Arwinter2015

The Winter 2015 Edition of American Roads Magazine

It’s the start of a brand new year. No reason not to start the year off right with a winter vacation.We offer you a glimpse of some of them here at American Roads. It’s always fun to explore these and other great destinations no matter the time of year.

You will always find interesting lodging here at American Roads. Remember when planning a vacation or business trip, it’s always a good idea to research the available lodging. The last thing you want is an unpleasant surprise when you arrive at your destination. My favorite way to check with a reliable service that gives me ratings, reviews, lots of photos and the ability to book through whichever booking agency is currently offering the lowest price. All through the same website. You can do the same.

Click here for the best way to find a hotel worldwide.

Adirondack Trail Mix 1 The Glen Lodge and Wild Waters Outdoor Center

by Persis Granger

36 Exploring with Eleanor

Top 10 Reasons “Foxes” Get Away to the Fox Cities By Eleanor Hendricks McDaniel

Travelers to the Adirondack find a wide range of lodging choices, from nationally known chain motels, to posh hotels, or, for those who like the more homey, friendly touch, bed and breakfasts.

We all know that attractive, fabulous women are known as “foxes.” But did you know that the Fox Cities of Appleton, Menasha and Neenah in eastern Wisconsin are the favorite destinations for a Midwest Girlfriends Getaway?

Why? Because they offer what gal pals love.

Agri Lanes The Farmer in the Big Easy

by Kathleen Walls

6

Fork in The Road 40 Great Western Dining in the Heart of the South

by Kathleen Walls

New Orleans is famous for many thing but until recent years agriculture was not one of them. That is chang- You don’t have to travel out west for some great westing. Since Katrina, community gardens have become ern dining. I recently visited Bald Headed Bistro in a part of the Big Easy.

Cleveland, Tennessee and found the best of the west right there.

Art Trails 11 Intriguing Ponce and Puerto Rico 42 Happy Trails

by Anne Jenkins In Concrete Wonderland

by Tom Straka Photographs by Pat Straka As the colder weather settles in, Puerto Rico’s hot weather, warm people and good art sounds very inviting.

A good roadside attraction will usually draw us in; the more unusual the better. And the Wisconsin Concrete Artisan Trails 17 Park is highly unusual, even by our standards.

Made in Southeast Tennessee

by Kathleen Walls 46 Historic Trails Battle of New Orleans In a time when so much that we buy has a label read- by Kathleen Walls ing “Made in China” it’s refreshing to visit a state with a “Made in Tennessee” travel campaign.

Who hasn’t tapped their toes to Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans?” Realistically, the actual battle occurred Chuckwagon Roundup 23 on the outskirts of New Orleans in Chalmette, Louisiana 200 years ago, January 8, 1815.

Dining Cajun Style

by Kathleen Walls Inn Roads 49 As my favorite Cajun cook, Justin Wilson, once said Ashton’s Bed and Breakfast “There`s no place in the whole world that has food as by Kathleen Walls good as us Cajuns down in South Louisiana.”

When visiting a city with the history and heritage of Civil Rights Trails 29 New Orleans it’s important to pick a lodging that fits Lorraine Motel: Death Brings Forth New your needs and mirrors the city’s personality.

Life by Kathleen Walls Literary Trails 51 Sometimes, new life springs forth from death.

Visit an Author in the Big Easy

by Kathleen Walls Cowboy Trails 33 No city in the South has had such an impact on the Scout’s Rest

by Kathleen Walls literary figures that molded the twentieth century as New Orleans. Next time you visit New Orleans, take yourself Western historians generally agree that the most recog- on a “Writer’s Tour” and visit some of the places made nizable celebrity on Earth at the turn of the 20th century famous by the greatest literary minds of their time. was Buffalo Bill Cody.

Mountain Roads 56 Traditional Trails 86 Blue Ridge Scenic Byway in Virginia Little City with a Big Heart: The Story of

by Kathleen Walls North Platte Canteen by Kathleen Walls The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of mountain “What happened in North Platte is a miracle. It was a beauty connecting Shenandoah National Park and the love story between a country and its sons.”

Skyline Drive in Virginia, with the Great Smoky Moun- tains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.

See the U.S.A. with Warren 90 Museum Stroll 61 Amelia Island - 400 Years and 8 Flags by Mardi Gras World Warren Resen Photos by Jeanne O’Conner

by Kathleen Walls Florida’s AMELIA ISLAND, at 13 miles long and 2 miles Say “Mardi Gras” and everyone thinks of New Or- wide, is approximately the same size as the Island of leans, parties and fun.

Manhattan. .

64 Vagabond Traveler 94 Native Trails Visiting the Chitimacha: Louisiana’s Na- Journaling Your Travels tive People by Kathleen Walls

by Mary Emma Allen Few native Americans managed to retain their ances- Organizing your photos, postcards and other travel collectibles can be enjoyable and enable you to relive tral lands your various trips.

Off the Beaten Path 66 War Trails Hard Work University 96

by Kathleen Walls World War II Remembered

by Kathleen Walls College of the Ozarks, gives a whole new meaning to “working your way through college.”

The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, dubbed by President Roosevelt, “a day that will live Potluck 70 in Infamy,” created a sense of patriotism the United Blizzard Weather, Cooking Weather by States unequaled ever since.

Mary Emma Allen

102 Wet Roads

Cold, snowy weather, “blizzard weather, “often mean High Plains Drifting: Kayaking and Tankdelicious aromas in the kitchen when we came inside ing on Nebraska’s Rivers from snow clearing tasks, skiing, and sledding.

by Kathleen Walls .

72 Renee’s Route Deep into Detroit If you hadn’t thought of Nebraska as a great water

by Renee S. Gordon sports destination think again.

The first multi-million dollar industry in the New World was the fur trade and as early as 1608 Champlain Wild Trails 107 began to form alliances with Indians to trade furs to Louisiana’s Wetlands: Wild and Wonderful Europe

by Kathleen Walls Tibs Trails and Tastes 78 Are you in search of exotic birds, elusive mammals Choose four Colorado towns to access and reptiles from the prehistoric era? Do you think Rocky Mountain NP by Christine Tibbets you need to travel to foreign lands to find such wildlife?

Time to change that old notion about all roads leading No way! You can find all that in Louisiana’s wild and to Rome. Update it to talk about all the roads leading wonderful swamps and wetlands. to Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Travelers to the Adirondack find a wide range of lodging choices, from nationally known chain motels, to posh hotels, or, for those who like the more homey, friendly touch, bed and breakfasts. B & Bs abound in the region, nestled in the woods, along creeks or on hilltops. Each has its own character and special allure. Each has a unique story of how it was started, and of the people who poured their dreams into it.

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In the Southern Adirondacks, near Lake George, one finds The Glen Lodge standing on a site where The Grove Hotel flourished as far back as the 1800s, set between the steel tracks of the old Adirondac Branch and the Hudson River. The Glen House, too, enjoyed a history of hospitality at that site. If that ground could speak, it would tell of ice jams and raging torrents that wrested the old covered bridge from its piers and swept it downriver, or of the early settlers who crossed in boats on their way north. It would tell of the glorious days for the Grove Hotel, of the railroad station, post office, the feed store and the sawmill that flourished here at one time, all long since gone. Perhaps the site was waiting to be rediscovered and resurrected when Doug Azaert arrived on the scene.

Doug grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, and settled in the Adirondacks in 1982, teaching kayaking with some buddies. After a year or so, they realized that guiding rafters was more lucrative than teaching people how to paddle.

Speaking of those early days of the business, Doug said, “The first two years they did all the guid

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ing, and I was just the chief cook and bottle-washer, and when I saw how much fun they were having, I knew I had to get in on that.” The third year, he had his guide’s license and joined the fun.

That enterprise grew into Wild Waters Outdoor Center, a flourishing whitewater rafting business that also offers canoeing and kayaking. The business is headquartered at The Glen, a little settlement that spills over into the towns of Thurman, Johnsburg and Chestertown, where NY state route 28 crosses the Hudson and the Glen Creek flows into the Hudson.

The business was first housed in an early 1900s hotel-turned-youth-hostel known as The Glen House. Doug worked from season to season, enjoying the experience, but not sure where it would lead him. “I think it was not until the tenth year that I stopped mentally asking myself each fall what I’d be doing the next year.” He had found his niche, and in the 1990s, on a blind date with a friend of one of his guides, he also found Aimee Paquin. Aimee explains that an old friend of hers, who guided for Doug, was soon to be married, and he and his bride-to-be had thought it would be nice if Doug had a date—Aimee—for their wedding. Well, it turned out that there was more than one wedding in Doug and Aimee’s future. In 1997 they married, and she became an active participant in the business.

Changes were occurring in whitewater rafting in our region. Gone were the days when the clientele was limited to groups of men who came in the spring, played hard, drank hard and went home happy. Rafting became a family activity, and rafting companies extended the sport’s season through fall, with summer becoming the most popular time. The weather is warmer, and rafters aren’t huddled around in cold wetsuits. But with summer comes lower water, and lower water makes for more difficult rafting. More rocks are exposed, creating greater challenges for the guides. But with the extended season, which now runs from April to October, guides typically make eighty to one hundred trips downriver in a season, and have a chance to sharpen their skills.

“People have found,” Doug says, “that a rafting trip is a memorable way to celebrate a graduation

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or birthday, and even makes an outstanding bachelor party. Everyone is engaged in the activity, enjoying the beautiful scenery.”

In the rafting business, safety is always the key issue, as guests are immediately made aware.

Guides are all certified, having passed rigorous training and tests, not only in rafting, but also CPR and first aid. More than just guides, Doug’s employees have learned that their role involves entertaining the guests, telling stories, sharing history and passing along information about the area.

In November 2000, fate forced a change. The Glen House burned to the ground. By the following summer, a new log structure had arisen from the ashes, to become The Glen Lodge and Market, a bed and breakfast with gift store, a business that was to become primarily Aimee’s.

The cozy riverside B&B, with its cedar log furniture, colorful quilts and private baths, boasts many amenities its predecessor could not offer—features Aimee had learned were important to the changing tourist clientele. About sixty percent of the guests are Wild Waters clients, but the Lodge added a fourth season to the Azaerts’ offering, serving as a perfect haven for skiers after a day on the slopes or cross country trails.

Guests of Doug and Aimee often are surprised and usually appreciative of the fact that they make efforts to operate “green” businesses. From kitchen to bathroom, bedroom to market, The Glen Lodge’s household and laundry cleaning products are environmentally friendly, and recycling is a regular part of their day-to-day operation. Kitchen scraps are shared with a friend who raises pigs, and paper goods used for the rafters’ dinners are biodegradable, and are composted. Aimee says their customers—if they are aware—like the idea, and many of them comment that they would like to “green up” their own homes a bit. She feels she gave up no advantages making the change to green products.

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The Azaerts participate in National Grid’s “GreenUp Program,” buying exclusively electricity that is produced by wind power. “I think everyone should belong to the GreenUp Program,” Doug says. “With wind power I know that none of my power bill payment is going to pay for coal. Who wouldn’t?”

The Azaerts’ two sons, Brent, aged 16, and Weston, 14, help out with the businesses. They both help out in the kitchen, landscaping, working in the store and outfitting rafting customers in the mornings. They are comfortable and poised way beyond their years, at ease talking with guests.

Neither Doug nor Aimee trained for the businesses they run so effectively today, but the attention to detail they exhibit shows enormous dedication. Doug will quickly admit that he just stumbled into the rafting business, learning as he went along. In addition to his state-mandated training, he quickly grasped the essentials of his trade. “It’s not easy. It’s important for a guide to always remember to stay focused on the job and the safety of the clients, and to be in good physical shape.”

He stresses that if someone wants to be a whitewater guide, he can’t go into it expecting to just go out for a good time. “It’s physically demanding, because you are lifting and loading heavy boats, and sometimes pulling passengers out of the boats or out of the water.”

Aimee, trained in accounting but with some experience in the hospitality trade, mentioned that many people tell her they have dreamed of running a B&B. Although she loves her role as innkeeper, she explains that the job entails a lot more than a casual observer might realize. “The B&B owner is housekeeper, a cook, a concierge and a sales clerk, on duty twenty-four hours a day. You shouldn’t attempt it if you aren’t a ‘people person,’ someone who is very customer oriented.”

It’s clear that both Aimee and Doug are “people people,” as well as entrepreneurs who understand the value of hard work and the importance of guarding the beautiful Adirondack environment in which they live.

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That is changing. Since Katrina, community gardens have become a part of the Big Easy. Food has always been an important part of New Orleans culture but a disaster like Katrina reminded people how fragile the link that connects us with the far away markets. I recalled the scene in “Gone With the Wind” where Scarlett returns home to the ruined fields of Tata and grubs in the garden to find a few tough greens that survived the devastation. She pulls up a handful and holds them to heaven and cries “As God is my witness, they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again.”

With plentiful produce close and available in case of any emergency, no one needs to be hungry again.

While In New Orleans, I visited just a few of the urban gardens. Although all serve a common purpose, each is different. When Katrina struck, the hardest hit area was the old Ninth Ward. I lived in the Ninth Ward for a good part of my teen years and it will always be special to me. So it thrills me to see a group like The The Ninth WArd Community Garden Ninth Ward Community Garden take root and teach residents good gardening techniques such as testing soil and avoiding harmful chemicals on food. Residents who may never have visited a “real” farm now are learning to harvest and preserve food they help grow right on Desire Street in what was (and is) as urban an area as ever existed. The garden, started in 2010, is an oasis where neighbors not only grow food but strengthen friendship and have a green place to relax amid busy streets and shotgun houses on small lots. Ninth Ward Community Garden is a member of NOLA Green Roots which serves as a hub where small local gardeners can come together and learn.

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Traveling down through the lower Ninth Ward to Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish, I found another community garden, Vintage Garden Farm.

Actually they have three farms in the New Orleans area. besides the Chalmette farm, the Uptown and Metairie Arc centers also include farms The farms have a multipurpose. Besides providing a source of local organic type produce they provide jobs for those with an intellectual disability or delay.

Site Manager Josh Raser Explained that the property was owned by the Catholic Church and was the site of Prince of Peace Church which was severeShelton, one of Vintage Farm’s workers, is justly proud of his red peppers ly damaged by Katrina. Arc, an organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities or delays, leased the land from the Archdiocese and began the farm to provide jobs for those with disabilities as well as a local source of safe, reasonable priced produce. They now use the church as a community center.

Josh described the farm, “We have about five acres with three in production. We’re not certified organic but we don’t use pesticides.”

He showed me a section of a field with winter rye planted on it and explained that the farm grows a crop for one year on a plot then lets it set fallow for a year with a cover corp. Another thing they use are “good bugs” such as ladybugs to help eliminate the pests. They plant rows of different crops staggered rather than all of one crop together.

Heritage red okra grown at Vintage Gatdens & Grow Dat Youth Farm

According to Josh, “The idea is different plants attract different kind of bugs. On mono-culture farms, they have acres upon acres of whatever. If the bug attacks one crop it will spread all over.

Here, let’s say it goes to the row of okra then it goes to the next row it finds eggplant and so on.”

Crops range from banana and citrus trees to ginger, turmeric and other herbs to normal garden crops such as squash, peppers, melons, eggplant, okra, beans and others. They try some different vanities such as a red okra which is popular since it looks so different but turns green when cooked.

They try to keep trees in the parking lot so it provides shade for some plants that require it as well

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as a pleasant place to visit.

He showed me the compost area which he described as “the lifeblood of an organic farm.” They also use fish emulsion which smelled pretty strong but according to Josh is “like steroids for plants in the garden.”

As we toured the farm, several workers were busy harvesting some peppers. One of the workers, Shelton, brought over a basket of peppers he had picked. They were beautiful, red and shiny.

Visitors can come to the farm on Monday or Tuesday morning while the workers are in the garden and buy their produce or they can buy it at Crescent City Farmers Market or Mid-City Market on Thursdays. They also sell to some restaurants which are good markets especially for the herbs.

Grow Dat Youth Farm is another farm in New Orleans with a dual concept. Sara Howard. the farm manager, showed me around the 7.1 acre eco-campus site located in City Park. It was founded in 2010

by Johanna Gilligan and located in City Park since spring 2011. Sara explained. “Our mission is to foster leadership in diverse group of young people. We hire high school Part of the gardens at Grow Dat Youth Farm students to participate in our spring and summer leadership program and once they graduate they are eligible to apply for positions as junior staff and come back and lead their peers and work on the farm.

We structure the curriculum around four pillars: sustainable agricultural which comprises half or the time; leadership development and workforce readiness; healthy nutrition and lastly food justice which comprises food safety, migrant workers conditions and how food gets from the farm to their plates.”

They have about two acres in productions and sell to local restaurants and two farmers’ market. They produce peaches, bananas, citrus and divertive garden farm crops.

Sara said, “We use sustainable methods

Sara Howard displays Grow Dat Youth Farm’s test kitchen

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such as crop rotation, cover crops and using beneficial insects and use no chemical pesticides or fertilizers. We are totally organic although not government certified.”

They have a testing kitchen on site where they can sample healthy recipes using the crops they produce and a small “Mobile Market” they use to showcase the produce when they are selling it.

Talk about a win_win situation!

Hollygrove Market and Farm is a different concept. It is a combination of farm and store. The farm section is a non-profit corporation owned by Hollygrove Community in Jefferson Parish. The market is a separate entity.

Rie Ma, Communications & Part of Hollygrove’s garden Community Outreach Specialist, for Hollygrove showed me around. Hollygrove was started about six years ago. Organic is less a issue for them than local sustainability. They do not use any synthetic chemicals or fertilizers. They may use some fertilizer but no pesticides. “All are natural,” Rie said. “We follow the organic procedures but are not organically certified.”

The store itself is filled with not only produce but other healthy foods such as grass fed beef and local honey. Ria told me that there are three mentor farmers who assist them and they take on interns who want to learn stainable practices to work with the farming.

The community gardens patches at Hollygrove

They grow some produce that they sell in the market and purchase other items from local farmers and growers. In addition to the produce the market grows there are community beds for individuals. These are small raised beds which are planted and tended by individuals. A member may grow whatever produce they want. Their only responsibility is to keep it looking nice and maintain healthy

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growing practices.

Originally the beds were owned by only people who live in the surrounding Hollygrove Community but now some are owned by others who frequent the store. If you are considering getting your own plot be aware they have a long waiting list.

A visit to another New Orleans attraction, the World War II Museum, (Click here for more about the World War II Musuem) reminded me that Victory Garden at WWII Musuem local gardens are not a totally new concept. One of the outside exhibits is a small “Victory Garden.”

Victory gardens were begun during World War I and were an important source of food production during both World War I and II. President Woodrow Wilson said “Food will win the war.”

Perhaps all communities should take a lesson from New Orleans gardening endeavors and realize how important it is to have a local source of food.

