2 Tortoises, 4 Catfish, an Alligator and a Snake,

This is too good to skip...

better be careful when you come in for a landing, John!

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_lifestyle_animal/2008/08/are-those-catfi.html

other journeys

Check out this terrific interactive map of other explorers throughout history...
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/features/011/Wanderlust/

Oh so cool!

#34 NEW MEXICO, a visit to Santa Fe

A note: On August 12 John & I flew into Denver, CO, making Colorado my 33rd state visited this year. Over the next few days we drove to Santa Fe, NM and looped back up to Denver. This #34 NM post is appearing before my #33 CO post - watch for CO soon.







In 1540, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, became the first European to enter New Mexico. In 1598, the first Spanish settlement was established on the Rio Grande. Then, in 1610, Santa Fe was founded. The United States acquired most of NM as a result of the Mexican-American war. Sitting at 7,000 feet above sea level, Santa Fe is the nation’s highest capital city. Though New Mexico was made a state in 1912, the city of Santa Fe will be 400-years-old in less than two years and was previously a Pueblo village for centuries before Spanish rule. The Mission of San Miguel, built by the Tlaxcalan around 1610, is the oldest church in operation in the U.S. Directly across the street from the church is the oldest house in the U.S., built in 1646.

A flood of adventurers, entrepreneurs and neer-do-wells poured into the area when the Santa Fe trail opened in 1821. Spanish rule had collapsed but New Mexico was still a part of Mexico. The city was a rowdy place known for bars, brothels and easy fortunes. In 1846 the U.S. declared war on Mexico and claimed New Mexico. NM first became a territory and finally attained statehood, along with Arizona, in 1912. In the 1940’s the first atomic bomb was built in Los Alamos, and don’t forget about the UFO sightings known as the Roswell Incident. We followed the Santa Fe Trail along I 25 and flirted with Route 66 but saw no aliens.

Santa Fe’s Plaza, a square block bordered by Lincoln Avenue, E. Palace Avenue, San Francisco Street and the Santa Fe Trail is the nexus of town now and for centuries. Downtown Santa Fe is all adobe and tans and browns, its Spanish-Pueblo look is mandated in this historic city. It was confusing to get around sometimes because even the gas stations and fast food restaurants can look alike. We would like to have dined at Coyote Café but luckily for our bank account we had no reservation and were directed to the rooftop cantina. The food was terrific. We enjoyed BBQ duck quesadillas, “El Portal” tacos (pork) and ceviche washed down with margaritas and sangria. The joint was jumping. After dinner we strolled around the historic streets and listened to live music in the plaza (a nightly occurrence in the summer) and returned to our hotel exhausted. I suspect the altitude contributed but it was a full day none-the-less.

Santa Fe was selected as the first city in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Art is a tremendous part of life in the city. There are more than 250 galleries and museums. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum was small, crowded and worth a visit. I’m a huge fan of folk art and the Museum of International Folk Art on Museum Hill did not disappoint.




Driving in Santa Fe is not pleasurable. Traffic crawls along and there are few or no places to park in the downtown area. Our lunch destination in the Inn and Spa at Loretto thankfully offered valet parking. I highly recommend Luminaria. Our meal was delicious, subtly spiced, beautiful. To accompany our meal I ordered a bottle of Gruet Sparkling Wine. Gruet Winery is located just down the road in Albuquerque. I was first introduced to their sparkling wine in San Francisco and remember it more for the price point than the wine itself. That’s unfair because it’s quite good with the bonus of being very reasonably priced. When I looked them up on the web I discovered that price point is something they pride themselves on. I was unaware that they make a chardonnay, syrah, and pinot noir also. I’ll be looking for them!






We were seated outside in a lovely covered area backed up to a wall and were amused when the wind picked up and glasses started blowing over. Our table was more protected than the others and our fellow diners fled indoors table by table leaving us alone with the waitstaff who were busy taking down umbrellas and lanterns and doing their best to secure things. We rode out the williwaw finishing our wine and sharing a dessert. It was short lived and though we did see a downed tree it appears no serious damage occurred.

