VERMONT

Raw food diet class

Irene's flood waters pounded this bridge in Waitsfield

Vermont is among the 10 smallest states in area in the U.S.  With less than 700,000 residents, cows outnumber people 10 to 1.  What it lacks in people and size, it makes up for in beauty.  Lakes, rivers and charming towns cover the Green Mountain state.  We were fortunate to stay in several – Shelburne (just outside Burlington), Montpelier (the only state capital without a McDonald’s), Waitsfield (between Mad River and Sugarbush ski areas), Manchester (with elegant old New England homes) and Chittenden (where we stayed at a lodge on top of a mountain).  

The local swimming hole

It is hard to believe that the most of the state was under water last summer due to Hurricane Irene.  Covered bridges were washed out and roads collapsed.  At one point, every road in Vermont except the 2 major interstate highways were closed due to flooding. It is always amazing and encouraging to see how a land and people rebound from disaster.

View from our room in Manchester

Mountain Top Inn Chittenden

Aside from scenic drives and hikes, we took a class in raw foods one evening.  Many Vermonters are very health conscious, into organic farming and eating.  It is difficult to follow a strict raw food diet on the road but we do our best.  And part of the fun of the class was getting to know some local people.

Along with good weather, we enjoyed staying at several country inns in Vermont.  Now we cross into the neighboring state of New Hampshire.

 

INDIANA, ONTARIO, NEW YORK

Tippecanoe restaurant/Studebaker House South Bend

Niagara on the Lake, Ontario Canada

After leaving the Chicago area, we proceeded east via South Bend, Indiana.  While there, we visited the beautiful Notre Dame campus and had lunch at Tippecanoe.  Built in the late 1800's, the 26,000 sq. ft. mansion has 40 rooms and 20 fireplaces.  Now a huge restaurant, it was the showcase home of Clement Studebaker, co-founder of the world's largest wagon manufacturing firm.  Under his sons, the company successfully converted to automobile manufacturing.  

A Tuscan winery on the Niagara on the Lake wine trail

Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks

We then made our way  northeast into Ontario.  We covered Canada from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island in our motorhome but had missed Niagara on the Lake.  Having heard wonderful things about it, we decided to spend a little time there.  It is indeed a charming, idyllic place on the shore of Lake Ontario and surrounded by beautiful vineyards.

Approaching Burlington on the Lake Champlain ferry

Ausable Chasm

Crossing back into New York State, we followed the St. Lawrence Seaway Trail along Lake Ontario, stopping briefly just south of Rochester.  Continuing across New York State, we drove through  the Adirondack Park.  At over 6 million acres, it is the largest park in the contiguous U.S.  Beautiful as it is, we were anxious to get to New England, so we spent just one night at Saranac Lake, had breakfast in Lake Placid (home of the 1982 Winter Olympics) the next morning, made a brief stop at Ausable Chasm, a beautiful 2 mile long sandstone gorge, and proceeded to Lake Champlain and the ferry that would carry us to Burlington, Vermont.  

WISCONSIN & ILLINOIS

Town readies for July 4 festivities along Mississippi

We were in La Crosse, Wisconsin over 4th of July.  The city is situated on the Mississippi River - the name comes from Indian words meaning Father of Waters. The Mississippi actually starts about 200 miles north of Minneapolis and creates the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.   Our hotel overlooked the river which runs 2,352 miles down to the Gulf of Mexico and is used by 60% of all North American bird species as a migratory flyway.  Barges run up and down the waterway, each carrying the equivalent 58 semi truck trailers.  One barge carries enough wheat to make 2.25 million loaves of bread.  

Stone cottages in Mineral Point

From there, we drove through miles and miles of farmland to Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  This was during the height of the heat wave and we saw endless acres of corn gradually turning brown. Mineral Point is reminiscent of a small English village thanks to an influx of miners from Cornwall, England in the early 1800s.  Skilled in hard rock mining and stone masonry, they came to the area to mine the rich mineral deposits.  Now the population is less than 3,000 but at one time, more people lived here than in Milwaukee and Chicago combined. 

Scott & Ann at their dental office

We moved on to Delafield, Wisconsin and had a wonderful week at the Delafield Hotel.  The hotel is lovely, quite new but built to reflect the colonial era.   In fact, the whole town has a colonial flavor.  Our friends, Ann and Scott, came up over the weekend.  On our way to Chicago, we stopped to see them at Scott's beautiful, new dental office.  He wanted a set of x-rays in case we ever have a problem during our travels.  What a friend!

Trudy in her elegant Chicago apartment

Out on the town: Trudy, Scott, Geri, Ann, Ron

We continued into Chicago
to spend a few days with Trudy, another friend from the 2011 World Cruise.  What a magnificent apartment she has on Lake Shore Drive.  Ann and Scott joined us one night and the 5 of us had a great night out.  Another World Cruise friend, Alan, was in town from Colorado so we got to spend some time with him as well.

