Sweets and Farewell

This is my final post.  I want to thank everyone for following me.  I hope you have had half as much fun as I have.  I will be home with hundreds of stories after I read my own bog.  Everything seems to run together right now.  It has been an extraordinary experience and I feel privileged to have been able to do this.  Thanks for making the trip with me.

 I spent this morning at Hershey's Chocolate World.  It is very slick and well coordinated leaving you in the retail store after your free tour of the process of making candy.  You can pay for a tasting session, which was very well done.  They give you a selection of Hershey and other chocolates.  Everyone then snapped the bar and listened to the difference between milk and dark chocolate.  We smelled the pieces for hints of other flavors, then we tasted the chocolate to see if we could get more flavors.  The older you get the less sensitive your tastebuds.  Well mine are pretty shot.
Anyway you can take a trolley ride or see a 3D movie.  They even have different amusement parks.  They don't miss a trick.

I went to Hershey with my parents when I was young.  As you approached the town all you could smell was chocolate, that is all gone.  The tour you took was of the actual factory and there weren't too many people taking the tour.  You got to see the huge vats of chocolate and the real machines making the chocolate and then the candy.  It really meant something, now it's all fake.  But now that's all anyone knows.  We have to keep things sterile and away from people.

I then went in to Philadelphia to see the new Barnes Foundation Museum.  Well they are just as strange as ever.  You need to have known in advance to have ordered tickets.  They set none aside for walk ups, those people not in on the secret.  Of course I have no idea how many tickets they sell but today was all sold out.  It looked like the museum was empty but you can't tell as all the art is upstairs.

Since I couldn't see that collection I thought I'd go next door to see the Rodin Museum but that was under renovation.  I took all this as a sign to get out of Philadelphia.  I thought I would go to Chadds Ford to see the Wyeths.  Then I thought about my luck so far and decided it was time to call it quits.

I am on the first leg of my trip home.  Tomorrow I wind up with Ginger and Gene and Gillian and Genevieve.  Then it is home.

Buggys

I drove across Pennsylvania today and all I saw was part of a Buggy Museum.  By the time I got there it was too late to take a full tour of the buggy barn.  I did see a DVD of the story of Mifflinburg and the buggy industry.  They supplied so many buggies to so many parts of America that they were known as Buggy Town.  They had to build houses for all the workers that were brought in to work on the buggies.  They flourished until the horseless carriage took over.  The automobile condemned the town.

The town has gone through a major restoration project.  They built the Buggy Museum and have restored a lot of the old buildings.  Many of the buildings are now residences and have been restored by the occupants.  The buildings have historic markers.  It is a charming town and I was glad I made the trip even if it was so short.

I realize that I am very depressed.  My trip is almost over and I am going home.  I'm sorry I didn't spend more time in the West.  I particularly miss the openness of the dessert.  My planning is becoming sloppy and I am missing things they I planned to see and I don't really care.  If I have to come home I  might as well come home.  I am currently in Hershey, Pennsylvania and there are millions of children running around.  I knew there would be but to see the reality is something else.  I'll be home before the 30th.

Toys,Toys and more Toys

Today I was a child playing among the toys.  My first stop was the Toy Museum in Wheeling, West Virginia.  They had all sorts of toys but I realized that most toys are designed for boys.  There are more soldier types, cowboys and Indians and knights of all sizes.  They have all the extras like forts, castles or ranches.  Then there are the trains, every size, every type of car or engine that you can imagine.  They had two different setups, one seemed to be a night scene of a city, the other was a simpler scene which was well lit.  I'm not sure whether they had just not turned the lights on in the "night" room.

They were doing a special on Monopoly.  They were showing some of the many variations that Milton Bradley has created for Monopoly.  I didn't see any other games but I may have missed a whole floor.  The book said there were three floors but I only found two.

There was a whole room for Barbie in her various iterations.  They also had Barbie imitators.  Then there were several walls worth of Doll Houses.  The houses changed through time but the ones they had were the more modern types.  One was a ranch style house with Swedish modern furniture.  Another room had stuffed animals and plastic animals.  There was a lovely older woman volunteer and we got to talking.  For some reason I told her the story of my mother giving my brother my favorite lamb toy when I was very small.  My brother threw the lamb out the car window and that was the end of the lamb.  Why they had to give him mine never made sense to me and my mother would never discuss it.  They didn't have a single stuffed lamb in the entire museum.