For more info: http://ninthwardcommunitygarden.com/site/ http://blog.nola.com/stbernard/2012/06/chalmette_arc_workers_employed.html http://growdatyouthfarm.org/ http://hollygrovemarket.com/ http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/victory-gardens.html

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Once you arrive in San Juan, rent a car and drive straight out of town to the Southern shore of the island and get settled in Ponce before exploring. There’s nothing wrong with San Juan, you can spend a couple of days there before you leave. It’s the big city, so to get a taste of the real Puerto Rico head on out of town and prepare to be delighted.

The extraordinary mix of architectural gems in Ponce.

Ponce, the “Pearl of the South,” is a grand dame of beautifully preserved and restored buildings with cool, shady squares and fountains reminiscent of Europe. The vibe is elegant and laid back.

The locals are very welcoming. And the art - visual, architectural and culinary, is outstanding.

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The European style squares with fountains, public art and shady trees.

The Plaza las Delicias, is the central main square and a good starting point. And it’s home to the most extraordinary fire station, Parque de Bombas. The whole building is a jumble of red and black stripes.The colors make it very “heavy” but it’s a fun challenge to sketch.

There are plenty of benches, shady trees and the place is crowded with subjects to sketch.

The Parque de Bombas, probably one of the most photographed buildings in Puerto Rico.

Ponce’s symbol is the lion. In 2012 they started a public art project of life size lion statues placed around the square. Each one is painted by a local artist, and they are just such fun to explore. Each one is a work of art, some have a great sense of mischief, others majesty. Pop over the street, choose a refreshing ice sorbet from the hole in the wall, King’s Cream, to slurp while you cool off under the trees of the park.

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Mango and tamarind sorbet from Kings Dream

There is a souvenir shop opposite the Parque de Bombas called Mi Coqui Souvenirs which is full of the usual stuff peddled to tourists. But this one has an extraordinary hidden gem - ask to see the art gallery. You are led through the back stock room, up some uneven stairs and a door is unlocked to reveal a treasure trove of local art hanging on the walls and stacked on the floor.

The 2 vejigante masks by one of the most famous mask makers.

When I was there they had two very big and beautiful papier mâché folk art masks, the vejigante masks, made by one of Puerto Rico’s premier mask makers. He is getting on in age and probably won’t be making many more. I wished I could take one home. The masks are worn traditionally during carnival by costumed vejigantes who roam the streets with the idea they’ll scare sinners back in to the arms of the church.

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A lovely rendition of the houses in Puerto Rico towns tumbling down the hillside by a local artist.

The owner of the store, David Maldonado took me up to the gallery and when I asked him how this Aladdin’s art cave started. He smiled and said he loves art and has always collected. So he decided to open a gallery. I am so glad he did and I hope he makes it easier to access because it is an amazing place and at present has no outside publicity at all.

The inner courtyard of the Centro Cultural de Ponce

Wander a couple of blocks up a side street from the square to the Centro Cultural de Ponce Carmen Solá de Pereira. It is housed on Calle Cristina in a wonderful apricot colored restored mansion with a cool central courtyard. The main function of the center is to promote local artists, further arts eduction and many other cultural activities. They often conduct painting lessons on the front porch and have constantly changing art exhibits on display. After a warm welcome they encourage you to wander about at will and leave you to enjoy the art and the lovely building.

It’s not near the center of town but it is definitely worth making an effort to get to the Museo de 14

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‘Caribe’ by Wichie Torres and Eli Vega, one of the paintings on exhibit in the Centro .

Arte de Ponce. This museum is the premier art museum in the Caribbean and it is exceptional.

What started out with a small collection of about 70 paintings, it is now considered to be a world class art museum of approximately 800 masterpieces. It’s housed in a building designed by the architect for the New York City Museum of Modern Art and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Edward Durrell Stone.

The town of Ponce is an art collection in itself. Many of the buildings have been restored to their former glory and the narrow streets with their eye popping architecture is a joy to wander around.

Lovely restored buildings line a back street of Ponce

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I recommend, if you have the time, to head to the coast and in to the hills for a day for two. There are some lovely beaches, a couple hidden down bumpy dirt roads. The hill towns are great to explore, One of those less touched by modern tourism filled with restored historic homes and squares is San German. Another fascinating town architecturally with colorful houses built like mosaics on the hill side and gracious mansions in town is Yauco, once the major coffee town in the world.

There is so much more to explore and discover all over the island. Puerto Rico is not very big so getting around is easy. You will be warmly welcomed. And you’ll eat way too many of the yummy snacks and food from stalls and food trucks on the side of the road. Go soak it all up and enjoy ... the island,and it’s art, is glorious.

The art teacher on the porch inviting us in to join them in Ponce BUSINESS INFO: http://www.topuertorico.org/city/ponce.shtml http://www.museoarteponce.org

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In a time when so much that we buy has a label reading “Made in China” it’s refreshing to visit a state with a “Made in Tennessee” travel campaign. If you enjoy watching talented crafters create useful, artistic or edible products, Tennessee fills the bill. Most of the places I visited on a recent trip to Southeast Tennessee produced crafted items that the artisan took great pride in showing off. The best thing about all of these places is that they offer tours or allow visitors so you can follow in my footsteps and visit them to see for yourself.

Don’t limit your thinking of “creative” to artists and crafters. It has a much broader definition. Farmers create every day. At Sequatchie Cove Farm, owner, Bill Keener, explained his unique view of creativity. “We look at our whole farm as creating solar energy. Each blade of grass, like right now the sun is shining and photosynthesis so what is going on is that photosynthesis is taking carbon out of the air and creating energy and the cows come along and Bill Keener presents some of his award winning cheese eat the grass and we make cheese or create beef.

To me each blade of grass is a solar panel.”

No wonder the cheese he and his wife, Miriam, produce is the stuff of a gourmet’s dreams. It is produced from raw milk form the farm’s contented cows that are fed no antibiotics or growth promoting hormones and graze on farmland and pasture that never sees pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. One of their newer cheeses, Dancing Fern, has won third place from American Cheese Society in the soft cheese category two years in a row. Bill offered us a sampling of some of the farm’s cheeses and I was surprised many of the others had not won as well. They were yummy.

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You can get grass fed beef or pork and free range pork from the farm. Another great way to enjoy Sequatchie Cove Farm is to visit during berry season and enjoy their You-Pick Berries. They raise blueberry and blackberry.

Another proud cheese crafter is Sweetwater Valley Farm, owned and by the Harrison Family. It’s a dairy farm producing Farmstead cheese, meaning the farm controls everything from cow to consumer. The farm, located near Philadelphia, Tennessee gave us one of the most complete dairy tours I have ever been on. From seeing the various pastures and buildings where the cows live to the milking barn where we watched the process form cow to truck. We visited the special barn for the new mothers about to calf and met Belle, one of the herding dogs.

We even saw two hours-old baby calves.

Some of Sweetwater Valley Farm’s cows

When you visit be sure to taste the variety of cheeses they have available. Also take a walk through dairy farming past and present in their UdderStory exhibit.

Mayfield’s iconic cow

If you are lucky enough to visit when they are making the cheese, you can watch through the glass wall. Mary Harrison, marketing director and one of the family daughters, told us a little about the farm history. It was begun by her parents in late 1980s as just a fluid dairy. Her father, John Harrison, wanted to have more of a people relationship. H1998 Sweetwater Valley Farm started making cheese and opened the present location in 1999. They are obviously doing something right because in 2012 They were named IDFA’s (Innovative Dairy Farmer) Farm of the Year. They use about ten percent of their milk to make the cheese.

The remainder goes to Mayfield Milk which is another “Made in Tennessee” site open to visitors.

It’s located in Athens. Scottie Mayfield, the fourth generation involved with the plant, told us a little of the plant’s history, from its founding by his grandfather, T.B. Mayfield, in 1910 Through the family’s decision to sell to Dean Foods. The family is still very much involved in the business.

The very reasonable tour price includes an ice cream and takes you through all aspects of the production including making the yellow jug that is such a recognizable Mayfield feature.

A visit to Benton’s Smokey Mountain Country Hams makes you conscious of the skill and labor that goes into creating an artisan food product.

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Thomas explains why Benton Hams are so special

Allan Benton started the company almost by accident. He bought the business in Madisonville in 1973 from Albert H. Hicks, a dairy farmer who cured country hams. Allan, who had just realized his degree in counseling was not what he wanted to do the rest of his life. He thought of the ham curing business as a stop gap until he decided what he really wanted to do. As he progressed, he decided that creating hams and bacon cured or smoked as it was done when he was growing up was what he wanted to do.

Our tour guide, Thomas Williams, explained that the process mimics the changing seasons as the ham progresses from a piece of pork to a finished ham or slab of bacon just as the mountain people cured hams for generations before refrigeration. Simple or not, Benton’s ham has become one of the celebrity chefs and high end restaurants favorites. According to Chef John Malik, “Benton’s is perhaps the most famous, most sought after bacon and country ham producer in the United States.”

With the arrival of sudden fame after years of struggling Benton’s Smokey Mountain Country Hams suddenly found themselves in the position where they could not fill all the orders that poured in. Suddenly the food chains wanted to stock Benton’s hams and bacon. According to our guide, “That’s not who we are. Allan said, ‘We want to dance with the one that brung us.’ meaning high end chefs and small mom and pop stores. We’re not going to triple our size and crank out millions of pounds. We’re going to keep it small so we can keep an eye on things.”

Thomas gave us each a pound of their bacon to take home. I fixed some of mine the very first day home and now my future grocery budget is shot. I confess, I used to buy cheap bacon but after one taste of the Benton’s Bacon, I will never be satisfied with lesser products again.

Hard to find a more scenic location than Tsali Notch 19

Tsali Notch Estate is named for the Cherokee farmer, Tsali, AKA Charlie, who was executed in 1838 for trying to keep his people from being marched West on the Trail of Tears. Tsali was the inspiration for the play “Unto these Hills.” Tsali Notch Estate is what is known as a farm winery near Madisonville. As a farm winery they grow the grapes, in this case, Muscadine grapes, and sell their product but do not make the wine themselves. That part is contracted out.

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The scenery alone makes a visit worthwhile. Acres of grapevines flourish against a backdrop of the Smokey Mountains. A stately log building is the tasting room and an beautifully restores farm house was moved from an adjourning farm and reconstructed as a event center and general lodge where guests can sit and relax with a bottle of Muscadine wine.

The manager, J. D. Dalton, gave us some background.”We started up in 2009 and now are the largest Muscadine vineyard in Tennessee with 202 acres all together and we are growing 35 acres of six varieties of Muscadine.” He is sold on Muscadine. “They have the highest amounts of antioxidants of any fruit.”

After the tasting, I can vouch for the fact they taste as good or better than any other sweet wine you will taste.

You will find lots of unique Muscadine products besides wine. Things like Muscadine chow chow, Muscadine sweet onion, Muscadine salsa and even a Muscadine pear apple jalapeno pepper butter.

Events at Tsali Notch run the gauntlet from concerts to Civil War Reenactments to Muscadine Festival. You can also go and pick your own Muscadines during season.

Savannah Oaks’ Cat Cat Wine

Savannah Oaks Winer, located on the beautiful Hiwassee River n the foothills of the Cherokee National Forest, Is a family winery owned

by Betty and Bruce Davis. They also has some great Muscadine wine. It’s their specialty but they make a lot of other unique flavors. I fell in love with the blackberry wine. Casey Davis, the owner’s son was handling the tasting when we arrived. He and his mom made us feel right at home. It’s that kind of place where everyone is family. Casey explained why Savannah Oaks has some very unique names for their wine like Ocoee Gold Sunset, Hiwassee Red Hussy and perhaps the most interesting name, Cat Cat Party Crasher. “When I was growing up and someone said ‘wine’ we thought of either church or old people so we decided to make our names fun and exciting.”

He told me the story behind the Cat Cat Wine name with a tear in his voice. “Being raised on a farm cats and dogs just wander in. You don’t have to go pick them out. We don’t give them names usually so we don’t get too attached. But that don’t work. Several years ago, a calico cat started hanging around. We took her in and just called her Cat Cat. Cat Cat was the sweetest cat you ever met. She was a great favorite. Visitors who came to the winery would remember her name and not ours. She would pop up in every wedding picture and event. She passed away the beginning of the year and we all miss her so we named this wine in her honor.”

The annual Wine Stomp is a great time to visit but there is no wrong time. This is a winery with not only great wine but lots of heart.

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Nothing prettier than an Apple Valley Orchard apple

Apple Valley Orchard in Cleveland started as just an apple orchard. Chuck McSpadden told us the story of his family orchard’s beginnings as he droves us on a trailer tour of the orchard. “ My dad worked in a local Sears in what was then called the ‘garden department.’

About 1964, my dad bought two apple trees that were left over at the end of the season. Eventually he got up to about 40 apple trees. He loved fussing with them so my mom suggested he buy a few more. She expected about 40. He bought 400. That was 1968”

Today Apple Valley has 45 acres with 27 varieties on around 1700 trees and Chuck is planning on at least three or more varieties in the next few years. Along with the orchard, they now expanded to producing their own cider and other apple related products and their new bakery will offer you some of their “almost famous” Fried Apple Pie. Wow. It is tasty. It is just waiting for a few of you to try it before it is considered “famous.”

One of their most popular products is moonshine jelly. They make it as a basic apple jelly but add a few drops of moonshine whisky. Naturally, cooking takes out the alcohol. The cider mill presses out golden-taste-bud-tempters from mid-August through January. The cider will be slightly different each week as they use a blend and it varies depending what variety of green or golden is ripe in the orchard that week. The blend starts with twenty five percent Golden Delicious as red apples make it too sweet. Be sure to try the apple cider slushy. I loved mine.

You can feel safe eating the apples or drinking the cider as they try and avoid pesticides. One story Chuck told relates to the worst pest they need to control. “We’ve got some little white tags hanging in the trees, our worst pest is the Codling Moth. Those tags put out the we put those tags out in spring and early summer before the trees bloom. They are filled with the scent of the female Codling Moth. When the males hatch out the scent is so strong it overloads their sensory system.

They are so confused they can’t find a female to mate with and we don’t have to chemically treat for them.”

Anybody who thinks like that is my kind of guy.

One insect everyone involved with growing things loves is the tiny honey bee. At Appalachian Bee in Ocoee, beekeeper, Diane Ravens, introduced us to her little winged friends. Diane keeps an observation hive where we could see what the bees are doing by opening a small trapdoor on the hive.

Diane holding one of her bees

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She explained that the queen is the key to the op-

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eration. The queen has to keep laying a steady stream of new bees as bees only live about 35 days.

She said, “They literally work themselves to death.”

She runs 50 to 100 colonies. local She provides hives to Chuck at Apple Valley to pollinate his apple trees and to other local farmers to pollinate their crop. Each type of plant the bees pollinate create a different type of honey. Some of the crops such as the apples do not produce any nectar to create the honey so she may have to feed them some sugar water while they were there. Besides honey Diane makes a lot of other products; honey butter, flavored cream honey, sourwood comb honey, bees wax candles, soap and so much more. She told us about propolis. Propolis is a natural antibiotic that was commonly used before penicillin was discovered.

Her extraction kitchen is a model of efficiency. This is where she removes the honey and creates her products. A visit to Appalachian Bee will reward your sweet tooth in a healthy way.

Slightly less healthy than honey but equally delicious sweet tooth treats can be found at Bluff View Art District, Chocolatier Jerome Savin creates handmade chocolates blended with the unusual.

For instance, he uses some of Benton’s bacon to create a crunchy treat to die for. Michele Kephart, director of marketing at Bluff View Art District, confided “Jerome loves alxchol. He infuses it into as many of his truffels he can. There is Jack Daniels, Creame de Mint, rum and every variety he can think of in all sorts of dark and milk chocolates.”

Not only are these creations delicious they are a work of art. You can view him at work through a large picture winder near the “grandfather sculpture” and sample his creations at Rembrandt’s Coffee Shop.

Rembrandt’s Roasting Company is another place to catch creative artisans as work in Bluff View. Usually later in the day is the best time but the burning smwll will tell you if they are hard at work when you are there.

They are located behind the Bocce Ball Terrace across the street form the Sculpture Garden. which is also filled with beautifully crafted works of art. If your nose leads you there, step inside and if one of the roasters is free, he will explain the entire coffee roasting process. They sell their unique blends to restaurants, grocery stores, hotels and of course Rembrandt’s Coffee House.

While there, you might also peek in at the pastry chef, Eva Whitaker as she creates some delicious treats for the local restaurants By now you might think I have been eating and drinking my way across Southeast TenTwo examples of creative artistry:foreground the sculpture The nessee and you would lonely be half right. I Grandfather and in background is Chocolatier Jerome Savin 22

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also visited lots of other great places. One of which was Lodge Cast Iron Store in South Pittsburg.

Lodge Cast Iron factory, located just behind the store has been in the business of making cast iron cooking equipment for well over a century. Once a year during the National Cornbread Festival in April, Lodge Factory opens its doors to allow tours to the public. Of course you can visit the store year round to get you favorite cast iron skillet, Dutch oven or other utensil.

So many unique products that are “Made in Tennessee� offer tours and inside looks at their unique products. You just have to go visit yourself to enjoy them all.

For more info: http://sequatchiecovefarm.com/ http://www.sweetwatervalley.com/index.html http://www.mayfielddairy.com/ http://bentonscountryhams2.com/index.shtml http://www.tsalinotch.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Savannah-Oaks-Winery/138273117401 http://www.applevalleyorchard.com http://honeybeesrock.com http://bluffview.com http://www.lodgemfg.com

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As my favorite Cajun cook, Justin Wilson, once said “There`s no place in the whole world that has food as good as us Cajuns down in South Louisiana.”

Cajun cooking has become popular all over the country now, You see “Cajun this,” “Cajun that” and even “Cajun peanuts” at roadside stands all over Florida and Georgia but the best place to find authentic Cajun food still is in the heart of Cajun county.

I recently visited Lake Charles, Houma and the Cajun coast with Travel Media Showcase and found my own culinary treasures there.

We started off our Cajun dining at the opening night reception for us journalists by the Lake Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau held at The Brick House. They are a catering company that did themselves proud with local favorites. A sampling of our menu consisted of Petite Crawfish Pies, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo with Rice, Creole Corn Maque Chaux, Cracklins, Smoked Sausage Bites and of course, Boudin Links and Boudin Balls.

Gumbeaux Gator at the Civic Center 24

We had a few celebrities like Gumbeaux Gator, some Contraban Days Buckeneers, a few Mardi Gras Revelers and Louisiana’s Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne. Gumbeaux Garor just pranced around and waved to greet us, Those Buckeeneers and Mardi Gras Revelers helps us “pass a good time” but Lt. Governor Dardenne stole the show. He proved to be no slouch on the dance floor and held his own with all of us journalists that got on the floor with him.

When Lil’ Wayne and Same ole two Step began fiddling out some Zydeco music, that dance floor was a really fun place. There is a slight difference between Zydeco and Cajun bands. You’ll hear accordions, fiddles and occasionally steel guitars in Cajun groups, in Zydeco bands there’ll be accordions and rubboards instead.

