Now it was time for our fifteenth road trip of this series. Most had been quick weekend trips but we ended with a series of long trips. The map of states we had visited looked like this:
Clearly with two trips left the directions we needed to go were obvious.
This trip was back in the first week of October so it nicely coincided with Meg and my birthday and the beautiful sight of leaves changing color in the North East. I was excited for all the trips but this one was a bit of a home coming because so many of these locations were places we had been before and hadn't seen in awhile.
Before we left we grabbed lunch at Cori's Dog House Nashville location, the original is in Mt. Juliet. It seemed fitting to eat at a restaurant with a hot dog for every state when we were about to embark on a road trip to 13 different states. I had the New York #1 (fitting) with sauerkraut and deli mustard. Yummmm.......
And I want to say Cori's set the mood for food on the trip. We had some of the best meals on this trip. Not that we didn't find stand out restaurants and breweries on most of these trips but given the season and locations on this trip we paired it very nicely with food and drink.
Our first day of travel didn't have any planned stops. We were on our way to PA but it was too much to drive in one day especially because we didn't leave in the morning. So we stopped in Moorehead, KY for drinks at Sawstone Brewing Co. and dinner at Rise and Roll food truck. The side street was closed off and tables were set up but we sat up on the patio with the dogs. We were right next door to the county courthouse which had a statue out front in honor of the Quilting tradition of Kentucky.
We continued on until we reached Morgantown, West Virginia where we stopped at a really nice LaQuinta right off the highway. We liked the hotel which was good because on the way home from the trip we stopped here again. It was a bit of a stretch drive and we didn't end up settling to sleep until midnight and with a lot of ground to cover before our next stop we had to get up early and hit the road before 7am. It took a little under 2 hours and we reached our first location in Shanksville, PA and the Memorial to Flight 93. September 11th, 2001 is a day that none of us will ever forget. I have written about it before: I Remember. The pictures in the post are broken links I think because I copied them from facebook but I don't think I have them anymore: one was the tower of light, one was a typewriter, and the last was the picture which is now hanging in my Mom's condo. The first time we had been to The Flight 93 Memorial it was very early on and there was just a small storage building or maybe a trailer at the empty field. Now the Memorial was finished. We walked the Observation deck that followed the path of the plane and ended pointing directly to where Flight 93 crashed. On the ground were markers giving the times of when the other planes and Flight 93 crashed. From there we drove around the field to walk the wall of names. There was one area where people had left metals and trinkets of memorial. I left behind a painted rock with a quote from Sandy Dahl, wife of pilot Jason Dahl, that I found particularly beautiful:
"If we learn anything else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate."
In the background you can see the boulder that marks where the crash site and debris had been found. Someone had left a pamphlet about the Miraculous Medal of Mary but there was no medal. Oddly enough I had one in the change pocket of my wallet so I placed it down with the pamphlet. I still feel like the Memorial has a more peaceful feeling then Ground Zero. I wonder if the difference, for me, is the choice the passengers made. They were in a terrible situation but they chose to act they chose to give their lives to protect others and there is peace in them taking back what control they could. We left the crash site and went to the Tower of Voices, a 93 foot tall tower with 40 wind chimes one for each of the passengers and crew members. In this picture you can see the beautiful blue sky. That is what the sky was like on 9/11/2001. We all commented on it to each other. Every time I see a sky like this it makes me think of that day.
From PA we traveled north into western NY. The leaves along the highway were all sorts of beautiful reds and oranges as they changed colors. When we were kids every fall we would drive north into upstate NY or CT to see the leaves. That was part of the reason I wanted to make this trip in the fall. Our next stop was the Anchor Bar where my Mom and I had stopped years earlier but Meg had already moved to TN. We couldn't remember if they had outdoor seating and it turned out they did not so my Mom waited with the dogs and Meg and I went in to make a to-go order. For those who don't know the Anchor Bar is the original home of the Buffalo Chicken Wing. The story of the Buffalo wing started in 1964 when Teressa Bellissimo's son Dominic and his friends came to the Bar looking for something to eat. It was late so Teressa had to improvise. She deep fried some chicken wings and covered them in a sauce. The wings were a hit and word spread about them. They were added to the menu and since then have been served all around the world. But none can match the wings at the Anchor Bar!
We drove over to a park along Lake Erie to eat our wings along our second to last Great Lake but the park was closed due to recent storm damage so we used the car as a table and dug in to the delicious wings.
