Restaurant. The Bluff top Bistro is a really impressive restaurant nestled on a wooded cliff top overlooking the Missouri River. They have outside tables on two levels and offer a full menu for lunch and dinner. We walked out an overlook at the river’s edge some 125 feet above the river and the Katy Trail. They also have an A-Frame Winegarden for tasting their wines and a tasting room and gift shop. The area is beautiful and the building itself is something else.

Katy Trail

The Katy Trail State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Missouri that contains the Katy Trail, the country's longest recreational rail trail. It runs 240 miles, largely along the northern bank of the Missouri River, in the right-of-way of the former Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. It's not in one area as you would expect a state park to be but only the width of the trail crossing Missouri from St. George to Clinton. Between 1865 and 1915, an extensive railroad system extended through Missouri, Kansas and Texas known as the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy). When the railroad decided to cease operation on the route from St. Charles, it presented the chance to create a unique recreational opportunity for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to acquire the right-of-way made possible by the National Trails Systems Act. This allowed railroad corridors no longer needed for active rail service to be used on an interim basis for recreational trails. Edward D.”Ted” Jones was able to secure this right-of-way and the trail was constructed. Today, Katy Trail is the longest developed rail-trail in the country and has 29 depots along the trail where you can get a drink of water and daily information. The trail runs through our campground and when we drive in or out we drive over the trail for about 30 feet. It’s funny to drive into a State Park that’s not any wider than our motor home! We met the owners of the campground, John & Kim, who told us that this used to be the exchange and roundhouse for the MKT or Katy Railroad line. It had several buildings which they had to demolish and 12 sets of tracks here. The campground office/restaurant was the trail exchange office. I wondered why this place was called Katy Roundhouse Campground, now I know. The old roundhouse is still there but of course all overgrown and the track is all rusted and rotten. We found all kinds of railroad ties, railroad rails and hardware all over the place. We then walked a little ways down the Katy Trail toward Boonville. The only thing we saw was the Sulfer Creek and an old junkyard. Several people passed us riding bikes and one guy seeing me take a picture, said, ”you know there are more scenic spots on the trail than this.” I told him Jack as into old cars and was having fun looking at what was in the junkyard. He laughed and rode away.

Kansas City, MO

Worlds of Fun Amusement Park Pictures

May 20, 2007

The campground is right next to the Worlds of Fun Amusement Park and we can watch the Mamba Roller Coaster. There is an industrial park with lots of trucks across the street from the campground. There are actually two parks, the Worlds of Fun and the Oceans of Fun park that are right next to each other but you can’t go from one to the other and they don’t sell combo tickets. The Oceans of Fun park doesn’t open until the 28th of May. We paid for the Twilight tickets and went in. The park is a medium size park with large thrill rides; five roller coasters and a few other thrill rides. There were two rides, a Grand Prix Raceway where you drive the old cars at 10 miles per hour and The Rock, where you rock climb that cost $5extra and one, the Ripcord that cost an extra $27.95 for single person or $22.95 for two. There is a kids area called Snoopy’s Camp and plenty of fast food stops. It seemed to us that most of the stuff in the park were games of skill where you had to pay $2 to $5 a shot. There was also a lot of walking to get to the rides. There were several groups kids and teens there but still seemed practically empty for an amusement park but perhaps that's because it's only the 20th and the water park isn't open yet. We couldn’t even go see any shows because they didn’t start until the 26th of May.

Country Club Plaza All Pictures (Country Club Plaza, Crown Center, Hallmark Center)

May 22, 2007

Today was another beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70’s. We drove down into the Country Club Plaza. The Plaza is 15 blocks of 150 upper class stores and boutiques plus restaurants ranging from contemporary American, Kansas City steaks, authentic Italian and Mexican. There are also several hotel and condominiums in the area. It took one man’s vision, J.C. Nichols, ten years, the accumulation of 55 acres and a price of $1 million in 1922 to establish the Plaza. He hand picked the works of art, sculptures, tile murals and fountains that adorn the streets and sidewalks of the Plaza. The whole area is fashioned after a Spanish theme including courtyards, red tile roofs and ornate towers covered in beautiful tile work. It is an impressive place and looking in the windows of all the upscale stores. I read that Kansas City was known for its fountains and statues most of them being in the Plaza. Most are small impressive statues and fountains everywhere around the area rather than in one place. One large fountain is at the entrance of the Plaza, the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain, dedicated to this man. The buildings with the murals and tiles are very impressive.

Crown Center

We then drove up Main Street to the Crown Center. This shopping center was established in 1968 by Joyce C. Hall and his son, Hallmark chairman Donald J. Hall to create one place that would help revitalize a part of Kansas City’s decaying urban core. It houses stores, restaurants and entertainment center plus two of Kansas City’s largest hotels. The shops and restaurants are all connected in a large three floor building that surrounds an outdoor court with water fountains and an outdoor ice skating rink. The second and third floors houses apparel and specialty shops and the first floor is where all the restaurants are. The variety of food runs the whole gamut of American burgers and Philly cheese steaks to Chinese, Greek, Japanese and Mexican. There is even a restaurant in an old trolley car #52 that once was used between the twin cities, and one that they say serves you your hamburger via train. There is also a cute restaurant called Crayola Café that is done up in balloons and bright colors. They also have a glass enclosed walkway called the ”Link” that links the hotels and Union Station from the Crown Center.

Hallmark Visitors Center

The Hallmark Visitors Center is the headquarters for Hallmark Cards and is inside the Halls Specialty Store. This store is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. and has unique and exclusive items from around the world; talk about a specialty store! We walked through the Hallmark Visitors Center where you take a self-guided tour through the history of Hallmark Cards. What an impressive tour. In the lobby there is a wall mural made out of magnesium, copper and brass to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary in 1985 that must be 60 feet long and 7 feet high; it is beautiful. They have thousands of memorabilia arranged in a timeline exhibit of more than 90 years of Hallmark history, a large display of Presidential Christmas Cards, a room of Hallmark Ornaments and of course the Keepsake Ornaments. There was a card designer working on a card you can watch and several video displays from the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV programming. One room had over a dozen Christmas Trees. For years, Hallmark employees fashioned giant Christmas cards as holiday gifts for Hallmark founder J.C. Hall and his family. This evolved into the life-size Christmas trees being done every year until his death. There is a display of the machines that print and produce the cards and a large machine that makes bows. Jack pressed the button and made one for me. We kept hearing the expression KCMO and KCK on TV and radio stations. KCMO refers to Kansas City, Missouri and KCK refers to Kansas City, Kansas.

Nebraska - May 2007

Memorial Day Celebration Pictures

Tecumseh, NE - May 27, 2007

Today was a beautiful day with the sun shining and temperatures in the 70’s so we took a ride. We stopped at a little town of Tecumseh, NE. This town has a very large town square that is highlighted by a beautiful Roman Revival style County Courthouse. All the roads around the square are brick and wide enough to park cars in the middle, in fact, they do park in the middle. We ran smack-dab into their Memorial Day Parade. We made our way into the square before the parade did and sat and watched it. They had floats pulled by tractors, antique cars, a band, their fire and emergency squads and a float with veterans from the area. Afterwards we walked around the square that was surrounded by an Avenue of Flags. What a sight! A band was going to play on the band shell on the square and they had cake to be served later. Most of the buildings around the square were all built around 1900. There are shops, restaurants and lawyers offices but almost everyone was closed, after all it is Sunday and they are celebrating Memorial Day.