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Chris Miller & Bayou Roots

The following night, the CVB did it all over again and stuffed us with Cajun food at the Lake Charles Civic Center. They had a real Fais Do Do with Chris Miller & Bayou Roots. Man, those guys can do a mean version of “Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot.” We stuffed ourselves once again with some of the best seafood you ever tasted including boiled crabs, jambalaya, shrimp and so much more.

Along with the strong seafood bias in Cajun food, you will see a lot of smoked meats. Both relate to the face that Cajun food was a food of the poorer people of Louisiana. Seafood is plentiful and easily caught here. Smoking was one of the earliest ways of preserving food before refrigeration. It has become a staple in this area.

“We smoke anything that doesn’t smoke us. Pork chops, deer, beef and pork sausage, turkey wings, rabbit, chicken and even boudin,” says Dwight Billedeaux, owner of Billedeaux’s Cajun Kitchen located at 2633 Fruge St., in Lake Charles.

Megan Hartman, senior marketing manager for Lake Charles/SWLA Convention & Visitors Bureau, told me this regarding food in Louisiana’s Outback, “In Calcasieu Parish—known as the focal point of Louisiana’s Outback—eating is serious business, but visitors will find that fun and enjoyment is stirred into the process. Beginning in January and February with Mardi Gras and ending in December with Christmas festivals, an endless buffet of Cajun and Creole dishes are prepared.”

Here is a list of Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish food related festivals: • January: Martin Luther King Festival in Lake Charles includes gumbo cook-off.

• February: Mardi Gras in all cities and include food competitions.

• March: Iowa Rabbit Festival, Iowa.

• April: Westlake Family Food and Fun Festival, Westlake.

• May: Contraband Days Pirate Festival with eating competitions and cook-offs, Lake Charles; Starks Mayhaw Festival, Starks.

• June: Juneteenth Festival, Lake Charles, barbecue cook-off.

• July: Cajun French Music and Food Festival, Lake Charles.

• October: Calcasieu-Cameron Fair, Sulphur.

• December: Southwest Louisiana Christmas Lighting Festival.

Here are a couple of “real” Cajun restaurants you may want to visit.

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Café Bayou After the showcase ended we headed off on our post tour of Houma and the Cajun Coast.

We started out in St. Mary Parish and had our first sampling of Cajun food for lunch at Café Bayou in Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel. I had the Shrimp Arcadiana, a delicious concoction of six huge shrimp baked in a crabmeat dressing and topped with mozzarella cheese. It came with fries and native style corn. Other Cajun offerings on the menu were The Cochon, a pulled pork sandwich topped with homemade boudin, Catfish, Fried Shrimp or Shrimp Etouffee.

Shrimp Arcadiana at Cafe Bayou

While not your typical Cajun restaurant, Café Bayou offers great Cajun choices as well burgers, steaks and other choices in an upscale setting.

Boudreau and Thibodeau’s As soon as you step through the door of Boudreau and Thibodaux’s, you know you are in Cajun Country. An large alligator perched on the front counter is one clue. The food smell is another. It just grabs you and screams “Ya gonna love everyting coming outta dis kitchen, you!”

Their menu reads like the bible of Cajun cooking with Crawfish Etouffee.

Boudreau and Thibodaux’s stuffed ‘gator Shrimp Creole. Alligator Half n’ Half, Crawfish Half n’ Half and that is just a start. They have a very large menu. You’ll get anything from burgers to po’ boys here. There is even a “ Pick Y’Own Platter” where you “choose any two: grilled or fried jumbo shrimp, fried popcorn shrimp, grilled or fried catfish, fried crawfish tails, fried crab fingers, or fried oysters served wit’ two side items” Mike and Debra Blanchard opened Boudreau and Thibodeau’s in Houma in 1998. They strive to use local products especially fresh seafood and offer a fun dining spot. The décor includes hundreds of Boudreau and Thibodaux jokes on the walls and under glass at the tables. The restaurant captures the light hearted fun spirit of Cajun culture’s two best-known pranksters.

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Just in case you never heard a Boudreau and Thibodeau joke, here’s a sample: “Boudreau and Thibodeau were walking through the woods the other day, when a flying saucer landed near them.

A door opened, and two little green aliens climbed down out of the spacecraft. Thibodeau asks

Crab Cakes and dessert at Boudreau and Tibodeau’s

Boudreau, “Mais, look at dat. What you tink dat is ?” Boudreau, aiming his shotgun at the little space critters, tells him, “Thibodeau, I don’t know, but you hurry back to de camp, and start making a roux and put on a pot of rice !”

By the way, the ‘gator by the front door is stuffed just as you’ll feel when you leave this fun dining experience Bayou Delight Boudreau and Thibodaux’s is hard to beat when it comes to Cajun food but if you want to take the Cajun culture thing a little farther and get in some toe-tapping, two-stepping Cajun music, Bayou Delight is the place to go. The menu is filled with great Cajun dishes too and on Friday and Saturday. There is music and dancing.

Three different musicians take turns pro Crawfish Etouffee at Bayou Delight viding the music. You and the rest of the dinner guests provide the dancing. The place fills up with regulars who can really show off on that dance floor.

One older couple we met the night we visited was so much fun to watch. She was very Cajun looking with dark hair and brown eyes and a short well-rounded body. He was a tall Texan all dressed in black. They were both in their eighties but when they glided around that dance floor you would have sworn they were two teenagers out for a night of fun. They were sitting at the next table and we complemented them on their dancing skill. They told us “We come every Friday night.”

By the time they left we were all BBF (best friends forever) and they came around our table and 27

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gave each of us a hug.. Cajuns know how to make everyone feel welcome in their town. Making everyone welcome was just what Lonnie Crochet and wife’s cousin, Doris Marie Abramson, had in mind 33 yrs ago when Bayou Delight first opened as a fast food restaurant.

Times were tight then with the oil bust but when they added a back dock and Alligator AnLarry White plays as dancers swing around Bayou Delight’s dance floor nie Miller, who was famous for her swamp tours, began starting the tours from Bayou Delight’s dock things began looking up and they began expanded the restaurant. Today they can seat about 100. Annie passed away and her son now runs the tours as “Alligator Annie and Son.” A lot of recipes are Lonnie’s mom and dad’s or hand downs from Marie’s family. One of their specials is Alligator Sauce Picuante. I wanted to try that one but they were sold out so I had Crawfish Etouffee instead and loved it.

When asked how they managed to keep in business with no formal culinary or business background, Lonnie stated, “Everything I know was taught to me by my mom and dad and just by figuring it out for myself based on the things I learned growing up. We have a lot of great cooks in our family, so Marie and I just put our heads together and we make it work. We use a lot of her recipes and I do most of the cooking and contribute any way I can. But we both have the same vision.”

Their vision works. They have a loyal local following, lots of tourist busses and even overseas visitors. If you plan on visiting on Friday, better have a reservation. Larry White, who was playing some terrific Cajun specials like Jolie Blanc and of course My Toot Toot the night we visited, describes Bayou Delight as “Houma’s best known little secret.”

When visiting any of these restaurants you will enjoy authentic Cajun food. To again quote Justin Wilson, “I I GA-RON-TEE” For more info: www.visitlakecharles.org http://www.visitlakecharles.org/listings/Billedeaux-s-Cajun-Kitchen/148957/? http://www.brickhousecateringandevents.com/Events.html http://www.marilynscatering.com/home.html http://www.cypressbayou.com/dining/cafe-bayou http://bntcajuncookin.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bayou-Delight-Restaurant/160620160641484 http://www.cajuncoast.com/events http://www.houmatravel.com/

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Today, the old motel tells a different story. It has metamorphosed into the National Civil Rights Museum. The former boarding house where James Earl Ray stayed and from where he fired the fatal shot is now the Legacy Building. The entrance is a timeline up until Dr. King’s assassination and provides a detailed timeline of the movements of both Dr. King and James Earl Ray in the days leading up to the assassination until Ray’s capture.

Part of the exhibit showing the slave ships

The focus of the museum is broader than just Dr. King’s assassination. It tells the whole story of hatred and cruelty directed at African Americans but it also shows the progress of Civil Rights in our society. As you enter the museum, it takes you visually through the horrific Middle Atlantic Passage right up through the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president.

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The bombed-out Greyhound bus

For me the most poignant exhibit was “We Are Prepared to Die” with its twisted and still smoking Greyhound Bus offering a glimpse of what the young Freedom riders faced in the 1960s. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) recruited hundreds of young men and women willing to put their lives at risk for freedom to ride public transportation regardless of race.

Rosa Parks exhibit

Another favorite of mine is the Rosa Parks exhibit. It had a very realistic replica of the bus that Rosa Parks rode in Montgomery. You can step on the bus to trigger the soundtrack about the Montgomery boycots and Dr. King’s emergence as the leader of the African American struggle for their equality.

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Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Motel

The museum exhibit “King’s Last Hours” shows where Dr. King stayed in Room 306. The room looks like a simple motel room rather than a milestone in the fight for equality among the races but it contains a lot of hidden meaning. Dr. King was staying at this particular motel because he was not welcome at most of the Memphis motels which had a strict segregation policy. The motel had served many of the Stax Records musicians including Ray Charles, Ethel Waters, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Lionel Hampton, The Staple Singers and Wilson Pickett.

The motel exterior

The day before the assassination Dr. King made his prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech where he foreshadowed his own assassination. “And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats... or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t 31

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mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.”

The old boarding house where James Earl Ray stayed is now The Legacy

A wreath marks the place Dr. King was shot on the second floor balcony. Just below two vintage automobiles are parked. They are not the actual vehicles driven by Dr. King or his entourage but they set the time frame nicely. As you approach from he parking lot you feel you are stepping back in time to that fateful day.

The museum opened in 1991 and closed temporarily in November of 2012 to facilitate a $27.5 million renovation. When it reopened in 2014, it offered 40 new films, oral histories and interactive media added to the original material. The museum has been featured on the History Channel and CNN and in USA Today. From tragedy has come a tragic tale well told at the Lorraine Motel. It is one museum every American should see.

For more info: http://civilrightsmuseum.org

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His larger-than-life career linked two centuries. He was born in Iowa Territory in February 26, 1846 and died in Denver. Colorado on January 10, 1917 He was the stereotype of the wild west: Indian scout, buffalo hunter, gold prospector, Civil War soldier, pony express rider, rancher: William Fredrick Cody was that and more. He also was many of the things that we think of as “20th century “: his career included Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, showman, entrepreneur, town founder, owner of a dude ranch and big game hunting preserve and even environmentalist.

On a recent visit to his Scout’s Rest Ranch near North Platt, Nebraska, I learned much about this unusual man. Cody had the two-story second empire style mansion built on about 4,000 acres during the heyday of his traveling show known as Wild West and named it Scout’s Rest Ranch. The style and the cupola atop the home give it a decidedly Gothic look.

Today it is the site of Buffalo Bill State Historical Park which encompasses 25 acres of Cody’s original ranch, including the house and barn. The park offers RV and primitive camping and picnic areas but for Having a good time visiting Buffalo Bill’s home me the main attraction was Scouts Rest and the story it told about the man behind the legend.

Jason Tonsfeldt, park superintendent showed us through the home and outbuildings. He referred to it as “One of the coolest places I have ever been.”

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In the dining room, the wallpaper is a copy of the original designed by BB. When the home was restored in the 1960s, a small section of the original paper was found. The paper is in effect a story of Buffalo Bill’s life. It is filled with log cabins, Indians, stagecoaches and buffalo. There is a woman on a horse shooting a gun believed to represent Annie Oakley and the man on the bottom in front of a bunch of teepees would be Buffalo Bill himself.

The home is filled with pieces correct to the period but only a few are original pieces owned by Buffallo Bill himself, the sideboard and clock in the dining room and in his den or office, there is a rolltop desk and chair that is original to the home.

Portraits reflect Buffalo Bill as a family man. There are several in the home of his wife, Louisa Frederici. and their four children.

He entertained a lot so he had large rooms to accommodate a lot of people. We asked Jason what famous people Buffalo Bill might have entertained.

He named “Teddy Roos Clock was Buffalo Bill’s evelt, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, maybe Houdini, and Grand Duke Alexis (sixth child of Russian Emperor Alexander II).”

There was no guest book kept at Scouts Rest but according to Buffalo Bill’s diary, he was a guide for the buffalo hunting trip in January 1872 celebrating the duke’s twenty second birthday. Buffalo Bill wrote of the event, “Alexis at first preferred to use his pistol instead of a gun. He fired six shots from this weapon at buffaloes only twenty feet away from him, but as he shot wildly, not one of his bullets took effect. Riding up to his side and seeing that his weapon was empty, I exchanged pistols with him. He again fired six shots, without dropping a buffalo. Seeing that the animals were bound to make their escape without his killing one of them, unless he had a better weapon, I rode up to him, gave him my old reliable ‘Lucretia,’ and told him to urge his horse close to the buffaloes, and I would then give him the word when to shoot. At the same time I gave old Buckskin Joe (one of Buffalo Bill’s own horses) a blow with my whip, and with a few jumps the horse carried the Grand Duke to within about ten feet of a big buffalo bull. ‘Now is your time,’ said I. He fired, and down went the buffalo.”

Another unusual feature is that every bedroom has a closet. In that day a closet was taxed as a room. The centerpiece of the kitch34

Buffalo Bill’s bedroom

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en is a shiny black woodstove that used corn cobs for cooking. That required careful tending as you had to put in just the correct amount of cobs. He had a good icebox, the refrigeration of the day.

Obviously he liked his food fresh and prepared well. The house is like a big time capsule. So we can see him a very social and family man who would spare no expense for his comfort and that of his family and guests. It also reflects the attitude of his time about hunting for sport.

The outbuildings are designed for the occupation that allowed him to build such a luxurious home, showman. The barn is huge and filled with memorabilia of his show; a covered wagon, several buggies, lots of stalls for his prized horses. In front of a larger-than-life painting there is a saddle where you can pose for your own claim to fame in front of the great man. “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” toured the Untied States, England and most of Europe. He met the heads of state includBarn at Scout’s Rest ing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Today, we tend to think of him as environmentally thoughtless to say the least but remember he lived in a different time. Actually, he was very environmentally friendly and liberal in his views in his later years. He employed many Indians in his show, paid them a fair wage and referred to them as “the former foe, present friend, the American.” In one interview he stated “Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government.”

Some of the buggies displayed in the barn

He also supported Women’s Rights.

He is quoted as saying “What we want to do is give women even more liberty than they have. Let them do any kind of work they see fit, and if they do it as well as men, give them the same pay.”

He even spoke out against hide hunting and campaigned for a set hunting season. He was a man of two centuries and left his mark on both. Scouts Rest is a must for every western fan, historian and sportsman. In fact, I can’t think of anyone who would not enjoy a visit there.

For more info: http://visitnorthplatte.com/attraction/buffalo-bill-state-historical-park/

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But did you know that the Fox Cities of Appleton, Menasha and Neenah in eastern Wisconsin are the favorite destinations for a Midwest Girlfriends Getaway? Why? Because they offer what gal pals love.

1.

Shopping. Fox River Mall (foxrivermall.com) is Wisconsin’s second largest mall with more than 180 retailers, restaurants and event and entertainment venues. Popular shops, such as Ann Taylor, White House Black Market, Abercrombie and Finch, Victoria’s Secret and Helzberg’s Dia-

Shop Downtown Neehnah.

monds, join other designer stores and “Indie” shops.

2.

Wine. Two Irish brothers established Kerrigan Brothers Winery (kerriganbrothers.com) in 2000 and are now producing 1,000 gallons a month. Tilt a glass of apple cranberry or other fruit wines, or their grape wine, like Niagara or Catava in the tasting room. Meet their nephew, winemaker Troy Landwehr, who attended the Waukegan School of Art and Design. As a successful sculptor, he chooses to carve Wisconsin cheddar cheese!

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Kerrigan Brothers wines.

3.

Chocolate. Purchase handmade chocolates from Wilmar Chocolates (wilmarchocolates. com). This iconic corner store began in 1956, but has been under the ownership of Liz Garvey since 1984. She insists on using the fresh ingredients of cream, butter, honey and fruit bought from local purveyors that she mixes with rich American and imported chocolate. But the most fun is when you customize your own candy bar. Choose from a slew of mind-bending goodies to add to the chocolate base: toffee, sea salt, coffee, potato chips, Door County dried cherries, cayenne pepper, cashews and more.

Chocolatier Nancy Ebblis offers free samples at Wilmar Chocolate store.

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4.

Cheese. You can’t visit Wisconsin without noshing cheese. Simon’s Specialty Cheese (simonscheese.com) produces a copious variety of cheeses. Sample from a spread that may include seven-year Super Sharp Cheddar, Butterkase, and Tomato Basil Monterey Jack. But, ladies, do not leave until you try (and probably buy) their Chocolate Cheese with Nuts!

Frank’s Pizza Palace first brought pizza to Appleton.

5.

Nature. Breathe the fresh air at Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve (bubolzpreserve), a nonprofit wildlife preserve and nature education facility. Trek the 775-acre property and discover tapped maple trees. Taste the clear sap straight from the bucket. Stop in the sugar shack to follow the progress of syrup making. Your reward comes back at the center when you get to consume the finished organic product served over vanilla ice cream.

Tapping maple trees at Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve.

Pure maple syrup over vanilla ice cream.

6.

Fashion. Downtown Neenah celebrates the fairer sex in April during the Ultimate Ladies Day. Join the girls at the Holiday Inn for the annual Champagne Breakfast and Fashion Show (Neenah.org/events/ultimate-ladies-day). Afterwards stroll Wisconsin Avenue where you’ll find delightful “Indie” boutiques. Check out Bill Paul Ltd. for men and women’s elegant apparel, one-ofa-kind hand-crafted items at Fine Fox Artisan Collective, Lucy’s Closet Pet Boutique for your furry companions and Vintique for funky fashions and home décor.

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7.

Crafts. Indulge your creative inner-self at Fire Arts Studio and Gallery (thefireartstudio. com). Craft experts will guide your hands through jewelry-making, glass fusing, mosaics and ceramics. Then you get to take away your masterpiece.

8.

Beauty. Let the experienced staff at the unisex salon of Shear Chaos (shearchaos.net) pamper you. They provide a litany of special services for women (and men) that take in hair, makeup, waxing and more for individuals and bridal parties. For sheer luxury, enjoy their paraffin hand dip.

9.

Culture. Visit the Berstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass (bergstrom-mahlermuseum.com) that features one of the world’s largest collection of glass paperweights. It was established by Mrs. Evangeline Bergstrom who acquired her first one at age ten. She was hooked. The collection includes more than 3,000 paperweights that span the decades from the time of the 19th century French glass masters to today’s contemporary artists.

10. Bright Lights. Take in a Broadway production at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (foxcitiespac.com) where every seat is a good seat in this 2,100 seat theater. Even the back row is no farther than 108 feet from the stage. The schedule for 2015 includes Jersey Boys, Annie, Dirty Dancing and Mamma Mia! Experience Broadway shows at a doable ticket cost in Appleton.

If You Go Air: Fly into Green Bay or Appleton.

