I’ve been in college for a week and so far everything is going well. I’ve now had all of my classes at least twice, and I’ve also been able to do quite a bit of exploring around the campus. As it turned out, the first book I’m reading for my honors inquiry into the humanities class is Tim O’Brian’s The Things They Carried, which is a semi-fictional, semi-non-fictional, semi-memoirist look into the experiences of the author during and after the Vietnam War. Although I’ve only read seven chapters of the book – including “The Things They Carried” and “On the Rainy River,” which I both read last year in AP English Language – what I’ve read so far has been pretty good. We get together in class twice a week to basically discuss our opinions of what we’ve read, much like what a book club would do. In addition, we’re also required to post at least two discussions to an online message board set up through UND’s “ Blackboard” application. Chemistry is currently my favorite class, due to quite a few reasons. The professor seems to be really good – it’s quite apparent that he knows what he’s talking about – and, since it’s a 200-level course, everybody in the class is either majoring in chemistry, chemical engineering, or something else that would require a thorough understanding of chemistry. Chemistry is my only class in a lecture hall environment, but, even so, it’s held in a rather small lecture bowl that can only seat about 50 people. The total number of students in the class, however, is around 25. Right now, we’ve just basically been reviewing material that should have been covered in high school chemistry, AP chemistry, or chemistry 121. German II is another class that I’m enjoying. The professor is what I imagine Herr P will be like in 25 more years, with a mellower disposition and grayer (facial) hair. The class is kind of boring, though, since all we’re doing right now is reviewing the very basic stuff from German I, like how to properly conjugate a verb. There are all sorts of abilities represented with the 30-or-so people in the class, though, so the review is necessary, especially for those who may have just begun their German instruction in college. All in all, Herr P really deserves to be commended for how strongly he believes in actually teaching German, since I’ve been hearing quite a few stories from people who had horrible high school German teachers, or at least ones that feel teaching German involves merely showing videos and giving everybody an A. I haven’t yet spoken with anybody who was required to speak in German the entire hour that German class met. I’m also taking Calc this semester, which is turning out to be quite the interesting class. My professor does not believe in the usefulness of having a calculator develop graphs to functions, and would rather we spend some time drawing all graphs out by hand on a piece of paper. I guess I can draw simple graphs all right, but it could get annoying and frustrating if/when I have to draw out graphs to increasingly complex functions. One of my favorite features here on campus is the ability to get the newspaper every morning. Complimentary copies of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Grand Forks Herald, and the USA Today are delivered each morning to all of the resident halls, so basically I just have to go downstairs to the lobby area to pick up the morning newspaper. While on the subject of newspapers, the Grand Forks Herald is one of the best manufactured mid-sized city newspapers I’ve ever seen. Logically enough, the first section – A – contains only news pertinent to the city of Grand Forks and the surrounding area. The second section, meanwhile, appropriately labeled “the second front” is where all the world, national, and regional (North Dakota/Minnesota area) stories are stuck. This is one of the things I wish the Brainerd Dispatch would try, since I’ve always felt its greatest problem is how best to balance the important local stories/features with the important world and national news stories culled from the Associated Press's wires. Continuing on with newspapers, like putting a firecracker into the hands of a toddler, one of the advertisements in Friday's Grand Forks Herald was a huge fold-out poster advertising NDSU as now being an NCAA Division-I school. Let's just say that some people got this unwelcome poster taped to their doors while they weren't looking. And once more about newspapers, UND's official one, The Dakota Student came out today. It has two distinct sections with quite a few articles and is overall a very nicely written student newspaper. It comes out twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays I believe, so that means I'll have one more thing to read whenever I get the opportunity. The food in the dining hall I’ve been primarily eating at ( Terrace) has also been pretty good. It’s definitely not at all like the food served in the public schools in Brainerd, and it feels like I’m in a restaurant, rather than a cafeteria, every time I go to have lunch or dinner. The selection of food has always been really good as well, and I’ve always gotten full thanks to the all-you-can-eat buffet type atmosphere presented at each dining hall. The library here, named after Chester Fritz, is also quite amazing. It's housed in a 4-story building and is the largest library in all of North Dakota. Every floor has a large quiet studying area, but the largest, and my most favorite, is the “fishbowl” one on the second floor. I like to think of it as an über-SRC, since it’s basically a gigantic room enclosed in glass with glass windows and doors, hence the name “fishbowl.” There are two large computer labs in the library, plus some more computers scattered about here and there. On Thursday, I even used a small lab that had nothing but Apple computers. It was pretty fun to play around with OS X again, and I really enjoyed playing around in Adobe Photoshop CS that all of the computers have. I also stumbled upon the periodicals section of the library, where all of the documents that come out on a periodic basis are kept. All of the normal things you’d expect in such a collection, such as journals of medicine and reviews of what’s been happening in government are there, but so too are magazines, such as Life, The Saturday Evening Post, and National Geographic. In fact, the periodicals section includes issues of magazines such as these dating all the way back to the 1930s; for National Geographic, the archives go back to 1908. There is also a whole row of nothing but German publications, including Der Spiegel dating back to the 1940s. Although only staff and graduate students are allowed to check the periodicals out from the library, there’s nothing preventing me from picking up one of the hardcover books the issues are held in and sitting down at a table to look it for awhile. Even though there are about 12,500 students this year at UND, the area of the campus containing the majority of the academic halls gets really quiet at night. It’s pretty peaceful, actually, to go out for a walk at about 7 PM – an hour and a half before the sun sets these days – and gaze around at the ornate buildings and gardens on campus. I actually went out earlier last evening to take some pictures around the campus. If I get them uploaded to my computer shortly, I will likely make a post sometime in the future.
So, I’m writing from college at UND right now. I moved into my dorm on Friday, which, “officially,” was the earliest that students could begin occupying their rooms. I say officially because anybody who was willing to pay a fee had the opportunity to move in either on Wednesday or Thursday. Anyway, I’m currently getting myself situated into my room on the top floor of Fulton Hall. My room faces north, meaning that it will more than likely get cold during the winter. The view isn’t exactly what I would have wanted, but, I suppose you could say it isn’t that bad either. I look into a good sized courtyard formed by the Fulton, Johnston, and Smith residence halls. I can see a tree – I believe it’s an oak, although it could be a cottonwood since those things grow like dandelions around here – as well as some sidewalks and a sand volleyball court. Classes didn’t start until 4 PM this afternoon, but, even then, that didn’t concern me since I don’t have any classes after 4 on Mondays. However, I will have 3 classes tomorrow: Honors 101 (“inquiry into the humanities”), German II, and Calc II. Although I’ll have to walk all over campus to get to these classes, I do have an hour break between all of them that I can utilize to eat lunch or something. Speaking of classes, I went over to the bookstore yesterday and on Saturday to pick up all the books I’ll need. The bill ended up being a little less than $400, largely due to the fact that my chemistry book cost $107 (for a used version, no less) and that I needed to get 7 books/novels for my honors class. And these 7 books are, in alphabetical order: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman Maus by Art Spiegelman The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien What Does it all Mean? by Thomas Nagel I’m pretty happy to see two books on that list that I am familiar with. If we don’t read The Great Gatsby first, I’m likely to grab my papers and journal, which I have saved, along with pretty much everything else from high school I found important (including the “Simone ist am klügsten” sign from the former German room), from Wanniger’s pre-AP English class the next time I go home. I should probably also fetch my thoroughly highlighted and marked-up The Great Gatbsy from said class as well. I know that Niemi in last year’s AP English Language class also exposed us to some exerpts from The Things They Carried, so, when I get around to it, I’ll probably look through my essay and multiple choice folders that I coincidently decided to bring with me to college. If I don’t find anything in those, I could always dig through some boxes at home to find the folder with all the handouts from the class. That’s all for now; I’ll keep everybody updated whenever I get around to doing so.