IL - Car Cruise

MO - Botanical Gardens

NE - Memorial Day

MO - Kansas City

MO - Country Club Plaza

MO - Katy Trail

South Dakota - June 2007

Sioux Falls, SD All Pictures (Sioux Falls, Sertoma Butterfly House, Great Plains Zoo, Rib Festival, Japanese Gardens

June 1, 2007

It was overcast this morning but not raining so we headed out to Falls Park to check out the Sioux Falls falls. Sioux Falls was founded in 1856 and the Falls have been the focus of life for the city ever since. The Falls themselves flow an average of 7,400 gallons of water every second and drops 100 feet. There is the beautiful 42 acre Falls Park that surrounds the falls with picnic areas and walkways alongside the falls. We walked all the walkways until we couldn’t go any more and over the bridge to the ruins of the old Queen Bee Mill. The mill was built in 1881 to mill its own wheat to avoid the farmers paying shipping wheat to Minnesota or Wisconsin but closed in 1883 due to the lack of wheat and inadequate water power. We took a trolley that runs a 30 minute loop from the Visitor Center at Falls Park through downtown and back. We found out most of the stone buildings in the city were built with stone mined from the falls. We got off at Phillips and 11th St. and walked across the street to Minerva’s to eat lunch. This is a very nice restaurant with beautiful dark maybe even mahogany wood beams. They had all kinds of pasta salad, regular salad greens, bean salad, apple and walnut salad, vegetables, cheese, and lunch meats plus two kinds of soup. Jack said everything was very good. Afterwards we walked a couple of blocks in town looking at the statues everywhere along the streets than caught the trolley back to Falls Park. The Visitor Center has a five story observation tower that we walked up and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the falls and surrounding area. We left the park and drove to the Sertoma Park off Oxbow Rd. to check out the Sertoma Butterfly House.

Sertoma Butterfly House

The building houses a gift shop, learning center and a small, very warm, butterfly garden where over 400 different species of butterflies fly around a tropical setting. We had to remove our jackets and sweatshirts, not because it would be too warm but because the butterflies tend to fly into and hide inside of them. That’s the first time I heard that! They don’t raise the butterflies here but have them shipped in from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Suriname, Malaysia, Philippines, Africa and the United Kingdom in the larvae stage. Considering the butterflies only live for four weeks, that’s a lot of butterflies. Boy, they sure are beautiful and at times we felt we were being attacked by butterflies there were so many. It was fun watching the little kids duck and dodge the butterflies as they flew around them or others sticking out their little hands in hopes of one landing on it.

Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History

June 2, 2007

It was raining this morning but the sun came out around 11:30AM so we headed to the Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History. When you walk in the entrance, the Museum is to the right and the entrance to the Zoo on the left. The girl at the gate said a Pronghorn was giving birth, if we were interested; you bet, so we headed into the zoo. The Pronghorn had already given birth to one calf and was cleaning it up; just the cutest thing. They expected her to give birth to another calf about an hour or so. We walked through the Asian Cats area and saw two sleeping under a tree, next were two of the largest brown bears we’ve ever seen. Next were cranes, wild dogs, foxes and birds of prey. In the back area we boarded a train for a 10 minute ride around an open area that will be the future home of the African Savannah and passed Zebras, Giraffes, Ostrich and Cheetahs. From there, we walked through the Children’s Zoo where you can pet and feed goats, cows and horses. There are a couple of buildings with the less desirable animals like snakes, spiders, etc. Passed the Children’s Zoo were penguins, water foul, Rhino, birds and even a white alligator and the exit. As we were coming out of the alligator exhibit, real dark clouds moved in so we headed to the exit real quick. It wasn’t five minutes later when the rains came pouring down.

Delbridge Museum of Natural History has realistic full size stuffed animals in their natural habitat. It was very well done.

10th Annual Argus Leader Rib Fest

We went to the 10th Annual Argus Leader Rib Fest, South Dakota’s Biggest Backyard BBQ. Entrance fee was $4 each and you enter an outside arena with eight vendors and picnic tables in the middle. Each vendor displayed their trophies and each had large banners announcing them to be the world’s best BBQ. The idea of the Rib Fest is to sample ribs from each vendor and deposit a ballot in the box for the you thought to be the best. Sunday, a trophy would be awarded to the winning vendor. We walked the entire area and sampled a few. First was Famous Dave’s which we’ve seen everywhere; they were very good, tender and the sauce was very good. Next we tried Porky & Beans; these were even more tender but messier with good sauce but got spicy 5 minutes after you ate it. Next we tried Desperado’s; these are dry rub ribs with no sauce and were excellent. The rubs had a very good flavor, not messy and tender. They got our vote and we even bought a half rack to bring home.

Shoto-Teien Japanese Gardens

June 3, 2007

It was a beautiful sunny morning that is until 11AM, when it started getting cloudy again. We decided to get out and go to the Shoto-Teien Japanese Gardens anyway. As we pulled into the parking lot of the Terrace Park there were no signs so we asked a woman that was sitting in her car where they were. Turns out there is no way to get to the gardens without walking half a mile through the park. So we put on our jackets, picked up an umbrella and headed down the walkway through the park. The gardens are a pretty walkway that runs for about a mile along a lake in the park with brickwork, Japanese style statues, rocks and trees. At the end of the walkway is a bridge over the bottom of a waterfall.

Minnesota - June 2007

Fort Belmont All Pictures (Fort Belmont, Owatonna)

Jackson, MN - June 5, 2007

This afternoon we went to Fort Belmont just the other side of I-90 from our campground. Fort Belmont was originally built by Norwegian settlers three miles from Jackson and had a two-story log cabin inside a stockade fence. Eleven families occupied the stockade for nearly two years. The buildings were moved from their original location to this location by descendants of the original inhabitants in 1990, refurbished with additional buildings and artifacts. It is classified as a civilian fort because it was occupied and constructed by neighbors and is one of only two civilian built forts ever constructed in the Midwest. You first walk into a Museum and Trading Post that houses Jackson’s local area history. Inside are several old cars including a 1930 Lincoln Club Roadster that is one of only 12 made; a variety of early juke boxes, a doll collection from around the world, pictures and items from everyday living in pioneer days. The Trading Post is a gift shop where you can buy souvenirs or mementos. When you walk outside you walk into the Lysgard Home and Summer Kitchen. The Lysgard’s, Norwegian immigrants, built the house from 1873 to 1900, with a living room, two bedrooms and a kitchen that was added last. The bathrooms were outhouses placed around the property. The house was furnished with all kinds of antiques and memorabilia. Then we walked over to the Delafield Lutheran Church. This one built in 1902 and operated for 125 years and closed its doors in 1998. Up the hill was the Black Smith Shop that had all kinds of old metal working equipment. Then they had a Sod House that was a representation of the first homes built by settlers in Southwestern Minnesota. There was a lack of lumber so the pioneers plowed the heavy dense prairie sod into two-foot strips then stacked green side down like bricks to build the house. The roof was covered with the canvas from the covered wagons and covered by more sod. These houses were fire proof, cool in the summer, warm in the winter and safe from bullets and arrows with the two-foot walls. The only drawback was the snakes, rodents and insects invading the walls and during heavy rains, the roof leaked for several days. They said it was estimated to be 150,000 such homes throughout the Great Plains. From there we walked into the stockade and through the two-story log cabin. This looked to be the newest building because it was all new wood beaming and floors. There were two open bedrooms upstairs, downstairs was a large open area with a bed, table, wood stove and various cooking utensils and other items used during the 1800’s. Looking at all the old antique stuff was fun.