Lodging: The three small cities follow the Fox River and are close together. Choose one hotel as your base, and drive wherever the action is.

Best Western Premier Bridgewood (bridgewoodresorthotel.com), Neenah.

Holiday Inn Neenah (hineenah.com), Neenah.

Hampton Inn Appleton (hamptoninn.hilton.com), Appleton.

Restaurants:

Frank’s Pizza Palace (frankspizzapalace.com). Appleton’s first pizza restaurant.

Vince Lombardi’s Steakhouse (vincelombardisteakhouse.com), Appleton. An homage to the legendary football coach.

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You don’t have to travel out west for some great western dining. I recently visited Bald Headed Bistro in Cleveland. Tennessee and found the best of the west right there. I felt like I had arrived at a plush lodge in Jackson Hole. That could be because the signage and lighting that greet you as you step inside the door was designed by award-winning Jackson Hole artist John Mortensen. The booths, furnishings and décor are an artistic blend of hand crafted woods, hides, and leather done by Rocky Mountain artisans. The light fixtures are showplace quality. Throughout there are unique touches like mounted wildlife on the walls, 55 million year old fossils are embedded in the walls and floor. The doors feature an Bear in the air at Bald Headed Bistro “etched” snow elk that was created using “electrochemical etching.”

The building was once an old mall. It is now a masterpiece of unique design as well as the best of “green” living. It’s a huge log building created from logs owner, Allan Jones, salvaged at the Crescent H Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming from downed trees after the Green Knolls Forest Fire in 2000.

There are 283 logs in the structure. The ambiance is totally western and totally breathtaking.

Exterior dining at Bald Headed Bistro The service is top notch also. Josh Weekly, general manager, welcomed us and told us “Please take your time. Look through the menu, we’re here all night.” How often does that happen?

Naturally, the food is the main reason to go to a restaurant.. The menu at Bald Headed Bistro more than meets the test. It is filled with items you expect to find like steaks; Filet Mignon, New York Strip and Ribeye.

All cooked on wood fires.

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Lobster Carbonara

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Then there are those goodies you wouldn’t expect to find at a typical western restaurant like Blue Crab and Lobster Cakes, Pan Seared Grouper or Lobster Carbonara. There are even vegetarian options such as Butternut Pasta or for those who have no problem with hunting, there is a wild game plate featuring venison. I had the Lobster Carbonara. It was fixed with Maine lobster, pork belly, wood fired tomatoes, wild mushrooms, parmesan butter sauce and was delicious.

Chef Eric Fulkerson

Appetizers are equally interesting and delicious. We sampled several, Cornmeal Oysters. Bacon-Wrapped Dates and Pacific Calamari & Shrimp. Enjoyed them all but the oysters were my favorite. There is a complete bar and wine menu so you will find your favorite beverage. Of course, no meal is complete without a dessert. My choice was Chocolate Pudding Cake but the White Chocolate Pecan Pie and the Crème Brûlée was pretty tempting. Choices! Choices!

Speaking of choices, I asked Josh why the name, Bald Headed Bistro? He replied, “Our owner, Allan, is bald so he thought it was a good fit.”

During the meal, Chef Eric Fulkerson stopped by and shared a bit of his background and philosophy about food. He came here from Reynolds’ Plantation in Georgia where he was chef de cuisine.

He strives for fresh food from local sources. His style is western with a southern touch.

This place lives up to its motto: Western Fine Dining in the Heart of the South. If you are going to be anywhere in Tennessee it’s worth a side trip.

For more info:

http://www.baldheadedbistro.com

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If you are from Wisconsin, you’ll know what I mean when I say it looks like it was hijacked from the Wisconsin Dells. It is artsy enough for a museum, while still being gaudy enough for the Dells, and with enough history and folklore to be fascinating at the same time. It is easy to get to, if you happen to be in the middle of Wisconsin’s Northwoods; it is located only a half-mile south of Phillips, the county seat of Price County. It definitely will not be a problem noticing it on the left side of the road if you head south on state road 13.

Bucking horse, Hi Ho Silver, Some detail a beer bottle there are lots of horses mane on one of the horses. (and many deer and cows).

OK, what is so interesting about a concrete museum? It is an outdoor museum of folk art created by a local artist named Fred Smith. It is on the list of the seven Wisconsin’s man-made wonders Team of horses pulling carriage.

Notice the vest, apparently some glass telephone line insulators became available.

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Marines raising Old Glory at Iwo Jima.

Sacagawea, respected for not needing a compass.

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(see link below). Smith was born in Wisconsin’s Northwoods in 1886 and made his living lumberjacking in winter and farming 120 acres in summer. In addition, he operated the Rock Garden Tavern next door to his house. He was an excellent fiddler and provided the entertainment at the tavern. The rock garden is the tavern itself, constructed with stones and rocks he collected nearby.

It supplied many of the Rhinelander Beer bottles that ended up in the sculptures.

Paul Bunyan, with two oxen to pull the logs. Logging is one of the themes.

Cowboy on horse.

Two lumberjacks sawing down a tree. Smith spent much of his early life doing just that.

Smith was forced to retire from lumberjacking in 1948 and began sculpting the concrete statues at age 62. In 1950 he began to organize the sculptures on his homestead next to the tavern and called it “The Wisconsin Concrete Park.” Most of the sculptures were heavy and ponderous, so they were built in place, where they remain. Smith knew the locations were permanent, so the park has an organization to it in term of themes and patterns. His technique involved a wooden framework, swathed in mink wire, and then coating the frame in cement. Each piece was then decorated appropriately with found objects, mostly glass that reflects and adds color and character. Smith was self-taught and there is no doubt this is original fork art. Before health issues slowed him down in 1964, he created over 230 pieces centered on Native Americans, immigrants and regional settlers, loyal myths and legends, wildlife and animals, events of national-level significance, and events of deeply personal significance. Smith passed away in 1976 and the Wisconsin Concrete Park is now a county park.

Deer at edge of woods A Fred Smith tall tale. A musky The two horses pulling the musky. so big that a team of horses was needed to pull it from the lake.

Smith was uneducated and could not read or write. He would attempt to duplicate written text by simply copying it; often he narrated to friends who would write the text he’d use. If you look closely at the text in most of the figures, there are spacing and other small errors. While he did not read, Smith must have kept up with history and current affairs, as they are reflected in the

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artwork. Ben-Hur was created after he saw the movie. Sacagawea is in a bas-relief; he respected her for opening up a whole country, without even needing a compass. Another impressive bas-relief is the Marines Raise Old Glory on Iwo Jima (even though his Mount Suribachi included trees). Many are just people he knew. One figure is a legendary cowboy Cheyenne drinking a Rhinelander beer: “Here shows Chiann, a big beer drinker. He had been a cowboy in seventeen different states. He had been a drinker all the while he was a cowboy. He found the famous Rhinelander Export Beer, which is the finest beer that he ever drank in his life.”

Smith lived the life of a lumberjack and knew most of the Northwoods legends. They ended up in many of the sculptures, that includes two lumberjacks sawing down a tree and, of course, Paul Bunyan. If you spend the time, you will find lots of Northwoods lore is hidden in the displays and the original house, which is now a gift shop. Smith narrated stories that are written in places: The last log drive in Price County was made by O. A. Peterson in the spring of the year of 1910. He had logged around Spirit Lake located in the south eastern part of the county during the 1909-1910 winter season and landed about one million feet of hemlock and pine logs on the ice of the Upper Spirit Lake to wait the arrival of the spring breakup. During these winter months, Mr. Peterson, or Ole as he was usually called, built a 5 hp inboard motor boat for the purpose of using it to raft the logs from the landing through Upper Spirit Lake and Lower Spirit Lake to the outlet and into the Spirit River. When the ice broke, this boat was used to raft or tow the logs to the next lake. Through the narrow channel between the two lakes the logs were sluiced. The boat was again used to get logs to the Spirit River and from there the drive down the river began to Tomahawk. It took about three weeks for this but there was considerable delay because of colder weather again and snow storms.

It required a crew of 25 men to operate this drive of 35 miles to Tomahawk. Fred Smith was a member of the crew. The wage paid at that time was $2.00 for about a 14 hour day, from early morning until late at night. The logs were sold and delivered to the Tomahawk Lumber Co. at a price of $8.00 M’ for the hemlock and $12.00 for the pine. 7/13/57 One of the challenging aspects of folk art is that sometimes one has to discover the context of the piece. Some of the monuments are very challenging, but they all make sense if enough thought is used. Without going to the web link, can you figure out the Lincoln – Todd Monument? It turns out the first Lincoln –Todd Monument is in Racine, Wisconsin and was dedicated in 1943. Somehow Fred learned of the monument and created his own. The base of the Racine monument reads: “This is the first statue erected to a President of the United States and his wife and the first to Mary 44

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Todd Lincoln.” All of a sudden the sign makes sense! Abe would surely have been pleased; I am not so sure about Mary. Some of the subjects are commonly known, like the Statue of Liberty, but right next to that is the Statue of Freedom (that sits atop the U.S. Capitol dome).

Lincoln - Todd Monument, second monument of its kind in the U.S.A

Statue of Freedom

Statue of Liberty

The fun part is discovering the subtle hidden aspects of the many pieces, the fine details, and conceptual ideas behind and within each figure. When asked why he did it, he replied, “Nobody knows why I made them, not even me.” But he later explained, “Its gotta be in ya to do it.”

Authors: Tom Straka is a forestry professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. His wife, Pat, is a consulting forester. Both have a keen interest in roadside history.

For more information: Seven of Wisconsin’s Man-Made Wonders: http://www.travelwisconsin.com/article/entertainment-and-attractions/seven-of-wisconsins-manmade-wonders Wisconsin Department of Tourism: http://www.travelwisconsin.com/arts-and-culture/wisconsin-concrete-park-203838 Friends of Fred Smith: http://www.friendsoffredsmith.org/index.html Price County Forestry and Parks Department: http://www.co.price.wi.us/government/forestrydepartment/wisconsin%20concrete%20park.htm Kohler Foundation Inc.: http://www.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation/preserved-sites/wisconsin-concrete-park The First Statue of Abraham Lincoln and His Wife, Mary: http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln39.html

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Realistically, the actual battle occurred on the outskirts of New Orleans in Chalmette, Louisiana 200 years ago, January 8, 1815. There had been several earlier battles and skirmishes where the British tried to take New Orleans but none were decisive. Not until The British army led by General Edward Pakingham tangled with General Andrew Jackson’s ragtag army at what is now known as Pakingham Oaks, so named for the majestic oaks there and the attacking general.

Old Cannon at Battlefield

Jackson’s army was made of a strange mixture of 4,732 men comprised 968 US Army regulars, 58 US Marines, 106 seamen of the US Naval battalion, 1,060 Louisiana Militia and volunteers (including 462 free people of color), 1,352 Tennessee Militia, 986 Kentucky Militia, 150 Mississippi Militia and 52 Choctaw warriors, Jean Lafitte and his Baratarian pirate crew. Jackson had backup on the river from three ships none of them actually warships. Pakingham had 11,000 and the force of the powerful British Royal Navy supporting him.

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Malus-Beauregard House

Contrary to popular opinion, the war had not officially ended even though the Treat of Ghent, ending the war had been signed. The treaty did not take effect until it was ratified by both sides.

The U.S. Congress did not ratify it until February of 1815.

When I visited the battlefield a few months ago, the song seemed to play once again in my imagination as I looked on the actual battlefield, laid out as it was in 1815. I stood at the rough wooden battlements and touched the old cannon. It took me back to that fateful day in American history.

Signage helps explain what happened in the battle In the background of the battlefield lies the Malus-Beauregard House built in 1830 whose owner RenĂŠ Beauregard, was the son of the Civil War Confederate General, P. G. T. Beauregard. The house although typical of a Louisiana plantation in style was never a working plantation. It serves as the visitor center and had several exhibits explaining the battle.

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The Battlefield is part of six sites of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve which consist six parks all together. Each represents a part of Louisiana’ unique history.

Chalmette Monument

The adjourning Chalmette National Cemetery, also part of Jean Lafitte National Park, was established in 1864 as a final resting place for Union Soldiers who died in the Civil War. It is the final resting place of a unique soldier Rosetta Wakeman, who passed as a man using the name Lyons Wakeman and enlisted in the New York Volunteer Infantry. She died of dysentery in 1865 at Jackson Barracks.

Confederates were originally buried there but later moved to Cypress Grove Cemetery. American Soldiers form later wars are also buried there including some of the Buffalo Soldiers. It is located about where the British artillery was set up during the Battle of New Orleans The National Park Service will be holding commemorative activates this January at the park.

There will be a reenactment of the battle, the “soldiers” will be wearing authentic period uniforms, with exhibits of authentic armaments, tents, cooking utensils, and historical discussions about the battle. Do not miss this once in a century celebration.

For more info: http://www.nps.gov/jela/war-of-1812-bicentennial.htm

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I stayed at Ashton’s for a short trip before I went to Lake Charles for Travel Media Showcase this year. As a travel writer, I have stayed in lots of great places but Ashton’s ranks up near the top of my list. It is gracious old New Orleans at its best.

Ashton’s is a Greek revival Antebellum mansion built just before the Civil War and is a perfect example of New Orleans architecture. Its location on Esplanade Avenue, one of the finest neighborhoods in the Crescent City, make it convenient to the French Quarter, City Park and an easy drive to anywhere in the city. It has safe off street parking and none of the congestion you Ashton’s front hall

find in the Quarter. The rooms recall a more gracious era, You will not find 15 foot ceilings or marble fireplace mantels in a chain hotel.

Sitting in the living room or browsing around the hallway or dining room is like a visit to a hands on museum. They are filled with interesting items and photos. Another plus is it has all the modern conveniences needed to make a visitor comfortable. I especially appreciated the easily accessible WiFi. 49

What a breakfast!

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Karma and Patrick Ashton, the innkeepers are perfect at what they do. They are second generation innkeepers and native New Orleanians. Karma’s parents originally opened the inn as Mechling’s Guest House back in 1989. Patrick and Karma purchased it in 1998. Karma told me all the renovations they made to keep the gracious feel of the mansion.

Patrick cooks breakfast and his creations rival the top TV chef celebrities. I had a hard time deciding which of the fantastic breakfasts were my favorite but give top rank to the Bananas Foster Waffles by just a hair since the Sweet Potato French Toast with Pralines and Sweet Syrup was a close second. It’s all accompanied with tasty sausages or thick slabs of bacon. I’m a tea drinker so I appre-

This room is perfect for relaxing ciated the multiple choices in teas. Coffee drinkers will enjoy sampling New Orleans special coffee and chicory. You will not go hungry here as there are snacks, coffee, tea and drinks available any time in the dining room.

I stayed in the Slave Quarters and loved my room it was cozy and overlooked the beautifully maintained courtyard. From Love that tub! my balcony, the 300 year old oak tree was directly in front and provided peaceful shade. Inside, the room was well appointed and comfortable. The bed was an instant invitation to dreamland. I think my favorite amenity was the huge ball and claw whirlpool style tub. What a place to relax!

Both Patrick and Karma are very knowledgeable about what to see and how to get around the city.

You really feel like a family guest rather than a customer here. Even the inn cats help make you feel welcome. There are several who lounge around the courtyard. One sweet tabby let me pet him.

Ashton’s consistently rates a Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor. If you are planning a trip to New Orleans, you could not pick a better lodging than Ashton’s Bed And Breakfast.

For more info: http://www.ashtonsbb.com

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Next time you visit New Orleans, take yourself on a “Writer’s Tour” and visit some of the places made famous by the greatest literary minds of their time.

Here are some of my favorites.

Francis Parkenson Keys was born Frances Parkinson Wheeler in Charlottesville, Virginia. She married Henry W. Keyes a U.S. Senator and later governor or New Hampshire. After his death in 1938, Keys wrote prolifically.

In the 1950s, she purchased the Beauregard-Keys House

Display of Keys’ books in home

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former Beauregard House at 1113 Charters Street in New Orleans. Madame Castel’s Lodger is a fictionalized biography of General P. G. T. Beauregard who lived in the home but never owned it. Her book, The Chess Players, is a fictionalized biography of another former tenant of the home, chess master Paul Morphy. Her home is now a museum preserving her heritage and that of General Beauregard

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Many of her Louisiana novels are related by common background and characters that recur in different novels.

Keyes died in 1970, at the age of 84, in New Orleans Some of her Louisiana noivels are Crescent Carnival (1942), The River Road (1945), Came a Cavalier (1947), Dinner at Antoine’s (1948), Blue Camellia (1957), The Chess Players: A Novel of New Orleans and Paris (1960) and Madame Castel’s Lodger (1962).

Tennessee Williams lived in New Orleans at 722 Toulouse in 1938. It is the setting of his 1977 play Vieux Carré. Although his famous A Streetcar Named Desire was written in Chapala, Mexico, nine years later, it clearly reflects his New Orleans experience.

Born in Mississippi, Williams came to New Orleans to write for the WPA. His earlier years had been a succession of unsuccessful jobs. New Orleans suited him. There he worked as a waiter to supplement the meager pay his writing earned in those early days. In 1944 he commented in a newspaper interview, “My salaries have ranged from $50 a month to $250 a week but I preferred the $50 job because it enabled me to live in New Orleans.”

By 1957 he had reached the pinnacle of his success as a playwright. He recalled his surjourn in New Orleans as a happy time. An article in Tennessean Magazine quoted him as saying: “ New Orleans is my favorite city of America . . . of all the world, actually.”

By 1959 he had earned two Pulitzer Prizes, three New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, three Donaldson Awards, and a Tony Award. In 1979, four years before his death, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

The home now belongs to historic New Orleans Collection and is not open to the public.

His best works were plays, many later converted to movies. Some of my favorites are A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, (1955) Orpheus Descending (1957), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959) and The Glass Menagerie (1944), William Faulkner, Like Tennessee Williams was born in Mississippi however he lived at 624 Pirate’s Alley when he wrote his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay in 1925. The house is a three-story, narrow building with wrought iron alcoves that today houses Faulkner House Books on ground floor and private apartment above.

Falkners description of the house reads “ . . . [it] faces the garden behind St. Louis Cathedral. The Catholics, you know, have a Mass each hour . . . Across the garden is the house where the priests live . . . The nuns live in a wing of the same house--a convent. Between Masses the little choir boys in their purple 52

624 Pirate’s Alley

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robes and white surplices play leapfrog in the garden, yelling and cursing each other, then go back inside and sing like angels.”

By 1930, his writing brought him enough income to buy a house in Oxford for his family to live in, which he named “Rowan Oak.” As a youth, he was heavily influenced by war stories he heard form the old men of Oxford and the stories told to him by Mammy Callie, his African American caretaker about events in the Civil War, slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Falkner family. Faulkner’s grandfather was also a strong influence with tales of William’s great-grandfather, for whom he was named, William Clark Falkner, a businessman, writer, and Civil War soldier. Thus is is no wonder his most famous works are novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, which was based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he grew up.