It has long been a desire to attend the Santa Fe Opera. That was fulfilled with a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd. The Opera House was beautiful and the setting was spectacular. The opera company was first rate and I certainly enjoyed Teddy Tahu Rhodes interpretation of Billy (rumor has it, he takes off his shirt in all of his roles). This is the second time I’ve seen him, the first was at Sydney Opera production of Streetcar Named Desire in August 2007, where he was a threatening bare-chested Stanley.) I wasn’t enthusiastic about the Billy Budd libretto, it’s not a story I would choose to read and the bleak darkness of it all was less than inspiring. That being said – I had a great time and will hopefully return to see another opera. Site Santa Fe is showcasing art installations in various areas of the city. The parking lot of the Santa Fe Opera has dozens of Plastic Bottle Sculptures hanging from light posts. Interesting…. The true items of interest, in my opinion, are the pre-opera tailgate picnics. I’m in for that next time! As is the norm in the situation some go all out with candles and flowers and some don’t. As a visitor traveling sans crystal & china my table won’t be appropriately decked but I’m hopeful that a local restaurant’s carry-out will more than suffice.

A note about lodging (Hilton options): We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Cerrillos. It offered all that we were looking for but it was not convenient. Santa Fe is a sprawling city. Next time I would opt for a better location. The Hilton downtown is beautiful and is walking distance to the Plaza. The city offers a free shuttle bus to Museum Hill and other destinations so perhaps that’s the better choice. There is also a Hilton property north of town on the other side of the Opera House. Depending on my plans (ie Bandelier, Taos, Los Alamos…) I would seriously consider staying there even though it’s also a casino (yuck!).

Facts of interest:

• At a single point, New Mexico’s border meets Arizona, Colorado and Utah.
• The Anasazi, an ancient native people, lived in New Mexico for 1,300 years. More than 25,000 Anasazi sites have been found in the state.
• On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb ever to explode on Earth was set off in a test at a range near Alamogordo.
• Each year in October, the Whole Enchilada Fiesta is held in Las Cruces.
• From USA Today 8/14/08: Las Cruces: Fossilized imprints of a jellyfish-like creature were found by an amateur collector about 20 miles northwest of Las Cruces. Scientists estimate they are 290 million years old. Jerry MacDonald noticed the impressions of the soft-bodied chrondrophorine medusea on a mudstone slab. New Mexico Museum of Natural Science and History Interim director Spencer Lucas said it was a rare marine find.
• NM is known as the Land of Enchantment or the Colorful State
• Ristras, the colorful strings of dried chili peppers, are draped in entries and doorways. They’re supposed to ward off evil and welcome visitors.
• The Pueblo Zia is everywhere. It’s the radiant symbol visible on the quarter pictured above, license plates, the NM flag and the State Capitol building is built in its design.
• The huge Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is known worldwide, but several other balloon events are held in the state.

I struggled with my choice of song for the state. John lobbied for Marty Robbin’s El Paso based on the line “out to the bad lands of New Mexico… “. He sang it constantly and I know it will be the musical cue to a flashback of this trip but the song is called “El Paso” and the narrator does end up in Texas. I’ve selected Johnny Horton’s, Out in New Mexico as my OFFICIAL song for NM (click on the link for a video on YouTube that show a welcome to New Mexico sign that looks just like the one I have posted. Why do people shoot at signs?) Thanks to www.CowboyLyrics.com for leading me to Horton and giving me several runner up options.

I was floundering without guidance from my favorite book sources but managed to collect several suggestions for this state. Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop came up but I was resistant because I had just read My Antonia by Cather for Nebraska and wanted to go with a different author. By default & out of laziness I picked up Death… because I had it on my shelf. What a stroke of luck! It’s well written and engaging and elucidates on the history of the area and is set precisely where I traveled.

50 (or more) Books for 50 States

For me a large part of the travel experience is reading (and food but that’s a post for another day). I always try to have an appropriate book with me to keep me entertained and elucidated on the trip just like I always search out food, beverage and restaurants unique to an area. It’s a lifesaver to bury your head in a good book when your flight is delayed for 3 hours (as happened yesterday, again a post for another day). My State Book Selections have come from several sources: 50 States of Literature, BookClubClassics!, A Bookworm’s Journey, Book Around the States, web searches and my own inspiration. In many instances they overlap. My objective is to read something I may not discover on my own which enhances my journey, ideally the book will enhance my knowledge of my destination.