Owatonna, MN

June 8, 2007

Owatonna is much like the other town squares we’ve seen with a few shops, banks, insurance agencies and lawyer’s offices. The City Hall is a large impressive building in town and several buildings are done with impressive brick and tile work. Downtown was fairly busy but not too much traffic. On the way out of town we passed a pretty garden and picnic area and turned around to take a closer look. It was called Moorehouse Park and was a very pretty setting. A river ran through one side of the park that had a wooden bridge across the waterfall created by a dam under the bridge. There was a playground and lots of green grass for picnics. There were also lots of ducks on the river and we saw several pairs of ducks with six to twelve ducklings.

Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis Zoo All Pictures (Minneapolis Zoo, Apple Valley Mall of America, Underground Aquarium)

June 11, 2007

The Zoo has 500 acres of lush dense forest and all the animals roam in their natural habitats. There are very little cages but rather large open, lush woods where each animal can road among trees, bushes, lakes and waterfalls. There are more than 2,000 animals and over 400 species with some you can touch. We walked passed lions, tigers and an amphitheater for bird shows. We saw two Moose and wolves. Then there was a large building that demonstrated how a Grain Elevator works. From here we jumped on a ”tram”, actually a tractor pulling two tram cars, that took us to the Family Farm. The farm is a working farm with chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, horses and a bull. We walked through several buildings with demos on raising chicks, handling of eggs, milking of cows, how milk is processed, which meat comes from cows and which comes from pigs and a building of farm equipment. We saw a huge mother pig with 12 piglets that were really cute. We were going to walk back to the Grain Elevator where we caught the tram but a horse drawn tram showed up so we took that back. The rest of the zoo has wild horses, camels, pronghorns and bison. We were now back to the entrance but there was still another area to see, but we were hungry to we stopped at the ”Call of the Wild Food Court” where you can eat and watch the monkeys below you outside. From here we went upstairs and through the Tropical Trail. You walk through a lush tropic forest inside a building that houses several varieties of fish, small animals and tropical birds. They are in the process of adding something called the Minnesota Trail and a Butterfly Garden. They also have a monorail that goes around the zoo at a speed of maybe 3 miles per hour. We walked over to the IMAX Theater to see what was showing but missed the current showing of Under the Sea 3D. It’s a really interesting zoo and all the trees, bushes and greenery help to hide the amount of animals there.

Apple Valley Mall of America

June 12, 2007

We spent today at the mall. Imagine traveling 2,000 miles to go to the mall! Well this was no ordinary mall but the Mall of America. This place is absolutely huge with four what they call ”Anchor stores” of Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Sears at each corner and over 520 specialty stores, 50 restaurants and an amusement park in the middle, oh, and the world’s largest underground Aquarium, under all this. There are three floors where the shops and restaurants are and a fourth for administrative offices. We entered through Bloomindales and felt like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs so we could find our way back to the car! They have every store you could imagine and quite a few we couldn’t. We even found Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company, not the smelly fish market but a classy seafood restaurant. The amusement park is the largest indoor amusement park in America. It is 7 acres of over 30 thrill rides including two ground to ceiling, turn you upside down rides, two water slides, three roller coasters, a carousel, large Ferris wheel, a miniature golf course and games of skill. Next to that is also a Lego children’s playground, a flight simulator and a race car simulator. People must come here for their summer vacations!

Underground Aquarium

I went through the Aquarium that is said to be the World’s Largest Underground Aquarium. You step onto a moving walkway through a large long glass tunnel to see over 4,500 fish swimming around and above you. There are signs along the way explaining the species but there were so many I forgot most of the names, I was more concerned that all this glass didn’t spring a leak. There are several species of sharks and at one point along the walkway was a sign that said their largest shark ate another shark on this very spot. That shark is no longer in the tank. At the end of the walkway there is a large room of smaller fish, like snails, sea urchins, jellyfish and seahorses and I saw one that was all white that I’ve never seen before. They even had a display from The Titanic and Pirates of the Caribbean. One kid ahead of me must have thought the gold doubloons on the display were real because he tried to take a few. Last is a ”you can touch a shark” display in a large round pool. You can lean over and actually ”pet” a shark or stingray. No, I didn’t. We walked every floor, except the administrative one, and didn’t walk the same place twice. What a place! 50 restaurants and we ate dinner at Villa Pizza….it was very good.

Duluth, MN

Duluth All Pictures (Duluth, Tom's Logging Camp, Two Harbors, Train Museum)

June 19, 2007

Duluth is a very old city with cobble stone streets and large commercial businesses along Lake Superior. Downtown is a mix of old and new with lots of shops and commerce. Much like any other city except there are no homes among the businesses, I don’t even see very many condos or apartments but then we only went up and down two streets. The Waterfront is the business district while homes dot the rising hillside. The harbor is the world’s largest, farthest-inland seaport where thousands of large ships from all over the world sail under the Aerial Lift Bridge to enter the harbor and dock to pick up their loads of iron ore, coal and grain to carry elsewhere around the world. We saw one such ore carrier come into the harbor and seemed funny seeing this massive carrier among sailboats and small tour ships. We walked around some of the shops, walked under the Aerial Lift Bridge on Lakewalk and followed along Lake Superior for about ½ mile before turning around. The Lakewalk continues along the lake for another 4 miles! We came back to the park and continued walking around the shops. There were lots of antique shops, specialty shops and restaurants where you could eat inside or out; we even found ”Hell’s Kitchen” restaurant. There are horse drawn carriages that you can rent for a ride around the city or you could rent bikes or peddle cars to ride on along Lakewalk.