Some of his best know work includes A Fable (1954), The Reivers (1962), Absalom, Absalom (1936), The Sound and the Fury (1929) , As I Lay Dying (1930) and Light in August (1932).

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924.

He claimed to be born at the Hotel Monteleon and the hotel later named a suite in his honor. However when I visited the Monteleon and interviewed Andrea Thornton, then director of Sales and Marketing, she told me, “Capote was actually born at Touro Infirmary.”

Writers with troubled souls seemed especially drawn to the Monteleone. William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Ernest Hemingway all spent time there. Williams immortalized the hotel in his The Rose Tattoo. Because of its strong literary heritage, Friends of Libraries USA designated the hotel a Literary Landmark. Only three other hotels share this honor; New York City’s Plaza and Algonquin hotels and San Antonio’s Menger Hotel.

711 Royal Capote’s 17 year old mother, Nina, and first husband, Archulus Persons, did live at the hotel at the time of his birth. Capote had a very traumatic childhood and claimed to have been locked in the suite at the hotel where he would scream and cry to be let out. He also recounted an episode of being lost at Mardi Gras when he was 5 years old and spending the night at the police station before his mother retrieved him the next morning.

Capote was never a fan of Mardi Gras in later life. The family soon moved to 1801 Roberts Street, on the other side of town. When Capote was very young his parents divorced and he was sent to Monroeville, Alabama to live with her family.

He began writing seriously at the age of 11 and at 19 returned to New Orleans and rented an apartment at 711 Royal. It was here he began his first semi-autobiographic novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. The novel in part tells of a young boy coming to terms with his homosexuality.

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He returned to New Orleans many times throughout his life and In a 1981 interview by People, he wass asked, “Why doesn’t he move back to his beloved New Orleans? ‘Well, when Oscar Wilde was leaving England, someone said to him, ‘Why don’t you go live in Venice? You’ve always loved it so.’ He said: ‘What? And be a monument to tourists?’ Well,’ concludes Capote, ‘that’s the way I feel about New Orleans.’”

His most famous books are Other Voices, Other Rooms (1848), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1948) and In Cold Blood (1965).

George Washington Cable (October 12, 1844 – January 31, 1925) His home at 1313 8th Street, in the Garden District He lived there in 1874 to 1884 and was known to have entertained his friend, Mark Twain, there. The house was named a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

He is best known for his portrayals of Creole life in New Orleans, Louisiana. Often called “the most important southern artist working in the late 19th century, as well as the first modern southern writer,” his work is considered to foreshadow William Faulkner. His books revolved around racism, mixed-race families and miscegenation. Although he had served in the Confederate Army and came from a slaveholding family, his works dealt with inequality and Jim Crow laws. Because of his stand on racial equality, he moved away from New Orleans to Massachusetts and later Florida.

Think of vampires and the first name that comes to mind is Anne Rice. Anne, who’s birth name was Howard Allen Frances O’Brien, was born in New Orleans. She and her family lived in the rented home of her maternal grandmother, Alice Allen, at 2301 St. Charles Avenue in the Garden district.

She remained in New Orleans until the age of sixteen when her father moved the family to north Texas after her mother’s death and his remarriage.

Anne Rice home

She began using the name “Anne” on her first day of school. One of her teachers asked her what her name was. She told the nun “Anne” and she remained “Anne” to everyone she knew. In 1947, she legally changed her name to “Anne.”

She married Stan Rice in Denton, Texas, shortly after her twentieth birthday. She wrote Interview With The Vampire which was published in 1976.

Much of the book is set in New Orleans. In 1988, Anne and her husband purchased 1239 First St. 54

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In the old Irish Channel section and returned to New Orleans.

She remained there until 2004 when she decided to leave New Orleans following the death of her husband. On January 30, 2004, Rice put the largest of her three homes up for sale and moved to a gated community in Kenner, Louisiana. She cited, “Simplifying my life, not owning so much, that’s the chief goal, I’ll no longer be a citizen of New Orleans in the true sense.”

In 2014 she published Prince Lestat the eleventh book in her Vampire series and is currently working on the next one, Blood Paradise. She currently lives in California in order to be closer to her son.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walker Percy and others that this article could go on forever. Instead why not go visit the City That Care Forgot and search out New Orleans literary connections for yourself.

For More Info:

http://www.neworleanscvb.com/press-media/story-ideas/literary-new-orleans/

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I recently took a trip along the Virginia section of the parkway and was overwhelmed by the view and attractions I saw. I now understand why the National Park Service refers to it as “ Experiencing America’s Favorite Drive.” Not only is it a Scenic Byway, it’s one of only 31 of the 120 National Scenic Byways that is designated an All-American Roads. This means it offers features that do not exist elsewhere in the United States and are unique and important enough to be considered a tourist destinations in themselves. Let me take you for a short hop on the Virginia end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and you will see why that is so true.

Natural Bridge

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Natural Bridge of Virginia (MP 61.6, 63.7) There are lots of changes going on at Natural Bridge now. It has changed hands and is destined to become a state park in several years. Major renovations are due to be finished by March, 2015.

Victoria explains the customs of the Monicans

There is so much more than the actual bridge. The entire resort is about 1600 acres. It includes the inn, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and cottages, gift shop, and the natural attractions including the caverns, a Monican Indian exhibit, the play Drama of Creation and the highlight of it all, the Natural Bridge. Some of the attractions that are currently there but do not reflect the image of the natural phenomena such as the wax museum will be removed.

New trails and birding tours will be added

The Bridge was stunning to see for the first time. It’s size and shape are awesome. It rises 215 feet above ground level and has a 90 foot span. Geologically Natural Bridge was formed by the action of Cedar Creek, a tributary of the James River, carving out a gorge in the limestone rock over millions of years.

Natural Bridge was first touted as a tourist attraction by Thomas Jefferson., Jefferson bought the bridge and 157 acres of land around it In 1774 for 20 shillings that would equate to about $160 today. He called it “the most sublime of nature’s works” and around the turn of the century he opened it to visitors for a .02 cents admission.

As we proceeded along the path to the gorge, there is a spot where you see a white outlined box with the initials “GW” carved in the limestone. Dean Ferguson, the resident historian, escorted us and explained why he doubts the veracity of the legend. He believes it was most likely conceived when the property was put up for sale by Jefferson’s estate in an effort to boost interest and bring a higher price.

In addition to the bridge, there is a Monican Indian village at the end of the path. The Monicans have their own beliefs about the origin of the bridge. They believe it miraculously opened to offer them an escape route during a battle with the Powhaten Tribe.

Dean’s wife Victoria, who is a member of the tribe, showed us around. Native workers were busy going about everyday tasks such as cooking cornbread, sewing moccasins and other task that were a part of the Indians daily routine there are about 1600 Monicans in Virginia.

Peaks of Otter (MP 84, 87) Continuing along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we arrived at another scenic wonder. The Peaks of Otter is one of the most picturesque spots in the Blue Ridge. The peaks are Sharp Top, Flat Top and Harkening Hill with Manmade Abbott Lake in the valley between the peaks just behind the Peaks of Otter Lodge and Restaurant.

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Deer grazing near Peaks of Otter

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Bus to the peaks of Otter

The lodge makes a great base to explore the peaks.

We visited and ate in the dining room. Food was great and the lodge rooms while not luxurious looked so comfy. You have a great view of the lake from almost all the rooms and can step out your back door and wander down to the water. There is some debate about how they came to be named “otter.” One thing for sure, they are not named for the little river animal. There are no otters around here. The most logical theory is that Charles and Robert Ewing, early colonists from Scotland, settled here in the early 1700s and named them “otter” which is very common in Scotland.

There is a lot to see and do around the Peaks. You will find a winery named for them. Peaks of Otter Winery and Orchard is a place to relax with a glass of The Mango Tango or PUFF. an apple wine with a touch of Dragon Fruit added. You can tour the winery or go into adjourning Johnson Orchard and pick you own apples. There are great hiking trails but if you are a bit lazier like me, take the tour bus to within 1,500 feet of Sharp Top. I hiked up from that point and was rewarded with a view that is out of this world. You can detour off the parkway less than 10 miles and visit Bedford, home of the D Day National Memorial.

Explore Park (MP 115) Much more than a visitors center, Explore Park offers the traditional visitors Center services, information about Roanoke Valley. The park is 1100 acres and already has 15 miles of hiking and biking trails two miles of river frontage. It has eleven historical building on the site. Mountain Church dating back to the 1800s and is used for weddings.

The main function is education. Doug Blount, Director of Parks and Recreation for Roanoke

Church at Explore Park

County, envisions something more. He sees, “ an outdoor adventure park. We are working with venders to put in campgrounds and cabins as well as boats and horses. We want to continue that outdoor brand where when you come to the park instead of staying for the day you are staying for several because of all the outdoor activities here.”

Roanoke’s Star

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Roanoke (MP120) You can jump off the parkway and visit Roanoke. there is so much there to do it will have an entier article in a later issue but just as a teaser, here are a few fun things

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there: The Star and Overlook where you get a unique view of the city of Roanoke under the world’s largest manmade star atop Mill Mountain. Just down the road a bit, you discover The Discovery Center and Roanoke Zoo. For all the neat thhgs to do downtown, you will just have to wait for the article on Roanoke so keep checking in to American Roads Floyd (MP165) The Blue Ridge Parkway follows the entire southern border of Floyd County so there are several access points you could take, either route 8 or Black Ridge Road. Floyd is the heart of Floyd county, a fiddling, artistic, rural community filled with treasures. visual, audio and antique treasures. It’s part of The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.

We visited the Floyd Country Store. don’t let the name fool you. It’s so much more than a store.

It is a toe tapping, hand clapping. real live music venue each weekend and scene of a live radio broadcast.

Just a short distance from the heart of town is Chateau Morrisette Winery. We toured and ate lunch there and boy was it great. The wines were all good. The view and the restaurant merged to create a perfect dining experience.

Rock Castle Gorge overlook (MP 169) For one of the most scenic overlooks in the /blue Ridge, stop at Rock Castle Gorge. If you are a hiker, you can hike to our next stop. Rocky Knob Cabins, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and the only cabins for rent on the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed down but Lorri Knies, our interpreter at Mabry Mill said the park service is actively searching for a way to get them reopened..

The mill

Mabry Mill (MP176,1) One of the most impressive stops on the Parkway for me. Mabry Mill is a collection of historic buildings with living history interpreters. Lorrie, explained that, “ The landscape designers fell in love with the mill. If you are thinking that this is such a pretty setting , that’s 59

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why there was a designer involved. The mill is original. The blacksmith shop is sort of original and in the original site. Other building have been moved in. They brought in a cabin built in the mid 1860s right after the Civil War. The mill wheel is fully functional” Lorri led us down to the mill which was originally build by Ed and Lizzie Mabry in 1899. Lorrri commented, “Lizzie was an amazing woman, she was the best miller around. Ed was the wheelwright.”

An interesting event occurred while we were watching the weaver display her skill, a couple came in. The woman was carrying a bundle which she proudly unrolled to show the weaver and those of us gathered around. It was a beautifully patterned blanket she had woven. The old arts are not dead yet.

Mike Bryan, one of the rangers and an expert on the mill, told us about how the mill came into being. “Ed and Lizzie bought the property in 1899. Ed’s goal in life from a very young age was to build thing. So he and Lizzie moved ot West Va and learned blacksmith and carpentty skills. He made good mony and sld the farm he had her and bought this land form the Thompsons and built the blacksmith shop and then the mill and then the woodworking shop… Lizzie did the grinding which she loved. Ed did the building which he loved.”

Mike showed us the working of the mill and the sawmill. It was a true adventure in time. I hated to leave much as I hate to end the article but sometimes we do what we must. I suggest that you must take a trip to this magic place and see its wonders for yourself.

For more info: http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/ http://www.peaksofotter.com/Sharp-Top-Bus-Tour.aspx http://www.explorepark.org/231/Explore-Park http://www.roanokeva.gov/85256A8D0062AF37/vwContentByKey/N26YEUEX251JCOTEN http://visitfloydva.com/ http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=111

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Not many people think of the work and effort it takes to put on a world class spectacular event each year. One place represents that year round part of Mardi Gras more than any other in the world, Blain Kern’s Mardi Gras World. This is where you can see Mardi Gras in action year round. Since 1947, Blaine Kern Studios has built those stunning parade floats for Mardi Gras and lots of other events as well.

I recently visited Rock Ranch and loved the Chick fil A chicken there. Blain Kern also built the four-story-tall cow that graces the Atlanta Braves baseball stadium. They build for such well known names as Universal Studios, Walt Disney World, Toho Park in Japan and many other entertainment centers. But Mardi Gras is where it all began and the first focus of the company. No wonder Blain Kern is known as “Mister Mardi Gras.”

Entryway to Mardi Gras World

This is a “living museum” as well as actual workshop type of attraction rather than a classic museum and the tour is so much fun.

Just entering the building, you feel like it is a fantasy world. Costumed mannequins representing many of the past Mardi Gras maskers line the walls. Our guide, Kyle , explained that for Blain Kern, Mardi Gras is an all year long event. There are 50 parades, each of them with their own theme, spread out over 12 days but as soon as one Ash Wednesday arrives, Blaine Kern starts out building for the next season.

Kyle took us into the prop shop first. One young female artist was hard at work sculpting details for a float figure. She was seated on the floor totally dwarfed by the far-larger-than-life figure 61

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of a heavily muscled male super hero who looked like The Hulk and appeared about to charge at the bad guy at any moment. I was fascinated. Our guide explained “This is where all the props are made. There are three basic stages to creating the props, sculpting where we use sculpting station to Styrofoam sculpt, then the paper mache station where we take flour, water and brown paper and cover the Styrofoam and painting station. We use paper mache three reasons, for recycling. You see a lot of random upper bodies here. We can reuse a prop the paper mache lets create a whole new prop by covering it with paper mache.

Secondly for its for structural purposes Some flexible material cannot stand up to the elements so we cover it with paper maArtist at work

che and it makes it a lot more durable.

Thirdly. it is difficult to paint Styrofoam so we cover it with paper mache and it is a lot easier to paint.”

We moved on to the next area where he showed us how the props from artists graphic image were created by cutting several sections of Styrofoam with a jigsaw then taping or gluing the layers together. He explained it is like assembling a three dimension puzzle. The attention to detail and the creation of such lifelike props in such overpowerWhiskey Rebellion figure being redone ing sizes are amazing. He showed us how an previous year’s Egyptian pharaoh was turned into a 16th century aristocrat to represent Queen Anne’s War for this year’s parade.

The fiber optic work is so detailed that it requires a lot of workers. Leviathan has 50,000 fiber optic lights on him. He is a signature float so possibly about 50 people will have hands on him: 30 artist and 20 builders.

Other models are made from fiberglass since it lasts a lot longer. Unique pieces like this can be as old as 35 years old. They can be reused over and over by using the paper mache over it to change it to fit whatever is needed that year. One great example is a Paul Revere for this year’s “Great 62

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Battles� theme. The horse was created ten years ago as a race horse with a jockey on him. The jockey was removed and a brand new Paul Revere was seated on him.

After the prop shop, we moved into the warehouse.

He showed us the Disney floats for the Disney World Mardi Gras Parade. A huge train called Smokey Mary was a big signature float with lots of fiber optic lights on it and can hold One of the signature floats complete with restrooms 200 people. Smokey Mary and Leviathan actually have moving parts and blow out smoke. The even have bathrooms built in them. Some are double and triple decks. Tires are different, There is no air but are solid rubber.

Maximum speed is about 15 miles per hour but on parade routes they usually go about three or four mile per hour. a new float might cost about $50,000 and a revamped older one about $10,000.

It is so different seeing them here than it is when you see them in a parade.

We saw Rocky, a huge lion, Abe Lincoln, Count Dracula, the Three Stooges, Beauty and the Beast and countless other figures. This is a huge fantasy land where you are surrounded by the stuff of dreams and nightmares. .I felt like a big kid again. I didn’t want to leave and return to the real world at the end of the tour. I bet you will feel the same when you visit.

For more info: www.mardigrasworld.com/

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Few native Americans managed to retain their ancestral lands so when I visited the Chitimacha Museum in Charenton, Louisiana and found that the Chitimacha still retained some of their original homelands in Louisiana, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about these little known people. Tahra Demarco, Museum Services Specialist, led us through the museum and was willing to tell us about her people.

The museum is small but has a lot of information about current tribal activates and past history. A key item seen in the museum is the beautiful baskets which have become so valuable. The few weavers that still retain the knowledge have long waiting lists for their baskets. She explained that the basket weaving of the Chitimacha was one of their most prized skills. Over the years it was almost lost. A very few of the elders of the tribe still retain the ancient An exhibit of the beautiful basketry of the Chitimacha knowledge and are currently giving classes to younger tribe members. The first task that the students must master is the harvesting, drying of the river canes and splitting them into the strips to make the baskets. If they cannot master this, they go on farther. If they can. they can go on to carry on a proud native tradition.

Present chief, John Paul Dawden, his wife, Scarlett, and his sister Melissa Darden, are some of the skilled men and women who have mastered the art of basket weaving. Each basket is unique and tells a story of the Chitimacha people. If you see a red straw woven into the hem of each basket it means it was created by a weaver from the Darden family. To Melissa, the craft is very important. “I feel that this is a way of preserving the natural history of my culture.�

A recent project to preserve the culture is the Rosetta Stone Software language project which enables tribal members to learn Sitimaxa, their native language.

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Some examples of Chitimacha culture: a tribal chief, clothing and artifacts

The museum tells so much of the traditional history of the people. their costumes and customs are preserved here. Near the entrance you face a replica of Chief Framboise who greets you with the words, “Caqaad kaskec name qaxt xahyte,” meaning “Welcome to the bend in the bayou.”

An ancient dugout 27 feet, 4 1/2 inches long holds a place of honor high on the wall and is one of the oldest artifacts here, dating back about 500 years. Living in swampy St. Mary Parish on the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, dugouts were an important part of Chitimacha life. In fact they called themselves “the people of the waters.”

A visit to the museum is a walk through time.

However, like all cultures, the Chitimacha while striving to preserve the heritage of their ancestors are planted firmly in the 21st century.

In addition to the museum, they invite you to visit their Cypress Bayou Casino and Hotel.

We dined at Café Bayou, one of seven dining spots at the casino. The slots were tempting me but the food was calling even louder. I had the Shrimp Arcadiana, a delicious concoction of six huge shrimp baked in a crabmeat dressing and topped with mozzarella cheese. It came with fries and native style corn. Scot McCue, Cy- Scot McCue, Cypress Bayou Casino executive chef press Bayou Casino executive chef, visited with us while we ate. He came to the casino from Tucson, Arizona and is not a native Chitimacha but he said he feels like “they have adopted me.”

This is a unique slice of Louisiana they you should not miss.

For more info: http://www.chitimacha.gov/attractions-accommodations/museum

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The unique structure of the institute makes it a wonderful destination as well as a place to learn. The college has its own inn, restaurant, gristmill, farmer’s market, museums and other places of interest you can enjoy touring. The 1,000 acre campus overlooks Lake Taneycomo at Point Lookout, Missouri. Most of the attractions are free of charge and all are staffed and operated with student labor.