From there it was a short drive to our next stop: Niagara Falls. Unfortunately the observation platform was closed due to Covid-19 so people just standing along the walk way to view the falls. It was still a good view but lost some of the full force of the Falls. Last time my Mom and I had been there the falls were frozen, a neat view, but it was nice to see and hear the rushing water.
Next we began driving to Wilson, NY for a view of Lake Ontario, our final Great Lake. Again this was a spot my Mom and I had been to before. Years ago there was a very slight chance that we would see the Northern Lights from upstate NY so my Mom and I took a road trip (this was when we had first visited the Anchor Bar and Niagara Falls). I had found a spot right on Lake Ontario looking north to try and get as dark a sky as possible. This time I returned to the same boat ramp at the very end of Lake Street.
From there we continued on Lake Street to Woodcock Brothers Brewing Company. Now I credit this brewery with kickstart my love of craft breweries especially ones that have food and also the start of our growler collection. It was the spent grain pretzel appetizer that we ordered all those years ago that had me ordering spent grain pretzels whenever I saw them. I've said before that craft brewer's overall have such a care for ingredients that I think comes out with every bit and sip at their locations. So we immediately sat down and ordered the pretzels. Now unfortunately these pretzels were up against the memory of what we had had before that was totally built up in our minds. So while they were good the were also disappointing. I don't think that is a fair reflection on their quality but speaks to the many many many spent grain pretzels we have ordered at breweries across America. Also as Meg pointed out the beers being brewed would impact the taste and type of spent grains.
The next day we continued our tour of upstate NY but driving to Lake Placid. On the way though we stopped at a gas station to fill up and saw a sign claiming to have the best milk in New York. Now as children our parents insisted we drink milk with most everything except fast food and tomato sauce and to this day every once in awhile I like to have a cold drink of milk. In TN we have Purity brand milk and it is really good. So I bought a small chocolate milk to try and see. While it may be the best milk in NY I think Purity is better but definitely good on taste and texture.
Lake Placid is another spot upstate that my Mom and I had visited without Meg. We had been at home watching Miracle about the 1980 USA Men's Hockey Team and after the movie had decided to drive up and see the Lake. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was dark and while we could see the stillness of the lake by watching the reflecting lights in the water I think we lost a little bit by it being dark. Also it was snowing and cold and a very tense drive home on icy streets. This time the trip was obviously better planned out and when we got there it was day light. We stopped at Mirror Lake and put our name down to eat at Lake Placid Pub and Brewery and then we walked around the Lake as we waited for about a hour for a table.
The food was good but I felt bad because our dogs were not behaving very well. They had ben so good on so many trips and just like anybody they can have a bad day or moment where they just aren't in the mood. I think they had enjoyed the walk around the lake and wanted to continue. After our delicious meal we drove over to Lake Placid, a lake so still it was incredible. And the water was clear such that you could see the large rocks below.
Next we packed back into the car to head to our next state: Vermont. We arrived in Burlington late and after checking into our hotel we stopped at Zero Gravity Brewing. Oktoberfest marzen beers is the closest I have to a favorite style and while checking in their Oktoberfests on the Untapped app I received a badge for "Brew Traveler" I had checked in a beer in 35 states/countries.
The next morning we drove to Lake Champlain at the ECHO (Ecology Culture History Opportunities for stewardship) Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. It is a science museum and outside they had a few science based displays about transfer of energy. It also has a USGS weather station that was monitoring the lake.
Next we went to Warren, New Hampshire to see a Redstone missile. The missile came to Warren thanks to the work of Ted Asselin who was stationed in Huntsville in 1970. He saw some Redstone missiles in a field and asked if he could get one donated to Warren, NH. After all while there are differences between Redstone rockets and missiles it as still a Redstone which brought Derry native Alan Shephard to outer-space. The army told Ted they would release one to Warren but the town was responsible for transport. Ted took the cost of transporting the missile himself. After a "Yes" vote by the town Ted and Irving MacDonald headed south with a 60 foot trailer loaned to them by Lew Brown of Wentworth and Holderness. I'm sure the drive back north was quite a trip with the 73 foot missile. Apparently the townspeople of Warren were so excited that a septic tanker caused the entire Welcome committee to rush into position thinking it was the missile arriving.