Harbor Cruise

The cruise goes through the Aerial Lift Bridge and along the shoreline of Lake Superior pointing out landmarks like the Lake Walk, the Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, an old pier that now floats off shore, various churches, restaurants and a little history of the area. We came back through the Aerial Lift Bridge and went further into the harbor looking at the docks, and commercial refineries along the shoreline. The Aerial Lift Bridge, Duluth’s famous landmark, spans the entrance to the harbor between the mainland and a thin very long island and when a ship approaches, the middle of the bridge rises four stories to the top then lowers again after the ship passes through it. The bridge was originally built in 1905 and upgraded in 1929. Its center span weighs 1,000 tons and is raised and lowered with concrete counterweights at 500 tons each. The cables that lift the bridge are 1-7/8” thick and are so heavy they need to be counterbalanced along with the center span. It takes two minutes to rise and two minutes to lower again. This is done over 30 times a day and an average of 5.500 a shipping season. Inside the harbor we got a closer look at the docks and commercial businesses along the shore. There were two large ships in the harbor that we passed that were being filled with grain. We also saw the original two piers, built in 1918, that are the largest and longest piers known to exist for commercial ships. I didn’t realize until I downloaded my pictures from the Depot that I had taken a picture of a picture of the two piers shortly after they were finished. One pier was closed down in 1949 and only the other one is still used today. We also saw four ”G” Tug boats at a pier; they said they are not used much anymore but are kept in working order if they are needed for assisting some of the large ore carriers. The cruise lasted 1-1/2 hours. Oh, as we were waiting in line to board the cruise, we struck up a conversation with the couple in front of us and they ended up sitting next to us on the cruise; turned out that they were from California traveling for the summer in their motor home and were staying right next to us at the campground! What are the odds of that happening?

Tom's Logging Camp

The camp is an authentic duplicate of a typical Northern Minnesota Logging Camp and has several buildings with original tools and equipment used at that time. There are pictures in every building that show how men and horses fought the bitter cold and snow to harvest the forests of Northern Minnesota. It is a self-guided tour through dense woods from one building to another with a little map they give you.

Two Harbors

We drove up to the town of Two Harbors, the county Seat for the North Shore Highlands. We drove through downtown to the waterfront and walked around. The downtown is not even marked by any signs and it is small with only a few buildings. There is a small museum and two trains sitting outside; one being the last of the large locomotive built in 1943 at a weight of 569 tons. We could also see three large docks where they load ore into giant ships. We then drove up to the Lighthouse Point where we walked out on the concrete dock out into Lake Superior where we could see that there was one of the giant ore ships being loaded at one the three docks. We walked along a nature trail about a ¼ mile along the lake around the lighthouse. In front of the lighthouse there is a large building that looks like the pilot house of a ship where you can rent a room.

Train Museum

We spent some time at The Depot. The Depot was built in 1892 as the Duluth Union Depot Train Station but closed in 1969 as a train depot and became the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center. It now houses four museums and several arts organizations. We headed down to the basement to see the Train Museum. There are original tracks and bricks of the Union Depot and several original trains you can walk through including two snow plow trains and two really excellent models. An electric streetcar was just coming into the depot. The guy said they had to go back out again to close the gate and asked if we wanted to take a ride. We got on and the guy grabbed a long rope on one end and walked it around to the other end; this was the connector to the electric wires above the streetcar, they said the connection always had to be trailing, not pulling the car. The lights went out as he disconnected from the wires and on again when he reconnected to the wires. We rode two blocks, the guy moved the connection back to the other side and we rode back to the depot. This streetcar was built in 1925 and was typical of those operated in Duluth at the turn of the Century. The next level up is the Children’s Museum and above that is the main entrance and the Great Hall of the Depot where it rises four stories high into a dome. We next walked into the St. Louis County Historical Society where there is a display of Duluth’s history, a woman’s hat display and a display of wood furniture hand carved by one man who had lots of wood and plenty of time on his hands. The wood pieces were exquisite and unlike anything we’ve ever seen. The top floor was an art gallery.

MN - Fort Belmont

MN - Minneapolis Zoo

MN - Duluth

SD - Sioux Falls

WI - Copper Falls

Wisconsin - June 2007

Copper Falls, Mellen & Saxon, WI Pictures

Mellen, WI - June 26, 2007

We took a nice peaceful ride through dense forest down CR-169 to the Copper Falls State Park in Mellen, WI. It is a large State Park with over two miles of the Bad River running through it. We drove in nearly two miles to a parking area. From here you walk a 1.7 mile trail that goes over three bridges winding around the Bad River as it goes over three falls. The falls were created when lava from fishers in what is now Lake Superior, flowed downward melting rock and rearranging others creating gorges and new layer upon layer of lava rock as it cooled. The first fall is the Copper Falls that flows over large jagged lava rocks, next we walked passed a structure where the river is squeezed between large lava rocks called Devil’s gate. We walked over a bridge to the Brownstone Falls. These are the highest of the three falls and very pretty. The trail continues around to Tyler Forks Cascades, a long gradual stepping falls of the Tyler Forks River as it flows into Bad River. We then crossed another bridge over Tyler Forks River and back to the parking lot. It was a very pleasant walk only hearing the roar of the falls and birds. There were several pairs of steep steps up and down as you follow the rivers flow but it was worth it. We drove through two small towns of Mellen and Saxon. Both towns were really small towns and we walked around taking pictures but I felt like something was on my legs and when Jack looked, they were covered by black flies; so much for walking around. Saxon must be one of the oldest towns we seen yet with a bar, an abanded old hotel, small store, liquid store and a few houses.

Michigan - June 2007

Ontonagon, MI

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park & Lake of the Clouds

All Pictures (State Park, Lake of the Clouds)

Ontonagon, MI - June 25, 2007

When I came out of the office from registering at the campground, Jack was petting a cute grey bunny. The campground has two resident bunny rabbits and a few younger rabbits running around. They told us they like apples and cookies; we had both so after we set up we came back and fed them. They are soooo soft!

Lake of the Clouds

From the parking lot, we walked up a hill and over large smooth rocks to the scenic overlook of the Lake of the Clouds. Another couple there spotted a Bald Eagle on the shoreline through the spy glass mounted on the rocks. There was a rock wall around the observation area so you wouldn’t fall off. The Lake of the Clouds is a large very pretty lake nestled in the trees and from here looked to be about a mile down the mountain. There was also a wood pathway through the woods to an observation deck that was real nice.

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

The Summit Peak Scenic Area of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is the highest point in the park with a panoramic view of the entire area. We parked and had to walk ½ mile through the woods and up the mountain to Summit Peak. The entire trail was up with lots of wood steps. We left Summit Peak and continued west. Along the way there was a road turnoff to Overlooked Falls. We walked only 100 feet from the parking lot to the falls. The falls were small flowing over rocks for about 20 feet. Continuing west to the end of the park is Presque Isle River Area. From the parking lot we walked probably a ¼ mile up and down wooden trails and steps to the Maido Falls; a pretty multi-level falls but only dropping a few feet. Walking further along the wood walkways and steps we came to the Manabezho Falls; another pretty wider falls dropping a few feet down each level. The road continues only a few feet to a campground and the shoreline of Lake Superior.

Houghton, MI All Pictures (Houghton, Hockey Arena, Our Campground, Copper Harbor, Aerial Lift Bridge, Fort Wilkins

June 28, 2007

We drove into the town of Houghton. There were the usual shops along the street like other towns but the waterfront has a nice wooden walkway along the lake. By the time we got back the temperature had dropped and expected to be 47 degrees tonight, Brrrrrr!