The Keeter Center is an impressive lodge style inn for visitors. There is a huge fireplace in the lobby with a tree made from Jupiter wood besides it. The lobby soars three stories high and is supported by thick logs brought in from Montana. They were all already down so none were cut to build the Keeter Center. The building was constructed to replace the original State of Maine Hunting and Fishing Camp that once housed the school. That building Accommodations at Keeter Center

burned in 1930. In 2004, this magnificent new building arose. Two hundred and fifty students worked on the project doing about 70% of the work.

Right near the front you can browse the gift shop that specializes in college made products like milled grains, fruitcake, pottery and other items made on campus by 66

Keeter Center Lobby

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the students. I took the opportunity to speak to one of the student staff, Kitty, who was tending the cash register in the gift shop. She is a nursing student and is working over spring break. She informed me, “I work just forty hours for two weeks and it covers all my room and board next semester.”

Tucked away in one corner of the lobby is Nettie Marie’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop. It’s totally a campus project beginning with students milking the 60 or so Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey cows at the W. Meeting Chef Robert at Dobyn’s Dining Room Alton Jones Campus Dairy. The milk is then pasteurized, bottled, and delivered it to the ice cream parlor, where those working students turn it into ice cream. I enjoyed a delicious chocolate cone.

We then took a tour of the lodge with Lin, a sophomore public relations major with a minor in music. He took us to see one of the 15 rooms and suites. The one we visited was spacious and well appointed. Lin told us it was very popular with brides having their wedding here. We visited their conference center and viewed an impressive array of celebrities who have spoken here for their Community Convocation Series including, Lady Margaret Thatcher, Colen Powell, President Gerald Ford, and others of that caliber.

The 275-seat Dobyn’s Dining Room and student dining room gets much of their food from the campus garden, diary, bakery, mill and hog farm. The Sunday brunch in a huge event with three different seating to accommodate all the reservations. The garden provided 8500 pounds of vegetables for the campus dining facilities this year is expected to double that next year. University of the Ozarks offer a four year accredited culinary program headed

by Chef Robert Stricklin who is also executive chef for the dining room. After we were all well stuffed we headed over to tour the museum.

Ralph Foster Museum has been called the “Smithsonian of the Ozarks.” It preserves the heritage of the area. My favorite item was the 1921 Model 46 Roadster Beverly Hillbillies truck. It has a place of honor in the museum reminding people 67

Beverly Hillbillies car at museum

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of the visit by the cast and crew of the classic comedy. It was donated to the museum by series creator/producer, Paul Henning, who hailed from Missouri and drew the original inspiration for the show from a Boy Scout camping trip he took to the Ozarks. For a few bucks, you can have your picture taken behind the wheel with the picture of the cast behind you as one of our group did.

I was surprised to learn that Rose O’Neill , the creator of the Kewpie doll, had a very dark side to her. Her doll collection is impressive: lots of dolls besides the Kewpie Doll.

The museum is eclectic and has something for everyone from gun collections to butterflies.

The Star Schoolhouse is an vintage one room school located right next to the museum. It was built in 1910 and later move here to preserve it. Stop in and see the schoolmarm costume and those old McGuffey’s Readers Gaetz Tractor Museum is another museum on campus which takes you back in time. It is filled with tractors and farm equipment from earlier eras. We viewed it on our way to see one of my favorite attractions on the campus, the mill.

Edwards Mill built in 1973, was constructed using timber salvaged from former Missouri mills which give it a authentic look. When you set into this working grist mill powered by a 12-foot water wheel, you feel like you stepped into the past’

Michael explans the workings of the mill

ing wheels. Tyler bagged as it emerged.

They are students who grind the corn and wheat into whole-grain meal and flour. I had to buy a package of freshly ground grits. Love the stuff. It tastes much better than the store bought kind. Interesting the job choices that students make often have nothing to do with their curriculum choices. Tyler was a criminal justice major with a minor in music.

Michael showed us how to ground some yellow corn meal. He put it into the hopper and ran it through the grind-

Edwards Mill

We also toured the mill’s weaving studio, where students design and weave rugs, and other items on traditional looms. We watched some students creating hand woven baskets. The basement provided us with an exhibit of antique milling equipment. These young people are learning something they would never find at a traditional college.

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Farmers Market was our next stop. This is the newest project at the College of the Ozarks. It was opened in summer of 2013 and is doing well. Aside from the beautiful produce, there was fresh meat from the farm, potting plants and flowers. fruit cakes and jellies, milk from the colleges’ dairy barn and a cooking exhibit done by student chef Joy Hunt who has a double major, Culinary Arts and Hotel Restaurant Management with a minor in Business Administration. The Farmer’s Market at University of the Ozarks young lady should go far. She created a Cider Braised Cabbage with Kielbasa Sausage that we all got to sample. The cabbage came for the college garden and the pork from the college hog farm.

College of the Ozark Greenhouses that house the orchid collection are right next to the mill. McDade Orchid Collection. When alumnus Clint McDade donated his collection to the college in 1972, the school build three greenhouses to tend them. The collection has grown to over 7,000 plants tended by students workers. You can visit and even buy an orchid plant there.

Fruitcake and Jelly Kitchen is a great place to stop buy and purchase a fruitcake for yourself or as a present. If you don’t like fruitcakes, this kitchen will convert you to a fruitcake lover.

Greenhouses at University of the Ozarks

Williams Memorial Chapel is the heart of the campus. It was built by student labor out of local limestone and dedicated in May of 1958. If you are on campus at noon or 6pm, you will hear the bells ring out.

We had to take a quick drive by Lookout Point from which the town got its name. What a view!

What memories I took with me as I left this special school. I will be back and hope you will too.

For more info: http://www.cofo.edu/Page/About-C-of-O/Visiting-C-of-O/Sights-to-See.68.html

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Blizzard Weather, Cooking Weather

By Mary Emma Allen

Cold, snowy weather, “blizzard weather,”often mean delicious aromas in the kitchen when we came inside from snow clearing tasks, skiing, and sledding. This might be a lunch, snacks, or cocoa and goodies as you warm before the stove or fireplace.

One day when the temperature dipped, my daughter and I were inspired to do some cooking between writing and quilting. The aroma of pizza bread, cranberry bread, and homemade soup filled our kitchen. This reminded me of winter cooking on the farm when I was growing up.

Favorite Winter Recipes Do you have favorite winter recipes? These will vary depending on the part of the country, or the world, where you live. *In northern climates, they often consist of hearty fare such as soups, stews, slow cooker meals. *For southern areas, warmer weather favors salads, chilled soups, and even barbecues. *Somewhere in between, we find a mix of the two. *Busy folks, coordinating work, cooking, and family may rely upon prepared or from freezer to microwave to table fare.

Soup Pot Stock The question, “Do we throw these peas out?” when a family member was sorting through the refrigerator reminded me I needed to get my leftovers pot started again for making soups and stews.

A friend once told me she had a container in her freezer. Into this went any leftover vegetables and meat, even if it were a spoonful or two. Then when the container was getting full, it was time to make a winter soup. She also saved meat stock and gravies to add to the brew. What may be considered economical use of our food, particularly leftovers, also can result in tasty meals.

Hamburger Rolls for Variation Hamburger Rolls - Mix a package of packaged stuffing as directed on the package. Stir together, one pound lean ground beef, 1 tablespoon catsup, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, pinch of onion salt, sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Shape this mixture into 6 fairly large patties. Add some stuffing in the middle of the patties. Fold 70

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over and seal the edges.

Place in a casserole or baking dish. Pour 1 can golden mushroom soup mixed with 1/4 to 1/2 cup evaporated milk or regular milk over the roll-ups. (Use low fat, low sodium soup if desired.) Put any extra stuffing into a buttered casserole dish and bake until heated through and top is crisp. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. ( c)Mary Emma Allen (Mary Emma Allen enjoys researching food ideas around our country and the world. Some recipes also are handed down through her family. She and her daughter Beth compile family recipes for family members and future generations. Mary Emma also teaches classes in Writing Your Family Stories. E-mail: me.allen@juno.com )

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The first multi-million dollar industry in the New World was the fur trade and as early as 1608 Champlain began to form alliances with Indians to trade furs to Europe and in 1682 La Salle claimed for France all the land drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. All of the early American settlements were established in locations based on their proximity to transportation to facilitate trade. Waterways and native trails were the first highways and no region had better access than that of an area in Michigan Territory. Lake St. Clair flows into Lake Erie there and the French traders referred to it as “the Strait,” or “Le Detroit.”

Fort Ponchartrain de Detroit was settled on July 24, 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac as both a French fur trading post and a barrier to British infringement. The site was strategic because the river was narrow and the bluffs were steep. The original group of colonists consisted of 2 priests, soldiers, craftsmen, traders and Indian allies. Detroit fell to the British in 1760 and was surrendered to the US who took control in 1796.

A statue of Cadillac’s landing was dedicated in 2001 in Hart Plaza.

Detroit Stadium

Detroit was incorporated in 1815 and during the antebellum period it became an increasingly significant station on the Underground Railroad. The city was called “Midnight” in the freedom code and it was the final stop prior to crossing into Windsor, Canada. To memorialize the journey and the people a sculpture in Hart Plaza on the riverbank depicts figures of 6 slaves and African American UGRR conductor George DeBaptiste gazing toward Canada as they await transport.

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“The Gateway to Freedom Memorial,” sculpted

by Ed Dwight, is 10’ by 12’. A memorial on the Canadian shoreline captures freedom seekers at the moment of their arrival.

Detroit, from its founding, has been a place where cultures have intermingled, where innovation and creativity have flourished and where people have the ability to revitalize, reform and remake both themselves and the city. This is the perfect time to visit the city and explore its past, present and future and Show Me Detroit Tours offers a comprehensive list of tours that provide glimpses into numerous aspects of the city. Thematic and specialty guided tours are available by reservation. This is a wonderful way to “take a deeper dive into the D.” www.showmedetroittours.com

Joe Lewis Fist

Buildings have biographies and visitors to Detroit, a showcase for a premiere collection of pre-Depression architectural marvels, can follow the history and heritage of the city structure by structure.

The first brick building was erected in 1820 and wealth and prosperity were no strangers to the city from the 1890’s until the early 1930s. This led to a tremendous building boom and the majority of the most noted architects of the era left a legacy in Detroit. The beauty of each edifice is enhanced by the history and the architecture is so impressive and pervasive that you can begin in any section of the city but I suggest you begin in the Downtown area near Woodward Avenue, the first street illuminated by Thomas Edison with arc street lighting and the setting for portions of “Transformers”.

Sculptor Marshall Fredericks created the Spirit of Detroit, the city’s iconic sculpture. A man holds a globe, representing God, in his right hand and a family in the left. The marble backdrop stands 45-ft. by 35-ft. The seated bronze sculpture is on a marble base.

My personal favorite piece of public art is the 1986 “Monument to Joe Louis” by Robert Graham.

Sports Illustrated gifted Detroit with the very controversial sculpture of Louis’ arm with hand clenched into a fist. The arm is 24-ft. long and is held aloft by bronze poles.

If you have time to visit a single architectural wonder it must be the Guardian Building, Detroit’s Cathedral of Finance. It was originally constructed by the 1927 Union Trust Co. and was known as the 40-story Union Guardian Building. Approximately 1.8-million bricks, in a specially created orange color, were used in conjunction with glazed tile and polychrome terra cotta. Corrado Parducci crafted the exterior carvings and a ribbon of tri-colored terra cotta distinguishes the lower 7-floors from those above.

The interior will take your breath away. The building’s design is meant to inspire trust in the customers and to that end certain design elements are reminiscent of a cathedral. The 3-story vaulted ceiling tops a 150-ft. long lobby with Travertine marble columns the bases of which are rare black 73

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Interior Guardian Window

Interior Guardian Building

Belgium marble. Even more rare is the red Numidian marble also found in the lobby. It was obtained from an African mine that had been dormant for 30-years because it was no longer mined.

In order to make the bank quiet a ¾-inch layer of horsehair was placed on the ceiling. A Tiffany clock, one of 4 in existence, is also on view as well as two stained glass windows featuring Aztec figures. The building was listed on the National Register in 1989. www.guardianbuilding.com Rivard Plaza is located on Detroit’s International Riverfront, a river walkway from the Ambassador Bridge to Gabriel Richard Park. The 32-mile long Detroit River is the only river with a zipcode and this is the only place where Canada is south of the US. The plaza features outstanding views and photo ops of Canada and the downtown area. It features an inland map of the river, a café and the Cullen Family Carousel. www.detroitriverfront.org The first documented African American in the Detroit area was an “unknown negresse” who was given the last rites in 1736 and by 1750 there were 450 free blacks and 33 slaves. In 1910 at the onset of the Black Migration the census noted a black population of 5,741 in the city, ten-years later the population was 40,838. From 1913 to 1988 3,000 trains arrived at the Michigan Central Train Station monthly.

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Berry Gordy, Sr. and Bertha Fuller Gordy arrived from Georgia in 1922 for the greater opportunity that the city promised. Gordy, Sr. was descended from a white farmer, the great grandfather of Jimmy Carter, and an enslaved woman. Berry Gordy, Jr. was born 7years later, one of 8 children. He withdrew from school in the 11th grade to become a professional boxer and after serving in Korea he held a number of jobs until he penned a hit song, recorded by Jackie Wilson, in 1957.

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Gordy went on to found the most successful African American company in the country, introduce soul music to the world and profoundly alter the course of American music, culture and race relations. In 1988 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2013 he became the first living recipient of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Pioneer Award.

In 1959 the Gordy family loaned Berry $800.00 to establish his company and purchase a former photography studio at 2648 West Grand Blvd. he named “Hitsville USA.” Motown relocated to Los Angeles in 1972 and in 1998 it became part of the Universal Music Group. The Motown Historical Museum was founded in 1985 by Esther Gordy Edwards to preserve and promote Motown’s history and lasting impact.

Tours begin on the exterior where visitors can take photos in front of the building, the “Hitsville” sign and the historic plaque. Of the original 8 buildings 5 remain and the museum is housed inside two adjacent structures. “The Motown Sound,” a 15-minute video provides orientation before you proceed to the 2nd-floor. Highlights of these galleries include Stevie Wonder’s harmonica and Michael Jackson’s hat and glove. Jackson visited the museum in 1988 and donated $125,000 and his personal items.

United Sound Systems

Returning to the first level you pass through the lobby, control room and enter the famous Studio A. This is where many of the hits were recorded and the studio remains 99% original. Paul McCartney visited and wanted to play the 1877 Steinway used in the sessions.

When he found it out of tune he had it transported and tuned.

Wonderful souvenirs are available in “Shop Around,” the museum gift store. www.motownmuseum. org

You can be among the first to visit United Sound Systems Recording Studio (USSRS), the first independent recording studio, meaning it allowed people to record their own music and market it on their own.

It was founded in 1933 and has operated continuously since then. The tour begins with a 10-minute film and proceeds into the 3 studios. Ray Charles, Aretha, Bootsy, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Miles, Muddy Waters, the Parliaments, Whitney and John Lee Hooker, among others have recorded here as well as the first Motown music was recorded here. Stax, at one point, was having financial difficulty and the USSRS agreed to allow their artists to come there. They recorded 31 albums in 2 months for the Stax label. Studio A is the largest sound studio in the country and most of it is original. This is a working studio that is open around the clock. Tours are by appointment only. www.unitedsounddetroit.com The Majestic Entertainment Center includes the Garden Bowl, a family owned retro, 16-lane bowling alley, restaurant and alternative music venue. The bowling alley is the oldest active bowling center. More than 290 concerts are presented annually. Visitors can “Rock and Bowl.” www. majesticdetroit.com/garden-bowl-detroit 75

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Bert’s Booth

Bert’s Market Place at Eastern Market is another must while in the city. The manager, Miller London, was Motown’s first black salesman and is depicted in “Motown, the Musical.” Portions of his personal collection are on display throughout the restaurant and event space. The Motown Room is shaped like a music note with booths around the sides. Each booth is dedicated to a Motown act and is adorned with photos, records and individual video monitors that feature performances. A series of murals by Curtis Lewis are located in an adjoining area. One of the murals showcases Motown artists and a second mural highlights important historic figures. Do ask to see the murals! www.bertsentertainmentcomplex.com

Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the oldest continuously operated jazz club, opened in Detroit n May of 1934 as a diner. Clarence Baker, the son of the owner, worked alone at night and decided to add a piano and some jazz music and the legendary club was born. Baker’s remains an authentic, retro, jazz club that is nearly 100% original. The iconic bar, designed in the 50s, is shaped like a keyboard and the 7-ft. Steinway piano was personally selected by Art Tatum. Most of the greats have performed there, Adderley, Joe Lewis Mural

Parker, Peterson, Coltrane, Krupa, Hines, Gillespie, Brubeck, Cole, Fitzgerald, Holiday and Davis. The King of Sweden once dropped in to listen to a set and scenes from Whitney Houston’s “Sparkle” were filmed at the club. Soul food is on the menu, jazz is regularly performed and you can become part of the legend. www.theofficialbakerskeyboardlounge.com This will be the 36th year for the Detroit Jazz Festival, the largest free jazz festival in the world. Held outdoors in the downtown area, completely family oriented and featuring only jazz, the festival brings aficionados from around the world. The festival will be held Sept 4-7 and Baker’s Jazz Club

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the headliners will be announced in April. www.detroitjazzfest.com The world-class Westin Book Cadillac Detroit Hotel, ideally located for touring the city, offers all amenities imaginable. There has been a hotel on the site since 1888 but the Book Brothers purchased the property, razed the hotel, hired an architect and opened the Neo-Renaissance Cadillac Hotel in 1924. The 33-story hotel was, at that time, the tallest hotel in the world. Through the years notables including Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Elvis, and the Beatles have stayed there. In 2006 the luxury hotel was renovated at a cost of $192-million. Live like a legend. www.bookcadillacwestin.com When planning your next trip remember what Martha and the Vandellas said, ”Don’t forget the Motor City.” You’ll have the time of your life. www.visitdetroit.com

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That’s because there are many, the views are spectacular and the towns which anchor them are destinations too.

Blue skies in Estes Park

The road trips themselves, the four towns for dining, exploring and sleeping well, and the top of the Park on Trail Ridge Road could redefine the “all roads” metaphor. These are key stops:

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Fort Collins

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Grand Lake

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Estes Park

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Winter Park

No matter which one you choose, accessing the others is possible, and desirable. I found each to be distinctly different from the other so you could plan one long road trip or several through the years.

Touch the glacial ice in Rocky Mountain National Park from the top of Trail Ridge Road.

Rocky Mountain is a national park without lodging so sleeping nearby is the way to go. Here’s what worked for me:

Misty Mountain Lodge in Estes Park

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 Misty Mountain Lodge in Estes Park is a cozy set of well-appointed cabins just a few miles from a Park entrance; stick with the wilderness theme because the proprietors fix S’mores every night in a front-yard campfire The same starry skies over the Park offer light shows from Misty Mountain, crisp and brilliant from either of the outdoor hot tubs.