I followed up the visit to the museum with a visit to a museum of the largest toy manufacturers from the 1950's to the 80's, the Marx Co.  The company was started by Lewis Marx from Brooklyn.  They made a lot of plastic toys that were recognizable, like a huge series of Roy Rogers sets, a few Lone Ranger and a Zorro.  They even had a stuffed Flintstones series.  They also had a series of Doll Houses.  I wound up talking to the docent at the Marx Museum in Mountville too.  I was counseling her on decluttering.

I realized how few toys I had as a child and how it never bothered me.  I looked at all those toys and didn't want any of them nor did I feel like I had missed anything.  I did have games and as a family we would occasionally play them together.  Books were always more my thing.

Busy, Busy,Busy

Today I seemed to be everywhere at once.  I started my day trying to see the Stan Hywet Hall and Garden in Akron but the house didn't open until 11:00 and it was 9:00.  The house is considered one of the finest examples of Tudor Revival architecture in the US.  It would have been nice but not necessary so I moved on.

I went to Cambridge to look at glass objects being formed.  The first place, Boyd Glass, was not working the glass today.  They showed me a DVD about the family and the company.  Unfortunately what they made was tsotchkes (dust collectors), many were very cute however.  The other company was Mosser Glass and they were working the glass and giving tours.  They were making milky white 9" cake stands.  It was really fascinating, knowing how much molten glass goes into the mold for the top.  They flip the mold over and a guy has to catch it just  so on a two tine implement.  They do the same for the pedestal and then they put the two together. There is trimming, checking for level and cool ing.  I have always been interested in glass work, ever since I went to Corning, New York and saw them make Steuben Glass.  At least at Mosser they made a lot of very practical items, like plates, salt and pepper sets, bowls and of course the cake plates.

I stopped in at the James Thurber House in Columbus.  There wasn't a lot there, it was an old house but they had a lot of Thurber's cartoon posted around.  They had awards and magazine covers.  His old desk was sitting there with all the rips and stains and you could almost see him sitting there.  They leave the front door open and just let you wander in and out.  It all fits together.

My afternoon was set aside for the Columbus Zoo.  I have looked forward to seeing this zoo for years.  I remember as a little girl watching Marlin Perkins on the Today Show and Jack Paar with exotic animals.  He was followed by Jack Hanna.  I expected this zoo to be a combination of the Bronx Zoo and the San Diego Zoo.  Well I was incredibly disappointed.  There were very few animals in the zoo.  What animals were there were almost impossible to see because there was so much foliage, most of it served no purpose.  Most of the zoo was made up of playgrounds, rides, food stands and gift shops.  On top of everything else I stumbled on to the Great Apes, which always depresses me.  People are so stupid and make such fools of themselves with the Great Apes.  The apes just sit and stare and then walk away.  You can't blame the children who kiss the glass and talk to the apes.  But the adults!

Anyway my day ended on a down note but then I remember the wonderful times I have had in other zoos and it washes away the bad taste that this left in my mouth.  There was one highlight.  A dog and a cheetah share a cage.  They were raised together and they just enjoy each others company.  They think they are the same whatever that means to them.  It's cute because they are always checking where the other one is.

A Musical Day

Today was all about music and it turned out to be in chronological order.  My first visit was to Hitsville, USA, which was the first Motown studio.  They do a very comprehensive tour of the of both the genesis and the growth of the industry.  Berry Gordy Jr's family history is discussed, how he started with $800 and made $2,000,000 the first year.  How everyone did multiple jobs, the contributions of people like Smokey Robinson.  Many of the early great performers were friends from the neighborhood and school where Berry Gordy grew up.  The tour guide discussed the growth of the business until it out grew the buildings that they kept buying in the neighborhood.  They moved the production part of the business to California but left much of the business end in Detroit.

My next stop was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.  The last time I was in Cleveland I was busy selling UU Communion wafers, aka Biscotti.  I wandered around the Hall of Fame for about 90 minutes and some of it made me very nostalgic.  They had a huge display for Elvis which didn't interest me at all.  I have never been an Elvis fan and so of course the largest exhibit was for Elvis.  They had a short film about the roots of the Rock & Roll going back to early, early Black music and then what was Country Western music, to the Blues.  They had costumes from all sorts of people, which are called uniforms by the Motown group.  I took pictures before I found out I wasn't allowed to take them.  They had a great exhibit from the 60's, including Janis Joplin's porsche.  The Jimi Hendrix exhibit was very impressive and I wish I hadn't already been caught taking pictures.  I got there late so I couldn't do the whole museum as they were about to close.  But the Kaplan ears had had about all they could stand anyway.  The music was way too loud.  But it turned out to be a great day.

