Norway Michigan, Albino Deer, Rapids, and Waterfalls

We left St Ignace and headed west to Norway, Michigan. There we had multiple goals, visiting friends Dave and Jane and maybe buying a genie cabochon maker from Kingsly North. Viewing wildlife and scenery is of course one of our main goals and that's what the time there turned into.
Dave and Jane are two friends we met at Waterssedge, the rv park we winter in, and they have a beautiful ten acre piece of land near Norway Micgigan. We had talked with Dave, he was fishing, and he told us to just pull in and hook up. Soon after we arrived Jane got home and Dave followed later that evening,(He did have some northern and walleye fillets and so we of course talked about the fishing).

The next day they told us of Goodman park and some waterfalls on the Menomomie River and so we loaded into their truck and head out to sight see. Arriving we walked to the falls and decided that the river was way to high to canoe. The falls themselves were not passable in any season and the water was a strange reddish color from all the iron, dissolved into the water,(We are near Iron Mountain and old iron mines).

The next day we went shopping and headed to the Rock Shop where we found out that the cabochon maker was not in stock and would be dropped shipped to our address, not good when you live in a fifth wheel and travel full time. The trip wasn't a waste however as their geopicks were on  sale and so I purchased one. It was about time I had one as I bought Renita a pick axe for our anniversary last year and she won't let me use it.
We also bought some rock, more beautiful tiger eye, and some orbicular leopard skin agate. They also had some stunning Mexican crazy lace agate and I am kicking myself for not buying any. We spent the rest of the day checking out local artists and their shops and we traded stories and techniques for wire wrapping.

The last day in Norway was spent sightseeing as Dave took us to see an albino deer and Piers Gorge, a possible place to canoe. Again the water was way too high and the rapids were class three or maybe even four in places. They were way above our skill level and Dave suggested we should raft them some late summer, hmmmm.
We had a nice time there, buying rock, visiting with friends, and plan on returning there as part of a future fall leaf trip. The Upper Peninsula is such a nice place to be and a real relief after the heavy traffic out east. Clear skies.

The Soo Locks

We decided to stay another day and drive the short drive to Sault St Marie. There we thought we would just kind of play it by ear, oh and buy some fudge if there were any shops around. As Renita drove we talked about the locks and she said she had never seen a ship lock through.
So we got to the Soo locks and passed through security. Inside was a small museum with displays and of course the usual film describing the history of the locks and their importance to the US and Canada. It surprised me that a whole division of troops had been placed there to guard the locks during World War II.

After watching the Corp of Engineers film, a real film epic as only the US Government can make,
We headed out to view the locks . A ship wasn't due to lock through until 1:30 pm so we left the locks and walked along the street, full of shops that sold fudge.
Buying some at the first store we returned outside only to see the ship had arrived early and was already being lowered. We returned to the truck, passed through security and joined the crowd, ok probably ten others, as the ship finished its lowering and then left the lock heading down to Lake Huron.

Now when I was younger, I had seen lots of ships locking through the locks on the Mississippi River and my cousin and I had even locked through once ourselves, in a small rented boat, so it wasn't that exciting to me but it was still neat and new information to stick in ones brain and so we watched as two other small barges and tugs passed downstream.

We shopped some more and we actually found a shop filled with stuff made by a local family of artists. It contrasted nicely with all the other stores filled with the usual junk form China. Renita was so impressed that she even bought some wire wrapped necklaces and pendants and as we make them ourselves, well the quality was that good. Surprised at the low prices we talked with one of the artists who said that they had to be low to be competitive with the other stores, and that there were a lot of customers that didn't have much money. It was obvious that she knew their market.

We ate lunch in the truck as it was really cold, before finishing our shopping, well I mainly munched on fudge. The drive back to St Ignace was short and of course tree lined .  Others places beckoned but not today. We do hope to return this way someday as we head to into eastern Canada and down through Maine Clear skies.

Hunting Petoskey Stones? Start At Baileys Place

Leaving Connecticut we headed west through rain and downpours. Mile after mile of trees and rain, punctuated only by the occasional river crossing. The Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna all large rivers and then more thick forests. Mile after mile we stopped only for a brief nights stay at Walmart's in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
As soon as we came down the Appalachians and entered Ohio the forest gave way to the prairie and farm fields appeared. We were still in a hurry and so we drove west and then north entering Michigan. We had done this leg before and so we splurged and spent a night in an rv park, resting, showering, and dumping the tanks along with recharging batteries.

