Dad has a nook, I read a paper book, 7/15/2011

July 24, 2011-Upper Marlboro, MD

Some observations about the Mississippi trip before I forget:

• Earlier, I mentioned that we were stuck in the airport in Kansas City for so long that electronic devices were running out of battery power. I remarked to Michael that someone should invent charging stations for airports. Lo and behold, when we got to the Minneapolis airport a little later, there they were! Amazing! Someone who must have been able to read my mind invented and installed these things while we were in the air. Is this a great country, or what?!
• Interstates are great for long distance travel, but the local highways we took on this trip give you a real picture of small-town America. It's interesting but also kind of sad. Many of these towns failed in the late 1800s. They still operate, but they're not thriving. And with low-paying jobs and low property values, many of the residents can't afford to move.
• I enjoyed being alone with Michael on this trip, and I think he enjoyed our time together as well. I'd never before been alone with Michael--or with Donna, for that matter--for more than an hour or so. It was a nice experience which I really will treasure.

Everything in town is named after Mark Twain, 7/23/2011

July 21, 2011--St. Louis, MO

It turned out that Hannibal was almost as empty during the day as it is at night. We went to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, and there were no more than about 20 other people there. Not the crowds we expected. This area contained an interpretive center, as well as Twain's boyhood home and the homes of the real people who were the models for Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher.


The museum is a National Historic Landmark, 7/24/2011

These exhibits were more interesting than we expected, primarily because almost all of the descriptions were from Twain's own writing. If you haven't read him in a long time it's good to remember that his fame as a writer is well-deserved.


Front and back of monument on Lover's Leap (click to enlarge), 7/24/2011

After that we started to stroll through town again, but it was just too hot, so we took a short drive to Lovers Leap. It seems like every town with an appropriate spot has a lovers leap, and the back story always seems to involve a Romeo-and-Juliet-like story but with indians: her dad won't let her marry him, so instead of just hopping in a canoe and paddling down the river, they both jump to their deaths. What's up with that?


The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch), 7/24/2011

We're now in St. Louis for the night. We had dinner in the middle of town near Washington University and Forest Park and then drove down to the Arch. We visited the Arch some years ago when I drove Michael back from Colorado State, so we just walked around outside. Still hot.

Tomorrow: home.

Toolesboro Indian Burial Mounds, 7/23/2100

July 20, 2011--Hannibal, Missouri

Have I mentioned how hot it is?

We left Dubuque this morning on the way to Wapelo, IA, so Michael could visit the Toolesboro Indian Burial Mounds, a must for anyone who wants to see two small grassy humps. Certain indian tribes buried their dead in these mounds during the period 100BC - 200AD. There used to be lots of them throughout the eastern part of the country, but most were plowed under when the land was cleared for farming. When we got to the visitors building it was closed, and we thought we had driven a long way for nothing, but the young lady manning the building arrived a short time later, so we were able to see the small museum on the site. As it turned out, even with the building open we did travel a long way for nothing. Oh well. We did think it was interesting that even though we were the only visitors and were clearly not from the area, the young lady (who had nothing to do but read her magazine) didn't even ask us where we were from.


A sad, and troubling sign, 7/23/2011

As we continued our drive along the river in Iowa we began to see evidence of the terrible flooding that took place during the spring: stunted crops, driftwood on peoples' lawns, washed out bridges requiring looong detours, etc. We passed through a number of poor, dying towns, including a town called Sabula (Iowa's only island city), in which there was a large, angry hand-printed sign apparently blaming the town's troubles on the presence of a sex offender released from prison who was living there. A sad, and troubling, sign.


A magical picture, 7/23/2011

We arrived in Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood home, around 6PM, so everything was closed for the day. We figured the crowds would arrive the next day to visit the tourist sites, so we took a walk around the deserted town. Had dinner at a restaurant in which we were the only diners. Then went down to the riverfront to watch the paddle boat return from its dinner cruise. Lots of elderly ladies dressed in pastel slacks and tops, a far cry from Serry, who only wears New York black, regardless of the weather. (Did I mention how hot it is?) While we were by the river Michael put the camera on timer and took our picture. A guy getting out of his car said he had never seen such a thing!


To Donna?, 7/23/2011

Then Michael forced me to climb about 300 steps, in 95 degree heat, to a lighthouse in the town. I know he's trying to kill me so he can inherit what fortune I may have. He still doesn't realize that we're leaving everything to Donna.

July 19, 2011--Dubuque, Iowa

Northern MN is very flat with lots of lakes and rivers caused by the last ice age. Whenever you look out the car window, if you don't see a lake, you see a pond. Very wet. And flat. About 20 south of Minneapolis, however, it began to be full of rolling farm land, and then it became somewhat mountainous. Not the Rockies, but more than hills. Anyway...