I looked up Ted Asselin on the website Find A Grave to learn a little more about the man who saw a missile in a field and actually had the gumption to ask if he could take it home with him. Henry Theodore Asselin was born September 20, 1931 in Woodsville, NH. He served in the military for 22 years including two tours in Vietnam, Berlin, Panama, and Redstone Arsenal. Over his career he earned several decorations including a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. In his obituary it said:
"He will be most remembered for the love he had for his family and friends and his ability to tell funny stories for hours. Most of them were actually true."
I'm sure a bunch of them had to be from the drive from Huntsville to Warren with the rocket. Ted passed away at 81 on June 19th 2013. His son Michael passed away at the young age of 38 in 1994 and on the bottom of Ted's grave it says "Me and you kid" which I assume is for reuniting with his son.
State number 3 of the day was Maine when at around 1pm we arrived at the Nubble Light House. All three of us share a love of light houses so this was an obvious spot to pick to represent Maine. It was a nice return to the Atlantic Ocean as well. The light house was built in 1879 to help guide ships around the dangerous rocks near York beach.
We dipped back in to New Hampshire for a birthday lunch at Smuttynose Brewing Co. Meg covered a lot of the meals on the trip but my Mom insisted she was going to pay for lunch on our birthday. The brewery has been trademarking beers since 1994 and have two locations. We were at the restaurant in Hampton which featured a beautiful patio. We settled in with the dogs and looked at the menu. I said earlier that this trip had the best meals of all and Smuttynose plays a large roll in that. You really can't get much better than fresh lobster in the north east.
The lobster roll was overflowing with lobster and it was absolutely delicious and refreshing. The house chips were good but I was so full on lobster I couldn't finish them. Our waiter was excellent about coming over and checking on us just everything from the atmosphere, beer, food, and service was perfect.
Next we drove to Auburn, MA and the Pakachoag Golf Course where a little bit away from the road is a monument marking the site where Robert Goddard "The Man Who Ushered in the Space Age" first launched a liquid propellant rocket on March 16, 1926.
Milton Lehman in his book "Robert H. Goddard: Pioneer of Space Research" tells the story of when Goddard was first inspired to dream of man traveling to space on October 19, 1899.
"On this day I climbed a tall cherry tree ... I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if I sent up from the meadow at my feet... I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended."
While I was researching Goddard, who not only is credited with inventing the liquid propellant rocket but also multi-stage rockets, I came across a quote from a speech he gave:
"Just as in the sciences we have learned that we are too ignorant to safely pronounce anything impossible, so for the individual, since we cannot know just what are his limitations, we can hardly say with certainty that anything is necessarily within or beyond his grasp. Each must remember that no one can predict to what heights of wealth, fame, or usefulness he may rise until he has honestly endeavored, and he should derive courage from the fact that all sciences have been, at some time, in the same condition as he, and that it has often proved true that the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. "
And that is a beautiful thought.
We spent the night in Massachusetts ending the night at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center where we stopped at Bay State Brewing (a brewery in an ice rink) and we started the next day with a coffee and donut from Dunkin Donuts which is pretty much as MA as you get.
Our stop for Rhode Island was to visit Narraganset Brewing, which I didn't realize was really just the brewing facility and not an actual brewery. There was another brewery there and seating area out back but I think it was for the other brewery. Either way we were there too early for it to be open. Now in case you don't know Narraganset is the brand of beer that Captain Quint is drinking in Jaws.
Our next stop was in Danbury Connecticut a location famous for hats and being made fun of by John Oliver. Outside of the public library is a statue of Sybil Ludington, who at 16 rode 40 miles horseback to warn American militia of the approaching British army approaching Danbury on April 26, 1777. She was the daughter of a New York militia leader and while her father prepared a plan she rode off to rally the troops. There are questions about the veracity of her ride but in 1975 the US postal service honored her with a stamp and the City of Danbury has a statue of the young heroine.
Up next was New Jersey where we had two stops planned. The first was the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, NJ. The tower is named for Edwin Armstrong who registered over 40 patents including one for superheterodyne circuit and while trying to improve on AM radio he became the first to use frequency modulation transmission or as we know it FM. After RCA had Armstrong's antenna removed from the Empire State Building in 1938 he built this tower in order to continue work on FM broadcasting. In an effort to get a picture of the tower we drove through one of the fanciest areas I have ever been in, in fact I am really surprised it didn't have a gate and security. The houses were incredible mansions.
On 9/11/01 when the Towers fell a lot of broadcasters actually switched to the Armstrong Tower in order to continue providing info and news to the country.