Today I was Dutch.  I went to the Delft and Wooden Shoe factory.  The factory does all the processes by hand just as they are done in the Netherlands.  They get their paints from there as well.  They have one older woman who does all the painting.  She has very steady hands.  It is water based paints so that it is absorbed into the clay.  Delft started in the 1600's by copying Chinese designs, over time the designs changed to more Dutch themes.  It used to be only blue and white now they have expanded to other colors.  I must say I prefer the blue and white.

The wooden shoe part was really interesting.  They use a very green poplar wood because it has less of a tendency to crack as it dries and is lighter.  They explained that the Dutch turned to wood because leather was hard to get and very expensive.  Also leather tended to rot because of the dampness.  There was a machine that bored out the inside of the shoes but needed the hands on direction of a person.  The machine work, polishing and finishing are fast, the longest process is letting the shoes dry naturally.

Next door is a garden center where they, of course, specialize in tulips.  I missed the Tulip Festival so there was nothing blooming in the garden.  I did run into a couple from North Carolina and we discussed what grew and what didn't do well in our gardens.  Very chummy.  I again bought nothing.  I am getting really good at this.

I then went to find the Dutch Village with canals and everything.  Well when I found it it was tiny and cost $10 to get in.  I figured since I had been to the Netherlands I could save my money and skip this particular treat.  I took a few pictures from across the river and left.

My next stop was to the Motown Museum which was the original studio.  Once again I misread the book and read July for June and then discovered that the museum was closed on Monday when I showed up.  But this time I'm stubborn and I'm going back tomorrow morning.  It shouldn't take much time.  The place is tiny.  It's hard to believe that so much talent produced so many hits from there.  But more about that tomorrow.

Nature Reserve

Well I had a disappointment today.  I thought there would be lots of things happening at a Nature Reserve.  Maybe they would be rehabilitating birds or animals or have herds of some sort of native animal but no.  It was like, no not like, it was taking a walk in the woods.  I saw three dragonflies, three butterflies and a chipmunk.  I see more wildlife in my own backyard.  It's not as though I didn't need a walk after sitting for 8 hours yesterday.  I can't say that I'm having a great time in the North Central states but I'm not giving up.

It is interesting to start seeing Black people again.  It is as if they aren't allowed across the Mississippi.  Except for a few exceptions there were so many states where there were no people of color at all, except for Asian tourists.  It was eerie.  The awareness creeps up on you slowly when you don't even hear spanish being spoken by the maids in the hotels.

Spam, that little blue can

I made it to the SPAM museum.  It really was a lot of fun, much more than I expected.  They have a very slick operation.  They have nothing that would turn you off SPAM.  They lull you by talking about how pure everything is and how the company developed as a family operation.  They overcame embezzlement by a trusted employee early in their history.  I had no idea that Hormel made SPAM because I know Hormel makes so many other products, even Jenni-O.  It was interesting to see the displays of the changes  of cans and products through the years.  The commercials go through some interesting changes over the years,as well.  I was particularly struck by the WWII exhibit.  It was a loop of a soldier explaining all the ways the cook served them SPAM, it was very funny.  Yet through the rest of the exhibits they were showing you how many ways you can use SPAM.  They offer you free recipes.  Charlotte, NC is the fifth largest consumer of SPAM in the US.

The rest of my day was spent driving to Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Eight hours of driving because I needed something to do on a Sunday and only Kalamazoo had something open.

I decided not to go to Fellowship today as it was their last service of the year.  I figured it wouldn't be a very public type service, they were asking for memories of the year from people.

Old Towns and Matchsticks

My first stop was the village of Amana, which is one of the seven colonies of a German sect that set up homes in Iowa.  They believed in communal living.  They lived in large houses without kitchens, all meals were taken in a communal dining room.  Unlike the Shakers they did marry and had children.  They followed revelations from Prophets.  I don't know if the prophets were home grown or what.  There is an Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, North Amana, High Amana and Homestead.  The only one that has retained its character is Amana.  The houses and buildings are still used for their original purposes as much as possible.  They still have the Woolen Mill, which still makes blankets and other items.  They also have a furniture factory which is still turning out grandfather clocks and several other items.  In the store they had some beautiful furniture based on traditional designs including a roll top desk.  Of course it was also very directed at tourists and they did have a kitchen store which lured me in.  But everyone should be very proud of me - I didn't spend a penny.  They had so many cookie cutters I could have spent a fortune but I was very disciplined.