Day 7 Summary – August 6, 2005
Rochelle, IL to Brainerd, MNThe final day of my 2005 vacation would be spent doing pretty much nothing but driving, as there would be a grand total of 500 miles that would have to be covered in order to get from Rochelle, IL to Brainerd, MN. Because of all the driving involved, there wasn’t much time to stop and do much major sightseeing. Still, I did get to see a lot of interesting stuff from the car window. We opted once again to take a non-interstate route to get from Illinois to Minnesota, so the first action on day 6 was to take Illinois Highway 251 north from Rochelle to where it met up with Illinois Highway 64. Then, we followed this road west through the cities Oregon and Mount Morris and up to where it flowed into U.S. Highway 52. The scenery on these three roads was much like what I had accustomed to before retiring to my hotel room in Rochelle the night before; there were a lot of farms, few trees, and very straight roads. The number of trees began growing, however, as we came to where highway 64 came together with highway 52. By the time we had gotten to Savanna, the landscape was hilly, there were a lot of trees, and the road was windy. We had once again reached bluff country along the Mississippi River. After seeing – and stopping for awhile – in the quaint city of Savanna, we got on Illinois Highway 82 heading north through bluff territory. After going about 8 miles, we crossed the border into Illinois’ Jo Daviess County. It was at this point that I could say I had been to the southernmost county in Illinois (Alexander), the northeasternmost county in Illinois (Lake), and the northwesternmost county in Illinois (Jo Daviess). Highway 82 eventually met up with U.S. Highway 20, onto which we turned left to go in a northwest direction. Immediately after the intersection of highways 82 and 20, the road ascended a very steep hill. Right at the top, miraculously enough, was a scenic overlook that featured a tower you could climb up to get an even better view! I, of course, went up to the top, and was treated to a wonderful view of the northwest Illinois countryside. Some people on the tower also said it was possible to see Iowa and Wisconsin from the top as well, so, who knows, I may have been looking at more than just Illinois. After finishing up at the observation tower and scenic overlook, we got back on highway 20 heading toward Galena, IL. About 3 miles outside of the town, which is located in a steep valley that was a 7% grade along the roadway, we came up to a big traffic jam. It took about 30 minutes just to get to downtown Galena, where we figured out what was causing the giant blockage of traffic...the downtown’s one stoplight: it went red in way too short of time intervals. We finally got through the mess in Galena, however, and were off on the way toward East Dubuque, IL, just across the Mississippi from Dubuque, IA. There wasn’t any time to make a stop in the Iowa city, however, so we instead turned onto Illinois Highway 35. From here, the Wisconsin border was only about 2 miles away. Upon entering Wisconsin, Illinois Highway 35 turned into Wisconsin Highway 35, the same one we took on day 1 of the vacation, and the same one that goes all the way up to the Minnesota/Wisconsin border in Superior, WI. There were a few more dairy farms and cornfields once we got into Wisconsin, but other than that, the countryside was pretty much like it had been since Savanna, IL. There were a lot of small hills, and every so often the road came close to Mississippi River, so that the state of Iowa could be seen on the other side. Prairie du Chien was the first Wisconsin city of significance along highway 35, followed by La Crosse. After going, this time, through downtown La Crosse and then later on the U.S. Highway 53 interstate-spur that runs north of the city, we got back onto the same highway 35 heading toward Trempealeau, WI that we had ridden along during the first day of the trip. The road from Trempealeau to Prescott was much as how I remembered it from the first day, as was the subsequent road from Prescott into St. Paul. Not much happened along this stretch of roadway or the U.S. Highway 10 stretch of roadway that we got on and went north on in St. Paul. After all was said and done, we finally got home to Brainerd just as the sun was set at around 9 PM, and my 2005 vacation came to an end. Pictures: This was the view of the farm fields from our hotel room  This is along the road going into Rochelle  Scenery along the road in north-central Illinois  Another scene of the roadway in north-central Illinois  The view from the tower near Galena  Another view from the tower; the countryside consisted of gently rolling hills  A farmstead viewable from the tower  Looking south from the tower, U.S. Highway 20 can be seen in the lower right  Looking north from the tower  This is the tower  The countryside from the bottom of the tower  That farmstead that was seen in picture #7  The town of Galena off in the distance, with a stack of hay in the foreground  There is a 7% grade going into the city of Galena  The Galena cemetary  The brick building is President Ulysses S. Grant's home Going up and down in the bluffs of Wisconsin  That's Granddad Bluff in La Crosse  The sunset along Minnesota Highway 371 near Fort Ripley  The Welcome to Wisconsin sign  More going up and down in the bluffs of Wisconsin  Welcome to Minnesota  Finally, at 9:07 PM, the welcome to Brainerd sign becomes visible  The local forecasts on The Weather Channel in the Chicago area also contain traffic updates Videos:There are no videos related to day 7
Day 6 Summary – August 5, 2005
Metropolis, IL to Rochelle, ILDay 6 would be an anomaly during my vacation, in that the entire day would be spent traveling entirely within one state. After spending the previous day in 5 different states, this would be a refreshing change of pace. I woke up on day 6 in the city of Metropolis, IL. Now, if you’re familiar at all with the comic strip hero Superman, you’d realize that Metropolis is the name of the city he lives in. While Superman’s Metropolis was not intended to be located in any one state, the city of Metropolis, Illinois, the only place in the United States to have that name, has adopted Superman as its own. Besides having a large billboard that says “home of Superman” and banners along the town’s main streets that prominently feature Superman, the city also has a Superman museum and a gigantic statue next to the county courthouse. The museum wasn’t yet open when we drove past, but the statue was, and it was quite fun to look at. After seeing the Superman stuff, we headed on down to Fort Massac State Park, which is very conveniently located within the city of Metropolis. The state park is the oldest in Illinois, having been established in 1908, and features a recreation of an 1802 American fort that was on the site, right next to the Ohio River overlooking what is presently Kentucky. The fort contains 2 barracks, 3 block houses, officer quarters, a well, a stockade with a fraise fence, and offered a fascinating portrait into the life of early American settlers in the area. Besides the fort, the park also featured the usual interpretive center, hiking trails, and picnic areas so common in state parks. Illinois’ state parks are all free, however, which can be looked at as both a good and bad thing. Following spending a little more than an hour at the park, it was time to get on the interstate to begin the arduous journey from nearly the very southern tip of Illinois to a city about 45 minutes away from the Illinois/Wisconsin border. First, we had to get on Interstate 24 heading north through the very heavily forested country of southern Illinois. The interstate actually closely abuts the Shawnee National Forest in this portion of Illinois. After Interstate 24 ended and merged in with Interstate 57, we continued along this road for another 70 miles. Past the towns of Marion, West Frankfort, Benton, and Mount Vernon we went, until finally reaching exit 116, which would start us on the way to traveling on a 2-lane highway for the 80 or so mile stretch to Decatur. Exit 116 brought us up to U.S. Highway 50, which we followed into the cities of Odin and Sandoval. At Sandoval, we had to turn onto U.S. Highway 51, which would be the one we would be taking more or less up to the cities of Bloomington and Normal. Although interstate highways provide a fast way to get from one point to another, it is definitely true that you see more by traveling on 2-lane back roads such as highway 51. I enjoyed going through all the small towns along the highway between Sandoval and Decatur. As a side note, one of those small towns I passed though was Vandalia, which, if you didn’t know, was the capital of Illinois from 1819-1839. That’s just something interesting I thought I’d point out. By the time we finally made it to the Decatur bypass on highway 51, things were beginning to feel much like the Illinois I had known before. The endless block of trees began to give way to endless blocks of corn and soybeans, the terrain became increasingly flatter, and the people started to speak with a Midwest accent rather than a southern one. From Decatur, it was just a short, 30-minute drive on the 4-lane U.S. Highway 51 up to Bloomington, which was one of the cities I stayed overnight in during my 2002 vacation to Washington D.C. Needless to say, we pretty much bypassed the Bloomington/Normal area to get on Interstate 39 going north. About 40 miles past Bloomington/Normal, we exited on exit 41, Illinois Highway 18, to head into the