Old Houghton Hockey Arena

We took a ride along Lakeshore Drive and stopped at the old hockey arena to look at all the pictures inside. You can visit for free. The hockey building was the largest structure of it’s time when built and is where hockey got its start. The pictures inside are of the history of hockey, the teams that played there and thousands of other pictures of the surrounding towns’ histories.

Our Campground

Our campground was right on the river with a great view of the Aerial Lift Bridge. Really nice place.

Copper Harbor

We took a ride out the Keweenaw Peninsula to Copper Harbor. For 10-miles we rode on stones hitting the frame of the car. Boy, were we glad when we got to Copper Harbor. The town is only ten streets long by two blocks with a few rock and mineral shops, antique and gift shops and a couple of restaurants spread out among the streets. We really thought there would be a boardwalk with lots of shops but that was not the case. We followed the road along the shoreline of Lake Superior to the very end at the tip of the peninsula. There you have to turn around and go back into Copper Harbor.

Eagle Harbor Lighthouse

Aerial Lift Bridge

We also found out that the Aerial Lift Bridge here is actually called Michigan’s Elevator Bridge because it has two levels; the top is a road to accommodate cars and the bottom level is a road with train tracks. In normal operating position, the cars drive on the road with train tracks leaving a 30 foot height for small boats to go under without stopping traffic. However, when a large ship approaches, the traffic is stopped and the bridge rises up to allow the ship to go through. When a train approaches, the bridge stops traffic to lower the bottom level down just 5 feet above the water for the train to go across the bridge. The traffic resumes going over the upper level at the same time. It is the only known bridge of its kind. Today, the train tracks have since been removed and only the metal braces to the bridge remain.

Fort Wilkins State Park Historical Site

The fort was once an active U.S. Army post built to keep the peace in Michigan's Copper Country. Built in 1844 on the peninsula on the shore of Lake Fanny Hooe, it was the first commercial copper mine shafts on Keweenaw Point. There are 21 historic buildings that have been restored to original condition. The fort was only used for two years and became a State Park in 1923. All buildings contain furniture, supplies, clothing and weapons depicting life at the fort.

Marquette, MI - 4th of July Parade All Pictures (4th of July Parade, Picture Rocks Cruise)

Ellwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park - July 4, 2007

Marquette is a large village as the Yoobees call it. Yoobees are residents of the Upper Peninsula and they call residents of the Lower Peninsula ”Moles”. It is a city but with that home town feel. Some buildings are old and others are new. We went downtown to the Ellwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park to check out the International Food Fest. There were tents for the local restaurants but you had to buy tokens then go back and pay tokens for the food. We walked around the sidewalk in front of the park where there were a hundred or more wooden doors all decorated with cut-outs pictures of Marquette’s passed residents. They had the pictures dressed in costumes and other pictures or cut-out for things that they did during their lives. We sat on a picnic bench to wait for the parade. The parade lasted about 45 minutes and had all the local high school teams, local firefighters, ambulance, Navy, Marines, and local businesses and lots of kids.

Picture Rocks Boat Cruise

Munising, MI - July 7, 2007

We went out on the Grand Island boat cruise of the harbor. We left the pier and headed out through the Munising Harbor. Munising Harbor is a naturally protected harbor because of the large 37 mile Grand Island that sits at the mouth of the harbor. It took us a half hour to get to the beginning of the Picture Rocks area. We came upon a large white outcrop of spiral rocks known as Miners’ Castle. There were two overlooks on the rocks with lots of people on them. We saw large cliffs with various colors caused by the leaching of minerals through the rocks; colors of orange, white and several shades of black and grey and if you looked with an open mind, you could see pictures of things like the New York Skyline, an old western town, mountains, faces and animals. Personally, I thought the water was even more striking than the rocks; it turned from a grey-blue to the most beautiful emerald green and it is so clear you could see the bottom in 30/40 feet of water. We then passed rocks with deep caves, beautiful colors and a place called Lovers Leap, a large outcropping with an archway through it. A large outcropping called Indian Head, really did look like an Indian head without the headdress. Around the bend, we saw a group of rocks side by side sticking out into the water called Battleship Row and it really looked like ships moored side by side. Another outcrop, The Flower Vase, was a large round upright rock formation that was hourglass shaped with lots of trees on top. A set of four large round drum shaped rocks connected together was called Indian Drum. Than there was Chapel Rock that was a tall really strange looking rock formation that I guess could look like a palpate. The boat even pulled into a large cave; the pilot said he could do it because the Lake was so calm. There were a lot of small boats and kayaks on the lake. The Picture Rocks go for 15 miles up the coast and we covered 13 miles of them on the tour in about 3 hours. On the way back they threw bread out for the seagulls so we had what looked like a hundred or more following us for about 20 minutes. We passed the Grand Island Lighthouse now closed fashioned after a schoolhouse and the last of the kerosene light lighthouses.

Sault Ste. Marie, MI All Pictures (Sault Ste. Marie, Soo Locks Boat Tour, Antlers Restaurant)

Soo Locks

July 9, 2007

The campground is about 2.5 miles south of the Soo Locks right on the canal. We can’t see the locks however we saw large freighters come up the canal toward the locks and each blow their horns.

We met a guy, Dennis, sitting listening to a radio tuned to the shipping channel and he could hear the captains of the freighters and officers at the Locks when they went through; he even had a book with all the states for each ship. While we were talking to him the guy in back of us came over. Dennis said he was a real talker and pushes the fact that he was a Mohawk Indian in the service. Turns out he is a Mohawk Indian and boy does he bash other Indians with his very opinionated and political attitude. He took over the entire conversation! Telling us all about the politics behind the Indian nations and that he is not a citizen of the USA or Canada. He carries a card saying that he is a Citizen of Indian Birth. What a guy.

The Tower of History. This very tall slender building is just down the street next to the Catholic Church. Inside are pictures of the construction and history of the Tower and artifacts of the Indian’s that lived in the area. After looking at the artifacts and a short film on the Soo Locks, I took the elevator to the observation decks. There are three such decks that are open where you can walk out and see the entire Sault Ste. Marie area. The Tower was originally built by the Catholic Church to honor the crucifixion of Christ and was to have two other towers but the cost caused the church to go into bankruptcy. The Bishop managed to raise enough money to put the church back in the black but not to continue construction, so they turned it over to an individual of the Historical Society who finished the one tower and used it as a tribute to Sault Ste. Marie.