After Amana I headed to Gladbrook and the Matchstick Museum.  I really didn't know what to expect so I was really stunned.  Everything in the museum is made from those wooden matchsticks you use to light barbecues.  The artist now gets them without the heads but he used to have to cut off the red striking heads.  The detail is extraordinary, the U.S. Capitol is at least 8 feet long.  He's also done Notre Dame Cathedral, a space shuttle launch and the Wright Brother's plane.  Many of Patrick Acton's works have been purchased by Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  The woman at the museum didn't know if private people purchased pieces or not.

Iowa really is a corn state.  Everywhere you look there are corn fields.  I spoke with a woman today who said that everyone is very worried because the corn isn't growing.  They haven't had enough rain.  I'm amazed at the numbers of acres that are planted.  They have convoluted hills planted with corn.

Another thing I wanted to mention was something that happened yesterday.  I've been buying Sinclair gas out here.  I remember Sinclair from my childhood but haven't seen it in years.  Anyway,  I went into a station in Iowa and got out to fill the tank a man ran out to fill the tank for me.  It is not illegal like Oregon and New Jersey, it is just a policy.  They even wash your windshield.  I felt like I was back in the '50's.

I just finished reading Anna Quindlen's latest book "Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake".  I highly recommend it to any one who is aging.  She writes about aging in a wise way and in reference to getting wiser through the lessons we've learned through life.  It is a book I will read more than once because there are lessons to be learned and reflected on.

Lincoln, Nebraska

I went to Lincoln, Nebraska today for no other reason then I felt like seeing a Quilt museum or at least I thought it was a museum.  I have always been very fond of quilts and have seen several shows and fairs in the past.  There was no address in the AAA guide so I had to find the building on my own, which is always a problem.  I used deductive reasoning and actually found the place.  The building was very impressed with itself but really had very little gallery space which was a shame.

On the third floor they had quilts on the theme of stars.  Each quilt used stars differently, a few I couldn't even find the stars.  To be honest though some were beautiful and as far as I could tell they were hand stitched, some were even hand quilted.  In one room were antique doll quilts, which were lovely.  They were much simpler that adult quilts but some mothers made for their daughters, others were the first practice quilts made by little girls learning to quilt.

The second floor had the main gallery.  The special show was by a woman named Jean Ray Laury.  She was a very strong feminist and many of her quilts are very political.  Some lost their quiltiness to her politics.  When she went towards modern art she really hit the mark, but that is my taste plus she used colors that I like.  The rest of the gallery had a show of name quilts which I didn't like.  The quilts without the names were fine.  The names were distracting or just plain ugly.  As you can tell I am rather opinionated.  After having driven for hours to get there I figure I am entitled.

The first floor has a collection of antique sewing kits and tools and toy sewing machines.  They also have interactive programs about how quilts are maintained, archived and restored.  This is a graduate school program that is being presented.

This was my one and only stop in Nebraska.  I am now in Ames, Iowa.

Mount Rushmore & the Corn Palace

Mount Rushmore is quite impressive but expensive.  It costs $11 to park.  It's good for a year but how often are you going to return to the park in a year.  Most people take a few pictures and leave just like I did.  The sculptures were very interesting even as close as I got.  The likenesses were really good.  I dare the older members of my audience not to think of North by Northwest by Hitchcock when you see Mount Rushmore.  I could see Cary Grant scurrying around the faces as I looked up at them.  The physical layout was very well done and complimented the mountain.  They had a lovely alley of columns with a state and its date of statehood etched on it and the flag flying, four per column.  All of it was done in a reddish granite.  Someone once told me that they had been disappointed by Mount Rushmore, they thought it was small.  I thought it was the right size, I really did.  How do you judge that kind of thing.

While I was in the area I went to see the Crazy Horse Memorial which is in the process of being carved.  It is still in a very rudimentary stage except for Crazy Horse's face.  It seems to be stalled for lack of money.  You can tour the artist's studio and see a model of the planned finished project.  It is incredibly impressive.  Mount Rushmore is very static but the Crazy Horse monument is very active.

I drove across South Dakota to see a Corn Palace.  It was amazing.  It is entirely covered in plant material, primarily corn.  They use 13 colors of corn, husks and some other materials that I can't remember.  Every year they completely redo the theme.  It was first done in 1892 to try to win the State Capitol title and to bring people to town.  Birds eat the corn kernels over the year and so it needs to be replaced.   I don't think the birds really eat that much but they have a huge harvest festival when  the decorating is complete.  It takes months because different parts mature at different times.  It is Moorish in design and just adorable. They show a movie that explains the history of the town, Mitchell, and the Corn Palace.  The inside is a sports arena which is used mostly for basketball games.