Speaking of Broadcast our next stop was Princeton Junction, NJ a town that was at the epicenter of Orson Welles radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. He mixed in music with news flashes and witness statements and sent people into a panic.
Next we drove to Delaware- Rehoboth Beach to be exact where we ate at Dogfish Head Brewery another fantastic meal that made this trip one of the best.
I had the crab cakes and we tried Bending Time Dogfish Head whole leaf gin, chamomile, honey, and lemon. I also left behind my all time favorite rock that I had painted.
We spent the night at a Laquinta just a stones throw from the beach. If the door to the balcony had had a screen we would have slept with it open to listen to the sound of the waves. In the morning we woke up before sunrise and took a walk on to the beach. Gypsy Rover could not contain her excitement at feeling the sand and seeing the ocean. She jumped around and darted from side to side with her ears flapping in every direction.
And then we hung back and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic. We checked out and began driving away from Rehoboth. We wanted to find some place to get bagels for breakfast but everything was still closed early in the morning. It was about an hour later in Selbyville when we found the Synergy Cafe. Even though I was originally looking for a bagel I could not resist the strawberry Nutella flatbread. The walls had small trinkets like a Bob Ross bobble head. And there were photos as you entered from a local retired woman who moved to the area in 2019: Maryfrances Berger.
Next was a bonus stop: Washington DC. If traveling to the 48 contiguous states was a video game then we had several side missions. So for example seeing all the Great Lakes was a side mission- we could have seen all 48 without seeing the Great Lakes but it was an extra challenge, also sun set on the Pacific and sun rise over the Atlantic, and now visiting our Nation's Capital.
Our stop in Maryland was in Fostburg and was listed on Roadside America as the oldest street sign in America. The Braddock stone was named for British General Edward Braddock and at one time sat on the Braddock road. It marked the distance to popular locations like Ft Cumberland, Captain Smyth's Inn and Bridge Crossing, and Redstone Old Fort. On the black it says "Our Country's right we will defend." The stone was broken in half by a local man who took it and tried to build stairs with it before it was recovered by police and returned to its location. Now it is protected in a glass case in front of a school. I left a rock there inspired by the monopoly B&O railroad spot.
And then we returned to Morgantown and this time we got to look around a little bit. After checking in to our favorite Laquinta in West Virginia (seriously I liked the hotel.. to the point where when I started looking up other places in West Virginia I wanted to visit I checked to see if we could stay at this hotel then too). We went to the Wharf and Warehouse District to eat at Mountain State Brewing Co. When we arrived at our table the waiter promptly told us that due to Covid 19 restrictions there was a time limit on how long we could be at the table. At first that was a little off putting and I understand that with limited seating it helped to keep tables turning so more patrons could be sat. And as someone who on a couple of earlier occasions had waited well over an hour while people sat at tables ordering nothing and just nursing drinks I understood why it might be necessary. However I wish they just let it happen naturally and just managed the time and if a table did seem to just be sitting around that would be time for a manager to intervene. We had a good meal and ended it with the delicious Stout Float. It was made with their Miner's Daughter Oatmeal stout, vanilla ice cream, and a blackberry brandy.
The next morning we left for our final stop on the road trip: The New River Gorge Bridge. The bridge is the longest single span bridge in the western hemisphere and the third highest bridge in the United States.
We had one more trip to go and our map of travelled states now looked like this:
And here is where the Great West became a trip to the North! See the goal was to get to all 48 contiguous states and as you might be able to tell from the rambling route while we obviously had time constraints from vacation time from work we weren't looking to do it as quickly as possible (as far as I can tell the record is 96 hours and hats off to those guys) or in as few miles. No we were looking to see, experience, and taste as much as we could in each state. We also had other side goals like see both coasts and a sunset on the pacific and sunrise on the Atlantic and seeing all the Great Lakes. So instead of cramming Duluth and Lake Superior into a weekend trip I tagged them on to this trip.
So we left Salt Lake City, Utah and began driving North-East to Wyoming. I had a later road trip planned to go to Montana so I snagged a few things from that road trip and moved them up as a way to break up the long drive. On our way to our first planned stop we came across the nine foot cowboy in Point of Rocks, Wyoming. The area was once a home to a Stage Coach Line that saw passengers come through on their journey west and others heading to the gold rush. Today it is home to the nine foot cowboy. I don't know who built him or when but he gave us a laugh and we definitely snagged a picture.