Caroline, Nick, Clare & Norman (with ball in mouth)

We relocated to a suburb of Chicago in order to see a girlfriend I had not seen in over 40 years.  That's a lot to catch up on!  And, we were able to spend some time with our niece Caroline and her family who had just moved to Evanston so she can obtain her Master's degree at Northwestern.   


This has been a very social segment of our journey.  As I have said before, one of the best aspects of this trip is seeing friends we met on our travels who live scattered across the country.  We feel so fortunate to know so many lovely, fun and interesting people.


BOOK NEWS: I am working on a new book called "The Relationship Handbook."  If interested, you can read excerpts on my website www.gerioneill.com.

WYOMING and SOUTH DAKOTA

Trail End

Frank and Julia

With 46 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, Sheridan, Wyoming  is proud of its heritage.  Walking Main Street, it is easy to picture the town 100 years ago.   On the hill, overlooking town is Trail End, former home of John Kendrick, a cattle baron, governor and U.S. senator.  Completed in 1913 at the cost of $164,000, it would cost millions today.  


Best part of our stop here was that Julia and Frank, our good friends from Fort Collins, Colorado spent a couple of days with us on their way to Montana. 

Crazy Horse Monument

Leaving Wyoming, we  entered the Black Hills  of South Dakota, so named because the dark green pines seen from a distance look black.  Don’t be fooled.  The area is green and gorgeous. 

Crazy Horse Model

All of Mount Rushmore would fit in
section behind his face

 We spent 3 days in the town of Custer named after Lt. Col.  George Armstrong Custer who led the first gold expedition into the Black Hills and was later killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in southeast Montana.  After unpacking the car, we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  When Mount Rushmore Memorial was created in their homeland, elders of the Lakota Indian Tribe approached sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.  Saying, “the red man has great heroes also,” they asked him to carve the likeness of Crazy Horse into a mountain in the Black Hills.  Korczak agreed, moved west and spent the rest of his life on the project.  It broke ground in 1948.  Although he died in 1982, most of his 10 children continue the work today.

Got food?

The next 2 days we explored Custer State Park, surely one of the most beautiful parks in the country.  The first day, we drove the Wildlife Loop.  We saw sheep, pronghorns and friendly burros who come up to the car hoping for a handout.  But aside from 2 bison in the distance, we were frustrated that none of the herd of 1,300 the park boasts were to be found.  Then, on our final leg, we rounded a curve and a buffalo was grazing right by the curb.  He could not have been more than 10’ from the car as I took pictures.  

One of a herd of 1,300 in the park

Buffalo are huge animals. They can be 6’ tall and weigh over 2,000 pounds.  It is estimated that 30 – 60 million roamed the Great Plains of North America when Columbus discovered America.  The Indians used every part of the buffalo.  Aside from food, it provided material for clothing, shelter and tools.  They called him Tatonka and believed he symbolized the Great Spirit since he provided so much that sustained them.  By the late 1880s, bison were practically extinct.  A few individuals led the charge to preserve the animal.  Between parks and private herds, there are presently about 60,000 in the country. 

One of the wider tunnels

The eye of the needle

Sylvan Lake

The next day we drove the  endless curves and narrow tunnels of Needles Highway (so named because of granite peaks formed up to 2 billion years ago) and Iron Mountain Road.   We took a break at Sylvan Lake and hiked the trail around the lake.  Then it was on to nearby  Keystone to see Mount Rushmore.

 Everyone has seen pictures of this national monument but to see it in person is quite breathtaking.  The faces of the 4 presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln - are 60 feet tall.  Washington has the longest nose at 21 feet; the others are 20 feet long.   As with Crazy Horse, most of the work is done with dynamite, blasting the stone away to within 2 inches of the finished surface.  Unlike Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore was created between 1927 and 1941, and only 6 years involved actual carving.  The difference is that Crazy Horse refuses government funds and employs only 12 full time workers on the mountain; it may forever be a work in progress.  Gutzon Borglum, the man who carved the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain in Georgia was the master artist behind Mount Rushmore.  Believe it or not, the project originated with the hope of drawing tourists to the Black Hills.  Did it ever succeed!  

Auto mania downtown Sioux Falls

The falls in Sioux Falls

 Our final stop in South Dakota was Sioux Falls.  With about 170,000 population, it is the biggest city in the state.  It has a very nice downtown which was filled to overflowing one night with car enthusiasts and their old, restored autos.  Falls Park, created around the namesake falls on the Sioux river, were created about 14,000 years ago during the last Ice Age and are a series of falls cascading over pink quartzite rocks.

The falls in Sioux Falls

  
Now we will cross Minnesota into Wisconsin.




TRAVEL TIP: If you do go to the Black Hills, plan to stay in Custer not Keystone.  It is much more convenient for visiting the state park and Crazy Horse, and easy to get to Mount Rushmore.
  

