OK, so drawing is not my strength, but at least I had fun trying to create this invitation for you. I know the figure in the middle could be a beer mug, but it is "clearly" my golf bag; and then, of course, there is the camera resting on the tripod. (Drawing composed using a combination of Paper 53 on my iPad and Pixelmator on my iMac.)
Introduction
I have chosen the Blog format for this three and a half week auto excursion as a way to vary my standard approaches to entries on the site. There will be narratives and photos to give substance to this journey. Many of the places I will stop during the first week and a half are new to me. I will be in an exploration mode. Hopefully my bike and the weather will collaborate to more slowly capture my observations than just viewing and photo documenting the countryside from the car with occasional stops. The strategies for capturing this trip in the following blog entries will vary based on the unplanned circumstances of traveling alone, and the fact that I need to negotiate with no one but myself. By the way, these negotiations with self are not easy. I will have a tendency to get a "brilliant" idea for a side trip, but then talk myself out of it in lieu of keeping to my schedule. The one plus in this negotiation is that it is only a side of my self that is disappointed or encouraged by the decision that I make. Ah, such "profound" self analysis this early in the journey. I am not leaving for another week, but I want to estabish this blog before I leave as an incentive to adding to it on a daily basis once I begin my journey. I intend to add a few entries next week as I prepare for departure.
As you may or may not know, I have traveled quite a bit in the last four years, both within the U.S. and outside of it. As I have become a wiser traveler (I hope), I have come to realize that there should be a purpose for the trip beyond just the thrill of seeing new places and meeting new friends, rediscovering places already visited, and renewing relationships with friends met on earlier adventures. One of my current ideas for a trip is to take six weeks or so to travel across country, particularly to places I have never seen or other locations that I visited many years ago. I am not sure at my "advanced" age that I am up to such a solo trip. My Ford Escape can propablly handle it, but will my aging muscles and joints survive the hours spent behind the wheel?
The first third of this upcoming journey is a mini trial run on driving for awhile, stopping for awhile, and then moving on. Although the itinerary could change, my current plan is to travel skirt the Finger Lakes, picking up Interstate 90 east of Syracuse, NY. My goal on day one is to make it to the Candadian side of Niagara Falls. After a one night stay and a hopeful ride on the "Maid of the Mist," I will travel to a small town near Bay City Michigan, checking out a park that borders Lake Huron Sagamore Bay. The next day, I intend to take a slow ride up the western shoreline of Lake Huron, arriving in Saint Ignace, MI (near Mackinac Island) in the early afternoon of Day 3. I am not sure what I will do for the 40 hour stop in the Mackinac Island area, but I hope to take my bike on the ferry to the island and spend Day 4 there. I have booked an intresting place to stay in the heart of Saint Ignace and I am looking forward to the historical ambiance of my lodgings for two nights. On Day 5, I take off across the northern penisula of Michigan heading toward Bayfield, WI on the shores of Lake Superior. I suspect there will be more bike riding, lake cruises (The Apostle Islands), and ferry crossings during the three days that I spend there. From what I have been told it is a delightful vacation area in far northern Wisconsin. I will be there on the weekend of July 4th, so it should be a good time. I might even attend a concert by an Irish Band at the famous Chautauqua Tent Theater nearby.
On July 5th, I head south to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I have friends there that I hope to see. I have not been in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since my college days, so I am looking forward to walking the streets and visiting places from past memories. After two nights in the "big city," I head south toward Madison, WI, my final destination. On Day 10 of my journey, I plan to stop at St. Mary's University in Winona, MN where I spent my freshman year in college in 1961-62. It is a beautiful campus and it has been many years since I have been back for a visit. It was a college for men when I went there. Now, it is as co-ed institution with university status, I expect to see many changes. I am curious to see if the charm of its environmental setting has survived the years of expansion. After a short visit, I will continue on to LaCrosse, WI to take a look where I spent a year in a diocesan seminary on the backwaters of the Mississippi River that serves as the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin to the south of the Twin Cities. Both of these educational institutions have specialized memories for me, which I hope to share on this blog.
I have not determined my route to Madison from LaCrosse, but I have two choices. The first may offer me a bike riding opportunity near Sparta, Wisconsin on and an upper stretch of the Wisconsin River, or a beautiful trip though the hilly country of southwestern Wisconsin (Yellow line on the Header Map) untouched by the glaciers that brought rich farming soil and flatness to other parts of the state. I suspect there will be a negotiation between my two selves. Depending on my choice, I will spend the night somewhere outside of Madison, perhaps near Wisconsin Dells or Spring Green, the eastern home of Frank Lloyd Wright (Talisan East). On July 8, Day 11 of my trip, I arrive in Madison for a two week stay similar to my previsous two visits in the summer of 2012 and the fall of 2014.
In Madison, I will connect with friends and some family, revisit known places, play some golf on courses I played in the 1950s and 60s, ride my bike on familiar paths, drink coffee at my favorite Madison coffee shop, etc. My exploratory journey of 10 days will be over and a more comfortable, familar time of relaxation will begin. I hope to share my entire adventure on this Blog with plenty of photos and narratives to communicate the beauty of my journey as I travel a much abbreviated version of a land--not a sea-- route that I am calling, "My North Midwest Passage Lite." Enjoy!