rural city of Streator to take a backroad way into Rochelle. From Streator, we got on Illinois 23 and went north to Ottawa, a city that appeared to be a far exurb of Chicago. The city was quite a nice place, though, and is located in somewhat of a deep river valley. After Ottawa, all that was required of us to do was follow highway 23 up to where it came to an intersection with U.S. Highway 34 going west. This was a pretty neat area, since it was so utterly rural for being a mere 65 miles away from downtown Chicago, the third largest city in the United States. The land was completely flat, there were few trees, and corn seemed to be growing everywhere I looked. It was just amazing how far removed from the hustle and bustle of the Chicago metropolitan area this region of Illinois is considering how close it is to Chicago. It was also in this area of Illinois that I was reminded of why I love the landscape of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota so much; north central Illinois looks so incredibly like the Red River Valley region of the Upper Midwest. In both areas, I just love the paucity of trees, the flatness of the land, and the straightness of the roads. It’s ironic, considering I’ve now intimately seen both the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains, but I’d love to live in a house offering an interrupted view of nothing but flat farmland. Although I think mountainous areas are extremely beautiful, living in, for example, one of those Appalachian towns in North Carolina would feel far too confining for me; I prefer the “big sky” county much more. In Mendota, we turned off from highway 34 and onto Illinois Highway 251. It was about 7:30 PM – about a half and hour before sunset – when we began faring the 30 miles from Mendota to Rochelle. I can honestly say that this 30 mile trip was probably one of the most beautiful and memorable I’ve ever been on. The sun was right on the verge of setting, with all the colors that make up a stunning sunset beginning to appear, and all of the corn and cropland looked wonderful lit up in the final sunrays of the day. Neither words nor pictures can express how inspiring this voyage was. Pictures: As can be seen in this picture from the radar on The Weather Channel, Paducah and Metropolis lie almost in the middle of a region containing 6 different states  Looking down main street in Metropolis, notice the Superman displays on the streetlights  Metropolis's huge Superman statue  The Superman museum  The fort at Fort Massac State Park  Another view, this time from the outside of the fort  Inside one of the barracks at the fort  Another view inside one of the barracks  The Interstate 24 bridge that spans the Ohio River between Kentucky and Illinois  A view of the Ohio River looking into Kentucky  Fort Massac State Park also had this statue of George Rogers Clark looking onto Kentucky  The inmates were out mowing the grass at the park  Another view along the shore of the Ohio River  Appropriately enough (Illinois' state bird is the cardinal), this cardinal showed up to feed while I was at Fort Massac State Park  The scenery near Pana  Illinois farmland near Decatur  Some farmland near Streator  A country road near Mendota  The beautiful road on the way to Rochelle  Somebody decided to fly over the farmland near Rochelle  This insect managed to hold onto the window, while the van was going 60 mph, for quite a distance (see the video below)  Downtown Pana  Normal's watertower  The Amtrak train from Chicago comes to Mendota  Our van made quite an interesting shadow amongst the cornfields while on the road to Rochelle  Just a few minutes before sunset  Just as we got to Rochelle, the sun set Videos:Fort Massac State Park 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Ant at Fort Massac State Park 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)An Insect Clings onto Window 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)
Day 5 Summary – August 4, 2005
Chattanooga, TN to Metropolis, ILLike many other mid- to large-sized cities in the eastern United States, Chattanooga is as much one large city as it is a mixture of separate neighborhoods that each have their own distinct personalities and appearances. So when I found out that one of the neighborhoods of Chattanooga is named Brainerd, I was pretty excited. Here, in a city right next to the Tennessee/Georgia border, I would have the opportunity to see a neighborhood that has the very unique name of the community I live in almost 900 miles away in Minnesota. By no coincidence, the hotel we stayed at in Chattanooga was located within the Brainerd neighborhood. In fact, from the window located in the hotel room, I had an excellent view of Brainerd Road, the main thoroughfare running through the neighborhood of Brainerd. When we left our hotel in the morning, it was time to go exploring Brainerd. Before leaving Chattanooga, I wanted to see – and take pictures of – everything I could find that said the word Brainerd on it. Well, I hit the jackpot by turning off of Brainerd Road and onto North Moore Road. On this road, I found the Brainerd Golf Course, the Brainerd Complex of the city of Chattanooga, the Brainerd Tennis Courts, and, best of all, Brainerd High School, which was not only the “home of the panthers,” but also the “home of Venus Lacy,” a 1996 Olympic gold medal winner in basketball. Unlike its counterpart in Minnesota, the Brainerd High School of Tennessee can boast of four state champion basketball teams as well as two runner-up champion basketball teams. Although there were a couple attractions in Chattanooga that I thought looked like good places to potentially go, I happened to be more in a geocaching mood when we were in Chattanooga. So, rather than going to the top of Lookout Mountain, which looked like a fabulous place to see the city of Chattanooga, but just not on an über-smoggy day like the one experienced by Chattanooga on the day I was there, I went on to find two geocaches. The first geocache was in a serene and picturesque cemetery in the North Brainerd neighborhood; the second was near the University of Tennessee planetary observatory in the East Brainerd neighborhood. I found both caches rather quickly, and especially had a fun time trampling over Kudzu, “ the plant that ate the south,” to find the second one. So, after finding what I was going after, we got on Interstate 24. After seeing the magnificent Tennessee River right from the side of the roadway, it was time to get to exit the interstate and drive around the neighborhood of Tiftonia, in the very eastern outskirts of Chattanooga. My intention was to watch the action at some of the train yards in the area, but, after discovering that there were no really “legal” places to park, that idea was thrown out the window. I did, however, get the opportunity to cross the Tennessee/Georgia border on a 2-lane highway, so that was pretty pleasing. Also, I was able to find a Comfort Inn right next to a McDonald’s that had a good, reliable wireless internet connection. After catching up to all that I had missed on the internet, we got back onto Interstate 24, only to head back into Georgia for a little while. The welcome to Georgia sign along the interstate was different from the one I saw on the 2-lane U.S. Highway 11, in that it prominently stated that Georgia was the site of the 1996 Olympic Games. That’s just something I found interesting, considering how many years it’s been since 1996. After traveling along the roughly 4 miles that Interstate 24 is in Georgia, we crossed the border back into Tennessee. At the exit to U.S. Highway 72, it was once again time to get off the interstate to go on a little side-trip. This time it was to see the state of Alabama, since I had never been there before. So we drove about 7 miles south to pretty much the only establishment in the far northeast corner of Alabama, the community of Bridgeport (population 2,728). The drive getting to the town was nice and scenic, but the town itself wasn’t all that charming. The downtown area, which looked pretty small to begin with, was practically all boarded up, and it was very apparent that there were a lot of people living in poverty. Still, I did see a neat caboose on display at the local historical society’s museum. After heading back into Tennessee from Alabama, we got back on Interstate 24. A mere couple of minutes after getting back into Tennessee, we finally made it back into the central time zone, thus gaining an hour of our lives back. The drive from the Tennessee/Georgia up to about Murfreesboro, TN became pretty hilly again. Although not as scenic as the Great Smoky Mountains that I saw the previous day, this area of Tennessee had a very charming quality about it and would be a place I would like to visit more in-depth sometime when I have the time to do so. By the time we got to the southern suburbs of Nashville, it was time once more to head down to the local Sonic. Luckily, there was one in the sprawling city of Smyrna. There really isn’t anything to note here, but I do enjoy saying the name Smyrna. It would be fun to live in a city with such an interesting name. After eating, we got back on the road to visit the one Nashville attraction that I wanted to see: The Hermitage, otherwise known as the plantation Andrew Jackson owned and lived on while he wasn’t fulfilling his presidential duties. Finding The Hermitage was pretty easy, thanks to the large signs placed along the roadway to direct tourists there. I noticed something interesting as soon as we pulled into The Hermitage museum’s parking lot: a car