I've decided not to go to North Dakota as I can't find a thing that I want to see.  It really is sad., a whole state with nothing to interest me.  I really looked hard.

Little Big Horn and Devils Tower

My morning was a sad one.  I did not think I would be so moved by the Little Big Horn Battlefield in Wyoming but I was.  It is only a hill with rolling fields surrounding it but off to one side are all these headstones of the soldiers who died on this spot.  There was a Ranger who gave a talk in great detail about all the battles and the strategies of both the soldiers and the Indians.  He did a marvelous job of making it come alive.  He explained how the Indians won the battle but so angered the US government that they sent additional troops.  These drove the Indians back to the Reservations and killed Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.  There is now a beautiful sculpture in a monument commemorating the Indians.  At the end the Ranger claimed he wasn't being political but he made statements that were basically anti-war.  He even recommended an anti-war movie.

My afternoon was much lighter.  I drove across Wyoming to South Dakota to see the Devils Tower.  It is very strange.  There are no other hills at all like it anywhere around.  It just sticks up in its magnificence.  It looks exactly it did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Even the area around it is the same.  There are cows in the rolling fields like the ones the knocked out to frighten people.

On the way up to the Tower they have the remnants of a Prairie Dog town.  The dogs once covered the whole area but have been hunted out of the larger area.  The dogs are just so adorable.  They are so used to people that they ignore you no matter what you do.  You can take their pictures forever but you worry that they aren't aware of real predators.  They are getting too populated and the Rangers are worried about how to control the numbers.  Their natural enemy is the coyote but they are hunted by the ranchers who also hate the prairie dogs.

I couldn't blog last night because the hotel was having trouble with their WIFI.

A good day at the Park

Well luck was with me and the day dawned sunny and warm.  I gambled and won, yeah!  The Park is gorgeous but there aren't any glaciers.  The valley and the huge lake were formed by glaciers.  Many parts  of the Park are still closed including most of the Road to the Sun.  Only 14 miles were open but there was so much to see.  The mountains surrounding the lake were snow tipped, touched by the sun so they sparkled.  The lake itself was crystal clear and absolutely still and reflected all that was around it.  The river that fed the lake was wildly turbulent.  The water rushed over the cataracts in great roiling waves appearing white, blues and greens.  Photos just can't capture the beauty of the Park nor can words make it become real.

After spending time in the Park I decided to drive to Billings because I was interested in taking a tour about Lewis and Clark.  However, there was so much major road work that I missed my chance to go on the tour.  I think everyone in Montana works on the roads.  Anyway the drive was fantastic.  When Montana is flat it is very flat and you can see forever and you understand the concept of the Big Sky, whether it is Montana or Wyoming.

The cliches are real.  The wind really does whistle down the plain and you can see forever.  You  can see a storm coming from miles and miles away.  There were these black clouds and occasionally there would be a lightening strike.  I watched it for hours as I made my way along, particularly as I sat and waited to be released from the roadwork but the storm never got to where I was.

There really isn't much to do in Billings, it seems to be just a big city.  I think I'm going to Little Big Horn tomorrow.

Another wasted day

I set off early for Glacier National Park.  It took more than 6 hours to get into the area so I went to the hotel first.  I needed to make sure my room was on the first floor because they don't have an elevator.  It rained on and off all day.  When I got to the hotel I learned that the Road to the Sun, the main attraction, is still closed.  They are afraid to clear the snow because it may cause avalanches.  Other roads are partially open.  Because of the rain I decided not to spend the time getting to the park today and trying to get there tomorrow.  It is a crap shoot, the weather could be better or worse.  Up here it seems to be very changeable hour by hour.

The drive was very interesting and quite beautiful.  You can see the Tetons from everywhere and even in the rain they seem to sparkle.  The other mountains are green and undulate against the Tetons.  It was fun.

Wish me luck for tomorrow.

Yellowstone National Park

I toured from one side of Yellowstone to the other to the other.  I must admit that I am exhausted but had a fantastic time.  Yellowstone is very beautiful and eerie in spots.  There are so many hot springs that you turn a corner and are greeted by steam when you least expect it.  There are these twisted and/or massive white mounds formed by the steam cooling.  Some of them look like marshmallows after they've been in the fire before they become S'mores.