A few hours later we were at our first stop: Rawlins, Wyoming to see a mural honoring the town's role in helping Edison invent the lightbulb. See on July 29, 1878 there was a total solar eclipse visible across a track of the US from Montana, through the Rockies, and to Texas. Newspapers report that a large migration of people traveled to see the spectacle that occurred at sunrise. In case you don't know a total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth at the right positioning for the moon's apparent diameter to block the sun entirely. If you would be interested in some more info about a Total Solar Eclipse click here for a blog post I wrote about the August 21, 2017 TSE. And click here for the post about the actual day. If you missed that Solar Eclipse there will be another Total Solar Eclipse that will cross America in 2024. If you are outside the USA ( I assume most people seeing this blog are in the USA) or a more adventurous traveler here is a list of upcoming Total and Annular eclipse from the wonderful website timeanddate.com Also I can not stress this enough but if you can get yourself into the 'Path of Totality' for a Total Solar Eclipse do it. Trust me you will remember it for the rest of your life. Seriously if you are at all interested take a moment and check out those other two blog posts. I've already started planning for the 2023 Annular and 2024 Total Eclipse it is worth the travel.
Now where was I.. oh yes Edison. Thomas Edison like many others travelled into the Path of Totality and settled on Rawlins, Wyoming to try and measure the sun's corona with his microtasimeter, he was able to measure temperature change in the corona with it. And then he went fishing. At the time Edison was looking for something to use as a filament in his lightbulb. His bamboo fishing pole in Rawlins is credited with giving him the inspiration he needed to use bamboo as the filament.
As we were driving to the mural we passed St. Joseph's Catholic Church so we decided to stop there, look around, and say a prayer. I also left a painted rock at the side of the Church. It was one of my favorites with a brightly colored sun set scene reflecting in water.
We had lunch and walked around Rawlins a little bit just to stretch and have some time outside of the car. There are actually a bunch of other murals in town though some have fallen into disrepair. They highlight the history and nature of Wyoming. We didn't find all of them as we had to get back on the road.
A couple hours later we stopped at a rest stop to view Independence Rock another part of history and the Oregon Trail. The granite rock is 10 feet high and 1,900 feet long. It served as a natural landmark for pioneers traveling west from the Missouri River to Oregon and California on the Emigrant Trails. Travelers would carve their names on Independence Rock, named that because travelers wanted to reach it by Independence Day in order to avoid the first frost in the mountains.
By 7:30 pm we had reached our final stop in Wyoming: Devils Tower famous for its appearance in Close Encounters. The butte is part of the Black Hills. Interestingly enough it was the first United States National Monument designated as such by Theodore Roosevelt September 24th, 1906. The name Devils Tower is actually a mistaken translation. The name and myth behind the Tower in Native cultures involves a bear and many different names translate to 'Bears Home' or something closer to that and there have been several attempts to rename the Park Bear Lodge National Historic Park. While the last attempt was made in 2015 I hope that future attempts to rename it are met with better success. Arguments against the renaming include hurting the tourist trade which is a terrible reason. The current name has nothing to do with the myth of the location and is offensive to Native Tribes. I think people will find it just as easily under the name Bear Lodge as they do Devils Tower.
The location is sacred to several Native Tribes including the Lakota, part of the Sioux. There are several different versions in myth as to how the Tower formed but my two favorite tellings are first that a group of girls were playing when several giant bears heard them and began chasing them. The girls climbed on to a rock and began praying to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers the Great Spirit raised the rock to he heavens and the girls became the star cluster: The Pleiades. The bears tried to climb the rock and left the deep up and down lines seen in the Tower to this day. The second telling is very similar with two boys wandering away from home and being chased by the giant bear Mato. The boys also pray to the Great Spirit and the rock is lifted up. Mato continued to try and climb it thereby explaining the deep lines in the tower. He became tired and went to rest nearby and that spot is now called Bear Butte. The boys were then helped off the rock by Wanblee, an eagle.
It was late but we kept driving until about 10pm when we reached Spearfish, South Dakota. This trip was definitely an endurance trip with a lot of late nights and early mornings. Meg and I left my Mom and the dogs in the hotel while we went to get dinner. We ordered food online from an Applebees near the hotel and then drove in to Spearfish to get something local for us to try at Spearfish Brewing Company. We got a growler of their Adventurepants double IPA because it had a brontosaurus on it. If it hadn't been so late I would have loved to have hung out there for a bit. The location was really neat inside and the staff was friendly and ready to talk about good beer. I left a painted rock near the brewery with a buffalo on it. Again one of my favorites- my rock painting was definitely improving.