with Minnesota license plates and decal saying it was purchased from Mills. Anyway, The Hermitage was a very interesting place. The first stop for tourists visiting is the visitors’ center, which features a 15-minute documentary about the life of Andrew Jackson as well as a small museum featuring Jackson artifacts. Following seeing this, all visitors had to head outside, to begin a walking tour around the grounds of the plantation. The first stop was, naturally, the president’s mansion. People dressed in garb from the early to mid nineteenth century give tours of the inside of the mansion about every 15 minutes. The inside of the mansion was very fascinating, especially considering how well restored it has remained since the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, however, so I can’t share any photos of what the innards of the mansion looked like. Following this, it was time to go back outside and take the walking tour around the plantation. There were some buildings that visitors could walk through, such as some typical slave cabins of the era, but, for the most part, the tour involved looking at archaeological remains of what was once located on the plantation’s grounds. I opted to only go and see the slave cabins, because the heat was so stifling the day we were in Nashville. The temperature while we were at The Hermitage was 93°F, and the heat index was pushing the 100°F mark. Nevertheless, it was very interesting to see the cramped quarters slaves lived in during the 1800s, plus there were some neat displays inside the cabins displaying what archaeologists have found buried deep within the ground around where the cabins on the plantation originally were located. I ended my abbreviated walking tour of the plantation by visiting the place where Andrew Jackson is buried. His tomb is only a few hundred feet away from his mansion, located deep within a serene garden that has been at the mansion since the time Jackson lived there. After stopping at the gift store, we exited The Hermitage and got back on the interstate to head through Nashville. Although traffic was generally horrendous around the entire Nashville area, it really picked up going into downtown. Even so, I did see two more vehicles with Minnesota license plates meandering along the interstate near downtown. After the traffic loosened up in the northern suburbs of Nashville, the countryside began to get a bit hilly again. By the time the road got to Clarksville, TN – more than 30 miles north of Nashville – the terrain had really started to flatten out, and, by the time the road reached the Tennessee/Kentucky border, the scenery was heavily forested, but essentially completely flat. From the Tennessee/Kentucky border, it was just about 40 miles before we crossed the beautiful Ohio River into the “northern” state of Illinois. Our hotel was located right across the river in the small town of Metropolis. Pictures: Some stoplights on Brainerd Road  Amigo is located in Brainerd Village  The Brainerd Complex was like a small park area owned by the city of Chattanooga  Sign up for Brainerd Bills football  The Brainerd tennis courts were part of the Brainerd Complex  The southern portion of Brainerd High School  Although it came out overexposed, here's one of the signs in front of Brainerd High School  Another sign in front of Brainerd High School  The main entrance to Brainerd High School  Beautiful Greenwood Cemetary  This is what happens when kudzu invades  There was also at least one baptist church in the Brainerd neighborhood  In the far eastern portion of Chattanooga  The beautiful Tennessee River flows through Chattanooga  This was pretty much downtown Bridgeport  One of the buildings of downtown Bridgeport  A house in Bridgeport  Another house in Bridgeport  There were quite a few firework superstores right across the border from Bridgeport in Tennessee  The front of President Jackson's mansion  The back of President Jackson's mansion  This sign discusses slavery at the Hermitage  The cabin that Jackson once lived in and then convered into a place to house slaves  A typical slave cabin during Jackson's era  This is where Andrew Jackson is buried  One of the many footpaths in the garden that surrounds Jackson's tomb  A side view of the Hermitage from the garden  The first welcome to Georgia sign  Some Georiga signs  The first welcome to Tennessee sign  The second welcome to Georgia sign, this time mentioning the 1996 Olympics  Northern Georgia scenery  The second welcome to Tennessee sign  The Alabama state line  One of the businesses in Bridgeport  The third welcome to Tennessse sign  The land got pretty hilly in the south-central portion of Tennessee  The Nashville skyline  Welcome to Kentucky sign  The bridge crossing the mighty Ohio River in Paducah, KY  The Illinois welcome sign Videos:Greenwood Cemetary 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Inside a Slave Cabin at the Hermitage 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)
Note: there shouldn't be any problem viewing pictures and videos anymore, which is a good thing, because the pictures and videos from day 4 of my trip are the best. In fact, I think there are many pictures from this day of the trip that quite possibly might be the best ones I've ever taken. Day 4 Summary – August 3, 2005
Knoxville, TN to Chattanooga, TNThis was the day I had been waiting for all along: it was the day I would finally get to see the Great Smoky Mountains! We left our hotel rather early at 8 in the morning to go to a cache in the Knoxville area that I wanted to find. It was in a park atop a large hill offering what, in the words of the cache’s description, is “an unbelievable view of Knoxville.” The view was pretty nice, even though it would have been much better if the air hadn’t been so hazy and clogged up with smog. Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt the city to come by and pick up all of the trash scattered about or trim some of the weeds and bushes getting in the way of the view. But still, it was nice to look down and see pretty much the entire city of Knoxville. Plus, it was quite an adventure trying to navigate the narrow, hilly roads that make up the northern reaches of Knoxville. After visiting the overlook, it was time to head straight into downtown Knoxville and get on U.S. Highway 441, which would take us into and through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Knoxville has a population of 173,890, but its downtown area was, compared to other similarly sized cities, a breeze to get through on a weekday. After passing through downtown, the 4-lane highway 441 heads through miles and miles of suburban subdivisions, followed by miles and miles of hotels, resorts, gift shops, and tourist traps. It’s as if you never left a major metropolitan area once you get on Highway 441, thanks to the utter sprawl that has consumed what was undoubtedly once a very picturesque area. And sprawl is only part of the problem that plagues the Great Smoky Mountains. The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) continues year after year to label the national park endangered, because air pollution, especially from coal-fired power plants, has caused the quality of the air and visibility to get progressively worse. It is estimated that visibility in the park during the summer months is 80% less than what it should be, and, in addition to being exposed to oftentimes toxic air, the park also must deal with acid rain. Rainfall in the park is five to ten times more acidic than natural precipitation. According to the NPCA, “Clouds as acidic as vinegar blanket the red spruce and Frasier fir forests on the park's highest peaks [and] high elevation streams and soils receive more pollution than they can naturally process.” Getting back to my vacation, however, I was very happy to be able to take the Gatlinburg by-pass to get into the park, since seeing the 10 stoplights along with the assortment of tourist traps and hotels that make up the city of Gatlinburg was not high on my list of things to do. The by-pass was also highly scenic, and afforded us what amounted to be nice previews of the larger mountains we would later encounter within the park. Right after passing the welcome sign to the national park, we came up to the Sugarlands Visitor Center, just one of the three visitor centers placed within the park. Besides offering visitor information, a multitude of maps, a display showing the current air quality in the park, and a gift store, the visitors’ center also had a small museum, which was my favorite part. The museum was a self-guided, walk-through room of exhibits describing – with actual examples – of all the flora and fauna visitors to the park have the opportunity to see. The displays were categorized into the separate forest regions they belong to and was overall a very good way to get started exploring the park. Incidentally, in case you were wondering, there is no admission charge to get into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When the park was established in the 1930s, deed restrictions were put into place to ensure that there would be no entrance fees. This unquestionably has lead to Great Smoky Mountains National Park being the most visited national park in the county, with about 10 million visits annually. The no entrance fee rule has also hindered the park, though, especially when funding from Washington D.C. gets tight. The visitor center we visited had a large donation box right at the front door, and there were many other places where anyone could chip in a little money here and there to help with the park’s preservation. After visiting the visitors’ center, we took Tennessee Highway 73, also known as Little River Road. All the way at the end of this road is the ever-popular Cades Cove, the most heavily visited destination within the most heavily visited national park in the county. The area features an abundance of wildlife as well as numerous historical buildings that help to explain how the first settlers to the region managed to survive. Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing any pictures from this area of the park, since we didn’t make it all the way down the windy, 30-mile long Little River Road. There simply wasn’t enough time to do so, but, I nevertheless still got to experience some pretty amazing scenery. We did travel about 10 miles down the road, however, to see the Little Greenbrier School and cemetery. The school has been standing on the same site for many, many years, and, along with the cemetery, made for a highly interesting visit. Instead of having me describe the area to you, I’d just go right down to the pictures below this page to see what the school and cemetery looked like for yourself. After leaving the school on the rugged, one-lane road leading up to it, we actually took a wrong turn and ended up leaving the park and entering the city of Wear Valley, TN. This was an interesting place, to say the lease, simply because it was so stereotypical of the towns you’d immediately think of when thinking of the Appalachian region. Well, we soon found ourselves back in the park and on the correct road. After traveling back, along Little River Road, to the Sugarlands Visitor Center, we got back onto the main highway going through the park, U.S. Highway 441. This road immediately took us up into the mountains, and, before long, we were at Newfound Gap, which, at 5,048 feet, is the lowest drivable pass through the park. The views from the gap, especially those of the 6,643 feet Clingmans Dome, which is not only the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but also the highest point in Tennessee and the third highest point in the Appalachian Mountain range, were simply amazing. What was also astonishing was the abrupt rise in elevation encountered between the Little River Road and the Newfound Gap; the road went up about 3,500 feet in a matter of only 10 miles. After seeing Newfound Gap, which was also on the Tennessee/North Carolina border (now I can say that, in addition to walking across the Minnesota/South Dakota border and the Minnesota/North Dakota border, I’ve also walked across this border), we got back on highway 441 to begin the steep descent down the mountains. The views of the mountains were still amazing, and, once again, I’d advise you to go down and look at the photos to see what I saw. A couple miles down from Newfound Gap, a very classic mountain rainstorm erupted. It was basically one of those rain-filled clouds that release their moisture over the mountains before passing dryly on their way to lower elevations. The rainstorm probably lasted for a total of 15 minutes, during which time the entire area got extremely soaked. After the storm passed over, a spectacular sight began to form: fog started forming over the valleys within the mountains and rising up to the road. Once we got to the lower elevations, however, the sky was once again partly cloudy, the sun was out, the ground was dry, and it was as if nothing had ever happened. We finally exited the park, at which time we immediately came up to the Cherokee Indian Reservation, the largest, and one of the only, Indian reservations east of Wisconsin. The Cherokees living in this region are the sole remnants of a once large band of Cherokees who lived in the east before the infamous Trail of Tears forced them out of the area. It was pretty neat to see how well preserved the Cherokee culture was in the area; all of the road signs used, in addition to English, the native Cherokee language, and the Cherokees also operate a distinguished museum chronicling their tribe’s long, storied history. After passing through the reservation, we continued to Bryson City, NC, where it was time to go and try to find a geocache and get some food. I wasn’t successful in my attempts to find the geocache, as it required walking around a very busy downtown area I was completely unfamiliar with and I also didn’t have too much time to look for it. It was fun walking around trying to look, however. After stopped at Burger King, while passing up Bojangles’, we continued our journey through North Carolina and later Tennessee by following the 2-lane and 4-lane U.S. Highways 19, 129, 64, and 74. Although this was a very scenic area of the county, and the small towns I saw along the way were nice, I don’t think I would ever want to live in an area like this. All of the communities in this area didn’t seem to have much of a unity to them, thanks to how uneven the terrain in the area is. Because of all the steep hills and valleys the landscape consisted of, city developers obviously used whatever level piece of land they could to build houses and businesses, creating communities that are somewhat of a mishmashed and jumbled mess of streets and structures. Another reason I wouldn’t want to live in the region is how confining living in the mountains’ valleys, in which all of the cities I passed through were located, would make me feel. By the time we got to Tennessee, the terrain had gotten a little less rough, but not any less scenic. We took the highly beautiful U.S. Highway 64/74 into Cleveland, TN, passing through the Cherokee National Forest and gazing at the magnificent river that parallels the road in the almost entire 30 mile stretch between the border and Cleveland. After Cleveland, it was just a short jaunt into the eastern part of Chattanooga, TN, where our hotel was located. Pictures: This church, with a huge cross (it looks much larger in person and could be seen for quite a distance) was located next to our hotel in Knoxville  The city of Knoxville  Knoxville's antenna farm is right by the overlook we stopped at; here's the office for WBIR-TV's transmitter  This is the 6-lane road going into the Great Smoky Mountains; blue signs on the stoplights pointed out how many miles left until the park's border  The city of Gatlinburg is visible from the Gatlinburg by-pass  Close-up of the spwaling Gatlinburg  The first view of the mountains after entering the park's boundaries  The raging waters of the Little River  The Little River  This factitious sign was in front of the trail leading up to the Little Greenbrier School  The Little Greenbrier School  Inside the school  There was a small footpath behind the school, as well as a little footbridge crossing a small creek  A black & white shot of the creek behind the school  The cemetery in front of the school  A view of the school from the cemetery  A sepia shot of the cemetery  More of the Little River  There were butterflies all over in the lower elevations of the park; here's a yellow one that managed to stay still enough for a good picture  There are trees everywhere in the lower and middle elevations of the park  More trees blanketing the landscape  At some point along U.S. 441, we made it to the pine forrest part of the park  There aren't as many trees in the pine forrest areas  That's U.S. Highway 441 going uphill  More conifers  Nearing the top of the mountains now  U.S. Highway 441 still going uphill (but down slightly in this shot) and around a sharp curve  The mountains started to turn their natural blue near the top  Looking east from Newfound gap  Looking west from Newfound gap  Newfound gap was probably the busiest place I encoutered in the park  Another shot of Newfound gap with the road underneath  This is a part of the 2,160 mile Appalachian Trail  The Tennesseee/North Carolina state line was also at Newfound Gap  Another shot at Newfound Gap  One more shot at Newfound Gap; the road leading up to this spot can be seen off in the distance  Down the road from Newfound Gap, here's a shot with a helicopter circling around the mountains  Down the road from Newfound Gap  More mountains in the North Carolina portion of the park  The mountains seemed like they got bluer after the brief downpour  Also after the rain came, fog started rising from the mountain valleys  I don't know what it's there for, but this cannon was along the roadside in Cherokee,  All of the roadsigns in Cherokee were bilingual  I don't know what they are, but these trees/bushes were in bloom all over North Carolina and Tennessee  Everything in Bryson City looked like it was just haphazardly carved out of the mountainside, including the fast food places  A street scene in Bryson City, NC  I should have eaten at Bojangles'  Going up some more in the mountains of far western North Carolina, we encoutered this extremely slow "mullet" bus  The mountains near the Tennessee/North Carolina border  One of my most favorite pictures I've ever taken, this was the scene in eastern Tennessee  Downtown Knoxville  Knoxville welcomes you  On the windy highway to Chattanooga VideosKnoxville Scenic Overlook 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Little Greenbrier School 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Scenery Along Little River Road 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Big Trees Along U.S. Highway 441 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Mount Kephart Overlook 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Smoky Mountains Rain Shower 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Rural North Carolina Pit Stop 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Empty Radio Dial in North Carolina 512k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)