The BookClubClassics! selection for Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett, was posted after I traveled to the state, so I did not read it concurrently. Patchett is from Tennessee and a key character is named Tennessee Alice Moser but the book is not set in the state and in no other way makes a reference. I enjoyed Patchett’s Bel Canto (set in South America) and eagerly delved into Run. It’s an incredible novel and I hope that I would have got to it soon but thank you to BookClubClassics! for placing it higher in my stack. I read the book while traveling to Virginia with an unscheduled overnight in Texas so what I really needed was an engaging read, not “all that is Tennessee” so I was thrilled with the page-turning content, though I can’t agree to recommend it as a “state” read. I’ll be looking for anything else by Patchett wherever the setting.

I have blogged the following 16 state books:

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Florida: Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Iowa: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Maine: The Lobster Chronicles; Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw**
Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Montana: The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie
Nebraska: My Antonia by Willa Cather
Nevada: Nevada by Clint McCullough*
New Hampshire: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
New York: Wedding of the Waters: The Making of the Erie Canal by Peter L. Bernstein*
North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
South Dakota: Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett
Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

* I’ve not read these selections.
** I’ve previously read, but not this year

Any recommendations for future state reads are very welcome!

A Yachting Weekend

Last weekend I did something completely different. John, Georgia & I took the Jo-Fran for a four hour cruise up the Petaluma River from Sausalito for a Classic Yacht Association event. We’ve been members of the CYA for years but have never had an opportunity to participate in a cruise before because we’re usually salmon fishing. That’s an entirely different topic that I won’t get into today. Navigating the river was easy and arranging for the D Street Bridge to be opened was equally painless. We docked stern-to at the Petaluma Yacht club dock, side-tied with nine other Classic Yachts.

You’re eligible for membership in the CYA if your boat was built prior to 1959 (just adjusted from 1942). The Jo-Fran was built in 1939 by Western Boat Works in Wilmington, CA. She’s a custom design by D.M. Callis and was built for actor, Frank Morgan.

The Northern California city of Petaluma was celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary. On Saturday we were fortunate enough to have front row seats for The Petaluma Wine, Jazz and Blues Festival without even having to go through the gate. The stage was directly across from the dock and we enjoyed The Pete Escovedo Latin Jazz Orchestra and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy from the cabin-top.

One festival a weekend wasn’t enough. Sunday was the Petaluma Sesquicentennial River Fest. We were all invited “down by the Riverside for a day of Family Fun, Boat Races & Tours, Local Music, Classics and Old Cars on the river and on the waterfront”. We again had a front row seat, this time on the bow, for the canoe races & blindfolded dinghy races.

The historic Hay Scow Schooner Alma and the Sea Scout’s Compass Rose were open for tours as were our classic boats. It was a real kick to be a part of it all. The bonus of getting to know other classic boat owners made the weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to attend another event soon.

#32 IOWA

Of all the state names, “Iowa” is the only one that begins with two vowels, it’s known as Hawkeye State, Tall Corn State, Land of Rolling Prairie, or Cyclone State. Northeast Iowa is the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area I would have loved to take the 64-mile Barn Quilts loop through Grundy County or the John Deere Factory Tour in Waterloo but we were bound for the center of the Hawkeye State, Des Moines. It was the eve of the Iowa State Fair and we were challenged to locate accommodations for the night. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, was going to the fair. The Rodgers and Hammerstein movie State Fair is based on the Iowa Sate Fair. Movie fans know that both the 1962 remake with Ann Margaret and the 1945 original are fun to watch today. With the help of the Hilton Honors Diamond hotline we secured a room in the Des Moines suburb Urbandale. Weary from the many miles, we opted to walk across the parking lot to a restaurant rather than explore when it came time for dinner. The Texas Roadhouse was offering a drink special for fair ticket holders, but I suspect it was a popular destination without that incentive. This was my second visit to this chain, the first being in Alabama early this year. I’ll go to extreme lengths to patronize independent establishments but I confess I’ve been happy with Texas Roadhouse on both occasions. I suspect the margaritas were a contributing factor.