The next day we drove to South Dakota's Capital city, Pierre. Where we saw a quartz column that is a remnant of the original boundary set between North and South Dakota. It was known as the Quartzite Border because of the columns that land surveyor Charles H Bates used from 1891-1892 as he set markers every half mile (720 pillars) between the states. Also at the cultural center was a statue called the Citadel honoring the the pioneer women of South Dakota.
It didn't come out very well in video but the place was crawling or hopping with grasshoppers and Gypsy Rover and Domino didn't know what to do with them. As we walked the dogs the grass would come alive with the little insects. Domino wanted to catch and eat them and Gypsy was just trying to sniff at them and follow them around.
Driving back to the highway we stopped when we saw a monument near a walking trail in a park. I got out to see what it was and found it was a 9/11 Memorial. The memorial has a piece of steel from one of the support beams in the towers. It is part of a project by students across the country to build memorials to those lost that day and the bravery shown by others.
Our last stop in South Dakota was a tiny roadside chapel in Henry, SD. There are a lot of these I think I have been to at least five now. As far as I know most are non denominational just some place to stop and rest on your travels and say a prayer. Inside were some pews and a pulpit, pretty simple.
While we didn't make very many stops this time in South Dakota I have to say the drive was spectacular. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue and most of our drive was on a small two lane road lined with wild sunflowers.
Once in Minnesota we entered the town of Dawson or as they like to be known Gnometown. I don't know how the name began though I saw reference to it going back to 1988. It seems every year the town has a festival and honors residents who have shown a positive influence to the community with a Gnome that will come to be placed by the town sign. Had I know about this at the time I probably would have tried to find the town center to see some of the Gnomes. I am glad we saw the street signs though and I have been down the rabbit hole of reading about some of the citizens who have been honored as "Gnomes." I will have to revisit Gnometown, USA some time.
A few hours later we reached our first stop in Little Falls, MN the "Traveler." It is a rock statue on the property of Little Falls Granite Works. They create monuments and markers and have been in business since 1898. On the granite pedestal where Traveler stands it says:
"Life is a journey: stories shared about people, places and events that have shaped our lives.
The story of Traveler is a lesson about the human spirit and how we all need others to improve our lives. Traveler is derived from the Nomadic people- the Inuit- who built signposts out of stone in the shape of a human to help people find their way in the harsh and desolate Arctic. Each stone represented an individual who then became interconnected, each independently significant, together and stronger as a whole. The origin for the Traveler was called Inuksuk, pronounced in-ook-shook.
Traveler experiences life uniquely through the individual journey and is influenced by significant people, events and places along the way. Traveler is meant to represent you and your story."
The pedestal continues with the story of Charles Lindberg who was born in Little Falls and encourages others to take a photo with the statue and share their own stories of inspiration on the Facebook page.
The words of the pedestal really spoke to me. Especially because this year has been such a crazy one. To read such a beautiful story about finding ways to connect and inspiring others in this crazy world was something I needed. I know the isolation and loneliness of the spring, canceling plans and missing out on visits with friends and family is what made me want to make these trips. And it is also what made me want to do it this year because I needed that sense of connection. I know some will look at these road trips as irresponsible- they aren't. I think this has been a year of very hard choices for a lot of people. A year where a lot of lives have been lost and families are left grieving. Should I have postponed and not done this? Did I put myself, family, and coworkers in danger by going on these trips? These are questions I asked myself almost daily. It was a real concern and worry. But this was something I felt I needed to do. It was time with my Mom and Meghan. It was some of the most beautiful places of natural splendor I have ever seen. It was interactions with other people no matter how brief. And it made me feel connected again. It made me focus on the positive beauty around me. Honestly it got me out of my head. It made me focus on things beyond myself and my own concerns and fears. And I hope that anyone reading these blogs feels encouraged to get out, travel, explore. But do it safely and in your own time when you are ready. And if you can not travel safely I hope that reading this and seeing the pictures gives some joy.