After breakfast this morning we went to the Red Wing shoe store to see the world's largest boot. It's an actual boot about 20 feet high built by the Red Wing shoemakers, just real big! Anything to get into the record books.


Using his thumbnail, Dad carved his name into a hide that was on display at the Red Wing historical exhibit.
I did not do this. 7/18/2011

After our hearts stopped pounding, we continued on our way to Wabasha, MN. The National Bald Eagle Center is there, but there's an admission price, so it wasn't for us. We went to the riverfront and saw our own bald eagle. Wabasha is another one of those towns that died a long time ago but still struggles to stand up. Empty streets at 11:30 in the morning, lots of shuttered stores, etc. Sad. Michael loves to stroll through these towns.


Despite having the Eagle Center, Wabasha was empty. 7/18/2011

We then continued down the road to lock number 5 on the river and watched a boat push I think 12 barges (hooked together) through the lock. The barges had to be unhooked and it took two raisings and lowerings to get them all through. Very time-consuming, and there are lots of locks that have to be gone through. Not the most interesting work in the world. Not like accounting, say.


The gray things in the foreground are the covers on barges in Lock No. 5. We watched as the barges were lowered in the lock. 7/18/2011

The next stop was Winona (Michael said Winona Ryder is named after this town). Larger than Wabasha, and loaded with interesting architecture from the 1800s, but dead. After that we crossed into Wisconsin and drove through the Trempeleau National Wildlife Refuge that is attempting to bring back the prairie grasses. Interesting. We would have taken a walk there, but the deer flies were swarming the car, and we didn't dare.


Hills in the Trempeleau Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. 7/19/2011


The super cool, Prairie School, Merchant's National Bank in Winona was a surprise in the center of a town made up of mostly late 19th century buildings.

After driving through enormous farms of corn, and on our way to Dubuque, we were passing through the little town of Dickeyville, WI, when we stumbled upon the Dickeyville Grotto, an absolutely amazing roadside attraction. The grotto is on the grounds of a Catholic church, The priest, Father Matthias Wernerus, who was there for about 30 years, spent five years building the grotto out of bits of broken glass, shells, stones, and other pieces of stuff he found. It's indescribable; you'll have to Google it or something.


Dad at Dickeyville Grotto. 7/19/2011


The hazy evening made it difficult to capture the grotto's splendor. 7/19/2011


A detail of the grotto. It was made up mostly of shells, glass, and rocks. 7/19/2011

We're spending the night in Dubuque. Tomorrow we head to Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's birthplace.

St Anthony Falls, Minneapolis, MN
July 18, 2011--Red Wing, MN

Omigod...it's hot!!

After leaving St. Cloud this morning we traveled slowly south along the Mississippi. To take a break from driving, we stopped at a small roadside park and walked to the river. Tied to a tree was a rope that kids use to swing out and drop into the water. Just like a Norman Rockwell painting, except these kids probably wore their baseball hats sideways and wore those goofy shorts that end about an inch above the ankles.

Then we continued on our way to Minneapolis so Michael could visit the Walker Art Gallery, a nifty looking place that, unfortunately, is closed on Mondays. An odd-looking artsy kid working at the gallery suggested we cross the street to an outdoor sculpture garden, which we did. Nice, but talk about hot! So we made our way to St. Anthony Falls, the site of the first lock on the river. In the 1800s they built power plants by the falls and there were a lot of lumber mills, which, after the forests were all harvested, were replaced by flour mills, like Pillsbury. The original mills are now in ruins, but the city kept the ruins and developers are building trendy condos among them. Pretty neat. Richmond has done something similar along the James River by the old tobacco warehouses.

Anyway, it was much too hot to stay here too long, so we headed to the Mall of America. Really something to see: nice stores, an amusement park in the middle of the mall, and air conditioned! It's apparently one of the country's major tourist attractions. Worth seeing if you're out this way.

We're now in Red Wing, where they make Red Wing boots and shoes. Maybe we'll tour it tomorrow. We drove down to the river after dinner, and many of the boats there are housed in what look like floating garages. Pretty unusual...I think.

Dad crosses the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca, MN. 7/16/2011

July 17, 2011--St. Cloud, MN

Calamity!! Michael's computer is broken, so I wasn't able to blog last night. Without constant internet service I feel like the pioneers must have felt (but with a cell phone, GPS, e-reader...).