Soo Locks Tour

We left the dock and headed into the Soo Locks. We passed a brick building that was ¼ mile long; it was the Power Plant for the Locks. As we entered the locks, two large freighters were leaving another one alongside of us. We pulled up to within 100 feet of the second set of lock gates and tied up. The lock gates in back of us slowly closed sealing us in between the two lock gates. Once the gates were securely closed the water started to rise. The water flows in from the bottom of the lock simply by opening or closing the emptying and filling valves and allowing the water to seek its own level which raises the ship some 21 feet to the level of the St. Marys River leading into Lake Superior. Once the lock is level with the river, the gates slowly open allowing us to continue our tour. This was an experience for us. To be on a boat and see and feel it raise up 21 feet was pretty neat. Just beyond the locks is the International Bridge and Railroad Bridge that spans the canal for a total of five miles going into Canada. After we saw the power plants on both the US side and Canadian side and the pilot pointing out the coal and ore plants along the shoreline and a few other sites, we turned around and headed back this time going through the Canadian Lock. The Canadian Lock is much smaller and has only one lock but the process is the same. We entered the lock and once inside, tied up to the pier. The lock gates in back of us slowly closed sealing us inside the lock. After the gates were secure, the water started to lower until we were 21 feet lower than when we started. Once we were level with the St. Marys River, the lock gates in front of us opened allowing us to continue. Wow, this was pretty neat! These Locks were built to avoid the portage necessary to go around the St. Marys Falls that existed between Lake Superior and Lake Huron on the St. Marys River. There are actually four locks, The MacArthur Lock at 800 feet long by 80 feet wide, Davis Lock at 1,350 feet long by 80 feet wide, and Sabin Lock, now closed, at 1350 feet long by 80 feet wide and the Poe Lock being the newest at 1200 feet long by 110 feet wide. The entire process from when we entered the lock to the time we left took about 20 minutes and it rained twice while we were on the tour which had everyone running for cover. We really enjoyed the experience.

Antler's Restaurant

The Antler’s Family Restaurant & Gift Shop is a small restaurant that used to be called the ”Bucket-of-Blood Saloon and Ice Cream Parlor” and run as a ”front” during the days of prohibition, It was closed when the Internal Revenue Service agents discovered that it sold only one quart of ice cream a month but had a profit of $900. Today it serves steaks, seafood and pasta but the interesting, unusual thing about the place is that it’s full of over 300 mounted animals and every so often there are bells, whistles and horns that go off when they find out you came a long distance. A really interesting place and the food was good too.

St. Ignace, MI Pictures

July 16, 2007

We drove to downtown St. Ignace and walked around. We walked along the lake out to a lighthouse. What a beautiful area. The lake is such a beautiful deep blue color and so very clear. From here you look across the lake to Mackinac Island and we watched the boats leaving the docks to the island. One such ferry, the Star Lines, has a Hydro Jet boat that left the dock followed by a rooster tail. The town, or at least the downtown area, has some nice shops and various restaurants on one side of the road and the ports, parks, parking lots and marinas on the other.

Mackinaw City, MI All Pictures (Mackinaw City, Muskegon, St. Joseph Painted Cars)

This place is interesting. There are several marinas along Lake Huron, what seems to be 60 hotels or motels and lots and lots of shops. Everything was clean and looked to be fairly new. We almost felt we were in one of those factory outlets where the stores just keep going and going. We walked up and down the main street and all around the shops.

Muskegon, MI

We drove around Muskegon Lake, what we could see of it, and stopped at one point and were able to look across the inlet to the two boats that are museums, the Coast Guard Cutter where you can even spend the night and the SS-236 USS Silversides Submarine, one of the most highly-decorated Gato-class submarines of World War II.

St. Joseph, MI - Painted Cars

Another small town with an exhibit of painted cars on the streets. Cute!

Mackinac Island, MI Pictures

July 18, 2007

We left this morning in the fog and headed downtown to the Arnold Mackinac Island Ferry to Mackinac Island. Arnold’s is a catamaran and takes 15 minutes. As we got off the ferry, there are guys waiting at the docks, calling out hotel names ready to take you to your hotel by horse drawn carriage. Mackinac Island does not permit any kind of motorized vehicles on the island so everyone has several options to tour the island; rent a private horse drawn carriage ($80 per person for a tour, about 2-1/2 hours), take a tour on a packed horse drawn wagon ($23 per person for 2-1/2 hours), rent a horse drawn wagon you handle yourself, rent a horse and ride around (we didn’t ask), rent a bike ($5 for half hour), or walk. You can also call for a taxi, a horse drawn taxi that is. As you walk down the street all you see are bikes lining the street, horse drawn wagons carrying everything from people to supplies and lots of people walking. You don’t have to worry about getting hit by a car crossing the streets, just watch out for bikes and horses. We walked along Main Street to the Seabiscuit Café and had lunch. The Seabiscuit Café is decorated with pictures and news clippings of race horses and we had a window seat to watch all the people, bikes and horses going by. It’s not cheap over here; guess they have to pay for all the transport to the island. We walked down one side of Main Street to the Library and continued on the boardwalk and climbed the hill to the Grand Hotel. Grand Hotel is a really grand, large white wide building with beautiful gardens. They stopped us from going too far so we couldn’t go inside or even on the porch. The Grand Hotel is also where they filmed the movie, Somewhere in Time. The place is beautiful with a large round garden shop, a Jockey Club that’s an outdoor café and a golf course. Several carriages came by and the carriage from the hotel was highly polished dark walnut coach with a costumed driver. We continued our walk up and down Market Street to Mackinac Fort. You had to walk up a pretty high hill to get there, there was a charge to go in but we really didn’t care to see the fort. We sat and watched people for a while then walked back down to Main Street and up to Mission Point. Then we walked back down Main Street again looking in all the shops. Both streets are just cram-packed with fudge shops, cafes, restaurants, ice cream parlors, hotels and really pretty Bed & Breakfasts. All of the Bed & Breakfasts, hotels and homes have beautiful flower gardens. We stopped at the Lilac Tree Hotel &Spa right on Main Street that was very pretty and balconies facing the street. They charge anywhere from $130 to $350 a night! Of course the cheapest is in May and October.

Dearborn, MI

Henry Ford Museum All Pictures (Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village)

August 2, 2007

The Henry Ford Museum is huge with planes, trains and automobiles, literally! Henry Ford collected all these artifacts to create a museum as a tribute to American innovation and the people who contributed to it. We walked into a huge room with a race track, streetcar restaurant, specialty cars, a DC-3 airplane and that was only one side. We passed the 1961 Lincoln limo Kennedy was shot in, the 1950 Lincoln Bubble Car used by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the 1902 Presidential Brougham, the last horse-drawn carriage used by Theodore Roosevelt. Along the wall in one small room was silver and pewter made pitchers, plates, cups, etc., in another small room was all kinds of old clocks, mostly floor and table models of beautiful wood, and in another was all jewelry. There is an area with trains one being the Allegheny, the one of the largest steam locomotives ever built and all kinds of carriages and fire engines. Then we came upon the concept cars; the Mustang, the XR400 a mustang from Rambler, some kind of wagon that had six windshield wipers, the Old 16 America’s first International Champion, the X-100 that had over fifty new innovations including an electric shaver, the 1956 Firebird II concept car, a car built by Sears, and the Detroit Electric car. They even had early camper trailers. We then walked along a path looking like a street following the 100 Years of the Automobile in American Life. It went from the bicycle to carriages to model T’s up to models of today. There are displays of motorcycles, bikes; and a drive in movie you can sit and watch. We walked through an old 50’s streetcar diner then into the airplane area. They had Ford built planes, a 1931 Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogiro that was a plane with helicopter rooters on top, the Kitty Hawk biplane built by the Wright Brothers and the DC-3. We even stopped and had a hot dog at the Wiener mobile Café, yep, the Wiener mobile is also here and the hot dogs are still the best.