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge we tried a new  park, new for us anyway at Tiki Rv in St Ignace. We planned on making it our base camp for a few days as we were after the famous Petoskey stones, yup its time to start collecting more rocks!
Our first attempt was marred by storms as we drove west on the highway and stopped to check out rocky points along the north shore of Lake Michigan. We found some rock, but it was mostly dolomite and it usually destroys fossils during its formation. Dark storm clouds promised and delivered heavy rain and so cut our day short but it was nice to get out of the truck.

The next day we decided to recross the  Mackinac straits and head to the city of Petoskey, a likely spot for Petoskey stones? Google searches had turned up several shops including a rock shop called Baileys Place. Renita called ahead and talked with the owner who was looking out the door as we arrived.
As soon as we entered she greeted us warmly and it became obvious that we had entered the presence of a master lapidarist whose expertise was in Petoskey stones. We told her of our prospecting and of our love of stone and wire wrapping and she told us how Petoskey stones were prepared. It involved cutting slicing and stabilizing, something we have never done so she took us into her workshop and showed us a crock pot filled with Petoskey stones sitting in a bath of opticon.
She warned us of the fake Petoskey stones, actually coral from Indonesia and fossil coral from China and she showed us how to recognize it. She also told us to go to town and look at the fake stuff being sold as Petoskey Stone,(Shame on you few merchants who sell such junk to unsuspecting tourists, the color and the center of the fakes are quite different).
Baileys told us that a place to look for our own stones was right in town along the shoreline, She also said that the last six years had been unusual springs and that the ice hadn't plowed up any new material during the spring ice out, making the rock hounding poor.
Driving into town we parked behind Glens Supermarket, where theres a large lot, and after eating a hurried lunch we headed down to the shore. I waded out and saw the green moss growing on the submerged rocks that Bailey had told us about. Returning to the high water mark I started to shovel stones with my feet as the surface has been picked by thousands of rock hounds.

It actually worked as we found a tumbler full of Devonian age coral mostly favosite,( a Devonian coral), fossils but even some Petoskey! I was surprised that we found so much in such a heavily hunted area and wished I had a rake to run over the stony surface. To add to our fun I even found a morel mushroom and so for a while rock hounding was forgotten.

Driving back we took the east shoreline and while we didn't find any rock hounding areas we were treated to an occasional view of the lake and mile after mile of forest. The floor of the woods were covered with white and pink trillium and it made the drive almost magical to see so may flowers..
It was a day well spent as we ended up with lots of Petoskey rough to work. Besides the pieces we had found Bailey had sold us some beautiful rock for sawing, slabbing, and cabbing and so it starts anew as nine pounds of rock are stored in the fifth wheel. If you hunt Petoskey stones you should take the drive to the Town of Petoskey and stop at Baileys Place, where you will meet a mistress of stone, Thank you Bailey! Clear skies

The Peabody Museum, Yale

We always look for museums wherever we travel, and we really really really look forward to museums with rocks and fossils, so when my brother and his wife suggested we could visit the Peabody Museum we had to go.
Arriving at Yale we parked next to the museum and fed money into the parking meter. The old stately buildings looked fitting for such a storied place and the front of the museum was beautifully carved stone, what could be more fitting.

Our niece Ltjg Louise treated us and her parents to the admission tickets and we hurried upstairs to the minerals display. but before we reached the third floor the meteorites stopped me in my tracks. There were large meteorites from Canyon Diablo and The Red River Fall and of course I had to have models for scale of the two out of this world stones. To see the actual stones and touch them was a thrill as they are in just about every meteor book.
The minerals called and I hurried to the third floor and stopped as I reached the first display of diamonds in the rough. Having hunted Wyoming diamonds for the past two summers, and not finding any, I stared at the stones refreshing myself and my mind with the image of a rough stones, how I someday hope to find a double pyramid shaped specimen!
Th opal display showed all the fire one could expect and there were even tiger eye slabs, polished and shimmering with their chaytoyancy. I looked at the stunning specimens and realized how some of our specimens were of the same quality, its all in the cut after all.
The Egyptian room was fascinating and I wonder what my sister in law Mona felt as she gazed at the plunder of tomb robbers. Probably about the same as I did as we later strolled along dinosaur displays many collected/robbed from Wyoming. Dinosaurs from Wyoming need to stay in Wyoming!
We enjoyed the Native American display,(Hmmm no case filled with Germino's bones), where we both marveled at the bead work and the ivory carvings and I felt my need to carve jade growing stronger as new projects materialized in  my mind.