Stanley Hotel in Estes Park

Or choose the elegant Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which sits high on a hill over the bustling downtown with 140 rooms, handsome architecture, and an original Stanley Steamer in the lobby.

I think some people choose Estes Park as their headquarters because of the lively shopping, abundance of fine eateries and strolling opportunities along the meandering downtown river.

Grand Lake Lodge opened in 1920

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Grand Lake is equally enticing in a completely different way; it’s on the other side of the Park--which celebrates its centennial all year, culminating Sept. 4, 2015.

Move in to the u>Grand Lake Lodge to commune with the spirit of visitors when it opened in 1920; three sides of the property border Rocky Mountain National Park and views from the porches, the grand dining room and throughout the property give a sweeping sense of history.

Names you know like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt cared about this place and names you’ll grow to appreciate as I did like Enos A. Mills and Roe Emery who made it possible to do what we can do there today.

Mills was a naturalist credited as the driving force to protect these Park lands; walk right up to his modest cabin along Highway 7.

Muse about the mysteries of the Continental Divide driving between

Estes Park and Grand Lake through Rocky Mountain National Park Emery launched the circle tour from railroad stops to Estes Park, up steep switchbacks and over the top of the mountains to Grand Lake and then across the Continental Divide at the Berthold Pass, elevation 10,759.

We can do that too in our own vehicles. Thrilled that I did, and highly recommend either direction.

Boat houses on Grand Lake feature logs with the bark still in place Another Grand Lake lodging option is the Western Riviera with every room facing the lake, easy walk to spectacular experiences: · 81

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Narrated boat tour all around the lake

· Walking tour with two loops, each just under a mile, an illustrated history booklet. Solid tip—allow sometime inside the Kauffman House to learn local lore from the docents and to view the extensive collections of lifestyles here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. · America’s highest-elevation Yacht Club and home to the Lipton Cup regatta races every August ·

Wooden-sidewalk downtown with old west architecture and a delightful city center park

Flowers bloom when snow’s not falling in Winter Park Winter Park is all about being outdoors. Ski slopes that double as mountain bike trails abound but that doesn’t mean visitors like me who do neither have to only watch the adventuresome.

Smell the flowers means something here because wildflowers fill meadows and blossoms of many hues fill planters all over the town.

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Curious partnership in Winter Park that ought to be sincerely so in other places I go, but never have I felt the camaraderie so strongly between a resort and a town.

Lodge in the magical environment of Winter Park Resort or stay downtown and walk just a few blocks to the city park to mingle with the community.

Rarely a day from late June to early August when free concerts aren’t happening, and that means families with their babies and their dogs, lovers, friends of all ages and solo strangers like me gather on the wide lawn, picnic, sip a beverage, genuinely act happy to be where they are, together.

The air’s a bit thin at elevation 9,500 in Winter Park; I paused a few times with a pounding heart in my walks but the abundance of flowers gave me good reason to be still.

Forty percent less dense, this air, than other places because of the reduced atmospheric pressure. I respected the science by drinking gallons of water.

Year-round ski lift in Winter Park When I rode the lift at the Resort, it was filled with bicycles and expert riders for the Freeride Festival. If you ever wanted to trail the Tour de France, try this.Follow the Enduro superstar bikers and head to Winter Park Resort to watch them in action.

Riding the ski lift with them certainly felt like I was in a year-round resort with an international flair even as I looked at trees and grass on the slopes.

Colorado’s longest alpine slide is at Winter Park Resort, plus mini golf, disc golf, a human maze and GyroXtreme. Sometimes people go inside to eat but nature seems the preference with abundant patio seating.

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Alpine slide in Winter Park South from Grand Lake is the direction to find Winter Park.Fort Collins is the northern point in this foursome, straight up Highway 25 from Denver or south from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Day trips to Rocky Mountain National Park quite possible.

Outdoor piano in Fort Collins I stayed in a Quality Inn & Suites because it was a block from the MAX rapid transit. New in the summer of 2014 and efficient, plenty of on-off stops to access music, art, food – walkabouts everywhere.

Fort Collins might be a synonym for strolling. Vehicle free blocks in the city opened up access to artist cooperatives, patios and courtyards for imbibing and for listening to music, bookstores and stationery centers, shops with stylish casual clothes and latest technology in outdoor gear and fabrics.

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Didn’t matter I had no bike; Fort Collins shares them free for a day, or $10 on the spur of the moment. Ever been to a city with a full time Bike Coordinator job? I had not until this holiday.& Lots of cities have elegant botanical gardens; Fort Collins has an interactive, user-friendly comeback-often gathering place called the Gardens on Spring Creek.

Sustainable edible gardening, kids’ interactive spaces, cooking classes, community plots, indigenous plants and rock gardens among the many spaces.

The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins

Good idea to find the map of 42 natural areas as soon as you arrive in Fort Collins. That’s the way to choose which of the free hikes you prefer, and where to meet naturalists and rangers.

Horsetooth Reservoir ought to be one of them—stunning as a drive and even better on a standup paddleboard. Your teacher and guide can be Lindsey or Brad Modessit at Mountain Whitewater Descents; they sailed 6,000 miles in the Caribbean with their two little children.

Articulture they call this: Art + Horticulture. Allocate a big bunch of time or you’ll be sorry you have to leave.

Four towns, one national park, sweeping views along every roadway – claim this Colorado portion of America as top of your bucket list.

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The North Platte Canteen is one of America’s little known World War II stories. I first heard of it on a recent visit to North Platte. You know you are going to have an authentic experience when you enter the museum through three doors that are preserved from the original North Platte Canteen.

Inside, we were greeted by James Griffin, the museum curator.

James told us the story of the canteen and how it began. “The canteen began unofficially on Dec 17, 1941 because the people heard that their local Company D of Nebraska National Guard was coming and they wanted to give them their Christmas gifts. Instead it was the Kansas National Guard on that train.

Someone stepped forward and said they wanted to give their gifts. Then they all stepped forward. From that was born the Canteen. The next day, Rae Wilson wrote a letter to the newspaper saying that we should have one here since there wasn’t any war industry here they ought to make raising moral their war industry. So on Christmas Day 1941 the official canteen gave its first meal. From then on until April 1,, 1946, no troop train was missed. Now, that’s not a small feet because at the height of the war a troop train was coming through ever hour on average. They were serving up to 5,000 a day at no cost to One of the original canteen signs the soldiers. this was all done by volunteers. North Platte at that time was about 12,000 people. It became a western Nebraska project. 125 communities participated.”

Bill Jeffers, president of the railroad, offered free transport to volunteers coming to help at the canteen. The soldiers were thrilled to stop in North Platte. No matter their rank or color everyone was treated exactly the same at the canteen. It was the largest canteen in the United States.

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The deep feelings of these volunteers is summed up in a statement made by one canteen volunteer who had recently lost her own son. “I can’t help my son, but I can help someone else’s son.”

The museum is in the front section of the building and the canteen in the back. From far back in what had been the kitchen area, a man was playing a piano.

I couldn’t recognize the tune but Canteen kitchen

felt it was one I had heard my own grandmother play as a tiny child perhaps as far back as the war years. It gave me a hint of what a lonely serviceman must have felt when he first entered this building. My fellow journalists and myself wandered back and viewed the many artifacts from the days of the canteen, a huge coffee urn, a table set as it was from 1942 to 1945, a lot of letters, pictures and stories about the canteen. Among the weapons displayed there are a captured Nazi flag and a battle worn American flag.

Coffee urn used at the canteen

They tell a story about popcorn balls that really piqued my interest. It was the most unusual romance I had ever heard about. The story began with a simple popcorn ball. It was the habit of many of the young ladies at the canteen to place their names and addresses inside the popcorn balls they passed out to the soldiers. Sometimes the soldiers wore and they became pen pals. In some cases it blossomed into something more.

Virgil and Ethel’s wedding clothes

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In 1942, Virgil Butolph was a 25 year old serviceman passing through the canteen. Ethel Winters, a 19 year old girl from nearby Tryon, was helping at the canteen that day. Some of the Tryon women stuffed the names and addresses of some of the local high school girls into the popcorn balls that day. One name that went into the balls was Ethel’s younger sister, Vera. Virgil got

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the ball with Vera’s name in it but wasn’t interested in writing anyone. He passed it on to a buddy who did write Vera.

When Virgil saw the correspondence that resulted, he asked the buddy if Vera had a sister. Thus Virgil and Ethel began corresponding. Gradually the letters took on a more serious tone. Virgil asked for her photograph and sent her one of his. He began sending pressed wildflowers he picked from the Aleutian Islands where he was then stationed.

Virgil asked his sister to buy Ethel first a cedar hope chest. Ethel began saving her own earnings to fill it with household items a new home might need. Then in July 1943, Virgil asked his sister to buy Ethel a diamond ring for him. Ethel agreed to wear it on the condition they were not really engaged until they met in person and got to know each other.

Finally in the summer of 1944, Virgil got his long awaited furlough. He sent Ethel a telegram as soon as he reached the States but it only arrived at her home about half an hour before Virgil himself. Needless to say, it was love at first sight.

Virgil spent some of his furlough in Ringgold with Ethel and then took her to nearby Kearney to meet his parents. Returning from Kearney on Sept. 14, 1944, Virgil said, “Let’s get married.”

They drove to a nearby Methodist Church in North Platte were married that same night. They used the church restroom to change clothes, Virgil into his uniform and Ethel into a dress she had in the car. Virgil and Ethel had met in person just two weeks before the ceremony.

The marriage lasted until March 21, 1976, when Virgil had a heart attack and died on a trip to Hershey to see the Sandhill cranes, one of their annual traditions. The couple had five children.

Ethel donated Virgil’s Army uniform and her wedding dress to the Lincoln County Historical Museum where it hangs with the photos they exchanged, some letters and this story.

As fascinating as the Canteen part of the museum is, it’s only a small part of the exhibits.

After I browsed the canteen and front section of the museum, someone suggested we go see the Pioneer village out back. What a treasure we found!

Restored farmhouse in the village

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Sixteen original buildings that transport you to Lincoln County’s past. We visited former Union Pacific President Bill Jeffers’ North Platte boyhood home. James Griffin told us, “Jeffers was kicked out of school in sixth grade for hitting a teacher. He went to work for Union Pacific as a janitor. Worked his way to call boy and eventually became president of the railroad.”

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The other home preserved in the village is the Ericsson Home. E. E. Ericsson was the first homesteader in Lincoln County. The two story log home is beautiful in its simplicity.

Part of the villageÂ

Then there was Trinity Lutheran Church, which is still used for weddings, and Birdwood School, typical of a Plains area one-room schoolhouse. The tiny jail cell on display is enough to make even the most harden criminal decide to walk the straight and narrow here.

It is just a barred iron cage with none of the modern comforts.

Being a railroad town, naturally there is a depot and caboose. Dick’s Barber shop probably offered passengers on layovers a much cheaper haircut and shave then you will get in any airport shop today.

What a place to walk through the best of American history.

For more info: http://www.lincolncountymuseum.org/

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Over the course of its 400 years of modern history, Amelia Island has had eight different flags flown over it, some multiple times, as the major powers gained and lost their ascendency over the land.

In order of appearance, the flags were those of France, Spain, England, the United States, and the Confederacy. The other flags, the Patriots, Green Cross of Florida, and the Mexican Rebel Flag, were flown by patriots and pirates for periods as brief as one day. Amelia Island holds the record for being under more flags than any other place else in the United States.

Six of Amelia Island eight flags. Missing are the flags of the Confederacy and the USA.

On the Atlantic Ocean just north of Jacksonville, Amelia Island offered one of the East’s largest and deepest inlets making it an important port for commerce. The northernmost point of the island is the site of Ft. Clinch. Construction of this fort, facing Cumberland Island, Georgia, was begun by the South and completed by the North but never saw a shot fired in anger. Today the fort is a major tourist attraction.

In the past, the island had a cross state railway connecting it to Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast and boasted the largest shrimp fleet in the country. But time passed, things changed and Amelia Island 90

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was largely ignored, which was in a way a blessing, saving the island from massive development and preserving the island’s historic past and miles of pristine beaches.

Travelers consistently rank Amelia Island among the top island getaways in North America. The island has been listed in the “Top 10 North American islands, by Conde Nast Travelers Readers Choice Award for seven consecutive years and a Top 25 Island in the World in 2013.

Geographically, Amelia Island is divided by an invisible line. The south end is home to affluent retirement and second home communities and luxurious hotels reminiscent of Longboat Key, east of Sarasota. It is the Fernandina Beach area on the island’s northern end that is the draw for visitors.

The northern end is where miles of accessible, wide, pristine Atlantic Ocean beaches are. It is where the hotels and motels offer moderately priced accommodations and easy access to family friendly beaches.

This is where you will find those wonderfully tacky beach gift shops and fast food restaurants We stayed at the Amelia Hotel At The Beach, on A1A directly across from one of the island’s public Ft. Clinch beaches. Our room was large, clean and included all of the amenities you would expect without being charged extra. A generous breakfast buffet with hot and cold food choices is included daily and a special treat was being able to see a beautiful sunrise over the ocean.

Downtown Fernandina Beach is the magnet that draws visitors with its 50-block historic district.

Many original structures dating back to the late 19th century showcasing Victorian-style mansions and cottages, reminiscent of the better sections of Key West, offer a wonderful background for one-of-a-kind photos.

Center Street is the heart of the Historic District with shops, restaurants, and historic buildings radiating off in all directions showcased on quaint narrow streets. Here, the wares of merchants and restaurants run the gamut of offerings and prices. Visitors will find something to their liking within their budgets. Everything is basically within walking distance and there is no charge for parking.

A must visit is the Amelia Island Museum of History located at 233 South 3rd St. Housed in the former Nassau County Jail building, it has a wealth of information from the days of the Native 91

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American Timucuans through the centuries of exploration, occupation and colonization. All eight flags are on display including the Confederate “Stars and Bars” which will confuse many since it bears no resemblance to the one we see today flying on the back of pick-up trucks. The museum has two excellent narrated tours daily.

We stopped for lunch at the nearby Happy Tomato Courtyard Café & BBQ on South 7th Street, a delightful open air restaurant with a Entrance to Amelia Island museum varied menu and reasonably priced offerings. Its owner, Richard Bolton, did his apprenticeship at the Amelia Island Ritz before opening his own restaurant about 7 or 8 years ago. Vegetarians will be pleased with many of the selections.

Being an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Intracoastal Waterway, Amelia River, and marshes, Amelia Island offers practically any water oriented activity in which you might be interested. But there is one that bears particular note. It is the Amelia River Cruises.

Leaving from the docks of Fernandina’s historic downA Fernandina/Amelia Island public beach town area, a narrated tour on one of Amelia River Cruise boats takes you as far as the mouth of Cumberland Sound and Ft. Clinch before returning by way of the shore of Cumberland Island Georgia and a detailed narration of the Carnegie Family’s (Carnegie Steel) reign over this island is offered. An exciting bonus is the sighting of the wild horses that roam the island. You also get a peek at the exterior of the super secret nuclear submarine base of Kings Bay on the Georgia mainland.

Sunset is a special time on the island. Visitors gravitate to the downtown waterfront to hang out on the docks or visit one of the restaurants for drinks and or dinner and a sunset experience.

From watching a sunrise to the east over the ocean to enjoying a sunset over the rivers and marshes to the west on the same day was only a 2 mile drive from our hotel. We had our sunset viewing experience while having dinner and drinks at The Salty Pelican Bar & Grill overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.

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It’s a two story building with a family friendly restaurant on the first floor and a totally open, west facing, sit-down bar on the second floor. As for a dress code…there isn’t any. This is Florida and The Salty Pelican is a meeting place for locals and visitors.

Two days on the island did not give us enough time to capture all of the highlights. We had no time to tour the Amelia Island Lighthouse, the oldest continuously operating light house in Florida, first lit in 1839.

Then there are numerous B&B’s and Inns in Fernandina’s Historic DisFlorida’s oldest contin-uously operating bar trict. One of them, Florida House, is reportedly the state’s oldest hotel.

A short two blocks from the oldest hotel is the Palace Saloon which is billed as the state’s oldest continuously operating bar. It’s an interesting part of Florida history but smoking is allowed in the bar, which is obvious as soon as you enter. It made for a very short visit for me for me, a former smoker.

Amelia Island is a special place and an affordable destination for families. This was a low key trip and we did not take in high end expensive venues like hotels or restaurants, of which there are many.

So, do your own research by going to AMELIAISLAND.COM and discover all the island has to offer. Then pick out those opportunities that fit your life style like hiking, fishing horseback riding or even taking a tour on a Segway.

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Journaling Your Travels

by Mary Emma Allen

(A Way to Preserve Adventures for Yourself and Future Generations) Organizing your photos, postcards and other travel collectibles can be enjoyable and enable you to relive your various trips. Journal writing also adds to the memories for you and other family members. These are items you can pass along throughout the years as you share your adventures.

My husband’s parents took trips to England/Scotland, Peru and across Canada after Dad’s retirement. They collected postcards and photos that we still enjoy.

Recently I browsed through the photo album Mum put together about their tour of England and Scotland. Although she didn’t write journal style, the photos bring to mind stories she and Dad told us. So I relived their joy of making this trip to the homeland of Dad’s mother. When we have family reunions, I display this album so other family members and the younger generation will learn something more about Dad and Mum. My Parents’ Trips As I sorted through memorabilia my mom left, I found a multitude of photos, cards and notes of the trips she and Father took from New York State across the country to visit my husband and me when we lived in Texas, California and Colorado. These were excuses for them do some traveling they wouldn’t have if we had remained in our native communities.

Sorting through and trying to organize these items, I recalled my parents pleasure in these adventures. A photo of Mother shaking Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s hand as he disembarked from an airplane at the Lubbock (Texas) Municipal Airport brought back memories.

Mother made her way through the crowd until she was close to the Vice President. “You can’t do that,” Father exclaimed. But Mother did. (Security must not have been so rigid in those days.)

Sharing Your Travels As you enjoy your travels, think how you can share with your family and with future generations.

Include humorous incidents and people you meet.

Keep a journal and jot down highlights of your trip.

Pick up postcards and brochures. You can organize them in a scrapbook, as my mother-in-law did.

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Take photos and organize in a scrapbook, photo album, or a power point program. (Do identify them so others aren’t at a loss when looking at them.)

Develop a power point program you can show to family and other groups. My husband, daughter and I did this with backpacking adventures into the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. I also produced a slide show of our discoveries along the Oregon Trail.

I don’t have photos, but I have copies of letters my mother’s Uncle Martin wrote about his travels from New York State to California and other areas of the world. In the 1800s, this was a very adventurous undertaking.

Our Memorable Adventures I’ve written about some of my husband’s and my adventures for travel publications. I should organize them in a scrapbook that, hopefully, future generations will enjoy.

Some of these include: Following the Oregon Trail throughout the west.

Checking out various places in Idaho where Lewis and Clark ventured.