On the other side there was an exhibit of Cars and Guitars where you walk through and see the cars or guitars of famous musicians. They had the Beach Boys Deuce Coupe, Elton Johns Delahaye, Madonna’s Lincoln, Elvis Presley’s Pentaira, and John Lennon’s Rolls Royce Phantom V. Outside was a glass display of unusual guitars like Hammer’s five neck guitar, Gene Simmons’ Axe guitar, ZZ Top’s car shaped guitars, Hammer Sax shaped guitar, and several others. There are displays of home furnishings including the rocking chair President Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated, all kinds of furniture, all kinds of lanterns and ceiling fixtures, wood stoves, doll houses, farm machinery and the Rosa Parks Bus the Montgomery City bus she boarded and refused to sit in the back of. There is an area you walk through that takes you from the early 1800’s to present day through history in pictures and news articles and even a round house called the Dymaxion House, that was made of aluminum and glass in an effort to make a mass-produced and affordable house but it never took hold. We managed to see everything and made it out fifteen minutes before they closed the doors; and we didn’t read all the display signs. What a place! If anyone ever gets to come this way, be sure to stop here. It is a really neat place and very well done.

Greenfield Village

Dearborn, MI - August 4, 2007

Greenfield Village is a 90 acre complex that Henry Ford sought to recreate the world that inspired him to greatness. It’s like stepping back into the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. First things being first, we found a place to eat lunch, the State Street Lunch Stand, and had a hot dog and burger. There are at least ten places to eat in the Village, from Tea at the Cotswold Garden, a full meal at A Taste of History Restaurant to beer and ice cream from the lunch wagon. We were going to take the steam powered train that goes around the 90 acres but it was an extra charge of $4 each; in fact, all the vehicles of transportation costs extra, so we decided to walk. There are four vehicles you can ride on; an Omnibus Shuttle that’s a horse-drawn wagon, a tour bus, the Weiser Railroad Train and a Model T ride. We took the Model T ride just for the experience; felt neat! To see all the buildings you really have to walk. Only the train and bus stop at a few spots but the horse-drawn wagon and Model T ride does not stop anywhere. As you enter the Village there is a large steam engine train that goes around the village. To the left are working farms where people dressed in period costumes till the soil and demonstrate what life was like on a farm in the early 17th to 19th centuries. The rest of the Village consists of a dozen streets lined with businesses and homes keeping with the authenticity of the periods. We walked through the Ford Motor Company, a village candy store that is also the village clock, the Henry Ford Theater, a School, a General Store, a Tavern, the County Courthouse, Town Hall, Post Office, a Carrousel, a Jewelry Store, a Millinery Shop, a Cycle Shop and an area dedicated to Thomas Edison. Here we walked through two replicas of Edison’s Laboratory and office. There was also the Martha-Mary Chapel Henry Ford had built to pay tribute to his mother and mother-in-law facing a beautiful garden and the Village Green. Near the back of the Village is a covered bridge and what is thought to be the oldest windmill in the United States. There were homes of Thomas Edison, Noah Webster, Robert Frost, and ten or so more. They even had George Washington Carver’s Cabin. Beyond this were a lake and a steamboat, a large field where they play vintage baseball and the Henry Ford Academy. Then we walked through an area called Liberty Craftworks with a Gristmill, Weaving Shop, Pottery Shop, Sawmill, a Printing Office, a Tin Shop, a Glass Shop, Beer Hall, Machine Shop, Silk Mill, a Carding Mill (this one I didn’t know), carding is the process where they comb the knots out of wood for weaving, and a store. For a price you can even learn to make or help make candles, a glass flower or weave a basket. At the railroad junction you can even try your hand at turning the 40-ton turntable. Throughout the Village there are costumed people, storytelling, outdoor plays and music. What a great place to forget about all the troubles of today.

Yankee Air Museum Pictures

Dearborn, MI - August 4, 2007

We took a ride up the street to a small museum called the Yankee Air Museum. It is at the Airport and when we got there we found out this really wasn’t the museum but just a holding hanger until another building could be built. The museum burned down losing eight planes. A guy there invited us to come in. Inside was the surviving Yankee Lady, B-17, outside was a B-25 and the B-24 Avenger, one of only six still flying in the world. He also gave us two books on planes that were housed in the museum. Neat looking planes.

Ohio - 2007

Geneva on the Lake, OH Pictures

& Campground Car Show

Geneva on the Lake, OH - August 7, 2007

The town is basically along Lakeside Rd. with the bulk being fast food places, arcades, pizza places and souvenir shops and reminded us very much like Sea Isle City. We didn’t see any beach per say but mostly rocky shores. We rode further up Lakeside Rd. but most of the area is taken up by houses, motels or commercial construction. The campground is huge; it keeps going and going with a nice lake in the middle. One day we looked out our window and saw a couple of guys walking over to the empty site next to us and were cleaning fish! Jack said something to them, thinking they were going to dump the unused stuff into the stream or something and they said, Oh no, we’re just scrapping them off. Well I watched and they did clean them off and filleted them throwing all the left-over stuff in a large bucket and took it to the dump. They did spray everything down with water. We later sat on that side and couldn’t smell anything so they cleaned up pretty good. we walked down to the pavilion by the lake here at the campground where they were hosting the 7th Annual Classic Car Cruise. There were only 14 cars and two of them were dragsters.

New York - 2007

Tiffany Stained Glass Windows All Pictures (Tiffany glass window, Erie Canal, Niagara Falls)

Lockport, NY - August 17, 2007

We headed out to Lockport to see the Erie Canal. We first stopped at the Information Center where they have a small museum on the history of the Erie Locks. The guy in the center told us about the tour of the stained glass windows in the Presbyterian Church across the street. I headed over there while Jack went through the museum. The stained glass windows are Tiffany glass made by Louis Comfort Tiffany. They hand you a ”wand” with buttons on it and a piece of paper with the numbers that correspond to each window then lead you into the church. The windows reach from the floor to the ceiling around the room. Each window has winged angels at the top and pictures depicting the life of Jesus on the bottom. The only problem is the church built a balcony around the room that cuts the windows in half, so it now looks like there are ten angels guarding the church. The guide leaves and you then press each corresponding number on the ”wand” to the number on each window and listen to the story. There are ten windows, nine which were done by Louis Comfort Tiffany and one after his death by the Tiffany company. Each window is spectacular with outstanding colors. One window showed ”Nicodemus Came to Him by Night” where the lamp Nicodemus holds looks like it is lit. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures.

