Jack & Joan's Great Adventure

Today(7/5/12) it was HOT!! At one point it was over 100 degrees. We did have some showers but it was still in the 90s when we got to our final destination for the day.

Our day began in Michigan City, IN where we visited the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. Specifically, we walked up "Mt. Baldy" which is the highest sand dune in the park--126 feet tall. The prevailing winds move the dunes about 4 feet/year which is evidenced by the half buried trees you can see on the side away from the Lake. For me, it was strange to see such nice sand and so much of it on a lake shore. Somehow I never think of a lake as having sandy beaches like the ocean does. Although it was only about 10:30 a.m. when we did this, it was already too warm to stay very long.


Looking down at Lake Michigan from the top of the Mt. Baldy

Jack on top of Mt Baldy

We had to skip the next scheduled attraction--The Old Lighthouse Museum--as it didn't open until 1 p.m. Instead, we headed for the Interstate and Oak Park, Illinois where we visited the Ernest Hemingway Museum and the house where he was born. He led quite a life as has been well published. He was "born into a religious family in a temperance community". His life certainly was not a reflection of his upbringing. He was 18 when he left home for a job on a newspaper in Kansas City. His eyesight was too poor for him to join the armed forces in WW1 but in 1918, he went to Italy as a Red Cross ambulance driver. Apparently he always had to be involved where the action was. It was his life experiences that provided the background knowledge for his books. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 and died about 7 years later.

Hemingway

By the time we finished the home tour of Hemingway's early years, it was after 4 p.m. We were going to visit the nearby home of Frank Lloyd Wright but there wasn't enough time--the place closed at 5--so it was back on the road again heading for Rockford, IL which is where we are staying tonight.

On July 6, we got on the road again, heading for Harpers Ferry, IA and Effigy Mounds National Monument. From the ground it looks pretty much like any other forest except this one has the Mississippi River running next to it and there are mounds of earth there that were created by Native Americans - some of which go back before the time of Christ. Sometimes succeeding generations built on top of an original mound. Some were mounds where they buried their dead. Some were built in the image of an animal like the series of ten "bear" mounds (called the Marching Bear Mound Group) and three "bird" mounds. These mounds need to be seen from the air to really see the effigies. This National Monument holds 206 known prehistoric mounds, 31 being in the form of animal effigies. Other types of mounds include: conical, linear and compound.

We stayed the night in McGregor, IA (no internet at the motel) and were out this morning fairly early to visit Pikes Peak State Park (named after the same Pike as Pikes Peak in Colorado is named for) before the heat descended upon us again. We walked a trail to Bridal Veil Falls (at this time of year and with the current drought in this area, barely a trickle) and then on to Hickory Ridge and the seven mounds that are there (hard to detect as they are somewhat overgrown).

One of the mounds on Hickory Ridge

Convergence of the Wisconsin & Mississippi Rivers as seen from the Crow's Nest, Pikes Peak State Park

Around noon, we were back in the truck, headed for Decorah, IA and the Versterheim Norwegian-American Museum where we spent a good 3 1/2 to 4 hours learning about the Norwegians who immigrated from Norway to North America. This was a most interesting museum for me since my Dad was of Norwegian (and Swedish) decent. Our guide was most knowledgeable and informative; and for my family who are reading this, I have a lead on how I can pursue the geneology of my Dad's side of our family.