I actually did better yesterday at seeing animals up close.  I also learned I have no patience.  There are people who come to Yellowstone for two or three days.  People will stay at an overlook waiting for an animal to come by.  The thought of doing that would drive me crazy.  If an animal isn't visible I move on. I saw a lot yesterday because I went through late in the afternoon when the animals were fed and relaxed.  Maybe.  I may have just been lucky.  Today every animal I saw was at a great distance.

I saw a large herd of Bison.  I realize that Bison are not all that much larger than cattle.  They are taller in the front because of their shoulders but their hind ends are lower and narrower.  I also saw a bear with her two year old cub eating in a field.  They were very far away so it was safe to get out of the car.  Later in the day there were two bear sitings but the Rangers were moving people along because the bears, who had new cubs, were too close to the roads.  As I was leaving I saw a group of 5 Bison near the road so I approached to take a picture.  They were down a hill so  I figured I was safe and I took my picture and walked back to my car.  As soon as I got back to my car I saw one of the Bison climb the hill and stand in the middle of the road.  He could easily have charged me.

I went to see Old Faithful being very skeptical having seen it on film a million times.  I got lucky because I didn't have a schedule and so had no idea when it was due to blow.  It only goes off every 90 minutes.  My luck held up and I had time to get a hot chocolate and two postcards, get into position and there it went.  It was wonderful.  It lets off steam all the time but when it really blows there is this whooshing sound and great amounts of steam.  There were no crowds so everyone got to see with plenty of room.

The weather has been really crazy today.  It started out sunny and cold, then it rained then the rain stopped long enough for Old Faithful and some more sightseeing.  Then it rained with a terrible wind and the sun came out again.  Then there was a thunderstorm and as of now the sun is shining as though nothing had happened.

A busy day and potatoes too

A belated fact about Boise, they process ALL the french fries for McDonald's in America.  Somehow I find that very repulsive.  I'm not sure why.

The day started with me off to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  I haven't figured out the difference between a National Park and a National Monument.  As I was driving there a coyote pranced across the road in front of me just as casual as can be, luckily he was far enough ahead that I didn't need to brake.  I think I'm a volcano type girl.  As soon as I starting getting into the area and the soil turned black and all the rocks were black and sharp a smile appeared on my face.  There are basically two types of lava: one is aiai which is sharp and very broken and the other pahoehoe which is smoother.  Craters of the Moon had its last eruption about 2000 years ago.  It is really exciting to see comparatively recent lava flows begin to be colonized first by lichens and then plants.  Some of the lava has turned red from rust because of its high iron content.  I wandered around the monument for an hour or so checking out the different formations created by the different eruptions.

Next I went to Blackfoot to visit the Idaho Potato Museum.  It is an adorable little museum.  They have the whole history of how potatoes made their way from South America to the rest of the world.  Also how  the Idaho Russet potato was hybridized.  Then they had a promo on how potatoes are grown, graded, double-checked, packed and shipped.  Then what happens to the rejects like hash browns or other frozen products.  They, of course, had all the old equipment used for planting and harvesting potatoes.  They had this photo of Marilyn Monroe in a potato sack.

I decided that the next thing I would do was to spend two days in Yellowstone so I got a hotel at the north   entrance of the Park.  For some reason because it is me I had to go through west entrance and meander to get to the north entrance.  For a while I got depressed because I didn't see so much as a squirrel.  Then I turned a corner and there was a crowd of parked cars with people taking pictures of Bison hanging out not ten feet away.  It was amazing.  They must have all been mothers and juveniles because they were pretty small.  Though a man got too close and a Bison got up and snorted angrily and stomped his foot.  I took some photos and moved on.  Next there was a large male Bison posing for photos.  He was standing on a mound and would check to see if you had your camera ready and would hold a pose.  Once he heard the click he would move, shake himself, look around.  As I kept driving I came across people photographing a herd of Elk.  Of course I stopped to take my own photos.  They were at a great distance but I saw a doe Elk up close as I was leaving the park.  She was just standing at the entrance washing herself.

The hotel is a total rip-off but it isn't anything I didn't expect.  It was a great day.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Boise and beyond

I had a very emotional morning.  Boise has an Anne Frank Memorial, which is also dedicated to Human Rights.  Well, as soon as I saw the Memorial I started crying.  It just hit me in the gut and then I started reading all the quotes that were written on the walls that surrounded the main part of the Memorial.  I was a real wreck, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

After that I went on an Historical Tour of Boise.  It was really cute.  We took an old trolley around town and were shown great neighborhoods.  The neighborhoods were very eclectic in style and they had excellent examples of almost every architectural style up to the 40's.  They even had a Sears house, which was remarkably complex looking.  Hard to believe that you could order them out of a catalog.  We drove by the Capitol building and heard all about their corrupt politicians.  We also went through the Basque area of the city.  There is a very large and healthy Basque section of Basque restaurants and stores, even a historical museum and sports club.  There used to be a Chinatown but it was torn down many years ago and there is no trace of it left.

