Home Again

Another great trip but is good to be back in my beautiful flowering yard and to plant my vegetable garden.  I did get a bit road weary.  Have to start planning the next one...

Dr Mary E Walker Statue Dedication Oswego NY

Met my dad at the Denver airport then to Oswego for quick trip diversion – reception on Friday evening; dedication on Saturday morning. Cousin George was MC, got to visit with several relatives and meet some new ones. Best news article is http://oswegocountytoday.com/?p=87268.


Trip sound familiar? Well, travels last year were to include dedication of this same statue but the statue was not ready. Was well worth the wait!!

Ceremony speakers & honorees

Statue & her relative

Reenactors who came, note the woman playing role of Dr Mary Walker

Close up Medal of Honor

Museum Legs in Denver CO

Yup, the rain caught up with me again so took a day to see Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Liked that so well, took another day to see part of downtown Denver – Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver Art Museum, Byers-Evans House Museum, Molly Brown House Museum.  Nice not to be driving so much.

Civic Center view; Dever Art Museum on left & front

Byers-Evans House original entrance

Molly Brown House of "Unsinkable Molly Brown" fame

Pikes Peak and Pike National Forest CO

Celebrate with me – I made it!!  Okay, the van made it; I was just along for the drive – the white-knuckle drive.  Beautiful scenes all the way until top which was shrouded in clouds.

Pikes Peak from Crystal Reservoir

happy traveler at summit

View from along the way

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument CO

I have seen lots of fossils but some of these are huge.  As the ones you see in the pictures are just the stumps, scientists hypothesize that they were killed at the end of the extent of a volcanic lahar flow that did not knock the trees down and only covered about 15 feet in the valley.  Not much fossils beyond the stumps as the visitor center is a trailer while new is being built.

huge stump; is hacked up by early souveigner hunters

happy traveler

Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site KS

The Monroe Elementary School now is home to many exhibits documenting the civil rights movement as it affected the schools of the USA.  At the start of the country, there had always been some limits on who could receive a public education with minorities generally being excluded.  While some exhibits were uplifting, for me in general I recalled witnessing horrific scenes and stories through the TV and print news of the day being replayed through those exhibits.  All those feelings came back even though much has changed.  And I wonder with all of the bitterness and hopeless feelings of today, could we revert back to some of our bad old times.

school now a visitor center

U. S. Grant National Historic Site MO

Ulysses’s wife, Julia, grew up in White Haven house and met Ulysses through her brother as young officers.  After marriage, they lived here with her slave-owning family off and on as Ulysses established himself militarily.  The exhibits are wonderful but no photos of the contents of the house were permitted.  Like much of the historic sites I have visited, the structures and grounds are beautiful but the exhibits and message abo is bittersweet.

White Haven home

Harry S Truman National Historic Site & Presidential Library MO

Filling in some of the gaps in my education again.  The historic site is Harry’s Independence home which reflects his famous modesty and frugality – home that his wife grew up in and originally was his father-in-law’s.  Seems that Harry was from the poorer side of town and it took years to win over Bess whom he had been smitten with since childhood.  The presidential library includes excellent exhibits of his life and times in museum style.  Included is a mock-up of his oval office, some of the tough decisions about dropping the A-bomb, firing General Douglas MacArthur, integrating the military.

very modest house

nation's first presidential library

Oval office mock up

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial MO

I had seen the famous symbol of this memorial many times as the St. Louis Missouri Arch.  I had no clue that the arch is the center piece of the memorial to western expansion initiated by Thomas Jefferson.  The visitor center includes a terrific museum about the western expansion which does a pretty good job of recapping the frontier progress as well as the affect on the Native Americans and the environment.

Gateway Arch

view of Old Courthouse & city from arch

Shadow of arch

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park IN

An almost forgotten hero of the revolutionary war.  Actually without this park and the support of the Vincennes community, he might be.  I surely knew little of the war in colonial “west” which Clark and his band of less than 200 won on sheer nerve and determination.  Basically, actions led by Clark assured the US claim to territories that became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.  Also, George is the elder brother of William Clark of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Memorial

Statue & murals commemorating Clarks actions

Abe Lincoln National Historic Places KY IN

There are several places that commemorate Abe Lincoln’s life and I was able to visit a couple -- Abe Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park (KY) and Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (IN).  Another one of those visits that reminds me how long ago I studied history in school – I was in lower grades.  The park / memorial do a good job of bringing to life his parents and his family’s life in those times.  Thomas Lincoln, Abe’s father, took his family onto the frontier to build a farm.  Also I am amazed at the structures built as memorials – quite the architecture.

Abe Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park KY memorial containing symbolic birthplace cabin

Once thought to be "the" cabin; dimensions approximate, style correct

rented Lincoln Farm in Knob Creek KY

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial IN Visitor Center

Tom Lincoln cabin site

National Corvette Museum Bowling Green KY

And something my friend Dan would enjoy…

sign greeting visitors

Parking for vetts only

I like the red ones...

crummy reflections of the glass but is Route 66 and is red

Mammoth Cave Natl Park KY

Mammoth is the operative word – it is huge and more cave is being discovered as well as more cave is slowly being built.  It is not the most scenic caves I have seen mostly because it is quite trampled from the many years of  folks enjoying it.  Very impressive.

stalagmites & stalactites are not most common feature but are prettiest

sorry is so dark -- operator failure with basic camera

Original Mammoth Cave entrance, felt the cold air whoosh out.  Also out flew a bat.

River Styx exits here - I really have traveled far...

Cumberland Gap TN Re-enactors

Yup, complete with costumes, authentic looking guns these folks relive certain aspects of the campaigns of the Cumberland Gap. Cannon fire, gun fire sound pretty authentic to me – loud enough that I covered my ears most of the time. The speech content – it is all about preserving heritage.

yes, some do play dead

one side then the other advances

costumed spectator

Cumberland Gap Natl Hist Park KY TN VA

Another beautiful place. And once again my history background is improved with visit to a national park. Travel to and thus settlement of the west was greatly facilitated with the discovery of the Gap much to the distress and ultimate removal of the Indians. Gap also was location of series of Civil War campaigns to take and hold what was thought to be a strategic route.

On the Gap

The Gap from Powell Valley Overlook



Daniel Boone Trail marker

Tri State Peak Marker - point where Kentucky, Tennessee & Virginia meet

Great Smoky Mountains Natl Park NC TN

Beautiful place. Lots of historical sites as well as great forests. And yes I did get to enjoy some of the natural smokiness as well – after a terrific rain / hail storm the heat put a lot of moisture in the air. Have to admit, this is first national park I visited where the highest point was a tower – great views if one waits long enough. Sad to see the damage done by invasive beetles to the evergreens.

pretty scene from a nature trail

smoky mountain scene

Clingmans Dome Tower

mountain farm museum house

grist mill that works

Tulip tree flower knocked down by hail