We left the Traveler and stopped in at Starry Eyed Brewing a short distance away, still in Little Falls. Because it was late and we were tired we did not stop in for a Flight but their flight boards were really unique looking five point stars. I left a rock there that was a background of a cliff and ocean and on it said "Wanderlust- a desire or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world." We picked up a growler and then went to Taco John's (a chain we had never heard of before) because it was Tuesday and we wanted Taco Tuesday :-)
And then on Wednesday we reached Duluth MN where I planned to spend the entire day because I left plenty of time to see the engineering wonder of the aerial lift bridge. There are these gigantic sky scraper sized boats that sail on Lake Superior... I'm talking boats that are well over 500 feet long and 40 feet high. However our stop in Duluth did not start out as planned because shortly before reaching the harbor the tire pressure light came on in the car. Now because we know our luck well we had both fix-a-flat and a plug in inflator with us. So we parked at the harbor and I checked the tires. All four needed a little air which was a good sign that nothing was really wrong. Had one tire been a lot lower than the others I would have been concerned. As I was filling up the front driver side a gentleman and his family stopped. He asked if we were ok and I told him yes and I appreciated him checking. The bridge's history begins in 1892 when John Low Wadell won a contest by designing a vertical lift bridge to span the canal between Minnesota and Wisconsin. His design was not built here but was later used in Chicago. In its place a transporter bridge was built with a gondola to ferry people across and still allow the barges to travel through the canal. However as demand for cars and traffic began to build up the gondola could not keep up. So in 1929 the bridge was remodelled and followed closely to the original design by Wadell. On March 29, 1930 the bridge as we know it today lifted to allow its first boat.
We arrived just in time to see the bridge raised for the BBC Thames, which was carrying wind turbine blades.
Now that we had seen the bridge we began exploring the park we knew we were spending the day because Meg also wanted to try and get some night photos. We planned to stay in the park long enough to see the next barge and then we would go find some lunch, find my other two stops in Duluth, and then return for the night photography. The next boat coming through was the Arthur M Anderson a ship made famous for its role in one of the worst maritime disasters in US history. I know the story because of Gordon Lightfoot's song: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. My Dad didn't really listen to music but this was probably one of his favorite songs. The Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the largest ships to sail the Great Lakes and is the largest to sink in Lake Superior when it went down during a storm on November 10th, 1975. The Arthur M. Anderson was caught in the same storm and received their final transmission at 7:10pm when the Captain, Ernest McSorley, said "We are holding our own." Ten minutes later the Edmond Fitzgerald disappeared from the Arthur Anderson's Radar and could no longer be reached by radio. Despite fighting their way through the storm and reaching safe harbor the Arthur M. Anderson's Captain Jesse Cooper and his crew returned to the last recorded location and searched for the Edmund Fitzgerald. Sadly none of the 29 crew members who ranged in age from 20-63 survived.
We walked over to Canal Park brewing for lunch on their outside patio and further explored down town Duluth which featured several Maritime themed statues and nice stores including a blown glass store which had really beautiful art work inside. Then we went back to the car to drive around a bit and see some other stops in Duluth. For example there is a statue of Leif Erickson built by the Norwegian American League of Duluth, the first home of Bob Dylan from 1941-1947, and the Great Catsby honoring a neighborhood cat who was loved by many but passed away in 2016.
And now we had one last state to visit on this road trip: Wisconsin. Fun fact Wisconsin was the 30th state to join the USA... and it was also the 30th state we visited this year! Pretty neat when things work out like that.
Our first stop was in Manitowoc where pieces of Sputnik IV fell out of the sky and were recovered on Sept 6, 1962. There is a marker on the sidewalk and then in the street it a small metal ring marking the exact spot.
And then we visited Greendale, a town that Norman Rockwell never painted but he could have! And in honor of that fact there is a statue of Norman Rockwell that looks really life like. I don't know how often residents update the painting but I know they turn him and change the print so that he is painting what ever building in the circle he is looking at.
We then began the drive home with one last stop in Whitestown Indiana to one of the coolest breweries on these trips: Moontown Brewing Company. The place had it all a great logo, great beer, great food, a cool repurposed building, lots of community history, a very enjoyable patio, and a great story. On the menu they trace the history of the building, originally a school, a tree, and their family farm and home brew history. All these come together in 2018 when Moontown brewing opens in the refurbished school with a bar, stools, and taps all made from the tree that grew on their farm.
And after 16 days on the road we arrived back in TN and our map of states visited now looked like this:
We kept a count of miles and it was a little over 8,633 miles on this trip alone. And I have no idea how many hours of driving.. lets go with a lot.