Next I moved on to Hagertown for the Fossil Beds.  The Fossil Beds are a National Monument only you can't see them because they are too fragile.  You can only get about a mile from them and look in the correct direction.  It is the silliest thing I have ever seen.  Oh, it is also along the Oregon Trail and you are supposed to be able to still see the ruts made by the wagons.  I'm not sure I saw anything but I decided I did so there trip wouldn't be a total loss.  It was a laugh if nothing else.  The Visitor Center did have fossils so I did actually see some.

All in all it was a very good day.

Totally Wasted Day

I drove from Moses Lake, where I slept last night, to Boise, Idaho today period.  That is all I accomplished.  I had hoped to take a trolley tour of Boise but they only do one tour a day at 11:00 AM, it was almost 4:00 PM and besides I had a bad address.  It seems AAA hadn't gotten a change of address in time to update the book.

Though I like Idaho already - the gas is under $3.80 after only being able to find the cheapest gas of $4.15 in California, Oregon or Washington.

Tomorrow should be more interesting.  Actually anything would be more interesting.

Museum of Glass

Today I went to Tacoma, which is the other half of Seattle, though they would be offended to hear it said.  I went to visit the Museum of Glass.  I had never heard of an entire art museum dedicated to one medium. It was an interesting building to start off,part of it is a cone, like an upside down waffle cone.  They have an amphitheater where they invite artists to give demonstrations on glass blowing or other glass creations. They have a fairly large display of early Dale Chihuly's.  These were done before he lost his eye in a car accident and started just designing.  The work is simpler and I found much more beautiful.  The museum has other collections some of which are quirky and some are very serious and others are just beautiful for beauty's sake.  It was an enchanting morning.

My afternoon consisted of driving across Oregon to the Grand Coulee Dam.  It was fascinating, as soon as I crossed the Cascades Oregon became a desert.  There were mesas and flat lands filled with scrub and boulders.  The mesas had a lot more green on them then Arizona or Utah desert mesas did.  All through the mesas runs the Columbia River.  The Grand Coulee Dam is so incredibly different from the Hoover Dam.  It is one mile long but not nearly as tall.  It doesn't have the physical presence of the Hoover Dam.  It started as a reclamation project and as way to put people back to work.  It was finished in 1942 and allows irrigation and power for the area.

Seattle revisited

Well I have revisited Seattle and re-evaluated the city.  I must say I certainly had a better time this visit.  The day started out rainy as I drove from the hotel to Seattle center but by the time I had parked my car the sun had come out.  That alone made a difference, in my last visit when I never saw the sun.  This morning I took a Duck tour of the city.  I learned that the last of the Ducks currently running in America was built in 1947.  It was certainly before the disposable generation.  We had the most boring group of people on the tour.  No one had purchased the duck quaker so it was a quiet tour.  The guide worked so hard to get them to participate.  One girl and I, sitting in the back, seemed to be the only ones trying.  It was a good orientation of the city and the harbor.  We even got to see the floating house from Sleepless in Seattle.  There were some beautiful house boats and yachts docked on this man made lake.  We passed this car wash wish washed Elvis' pink cadillac every day of his performance stay.  It was even used to was a presidential car.

After the Duck ride I took a walk to the Pike's Market.  It was much further than I had expected so it did me good and I got a close look at different parts of the city.  The Duck Tour was by the Space Needle and Pike's Market seems to be on the other side of the city.  The market is huge, it goes on for the equivalent of four or five blocks.  One side seems to be almost exclusively flowers.  They are absolutely gorgeous.  The colors dazzle your eyes, you get no scent because the other side is fish and meat stalls.  There is no bad fishy smell anywhere in the market.  Each of the stalls had a clean fresh fish smell, it was really a pleasure to walk through.  The crowds were bad but most people were basically polite.

Across the street, facing the market were more fruit and vegetable stands as well as a cheese maker and several bakeries.  On every street corner there was a street performer or group.  One corner had an R & B group that had great harmony.  They were the only ones I hung out for and threw money in for.