Erie Canal

Lockport, NY - August 17, 2007

The Erie Locks is part of the 524-mile New York Canal System connecting the Great Lakes with the Hudson River. The Erie Canal was an engineering marvel of its day. It was dug by hand and without the aid of any professional engineer. The Canal cut through 363 miles of wilderness, had 18 aqueducts and 83 locks with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. After seven years of construction, it was opened in 1825 and started the first great westward migration of American settlers. Lockport is the location of the famous ”Flight of Five” double locks that allows boats to travel up in one set while other boats traveled down in the other. There were actually five ”steps” the boats had to go through. The locks have been enlarged and reconstructed and today two locks, #34 & #35 still allow boats to be raised and lowered 49 feet to continue down the canal. The walkways run alongside the canal and one called Riley’s Way has 14 sign posts describing the history and interesting facts of the locks. They have a small museum that had all kinds of pictures and artifacts since the canal’s construction. We even saw a boat go through the canal. Really interesting.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, NY - August 17, 2007

We walked along the Niagara River to the American Falls, around the tower and out to Prospect Point. It was so crowded it was tough to find a spot to take a picture. We couldn’t believe the number of people waiting for the Maid of the Mist boat tour on both the US side and Canadian side. We walked up toward the Crown Center where there was a ”Taste of India” buffet going on. There were also vendors along the street. We’ve never seen so many Indian people; they are all over the place and almost out number the Chinese! We were glad we did all our sightseeing here last year.

Sonnenberg Mansion & Gardens Pictures

Canandaigua, NY - August 17, 2007

This was the summer home of Frederick Ferris and Mary Clark Thompson. Frederick Thompson was the founder and lifelong director of the First National Bank of New York, now known as Citibank. Sonnenberg was a brick farmhouse and twenty acres when the Thompson’s purchased it in 1863. They purchased additional property and replaced the farmhouse with the 40-room Queen Anne style mansion built in 1885. We took the tram to the house and the driver told us that after the death of Mr. Thompson, his wife lived in the mansion until her death in 1923. As they didn’t have any children of their own, she left the estate to her nephew who seven years later sold Sonnenberg to the Federal Government who built the Canandaigua VA Hospital and the mansion was converted to nurses’ housing. In 1973 a non-profit organization obtained title to the 52 acres and the mansion and opened it to the public. Today it is maintained by 350 volunteers and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The house has a nice open interior with rich woodwork and a little old lady that has given tours there for the last 20 years. Only a few pieces of original furniture remain and the rest is on loan from local museums. We saw the Great Room with its floor to ceiling windows, large fire place and animal rugs; a beautiful dining room; a sitting room and a library downstairs and a few bedrooms upstairs. Out back of the house is a very pretty restored Italian Garden. Besides the formal Italian Gardens there is a Japanese Gardens, a Rose Garden that wasn’t in bloom at all, a Blue & White Garden with white lilies, small palms and ferns among blue Clematis. There is also a Pansy Garden, Mrs. Thompson’s favorite flower, a Moonlight Garden that needed a lot of work and an old fashioned garden with that was all green. On the way to the mansion, the guide rode us passed the Peacock House where Mr. Thompson used to keep 216 species of birds and the Carriage House with a few carriages used by Mr. Thompson and the ice house. We also went passed a Rock Garden with small water ponds. The East Grove and South Lawn is full of all different kinds of trees that were planted by visiting guests of Mary Thompson and a reflecting pond.

Sackets Harbor, NY Pictures

August 24. 2007

It started out overcast but cleared up and the sun came out so we drove into Sackets Harbor. Sackets Harbor is famous for their involvement in the war of 1812, actually 1815 when the British tried to take Sackets Harbor and were beaten off by the Americans from this spot known as Fort Tompkin. We walked around the battlefield that was basically a grass field and two homes that were used as military headquarters. There is a pretty Marina and the town, one road that runs about four blocks, is very pretty with plants and flowers along the sidewalks. It is a quaint town and has some very nice homes.

Vermont - August 2007

Burlington, VT Pictures

September 2, 2007

Burlington, Vermont is Vermont’s largest city and a very nice town. There is a real mix of old and new architecture. The highest building is only three stories high so it gives you that home town feeling. We parked down at the waterfront and walked along the shoreline and Marina. What a pretty place. There is the marina with hundreds of sailboats, the lake beyond and the mountains behind. We walked down to the restaurant over the water where you can sit on the deck, enjoy lunch or dinner and watch the sunset. We sat on a bench for a while just enjoying the surroundings and watching all the people. Church Street is a pedestrian only street that runs about five blocks long in the heart of downtown. There are all kinds of shops, cafes and restaurants that have tables set up out on the street. There were thousands of people walking around and one old guy playing his one-man band. We sat on a bench for a little while just watching all the people. This is a pretty neat place.

We didn't do much sightseeing going home. We spent time visiting family and friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and not until we got into Virginia did we stop to sightsee.

Virginia - October 2007

Eavers Classic Cars & Collectibles Museum All Pictures (Eavers Classic Cars Museum, Virginia City)

Stuarts Draft, VA - October 16, 2007

This museum was advertised on I-81 as we were driving so we just had to check it out. There is a gas station and a convenience store but no visible entrance to the museum. We went around the corner to the Antique Mall and asked them about the car museum and they said you had to go through the convenience store to get to it so we did. After paying our admission fee, and for all the advertising we saw, the museum wasn’t that big. They had about two dozen cars that were really nice and a few unusual ones like the Stricker race car, Socks & Martin race car and the last car Elvis owned, so they say. The other side of the museum was a ”turn of the century” country store with all the old time products, old cash registers, post office and medicines inside.

Virginia City, VA

October 20, 2007

It was a beautiful day with a high temperature of 76 degrees in the sun so we took a ride to the Virginia City Gem Mine & Museum. This is an old ”museum” town that has 20 preserved, restored and recreated 1880’s period buildings. We pulled into the parking lot in front of a gem store where you can buy gems or go outside and ”pan” for gems or fossils in their 120 feet of panning runs. The town is free to go through but you have to pay to pan for gems. There is a General Store that has gifts you can buy, the Town Hall and Opry Stage that you can walk into. The other buildings you can’t go into, except for the jail. There was a Grist Mill, a Saw Mill, grave yard, Millinery and a Hotel. I got a really neat picture of Jack in Jail looking out one window and a Halloween Ghoul looking out the other. In the summer months the town has shootouts, shows, and bluegrass and mountain music. Of course we came when nothing was going on but they were getting ready for their Halloween Haunted Nights the last weekend in October. Along the way we saw a pretty view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Florida - November 2007

St. Augustine, FL

Car Show Pictures

November 3, 2007

Our last stop was at a campground in St. Augustine, FL. We heard there was a car show at the St. Johns County Fairgrounds so naturally we went. The St. Augustine Cruisers Car Club was having their 6th Annual Car & Truck Show. There were lots of car and trucks and some were really nice. They had a lot of corvettes, mustangs and PT Cruisers with a number of other cars thrown in. It was a perfect day for a car show too. The temperature was 75 degrees, there was a light breeze and it was sunny.

Back Home now

Well another summer has gone by. We did alot this year and had a lot of fun but it's good to be back home.

MI - Lake in the Clouds

MI - Yankee Air Museum

NY - Tiffany Glass/Erie Canal

NY - Sackets Harbor

VA - Eavers Classic Cars

MI - Houghton

MI - Marquette

MI - Sault Ste. Marie

MI - St. Ignace

MI - Mackinaw City

MI - Mackinac Island

MI - Dearborn

OH - Geeneva on th Lake

NY - Sonnenberg Mansion

VT - Burlington

FL - St. Augustine