Since Imageshack is back up and operational again, I can continue to post my vacation summaries. Please note, however, that I'm still having a problem with my files at Yahoo Briefcase, so I'm not able to provide any videos at this time. Day 3 Summary – August 2, 2005
Lexington, KY to Knoxville, TNSince the distance we would be traveling on this part of the trip was pretty small by my standards, only about 170 miles, we had some extra time to spending taking in the sites along the way between Lexington and Knoxville. The first stop of the day would be in Kentucky’s capital city of Frankfort, which we had bypassed the day before because everything I wanted to see there had already been shut down. Luckily, Frankfort is only about 20 miles from Lexington, so although it did require some backtracking to get to, not all that terribly much. Frankfort, with a population of about 28,000, is the fifth smallest state capital in the United States (only the capital cities of Helena, Montana; Augusta, Maine; Pierre, South Dakota; and Montpelier, Vermont are smaller). Frankfort definitely had a big city feel to it, mostly because of all the dignified buildings that house various state departments that are there. Because the city was built in a rather deep valley, there was actually a scenic overlook along one of the highways going in. Although I naturally had to stop to see the overlook, I quickly found out that the sight from it isn’t at as scenic as it possibly could be. The area offered a nice view of the capitol’s dome (the building sits atop a small hill making it higher than any other structure in the city), but, other than that, not much more of the city of Frankfort could be seen. The view was probably really nice when the turnout and overlook was put in, but I believe trees and other vegetation have now grown in and caused the visibility to be hindered. I’ve sort of gotten ahead of myself, though, since we visited the overlook on the way out of town, because we took another highway coming in. So actually, the first thing we visited after arriving in Frankfort was the Kentucky History Center, which is an excellent example of what a state history center should be. The center is housed in a huge, 2-story building; the first floor is dedicated to exhibits, while the second has a research library and archives collection. Since I obviously didn’t have anything to research in the library, I stayed down on the first floor and looked at the exhibits. Just like the Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi History I visited during my vacation last year, the Kentucky History Center contains a multitude of different exhibit spaces that seamlessly blend together to tell the story of Kentucky from the prehistoric times – before the first humans came to the area – up to the end of the twentieth century. I spent 2 hours looking at all the exhibits, though I suspect I could have spent a much more time looking at all there was to see and reading all there was to read. The history center also has a rotating exhibit area, currently featuring an exhibit about the rivers that run through Kentucky and the role that they have played and continue to play in shaping the everyday lives of Kentuckians. This, too, was very interesting, and something I wish I could have spent more time looking at. As if all that wasn’t enough, the Kentucky History Center also has a gift shop full of Kentucky mementos (including a bottle of “pure Kentucky bluegrass”) as well as a hall featuring paintings of the many men and one woman who have served as governor of Kentucky. It was almost 1 in the afternoon by the time we left Frankfort, so we had to hustle a bit in order to get it to Knoxville before the sun went down. After making the rounds to visit the state capitol grounds and seeing the scenic overlook I already mentioned, we got on U.S. Highway 127 and headed south once again toward the city of Lawrenceburg. I tried eating at a Sonic for the first time here, and I must say, that’s another place that should come to Brainerd, or at least Minnesota. I’d be interested in how well the drive-in concept works in Kentucky, as well as the other northern states (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Idaho), that Sonic has come to, since I wouldn’t expect to see all that many people willing to sit in their cars or eat outside during the wintertime. The Sonic in Lawrenceburg has a drive-thru, though, so I imagine that must do something to sustain business during the winter. After Lawrenceburg, it was time to get back on highway 127 and drive through the cities of Salvisa, Harrodsburg, and Danville. This particular area of Kentucky – with the city of Lexington included – is the heart of the classical bluegrass, horse breeding region of Kentucky. Miles and miles of black and white, corral-type fencing to keep horses and cattle from getting away can be seen along the roadway in this area, along with many grand estates and mansions. This area is essentially the stereotypical image that anyone hearing the word Kentucky would immediately conjure up. Along with horses and cattle, the only other agricultural commodity of significance in the central and southern regions of Kentucky is, of course, tobacco. In fact, there were quite a few tobacco fields near the cities of Lexington and Harrodsburg. With that said, tobacco was pretty much the only crop being grown in the area, most likely due to the rocky soil that makes up the area. There were many walls of tan-colored rock along the roads in this area, evidence of how the roadway designers had to cut through the stone right beneath the top layer of soil to smoothen the roadbed. Tobacco must have a pretty shallow root system to grow so well in an area where corn and tubers would fail. In Danville, we got off of the main highway to see the Constitution Square State Historic Site, the site of where Kentucky’s constitution was written. The area has been turned into a large park housing numerous historical buildings from around the area. We started touring the grounds by going to the information center/gift shop, where we met a nice, old gentleman who, after hearing that we were from Minnesota, informed us that some other “northerners,” from Minot, North Dakota, had stopped by earlier in the day. After leaving the center, we proceeded to view all of the park’s buildings, which included, among other things, a replica of the cabin used to write the constitution, a drive-thru prison, the first post office west of the Alleghenies, the first brick schoolhouse west of the Alleghenies, and a garden commemorating all of Kentucky’s governors. After seeing this interesting park, we got back on the road, this time U.S. Highway 150, to head southeast to get on Interstate 75. By the time we got to Interstate 75, the terrain had gotten progressively hillier. By the time we had traveled 20 miles south to Corbin, KY, it was clear that we were going into mountain county. The road kept going up steep hills only to be followed by going down equally as steep of hills. Because London, KY is the city where the infamous Colonel Sanders started his business that would ultimately be famous worldwide, we had to get off of the interstate to look around. The original Sander’s Café has been meticulously restored to look just as it did when it originally opened in the 1940s, and a modern-day KFC has been added off to the side. Although we didn’t have time to go and see the museum and gift store that is housed in the original café, I do have a receipt to prove that I ate at KFC #0001. After this adventure, we got back on the interstate to head south on a non-stop journey to our hotel in Knoxville. The road immediately started going up in elevation, and by the time we made it about 20 miles south of the Kentucky/Tennessee border, my GPS showed that we had gone up to 2,100 feet in elevation, almost 1,000 feet higher than our last stop in London. This height was almost entirely lost by the time we got to Knoxville, however, since that city is at an elevation of about 900 feet. By the time we got to our hotel, it was about 7:30 PM. Pictures: This was the street scene right in front of the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort  The Kentucky History Center in Frankfort  The Kentucky state capitol  The 4-lane road leading up to the state capitol  A subtle hill sign on the way out of Frankfort  At the scenic overlook looking down on Frankfort  The view of the capitol from the overlook  Historical marker at the overlook  Another view of Frankfort from the overlook  Constitution Square Historic Site sign in Danville  The drive-thru jail at Constitution Square Historic Site  A table inside the drive-thru jail  This is a replica of the cabin used to pen Kentucky's constitution  A street scene in Danville near the Constitution Square Historic Site  Site of log courthouse  This monument is in the middle of the garden honoring Kentucky's govenors  Each one of Kentucky's past govenors has a commeorative, engraved plaque  Another look at the monument  This was the first brick schoolhouse west of the Alleghenies  The original Sander's Cafe in London (KY)  The Sander's Cafe has an addition that has made it like any other KFC on the inside; here's a shot of the drive-thru at the first KFC  Scenery near Salvisa  There were quite a few tobacco warehouses all over central Kentucky  This type of fencing stretched for miles and miles along the roadway in the Lexington area  The Wal-Mart in Harrodsburg is one of the original ones Sam Walton built  A welcome to Danville sign  In Danville, we got stuck behind this guy hauling yard waste  One of the huge walls of rock along the roadway in central Kentucky  KFCs were like wildflowers all over the place in Kentucky; here's one in Mount Vernon  The scenery near Corbin  Tennessee welcomes you  Northeast Tennessee scenery Click here to view all these pictures in one gallery. Videos:Kentucky Constitution Hall 250k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Tennessee Psychotic Scare 250k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)