Sunday in Oregon

Amazingly I found a UU Fellowship in Astoria, Oregon.  There are only 21 members but they are warm and of varied ages, though they do tend to be on the older side.  They do have a youth program so there must be younger members that I didn't see.  They had a guest minister in the pulpit.  She spoke of prayer and how we do it all the time without even thinking about it.  Like when we say "Don't let me be lost."  The service itself was pretty much like ours which made it very comfortable.  As always the people made me feel so welcome.  We talked about the differences between the Southwest and the Northeast.  It was a very enjoyable morning.

The big draw in Astoria is the Astoria Column that mirrors the look of Trajan's Column in Rome.  It was erected in 1926 to commemorate the pioneer days, including Lewis and Clark.  It is covered in details of the history of Astoria, unfortunately the details are done in blacks and browns.  It was almost impossible to see the details, what I could see was well done.  Even if the column isn't spectacular the view from up there was.  Astoria is at the mouth of the Columbia River and you get lots of major shipping.  This doesn't seem to to affect the sea lions.  There was a rock jetty that the sea lions haul out on at night.  I could hear them most of the evening, even late into the night from my room.  In the morning there were two bald eagles sitting on piling near the jetty.

I then drove to Seattle in the hopes that I can find things to do even on Memorial Day.

The railroad that did

Today I took a railroad tour of the area around Hood River, Oregon.  It happens to be a very pretty part of the country.  There are tremendous numbers of orchards in the hills around the area.  They are pear and apple trees for the most part and you can still see smudge pots or heaters spread out among some of the trees.  Bee hives are also placed in strategic places as well as out in wooded areas along the tracks.  There has been the same problem with hive die off out here as there was out East.  As we traveled along we did get some good looks at Mt. Hood.  Unfortunately the clouds had started to settle  so you couldn't see the top but it was still a beautiful sight.

I thought I was going on a two hour railroad tour because that is what the AAA book said the Saturday tour was.  It turns out it was four hours, not that it made any difference.  I booked first class so that I could sit upstairs in the domed part of a car.  I was seated at a table with a very pleasant couple and we talked all the way through the trip.  It made the trip go faster which helped, there are just so many trees that you can get excited about.  One orchard does look like the next one.  We stopped at one fruit distributor who also had a small retail shop.  As usual everyone went mad buying fruit and jams and things they didn't need.  I was very disciplined and bought nothing.  I am getting very good at this.

The end of the line was in Parkdale where everyone got off to have lunch.  There was also a small eclectic museum in town that we could visit for free because we were on the train.  They had walrus tusks and odd coins, old tools, but the most interesting things were tiles inset with arrowheads in artistic patterns.  Some of the patterns were pictures: a Conestoga wagon, insects, star bursts and mountains with trees.

Really Nice Day

I had a very pleasant if confusing day.  I spent the whole morning wandering around Portland.  At first I would up in the Cultural Center of town which wasn't terribly interesting.  There were some interesting buildings but mostly it  ran into the usual financial and commercial center that looked like every other center of a big city.  I walked up and down hills looking in stores until I found a charming park called Pioneer Park.  It had a waterfall, statues, fancy gates and of course a Starbucks.  Whatever, it was really well done.  I walked around some more and discovered sign that pointed to the Old Town and Chinatown.  I tried walking for a while but didn't see another sign so I went back for my car.

It took a while but I finally located the Old Town and Chinatown.  It was a hoot.  It reminded me so much of New York that I had trouble not laughing too loudly out loud.  Old Town is on the verge of gentrification and of course it runs smack into Chinatown.  You see lots of young yuppie type people on the streets as well as derelicts.  It is so SOHO in the 80's.  There are lots of lofts as well as their equivalents of brownstones.  The bones are there it just will take a few years and more pioneers to make the change happen.  Chinatown is tiny.  It may have been 4 blocks but I didn't really investigate.

After lunch I headed off to Hood River which is North East of Portland.  It is on the Columbia River, which is very impressive.  It is quite wide and looks like it flows rapidly.  The banks are tree lined and taken all together makes a beautiful impression.  I checked into the hotel and then headed downtown.  Hood River is a charming town without being cloying and overly touristy.  There are real stores as well as  shops that cater to tourist types of goods.  None of it is in your face commercial, none of it looks fake.  The town only has one main street so  it is very compact and locals are stopping at cafes as well as the tourists.  All in all I had a very pleasant afternoon as opposed to Carmel and Monterey.  I saw the tackiest chandelier that I so wanted for my entry hall.  But I didn't even ask the price.  One I didn't think it would make it home without breaking and two this trip is costing enough as it is, so no tacky chandelier.