IDAHO and MONTANA

Lake Coeur d'Alene

Our suite at Coeur d'Alene Resort

We left Washington State and entered northern Idaho for a 6 day stay in Coeur d'Alene.   The words mean heart of an awl. French traders gave the area that name because they found the native Indians to be hard and sharp traders.


Coeur d'Alene is often found on Best Places to Live or Best Places to Retire lists.  It is easy to see why.  The 25 mile long lake, carved out by the Missoula Glacial Floods, is gorgeous.  The town is nice to

View from our room

 walk, the people are friendly.  


Thanks to skyauction and an upgrade when we checked in, we had a wonderful room at the Coeur d'Alene Resort overlooking the lake and city.  The downside was that it was cold and rained almost every day.  Hard to believe it was early June.  

Hiking along Gallatin River Trail

  

Bozeman Countryside

Love the old barns that dot the farmlands

Fortunately the weather improved as we made our way to Bozeman, Montana.  The drive  across the Bitteroot Mountains along the Clark Fork River is spectacular. Home town to about 40,000 people and Montana State University, Bozeman is the 4th largest city in the state.  The movies  A River Runs Through It and The Horse Whisperer were set in the area.  The beautiful scenery, skiing, hiking and fishing make it a popular area with outdoor enthusiasts.  

Gay pride parade Bozeman

Bozeman has a great downtown and many of the townspeople lined Main Street to watch the annual Gay Pride Parade.  After the parade, we met a cousin who lives in nearby Livingston for lunch.  As I've said before, one of the best parts of this lifestyle is touching base with far away friends and relatives.

Next stop: Sheridan, Wyoming

WASHINGTON STATE

Seattle Space Needle

Seattle offered another opportunity for a little reunion of World Cruisers.  Alan flew up from Colorado to join us in visiting Bob and Infa.  We had a wonderful 3 days together.  Since Alan had not been to Seattle before, we had to see the Space Needle (built for the 1962 World's Fair) and go to Pike Place Market -  not a great idea on a holiday weekend!  

 Bob, Infa at their beautiful waterside home with Alan & Ron

On Memorial Day, we dropped Alan at the airport and headed to Woodinville, Washington for 4 days at the lovely Willows Lodge, a luxurylink package. 

Alan, Geri & Alan

Gardens at Willows Lodge"

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great (we were still in the Pacific Northwest), but our accommodations were beautiful, nice little town, lots of wineries (they are everywhere!) and great walking paths.  

The climate changed when we crossed the Cascade Mountains into the Wenatchee Valley, "Apple Capital of the World."  The area boasts 300 days of sunshine and 9 inches of rain (Seattle has 37). 

Our suite at Willows Lodge

Ohme Gardens overlook Wenatchee Valley

The town of Wenatchee sits at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers.  Yes, we are back on the Columbia River.  From its source in Canada, the Columbia runs 1,214 miles to Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Ocean.  




There is a wonderful view of the town, the Cascade Mountains and the river from the Ohme Gardens, an alpine rock and flower garden situated on a bluff overlooking the valley. 

Wenatchee's 10 mile walkway along the Columbia

 Ohme Gardens

Rocky Reach Dam 

Fish Ladder at Rocky Reach Dam

There are 11 dams on the  Columbia River in the US and 3 in Canada.  We visited the Rocky Reach Dam while here.  It has a fish 






bypass tube allowing young fish to continue their journey to the sea.  It also has a fish ladder for mature salmon to return to their spawning ground. 

Grand Coulee Dam

Banks Lake

Next stop: the town of Coulee Dam to see the Grand Coulee Dam.  The building of the dam began in 1933 under FDR.  It is the biggest dam in North America, one of the largest concrete structures in the world,  and the largest hydropower producer in the US.  It supplies power to 11 western states.   

Basalt cliffs

Dry Falls

Dry Falls

Building the dam was a godsend for the area.  It employed 7,000 people and turned an arid landscape into more than ½  million rich, fertile acres.   Today the Columbia Basin produces everything from A-apples to Z-zucchini, and more potatoes than neighboring Idaho.  The Hoover Dam is higher but Grand Coulee is more than 4 times as long.The dam siphoned off part of the Columbia River to create Banks Lake.  We drove the 30 mile stretch between Coulee City and Coulee Dam alongside the lake.  The scenery is magnificent.  As we learned in Oregon, this area was covered in lava millions of years ago – 3 miles thick in some places.   The glacial floods caused by water breaking through the ice dams of Lake Missoula carved the cliffs and riverbed, the canyons and the coulees.  Coulee means ravine or deep gully.   One of the most amazing remnants of the Ice Age is Dry Falls, so called because there is no water.   However, it was once the greatest waterfall in the world.  14,000 years old, Dry Falls is 3½ miles wide making it 5 times wider than Niagara Falls as well as  2½ times higher. 


SIGNS WE'VE SEEN ALONG THE WAY: People say I have a bad attitude.  I say, screw 'em.