Stuffed birds, (my brother appreciated the humor in the image of him next to the dodo bird), and mammals, of course students attempting to draw specimens, and other museum visitors all seemed to blend into the experience. Of course a gift shop was at the end of the museum and I was a little disappointed to see the usual artificially dyed Brazilian agate slices.
Now the Peabody Museum isn't the best one we have visited and certainly not the biggest but it does have nice displays and is well worth visiting. Of course its simply the tip of the iceberg of fossils and specimens stored in the back rooms.It was still well worth the visit to walk the floors and enjoy the stories written in stone and bone. Clear skies.

Note big isn't necessarily best. If you want to see a great mineral display be sure to visit the Geology Museum in Rapid City South Dakota and for one of the best dinosaur display go to Thermopolis and its dinosaur Center. There they have an actual archeopteryx fossil found in Wyoming and quite simply priceless, the one at the Peabody is a cast.

A Connecticut Wedding and a Family Reunion

The bride walked down the aisle and was given to the groom by her father. Tears welled in many eyes and they exchanged their vows. the vows written by each other and promising to always be at each others side. I thought of my vows ad our wedding and I listened as the minister struggled to describe what marriage is.....
I thought of what I thought our marriage is, about a man clinging to his wife and a wife to her husband. About always being there, about how we have stood besides each other in sickness and in health and I thought of how much the newly weds were in love. It was so obvious that they were really meant for each other.

During the reception we danced and talked and met the families friends. So many have been blessed to be their friends and they have been blessed too. The wedding was the first time in twelve years that my sister, brother and I had been together. it has been too long.

I watched as my brothers wife and family renewed their love for one another. My brothers wife even had an uncle from Quebec and another who had traveled from Norway. Family from Oklahoma, and Florida, from Louisiana and Connecticut and we of course represented Wyoming. Friends from South Dakota and Maine and of course many others from where we do not know.

Later the bride and her father danced and oh my were tears flowing, blessed tears. Later we threw birdseed and helped to carry gifts to our truck to take them to my brothers house, while the bride and groom left on their honeymoon. I wonder if they know how blessed they are, if not they will someday.
Clear skies.

Springtime In Connecticut

We finally reached our goal, Connecticut, and I must say it is spectacular.Of course being from out West there are way too many trees and we have almost gotten lost several times, but the spring flowers and blossoming tress are like a paradise.
Our nieces wedding is tomorrow and we have had a great time as its  a family reunion. Its the first time in twelve years that siblings have all been back together, too long. For now let me just post some pictures of the flowers in my brothers back yard.  Clear skies

Pink Dogwood

Blood root

Azaleas

Lily in The Valley

Bleeding Hearts?

Jack In the Pulpit

Gettysburg

In the Northeast corner of the Gettysburg Battlefield a flame burns bright against the clear blue Pennsylvania sky. Eastern blue birds sing and flit back and forth along a split rail fence claiming their territory, or at least their favorite perch. One of the sides of the monument reads, "An Enduring Light to Guide Us in Unity and Fellowship". If only every American could travel here and read the message carved in stone.
In our travels we have visited Vicksburg, Fort Sumter, Antietam, and now Gettysburg. They all tell of the same messages. We fought for states rights, we fought because free slaves would take our jobs, we fought to end slavery, or we fought to preserve the Union....

The Battlefield itself is covered with monuments, Little Round Top, the Peach Field, the Wheat field, Devils Den, Cemetery Ridge and the Copse of Trees. The monuments all tell of the sacrifice our ancestors paid. The Pennsylvania Monument dominates the battlefield, and rightly so, but there are so many others including the Louisiana Statue standing across the mile wide field memorialized by Pickets charge.

I  have always been interested in the history of our country and why we fought the Civil War and sadly it seems to me we fought because the end of slavery meant the loss of so much money to wealthy slave owners and the loss of their way of life.
The parallels today of what is happening in our country and the greed that seems to drive it all sickens me. I was raised a Catholic and the Bibles Beautitudes were hammered into me by sisters who dedicated their lives to teaching me what is really important in life, and so I became a teacher.  If only people could see what we have seen and traveled the roads we have traveled......Clear skies