I have chosen the Blog format for this three and a half week auto excursion as a way to vary my standard approaches to entries on the site. There will be narratives and photos to give substance to this journey. Many of the places I will stop during the first week and a half are new to me. I will be in an exploration mode. Hopefully my bike and the weather will collaborate to more slowly capture my observations than just viewing and photo documenting the countryside from the car with occasional stops. The strategies for capturing this trip in the following blog entries will vary based on the unplanned circumstances of traveling alone, and the fact that I need to negotiate with no one but myself. By the way, these negotiations with self are not easy. I will have a tendency to get a "brilliant" idea for a side trip, but then talk myself out of it in lieu of keeping to my schedule. The one plus in this negotiation is that it is only a side of my self that is disappointed or encouraged by the decision that I make. Ah, such "profound" self analysis this early in the journey. I am not leaving for another week, but I want to estabish this blog before I leave as an incentive to adding to it on a daily basis once I begin my journey. I intend to add a few entries next week as I prepare for departure.
As you may or may not know, I have traveled quite a bit in the last four years, both within the U.S. and outside of it. As I have become a wiser traveler (I hope), I have come to realize that there should be a purpose for the trip beyond just the thrill of seeing new places and meeting new friends, rediscovering places already visited, and renewing relationships with friends met on earlier adventures. One of my current ideas for a trip is to take six weeks or so to travel across country, particularly to places I have never seen or other locations that I visited many years ago. I am not sure at my "advanced" age that I am up to such a solo trip. My Ford Escape can propablly handle it, but will my aging muscles and joints survive the hours spent behind the wheel?
The first third of this upcoming journey is a mini trial run on driving for awhile, stopping for awhile, and then moving on. Although the itinerary could change, my current plan is to travel skirt the Finger Lakes, picking up Interstate 90 east of Syracuse, NY. My goal on day one is to make it to the Candadian side of Niagara Falls. After a one night stay and a hopeful ride on the "Maid of the Mist," I will travel to a small town near Bay City Michigan, checking out a park that borders Lake Huron Sagamore Bay. The next day, I intend to take a slow ride up the western shoreline of Lake Huron, arriving in Saint Ignace, MI (near Mackinac Island) in the early afternoon of Day 3. I am not sure what I will do for the 40 hour stop in the Mackinac Island area, but I hope to take my bike on the ferry to the island and spend Day 4 there. I have booked an intresting place to stay in the heart of Saint Ignace and I am looking forward to the historical ambiance of my lodgings for two nights. On Day 5, I take off across the northern penisula of Michigan heading toward Bayfield, WI on the shores of Lake Superior. I suspect there will be more bike riding, lake cruises (The Apostle Islands), and ferry crossings during the three days that I spend there. From what I have been told it is a delightful vacation area in far northern Wisconsin. I will be there on the weekend of July 4th, so it should be a good time. I might even attend a concert by an Irish Band at the famous Chautauqua Tent Theater nearby.
On July 5th, I head south to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I have friends there that I hope to see. I have not been in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since my college days, so I am looking forward to walking the streets and visiting places from past memories. After two nights in the "big city," I head south toward Madison, WI, my final destination. On Day 10 of my journey, I plan to stop at St. Mary's University in Winona, MN where I spent my freshman year in college in 1961-62. It is a beautiful campus and it has been many years since I have been back for a visit. It was a college for men when I went there. Now, it is as co-ed institution with university status, I expect to see many changes. I am curious to see if the charm of its environmental setting has survived the years of expansion. After a short visit, I will continue on to LaCrosse, WI to take a look where I spent a year in a diocesan seminary on the backwaters of the Mississippi River that serves as the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin to the south of the Twin Cities. Both of these educational institutions have specialized memories for me, which I hope to share on this blog.
I have not determined my route to Madison from LaCrosse, but I have two choices. The first may offer me a bike riding opportunity near Sparta, Wisconsin on and an upper stretch of the Wisconsin River, or a beautiful trip though the hilly country of southwestern Wisconsin (Yellow line on the Header Map) untouched by the glaciers that brought rich farming soil and flatness to other parts of the state. I suspect there will be a negotiation between my two selves. Depending on my choice, I will spend the night somewhere outside of Madison, perhaps near Wisconsin Dells or Spring Green, the eastern home of Frank Lloyd Wright (Talisan East). On July 8, Day 11 of my trip, I arrive in Madison for a two week stay similar to my previsous two visits in the summer of 2012 and the fall of 2014.
In Madison, I will connect with friends and some family, revisit known places, play some golf on courses I played in the 1950s and 60s, ride my bike on familiar paths, drink coffee at my favorite Madison coffee shop, etc. My exploratory journey of 10 days will be over and a more comfortable, familar time of relaxation will begin. I hope to share my entire adventure on this Blog with plenty of photos and narratives to communicate the beauty of my journey as I travel a much abbreviated version of a land--not a sea-- route that I am calling, "My North Midwest Passage Lite." Enjoy!
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