Backpacking in the Gros Ventre Mountains of Wyoming Visiting various homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder Exploring the Skyline Drive of Virginia Watching the first night launch of the Space Shuttle in Florida.

Traveling along the Great Platte River Road across Nebraska Driving over the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts Exploring various attractions in the White Mountains of New Hampshire Venturing around Jackson Hole, Wyoming Taking a cruise on the St. Lawrence River What have you done that you want to save for future generations in words and photos? (c)2014 Mary Emma Allen Mary Emma Allen teaches workshops in Journal Writing and Family Story Writing, along with writing books for children. E-mail: me.allen@juno.com)

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It was on this day, on the beaches of Normandy that the event occurred that foreshadowed the end of Hitler’s reign of terror and eventually WW ll. Operation Overlord, the Allies code name for the invasion of France. It began on the storm torn beaches of Normandy and ended at the Arch de Triumph with the liberation of Paris.

It didn’t come easy or cheap but then freedom seldom is either easy or cheap.

The year 2015 is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In commemoration I am giving you a glimpse of three memorials dedicated to this devastating war. Each one of these places is unique and well worth a visit in memory of the over 400 thousand Americans, 12 million other nations’ allied forces and over three million holocaust victims who died in the most devastating war of all times.

National World War II in New Orleans ranks number four among museums in the United States and number 11 in the world according to Trip Advisor. That’s saying a lot. On a recent visit to the World War II Museum I could see how it achieved its rank. The museum is huge. The exhibits are real and extensive. And it’s still growing.

For anyone studying the history of World War II, this place is filled with tons of maLayout of D Day invasion poised to strike terial, news paper articles from that time, letters from individuals affected by the war, documents related to strategy and actual recordings of soldiers and civilians about their experiences. This museum transports you back to the war years.

Your trip starts with a train trip from your home town to the training camp. You hear tapes of real young men and women explaining their reasons for enlisting. You will often find WWII veterans 96

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volunteering at the museum to tell their own stories. Throughout there are many tapes and letters from real people including General Eisenhower’s letter taking full responsibility for D Day which could so easily have failed. The personal artifacts are fantastic but two exhibits really captured my interest. Both reflect on a little known portion of the war that were pivotal aspects.

The first was the Enigma Machine. This was a early precursor to a computer. The Germans developed Enigma after WW1. It was a complex (for its time) machine that encrypted information. The Germans believed it uncrackable but the Poles were able to develop machinery to decipher the code in December 1932. By 1939, the Germans had improved Enigma to the degree that Enigma Machine

the Poles were unable to continue deciphering and brought in British and French Intelligence personnel and the newer codes were deciphered. Had the Allies not been able to crack these codes, the war could have gone differently.

Another of those lesser known exhibits I found interesting was the contribution of a canny Irishman with a shipyard located in New Orleans Andrew Jackson Higgins.

Display of vehicles used in WWII Hitler called him “The new Noah.”

General Dwight Eisenhower stated, “Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach.

The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”

Higgins had designed a boat called the Eureka boat, a shallow-draft craft used by oil well drillers and fur trappers in the coastal waters of the gulf and Mississippi River area. These boats could run aground and then back off with no problem. they were fast and could turn almost within their own length.

The Navy and Marine Corp. became interested in the Eureka when it appeared their own shipyards could not provide them with a successful landing craft to deploy men and equipment on to fortified beaches. The only drawback to the Eureka was that men had to disembark over the sides. Higgins developed a better version with a bow ramp which allowed the men to exit through the front. This new version became the LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), or simply, the “Higgins Boat.”

The museum has a detailed exhibit about the D Day invasion. It shows all the ships, aircraft and beach with each section and who would land where.

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After you visit the museum itself be sure to walk to the rear of the lot and view the many types of transport from tanks to planes used in the war. This is also where the Tom Hanks movie, Beyond All Boundaries, is shown. I didn’t get to see it because of time constraints but I have heard it is excellent.

Take a moment to view the little Victory Garden between the main museum and the back section.

Victory Gardens were an important way the people on the home front could contribute to the war effort.

There is so much more at this museum but I want to tell you about some other places memorializing WW II so I’ll move on.

National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia is an outdoor sculpture garden filled with the most poignant figures you can imagine. According to Trip Adviser, it is the number one attraction in Virginia.

When I visited, I expected a few statures set in a nice park.

Instead I found an 88 acre park with a backdrop of the Peaks of Otter (see more about Peaks of Otter here) and filled with sculptures in a garden setting that memorialized one of the

Soldiers scale wall symbolic of storming the beach at Normandy

Dragging a wounded comrade to safety

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most important days in 20th century history, D Day. In military terminology, D Day merely means the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated when the actual day when the actual date has not been set or where secrecy is important.

Felicia Lowrance, Education Coordinator for the National D-Day Memorial. explained how the memorial chronicles the entire spectrum of D Day. She told us to watch for one of three symbols that we would see repeated throughout the park; a lion, a dog and a pelican representing valor, fidelity and sacrifice.

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From the moment you step into the garden, the forty four foot six inch( representing June of 1944) black and white arch with OVERLORD emblazoned on it is the centerpiece that tends to frame all the other sculptures.

The pond representing the beach at Normandy where larger than life bronze sculptures wade thorough the water with sprays of water bursting around them representing the non-ending hail of bullets the soldiers faced as they stormed Normandy’s beaches. On the edge of the beach, lies a soldier who did not survive the barrage of bullets and on the beach two soldiers, one carrying a rifle and looking straight ahead, the other unarmed, a medic, turned sidewise as if considering ministering to a fallen comrade. On the wall leading to the top soldiers scale the wall. No feeling human could look upon this tableau and not be moved.

The larger than life stature of General Dwight Stature of Eisenhower Eisenhower was taken from a famous picture of him addressing the troops. He seems to be instructing 101st Airborne in a last minute address or last bit of information before they go . In reality, Felicia told us they learned from a visiting veteran paratrooper who told them “He asked us what sports we liked. Someone said fly fishing and he started telling us about fly fishing.”

Another sculpture that is particularly moving is a copy of Le Monument aux Morts. the original sculpture stands outside the Church of St. Aignan at Trévières, France. It is a Nike wearing the tradition drape but also a utility belt and helmet of a French soldier of WW1 . During the fighting after D Day, some shrapnel struck the figure and blew away a portion of its face below the upper lip along with most of its throat. This is the stature that is presented both at the National D Day Memorial and in its original position in France. It is a poignant reminder of the devastations of war.

Of course this just scratches the surface of what you will find at the D Day Memorial.

There is a reason why the memorial is located in the small town of Bedford. Bedford had the highest per capita loss of any city in the United States. They lost 19 men from Company A from Bedford within the first thirty minutes of the attack. This from a community of 3200 people. The Memorial opened on June 6 3001 with 24,000 people in attendance. President Bush’s dedication of the Memorial said in part, “The achievement of Operation Overlord is nearly impossible to overstate, in its consequences for our own lives and the life of the world. Free societies in Europe can be traced to the first footprints on the first beach on June 6, 1944. What was lost on D-Day we can never measure and never forget.”

This memorial will always keep that memory fresh.

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Children’s Holocaust Memorial in Whitwell, Tennessee is unique not because of the scope of the museum. It is small and has less artifacts than many other museums.

What makes it stand out is the way it came to be. We spoke with Ms. Linda Hooper who was Whitwell Middle School principal in 1998.

She had asked Assistant Principal David Smith and Sandra Roberts Authentic railcar at the Holocaust Memorial to head a project to teach tolerance because as she explained,”This valley is 99% Protestant, white Anglo-Saxon. There is one Catholic mission and no Jewish families. So that summer there was a conference to find something to study to make children realize that there are lots of other people out there and they are all important and that we need to work to make things better.”

This led to a voluntary afterschool Holocaust education program. When the children had problems visualizing the 6,000,000 Jews who died in the Holocaust, they asked if they could use some material object as a visual aid. Ms. Hooper said, “It has to relate to the Holocaust or WW II.” After some research, the students came up with the idea of paperclips. You might wonder how that would be relevant. The paperclip was originally invented by a Norwegian Jew. During World War II the Norwegians wore paper clips on their lapels as a protest of the Nazi occupation. So they sent out appeals to send paper clips with the idea of getting 6,000,000.

They stopped counting at 30,000,000 paper clips. Many are packed in the railcar, 11,000,000 are in the children ‘s monument, some have been sent to a Baptist school in NJ trying to start a similar project. The rest packed in sheitel boxes, originally used to hold wigs or half-wigs used by married, JewPrized Torah at Holocaust Memorial ish women to cover their hair, for the little towns in Poland that were obliterated by the Nazis and put a paperclip for each person murdered in that town and send them out to the schools all over. The paper clips are still coming in.

For a memorial with such a humble beginning, it has some amazing artifacts. For one, it has the largest collection of Holocaust literature donated to the memorial by Dr. Benjamin Nachman. Ms Hooper is particularly proud of their beautiful hand-written Torah. She told of its route into the Memorial, “Our Torah was written in Pusalotas, Lithuania. traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa then to Toronto, Canada where it was driven here by the family who had originally had com100

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missioned it. It’s over 100 years old and everything is original except the fringe at the top.”

Ms. Hooper explained about another amazing article in the memorial, Martin Small’s tree, “ It has 86 paper clips representing the 86 members of his family and his wife’s family who were murdered during the Holocaust. He made it for his wife on their 50th anniversary when he was in his 80s.”

Martin himself is a Holocaust survivor. When the camp was liberated in the spring of 1945 by American forces, Martin had been left for dead in the barracks of the concenSuitcase from German schoolchildren filled with apologies tration camp in Gusen. Although he was just a young man in his twenties. he looked like an ancient skeleton and weighed only 75 pounds. A American soldier found him and loaded him into an Army ambulance which took him along with other survivors to a hospital in Linz.

But the room inside the school is only part of the project. Out front of the school is a railcar surrounded by 18 butterfly sculptures and a monument to the children of the Holocaust. The rail car is a authentic transport car used to deliver Jews to the labor and death camps.

Besides the paper clips it is filled with memorabilia related to the holocaust such a suitcase filled with apologies from German students to Anne Frank, letters from relatives of victims and pictures of victims I spoke to an eleventh grade student, a young man named Dalton Slatton . He had been working with the project for four years. I asked how it has affected his life. He replied, “I plan to major in Pharmaceuticals and minor in Political Science. I want to be in a position where if something like the Holocaust started again I would be in a position to stop it.”

This memorial shows the power of one idea. I hope this article will inspire each one of you who reads it to go visit these worthwhile places that recount a poignant part of our collective history. They represent the best of all those that gave some and some who gave all that freedom might live on forever.

For more info: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/ http://www.dday.org/ http://images.pcmac.org/SiSFiles/Schools/TN/MarionCounty/WhitwellMid/Uploads/Forms/brochure.pdf

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I recently went kayaking with Doug Graham of Graham Canoe Outfitters located near Valentine, Nebraska. He took us to the Niobrara River which begins in Wyoming and travels 535 miles until it flows in the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska. Seventy six miles of the river is named a National Scenic River. We put in at Cornell Bridge in Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge and paddled for three hours to Smith Falls State Park.

Putting in for our kayak trip

The trip took us through several different ecosystems and the cliffs along the banks told a geological story of the river’s birth. On both sides, the sandstone banks showed the layers of time where the river had cut a valley 200 to 300 feet deep into the earth and between one-half to two miles wide. The bedrock beneath the river bottom is a hard pinkish gray ranging to brown sandstone called the Rosebud Formation. Multiple waterfalls, some tiny ones create a trickle into the stream: others like Smith Falls pour vast amounts of water into the river. The sandhills through which the 102

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river passes are an interesting geological feature. This area was once a vast inland sea. The sandhills are remnants of dunes that have become stabilized over the centuries by the prairie grasses. Once buffalo and elk grazed these plains. Today the Wildlife Refuge is home to about 160 plant and animal species including birds such as indigo and lazuli buntings, yellow-shafted and red-shafted

A pair of Canada geese on the river

flickers, and Baltimore and Bullock’s orioles, Mammals such as white-tailed deer, raccoons, coyotes, squirrels, eastern cottontail rabbits, mink, beaver and river otter are seen often. Occasionally a moose might be spotted. We saw quite a few birds but I was not able to identify any other than the Canada goose.

Those cliffs are impressive

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One of the falls along the river

We took a brief rest stop at Berry Bridge. This is a great place to break. There are rest rooms, tables and water. There is a small shack that sells snacks, soft drinks and beer but it wasn’t open when we stopped.

Tanking is a whole different sport

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Some of my companions relaxing as they float down river

Smith Falls Park is another great stopping spot. This was our take out spot where we found tables a shelter, a great fire circle and restrooms. Doug’s wife, Twyla, and some other ladies from Graham Canoe Outfitters met us there and provided refreshments. What a treat.

What’s the most unlikely scenario for river fun? How about hopping into a cattle feeding tank and floating down a river. Well, it’s not just wild imagining. We did just that on Middle Loup River with Mitch Glidden of Sandhills Motel and Canoe rental.

Tanking is a relatively new sport that seems to be practiced almost solely in Nebraska so far. Instead of floating down a stream in a kayak, canoe, raft or even a tube, I found myself in a round feeding stock tank with about a seven foot diameter made of heavy gauge plastic and fitted with seats around the rim. Some are as large as nine feet. They seat up to eight people and are practically unsinkable. They are also unsteerable. We were equipped with oars that could be used to keep from getting caught up in patches of grass or tree limbs in the water. When we drifted into the banks, we could push off with the oar and the current would once again carry us towards our destination.

Luckily Mitch accompanied us and gave us a running commentary not only on the sport of tanking but the natural environment of the Middle Loup River. Middle Loup River flows just north of Mullen. It’s part of a series of rivers along with North Loup and South Loup that eventually flow into the Platte. Middle Loup curves through sloping canyons in the Sandhills and is spring-fed with relatively calm waters. It has enough twists and turns to make it interesting.

You always wonder what’s around the next bend. We spotted a few cattle and some horses on the trip.

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The thing that makes tanking different is the stability of the tank. It is almost impossible to turn over. We were able to all enjoy a leisurely lunch as the river carried us along with little or no help from us. It’s a wonderful way to enjoy a relaxing day on the water.

That horse didn’t pay us any attention but we were sure watching him

For more info: http://www.grahamoutfitters.com/home http://www.sandhillsmotel.com/river-adventures/middle-loup-river-trips/

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These are precious and endangered places. Each year they face more dangers from natural causes such as hurricanes and salt water incursion and even worse from human causes such as development and waste dumping. Visit them while that still exist in their primal states and do all you can to help to preserver these natural treasures.

A pair of snowy egrets looking for food

Creole Nature Trail winds through Calcasieu and Cameron parishes. Originally established in 1975 by the Louisiana legislature as a scenic route, it was recognized as a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Highway Administration in 1996. It was upgraded to an All-American Road in 2002.

That is the highest possible designation, considered a destination unto itself.

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The Creole Nature Trail is truly a destination. It is filled with refuges, wildlife sanctuaries, beaches, recreation areas and trails. You could spend a day, a week or even a month, fishing, hiking, camping birding, or just exploring the natural beauty, and never see it all. There are a few small stores along the Nature Trail for limited supplies but plan on bringing most items you will need.

Animated display at the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge

One good place to start is the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. It serves as a visitors center and had restrooms–important since they are scares along the Trail– and a small museum to help you understand what you will see as you meander along the Trail.

One of my favorite exhibits inside the museum is the animated Cajun who “gon’ tol’ you about dat swamp, me.”

He goes on to explain all about the wildlife found there and is “joined by an animated woman, Tante Marie in a pirogue who continues the tale of all the creatures found in the refuge.

Great blue heron in wades in the water 108

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Outside, I could spend hours watching the alligators, turtles and waterfowl from the boardwalk.

There are records of 250 bird species on the refuge. In early spring, you are sure to see migrating warblers, barn and tree swallows, kingbirds, kingfishers, orchard orioles, and yellow-billed cuckoos. white-fronted and white ibis also nest on the refuge as do purple gallinules, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, and great blue herons. I saw several herons, egrets and purple gallinules. Naturally, I saw lots of alligators and turtles. If you are lucky, you might spot an elusive bobcat and have a pretty good chance of seeing some nutria, otters and deer.

Mosquito hawks get well fed here

As we wended out way towards the gulf through sparsely populated Cameron Parish, there were still remnants of the destruction caused by Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Cajun Man’s Swamp Cruise

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Another great way to get up close and personal with Louisiana’s wetlands is to take a Swamp Tour.

I took the Cajun Man’s Swamp Cruise run by Ron “Black: Guidry and loved every minute even though it rained. The tour is located off of highway 182 on marina drive about 15 miles west of Houma. Black promised “We all gonna pass a good time.” He did not lie.

There is somthing mystical about Louisiana’s waterways in the rain

Black took us out in a pontoon boat down a canal and into a bayou deep into the wetlands, the marsh, freshwater and saltwater, and swamp. There is a difference. A swamp is boggy wetland where water seems to have almost no current, although its water does rise and fall with the ebb and flow of the tides. The wetlands refer to Louisiana’s coastal wetlands that lie between the Sabine River on the west and the Pearl River on the east. They tend to be brackish or salty.

A few other clarification that will help you understand Louisiana’s unique culture and geography: a bayou (pronounced by-you) comes from a Choctaw word “bayuk” and a pirogue (pronounced pee-roag) is a small wooden boat originally carved from a hollowed tree log usually poled but sometimes paddled.

We spotted lots of water birds.

The vegetation is unique out there.

Lots of bald cypress trees with the knobby knees protruding from Lots of ‘gators to get up close and personal with here the water. Spanish moss hung on lots of the trees and there was a lot of flowering scrubs along the water’s edge. One with red flowers was particularly noticeable. It is called a tropic creeper. The alligators stole the show here, too. Black has several he has trained to come 110

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to his call. One, Mamma, about an seven to eight foot one came right to the boat and took some chicken he offered her from a long pole. Black showed us the nests of baby ‘gators along the bank. He explained how he was saving Mama’s life by feeding her. He told us, “Alligators don’t eat every day so ‘cause I feed her when I come out here, she won’t take the chicken they bait the poles wit’’” Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum is a small yet interesting museum in Houma that focuses on the wetlands and the culture of the Acadians. One of my favorite exhibits here is the oyster rake which let me actually experience scooping up oysters from the beds like the actual oystermen do.

The huge stuffed alligator is a favorite with kids and everyone loves to take their picture with the life-sized cutouts of RJ Molinere and Jay Paul Molinere of Swamp People

The Swamp People got me

In front of the museum is the Acadian Deportation Cross Monument was created by the Société Nationale de l’Acadie . It was created to track the history of the French people who were expelled from Canada and came This turtle was posing for me to be known in Louisiana as “Arcadians” or “Cajuns.” It is one of 10 in the entire world and the only one in the U.S. There are many of these places but I am only giving you a taste of a few. Go discover the rest of these treasures for yourself in the wild and wonderful wetlands of Louisiana.

For more info: http://www.creolenaturetrail.org/

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