Day 2 Summary – August 1, 2005
Downers Grove, IL to Lexington, KYDowners Grove, where I spent the first night of my vacation, appeared to be a very nice, mildly affluent suburb some 20 miles west of Chicago. Unlike many suburbs in this day and age, Downers Grove also had a very clearly old, yet still very vibrant downtown area. The city council of Downers Grove should be commended for making the downtown area so warm and inviting. Also prominent in Downer Grove’s downtown area is a classy depot served by both Metra and Amtrak. Metra is a commuter rail service that travels between downtown Chicago to the outlying suburbs. Although it may not be as fast as traveling by car, I’ve got to imagine it has to be a whole lot less stressful to drive – or walk, depending on how close you live – down to the Metra station, climb aboard the train and ride right into downtown Chicago. We were fortunate enough to be in Downers Grove to see both the outbound 1227 Metra train and the inbound 1262 train arrive to the station just about right on time. After spending close to an hour at the depot, we left at about 10:00 to get on the road to begin the long journey to Lexington, KY. Since I had already seen the primary attraction in downtown Chicago (the Sears Tower Skydeck) two years ago, and did not particularly want to experience traffic through downtown on a weekday, we opted to go through the southern suburbs of Chicago into the suburbs in Indiana. This route required taking the Tri-State Tollway, which merged in with the Moline Expressway and later the Bishop Ford Freeway to form a merged Interstate 80/94 that took us into Indiana. Pretty much all of the roads in the area were undergoing construction, which not only made it a bit difficult to navigate the area, but also meant that many of the signs that would normally be located along the roadway were not there. One of the victims of construction was the welcome to Indiana sign that I was anxiously waiting for. I really had no idea that we had crossed into Indiana until I began seeing exit signs announcing roads going into Hammond and Gary, two of the Indiana suburbs of Chicago. We got off of Interstate 80/94 to get on Interstate 65, which would take us into Indianapolis and ultimately Kentucky. The trip between the eastern suburbs of Chicago to Indianapolis didn’t include anything all that special. There was a rest area we stopped at about an hour south of the Illinois and Indiana border that was pretty much your typical Indiana rest area: no attendants on duty and a very, very limited number of brochures and travel information. It was basically just a place to get out of the car, walk around, and use the bathroom. We soon got back on the road, went through the outskirts of Lafayette, IN, the home of Purdue University, and eventually made it to the Indianapolis metro area. I was in Indianapolis during my vacation to Washington D.C., and even though I thoroughly enjoyed the city and would like to visit some more of the attractions there, such as the Indiana History Center, we really didn’t have enough time to stop and look around. I knew that we would be losing an hour by crossing into the Eastern Time Zone in Indiana, so that made adhering to a strict schedule a little bit more important. As we made it about 40 miles south of Indianapolis we came upon the city of Columbus. Even though the Columbus area visitors’ center was one of the places I had highlighted before the trip as being an attraction potentially worth seeing, I wasn’t confident at all that we would actually take the time to take a side-trip into the city of Columbus. Well, wouldn’t you know it, after seeing a large sign along the interstate for the Columbus Area Visitors’ Center, we actually decided to turn off of the interstate and see what there was to see in Columbus, a city of roughly 40,000. Looking back on it, I’m so glad we took the time to go into Columbus, since it was a very interesting place. After looking around at a small exhibit area in the visitors’ center dedicated to discussing the city of Columbus – from the past to present times – I soon learned that Columbus is an architectural masterpiece in the Midwest. Partly due to the desires of generations of city developers to make the most majestic city as possible, and partly due to being home to a major architecture firm for years, just about all of the city and downtown buildings in Columbus look simply wonderful and are truly one-of-a-kind. In fact, as pointed out by the displays in the visitors’ center, people studying architecture come to Columbus from all over the United States and world to see the massive amount of examples of striking designs on display in the buildings of Columbus. The city even offers a bus tour daily to those who wish to see all of the fine buildings in Columbus. For those who opt not to take the bus, however, the city also has a self-guided walking and driving tour, which was exactly in line with the amount of time we had to spend in the city. Following the self-guided driving architectural tour of Columbus, we drove around the downtown area marveling at all of the stately-looking buildings for about a half an hour. You can view pictures of some of the buildings I saw below this entry, but I suggest going to the architecture portion of the official website of the city of Columbus here to learn more about all of the architectural gems in the city of Columbus. The website also has pictures, albeit small ones, of all the stops on the architecture tour. After viewing downtown, we decided to head down to Mill Race Park, also on the architecture tour. The park could really be considered a sculpture garden, though, since there were so many fine examples of design here on display. Even the bathrooms in the park looked magnificent (look at the pictures below to see). By far the greatest part of the park was the 84-foot observation tower located within it. I climbed up to the top and was greeted with a nice tree-level view of the city of Columbus as well as the Flat Rock and Driftwood Rivers that flow together in Columbus to form the east fork of the White River. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Columbus, I would highly recommend visiting to take a look around. I know now why in 2003 Rand McNally picked the city for its Best of the Road™ feature, stating that “Columbus ranks among the country’s top 10 architecturally significant cities.” After climbing back down from the tower, we left the city of Columbus and got back on Interstate 65. After traveling a bit, it was time for another small excursion, this time to visit Pigeon Roost State Historic Site near Scottsburg, IN. The site is home to an obelisk monument dedicated to a group of area settlers that were killed by hostile Indians during the War of 1812. The obelisk and surrounding gardens were interesting to look at, and the area provided a nice place for me to stretch my legs and do some walking around. After visiting the historic site, we got back on the 2-lane U.S. Highway 31 for a short, 7-mile drive to Henryville, IN. Here, we got back on Interstate 65 and were on our way into Kentucky. Before I get ahead of myself, I should mention that I do believe there is an accent border around the Columbus area. Up to that city, the people spoke largely with the same Midwestern accent I am used to here in Minnesota. After Columbus, and actually within the city of Columbus, the people I had interactions with spoke with a mixture of a Midwest and a southern/Kentucky accent. I’m guessing the closer we got to the Kentucky/Indiana border, the more people began speaking with full Kentucky accents. I think, after losing an hour somewhere in Indiana (in a part of the state that adheres to Eastern Daylight Time), it wasn’t until 6:30 or 7 at night when we finally got to Louisville. Consequently, any attractions that I would have wanted to see in the city would have already been shut down, so we more or less just drove through the city and got on Interstate 64 heading east toward Lexington. The view from the interstate bridge crossing the Ohio River between Jeffersonville, IN and Louisville, KY was pretty amazing, however, so check the pictures below for that. The landscape definitely got hillier as we entered Kentucky; there were even some small tunnels in the eastern section of Louisville. At the southern border of Frankfort, we got off the interstate to take some scenic back roads into Lexington. First U.S. Highway 127 got us into Lawrenceburg, and then U.S. Highway 62 got us to Versailles and later our hotel in Lexington. Not much happened after that, except I did get to eat once more at a Popeye’s, a restaurant chain I desperately think should be brought to the Brainerd area. Pictures: The depot in downtown Downers Grove  Main Street Plaza in downtown Downers Grove  The rest area in Indiana had a small pine forrest  Halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis  Getting on the road to Indianapolis...  