Anyway... On Saturday we drove north to try to get into Lake Itasca State Park. Like other state run stuff in MN the park was closed, but we found an entrance which, though closed to traffic, was very close to where we wanted to be, so we parked on the road and walked in. The visitor's center was closed but all the info about the headwaters of the Mississippi was posted outside, so no problem.

The Mississippi flows out of Lake Itasca in a very narrow stream, so we were able to step across it. And it's shallow, so you can wade down the middle if you want. We saw some old guy (my age, probably) take off his shoes and wade down the river, but he didn't roll up his jeans, so they were soaked. Old people are crazy! We walked around the lake for awhile battling deer flies and then headed north towards Bemidji.


A wet-jeaned pilgrim's progress, Lake Itasca, MN. 7/16/2011

Bemidji, as all of you are no doubt aware, is the home of the famous huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue Ox. You've seen pictures of them. And it turns out northern MN is full of statues of Paul and Babe. We saw one today in which Paul was holding a bowling ball and babe had a bowling pin in his (her?) mouth.


Dad didn't mention the huge lake that Bemidji lay astride. Bemidji, MN, 7/16/2011

After Bemidji we headed south and stayed overnight in the small town of Brainerd.

This morning, while waiting for Best Buy to open so Michael could have the laptop checked out--they said it's toast--we hung around in a huge sporting goods/farming stuff/auto store called Fleet Farm. Among scads of other things, it must have at least 10,000 fishing poles. Fishing is very big here, as are hunting and snowmobiling.


Paul and Babe sculpture, Brainerd. Brainerd, MN, 7/17/2011

After Best Buy we took a walking tour of Brainerd that I had downloaded on to my Nook. Kind of interesting, but most interesting is that almost all the historic sites mentioned are long gone. So walking around looking at the sites is kind of dumb. But we did it. Interestingly, the place where we parked, the First National Bank, which is still actually there, was once robbed by Pretty Boy Floyd and his gang. They left town spraying bullets from their machine guns, just like the movies.


The bowling Paul and Babe were a highlight of Baxter, MN. Baxter, MN, 7/17/2011

Next stop was Little Falls. There's a dam there, and there used to be a logging operation, with logjams and the whole nine yards of logging. No longer there, of course, but still fun to look at the old stuff. We walked around town looking at old stores, etc. The town may bustle during the week (though I doubt it), but on Sunday it is completely dead. And that's part of its charm if you're just visiting.


A big mural in Little Falls depicting River Pigs shepherding logs down the river. Little Falls, MN, 7/17/2011

Some random observations: It's very, very hot and humid. Every time I get out of the car or a building, my glasses fog up. It's supposed to be this way most of the week, with temps in the mid to high 90s. It's hard to believe it gets so cold in the winter. And speaking of snow, mailboxes along the highway are designed so they can be raised as the snowplows pile the snow higher and higher.

Tomorrow it's on to Minneapolis; Michael needs an art gallery fix.

July 15, 2011--St. Cloud, MN

Because my wife of almost 46 years wouldn't take her husband and son to the airport--she had a yoga class she couldn't miss--Michael and I spent Thursday night at Donna's, and she graciously drove us there.

Anyway, we flew to Kansas City, MO, from Reagan, and then got stuck in KC for about five hours because of storms in Minneapolis, our final destination. The KC airport is designed in such a way that if you're stopping there awaiting another flight from the same airline, you can't leave the boarding area and return unless you want to pass through security again. So you can't take a walk, browse in a bookstore, get something decent to eat, unless you do that. We didn't. We just sat in the boarding area for what turned out to be five hours and watched peoples' Kindles, and Nooks, and laptops run out of battery power.


There really are a lot of lakes in Minnesota. 7/15/11

But we finally got on the plane, and now we're here in St. Cloud, along the Great River Road. Tomorrow we'll continue north to Itasca State Park where we'll be locked out because of the State's budget problems.

Upper Marlboro, July 13, 2011

After we returned from our great American road trip last year, I promised myself I would continue the blog as things I thought were interesting occurred. Lots of interesting things occurred--Donna and John got engaged, Michael and Kim had their post-wedding party in Richmond, my nieces in Connecticut, Christina and Nicole, had their first babies, my niece in New Jersey, Jennifer, married Dan--but of course I never did the blog. Too busy (i.e., lazy).

But last fall Michael suggested that he and I take a father-son driving trip along the Mississippi River. Now it's about to happen. On Friday (7/15) morning we're flying out of DC to Minneapolis, MN. There we rent a car and travel north to the river's headwaters at Lake Itasca, MN, and then we'll travel down to St. Louis and fly home from there the following Friday. Should be fun. There's one problem, though. Because of the shut-down of the Minnesota government, the state park at Lake Itasca will probably be closed.