The Central High School in Columbus  The First Christian Church in Columbus  The front of the Columbus Public Library had this figure  One of the office buildings in downtown Columbus  Columbus's library had a drive-thru book drop-off  Even the bathrooms in Columbus's Mill Race Park look nice  An interesting sculpture in Mill Race Park  Mill Race Park also is where three rivers come together  Looking down the East Fork White River  The interesting viewing platform to see the three rivers  A bridge going nowhere in the park  Another sculpture in the park along one of the walking trails  The oberservation tower in Mill Race Park  The view of downtown Columbus from the tower  Two bridges going over the East Fork White River  The tallest building in Columbus is the county courthouse  One more look at downtown Columbus  Climbing down the stairs of the tower  Pigeon Roost State Historic Site  The oblisk at Pigeon Roost  The picnic area at Pigeon Roost  The Anderson County Court House in Lawrenceburg, KY  One of the over-the-road Oasises along the Tri-State Tollway  One of the only Indiana signs I saw  The Indianapolis Skyline  A "committed to education" Indiana license plate  The welcome to Kentucky sign on the bridge spanning the Ohio River between Jefferson, IN and Louisville, KY  The Louisville skyline  The Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky Click here to view all these pictures in one gallery. Videos:Morning Traffic Report from WBBM-TV 250k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)View from Columbus, Indiana Observation Tower 250k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)Pigeon Roost Historic Site 250k (broadband) or 56k (dial-up)
Day 1 Summary – July 31, 2005
Brainerd, MN to Downers Grove, ILMy 2005 vacation began bright and early on Sunday morning. After waking up at approximately 5 in the morning, we were all packed and ready to leave Brainerd at about 7:00 AM. I knew that if everything went exactly according to plan, by the end of the day, I would be about 20 miles west of Chicago in the suburb of Downers Grove. So, I believe it was actually about 7:20 AM by the time we left Brainerd. For the third year in a row, I would be starting my vacation out by heading in a southerly direction from Brainerd. This year, the decision was made to take MN Highway 371 until it met up with U.S. Highway 10 in Little Falls. We stayed on Highway 10 right up to where it meets up with Interstate 35W in the northern Twin Cities suburb of Blaine. The first leg of the trip from Brainerd to the Twin Cities was largely uneventful, and since I assume most – if not all – readers of this blog have seen this area of Minnesota at least once before, I’m not going to say much about it at all. Instead of taking an interstate all the way down to the Chicago area – largely because I had already done so the last time I was in Chicago in 2003 during my trip to Washington D.C. – I decided to take a much more scenic trip along Wisconsin Highway 35 from Prescott to La Crosse. Getting to where highway 35 goes through Prescott, WI from highway 10 in Blaine wasn’t all that of a straightforward process, however, since it required traveling through downtown St. Paul by way of, first, Interstate 35W, then Interstate 694, followed by Interstates 35E and 94, respectfully. It was a Sunday morning, though, so there wasn’t much traffic on any of the roads and we were able to make it onto U.S. Highways 10 and 61 heading south through the bluffs along the Mississippi River rather quickly. After going through the southeastern portion of St. Paul as well as the suburbs of Newport, St. Paul Park, and Cottage Grove, we remained on Highway 10 right up to where it splits apart from Highway 61 north of Hastings, MN and takes travelers up to and across a drawbridge that spans the Mississippi River between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The city of Prescott, WI is also located at the end of this drawbridge. Once we got to Prescott, we turned to leave Highway 10 and take the aforementioned Highway 35. After leaving the very lovely, yet very touristy city of Prescott, we headed south. Highway 35 almost immediately became very hilly, making it clear that we would be spending a good portion of the day traveling up and down amongst the grand bluffs that span the Mississippi River between Minnesota and Wisconsin and ultimately for most of the river’s journey down to the Gulf of Mexico. Besides numerous scenic overlooks and pullouts along the highway from Prescott to La Crosse, there were also numerous lovely small towns nestled snugly within the rocky and tree-filled bluffs that surround the River. All of the cities have clearly formed a strong legacy with the river, starting undoubtedly in the era of the steamboat. Some of the cities, like Alma, continue to have a strong relationship with the river, thanks to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-operated locks and dams. The city of Alma, in fact, has a large elevated viewing platform right in its downtown where people can stand and watch the local lock & dam operate. As luck would have it, just as we were pulling into Alma, a barge carrying wheat was pulling into the lock. We ended up staying in Alma for about a half an hour to watch the slow, tedious process involved in bringing a barge through a lock. We finally made it into Onalaska, a city that could be considered a northern suburb of La Crosse, at sometime around 1 in the afternoon. After getting some gas and lunch, it was time to get on Interstate 90 heading east out of La Crosse. After all was said and done, although the trip along highway 35 took a bit longer than I thought it would, it was a very scenic and enjoyable journey. I got to see a whole new area of Wisconsin/Minnesota that I had never seen before. Once we got on the interstate, it was pretty much a 70 mile per hour race to get to the suburbs of Chicago. The plans for a race were dampened, however, after traffic thickened and eventually came to a standstill near Wisconsin Dells, WI. From this point up to more than 100 miles away in Rockford, IL, traffic was pretty bad. The 3-in-one interstate of 39/90/94 near Madison, WI was backed up bumper-to-bumper and down to a crawl. Actually, I don’t think the average speed in the more than 100 miles between Wisconsin Dells, WI and Rockford, IL ever topped about 55 miles per hour. The portions of roadway where you could go that fast were short-lived and only came about once every 20 miles. Based on the fact that I saw so many vehicles with Illinois license plates purchased at dealers in the greater Chicago area, I suspect the primary culprit in making the traffic so bad through central and southern Wisconsin was the enormous amount of people trying to get back to the Chicago area after spending the weekend having fun in the sun in Wisconsin. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally did make it into Illinois and onto the Northwest Tollway. Traffic lightened up a bit after Rockford, but traffic going into the far western suburbs of Chicago along Interstate 90 was still hectic. I noticed that the tolls had been raised since the last time I was in Chicago; 80¢ seems to be the norm now, whereas two years ago, it was either 60¢ or 75¢. Oh well, I guess you’ve got to keep up with inflation. That, and the extra monies probably help pay for the convenient signs that tell motorists how long it will take to get to areas within the Chicago area, such as O’Hare Airport or downtown. After getting on the North-South Tollway by way of the Eisenhower Expressway, we finally made it to our hotel in Downers Grove at about 7:00 PM. And that was pretty much the end of the first day of my vacation. Pictures: The drawbridge for the railroad tracks crossing the Mississippi from Minnesota into Wisconsin  A view of the Mississippi looking into Minnesota  Another view of the Mississippi between Minnesota and Wisconsin  Downtown Alma, WI  A wide-angle shot of downtown Alma, WI  Looking down at the lock & dam in Alma, WI  While stuck traffic near Madison, WI, I took this picture  The skyscrapers of downtown St. Paul, MN  Warning sign for the drawbrige crossing the Mississippi into Prescott, WI  A Minnesota "visit again" sign  I didn't see any welcome to Wisconsin sign in Prescott, but I did see this welcome to Prescott sign  The scenery of Wisconsin Highway 35  Downtown Trempealeau, WI overlooks the Mississippi  The first highway sign with the city of Chicago on it  The bridge overhead marked the Wisconsin/Illinois border; the words "thanks for visiting" are visible in this photo  "The people of Illinois welcome you" sign  You've got to choose whether you want to get in either the manual, automatic, or I-pass lanes pretty quickly once you get up to the toll booths  In the manual lane to pay the toll  One of the toll plazas we passed through was the Elgin one Click here to view all these pictures in one gallery. Videos:There are no videos related to day 1
The Rocky Mountain region of western Canada was a good guess at where I was going on vacation, but it was, unfortunately, not the right answer. I arrived back home in Brainerd at about 9:00 last night after spending 6 days on the road, traversing 2,900 miles, and ending up in Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee/North Carolina border. I’ll be posting a report of everything I saw during each day of the trip, as well as pictures and videos, as soon as I get everything written up and uploaded to my computer. So start looking for that coming in the next few days or hours...
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