The next morning was our opportunity to see the sights. The Des Moines Art Center’s three buildings are designed by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Richard Meier so I had to take a look. We passed it by on Grand Ave. at first and had had to double back to the unassuming setting in Greenwood Park. The collection and restaurant were tempting but we contented ourselves with admiring the architecture and continued our town of downtown Des Moines, culminating with the Iowa State Capitol, which conveniently was at the end of the road.

Bill Bryson’s memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is about his childhood in Iowa in the 1950s. I really enjoyed his Grand Avenue musings:
“I liked Grand Avenue very much. In those days it was adorned from downtown to the western suburbs with towering, interlacing elms, the handsomest street-side tree eve rand a generous provider of drifts of golden leaves to shuffle through in autumn. But more than this, Grand Avenue felt the way a street should feel. … Where it ceased being residential and entered the downtown, by the industrial-scale hunk of the Meredith Publishing Building (home of Better Homes and Gardens magazine), Grand made an abrupt dogleg to the left, as if it suddenly remembered an important appointment. Originally from this point it was intended to proceed through the downtown as a kind of Midwestern Champs-Elysees, running up to the steps of the state capitol building. The idea was that as you progressed along Grand you would behold before you, perfectly centered, the golden-domed glory of the capitol building (and it is quite a structure, one of the best in the country).
But when the road was being laid out sometime in the second half of the 1800s there was a heavy rain in the night and apparently the surveyors’ sticks moved – at least that was what we were always told – and the road deviated from the correct line, leaving the capitol oddly off center; so that it looks as if it had caught in the act of trying to escape.”






Satisfied that we saw at least a smidgen of the city we headed west. Route 6 broke off from I 80 about 55 miles west of Des Moines. How could I resist my new favorite highway? What’s even better was it was only a quick detour to the site of the first robbery of a moving train. The Jesse James Gang staged the misguided crime on July 21, 1873, after having learned that $75,000 in gold would be on board. They ingeniously pulled train from it’s rails, killing two and injuring scores and forced a guard to open the safe only to discover $2000 in currency within. Their cleverness let them down because that in combination with cash and items looted from passengers yielded only $3000. The $10,000 reward offered for the capture of Jesse James “Dead or Alive” was too tempting for fellow gang member Bob Ford and thus ends the story. Yet another crime doesn’t pay moral. The bucolic Route 6 led us into Council Bluffs as we contemplated James’ fate.


I was craving spicy food and when we located a Mexican restaurant in Council Bluffs right off the freeway I had to go there. La Mesa Mexican Restaurant is just south of I 80-29 exit 3, right next to the Motel 6. It was good, very good, but I would have liked it if it were only marginal, salsa junkie that I am. Pulling into the parking lot I experienced déjà vu. Could it be that I’ve been here before? Possibly. My sister & I drove east across the country on I 80 in 1999. I know we made an overnight stop in Council Bluffs, I’m 95% certain we stayed at that Motel 6 and I can’t imagine we opted for Burger King over La Mesa. Who would have thought I’d return!

Some Iowa trivia for you:

• Cedar Rapids has one of the largest cereal mills in the U.S.
• Indianola is home to the National Balloon Museum.
• In the U.S., Iowa ranks first in soybean, egg, corn and hog production.
• John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison) was born in Winterset. You can visit his birthplace and view the eyepatch from True Grit and other Duke memorabilia.
• The RAGBRAI®, The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. Check out the Roadkill Raccoon story from this year’s ride: http://tinyurl.com/67q5vv

My musical selection for Iowa is Joni Mitchell’s The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines Mitchell's 1979 collaboration with Charles Mingus, a story of a dry cleaner from Iowa who, to the disgruntlement of our narrator, is enjoying a lucky run on the slot machines: "Des Moines was stacking the chips/ Raking off the tables/ Ringing the bandit's bells." Thanks again to 50 songs for 50 states.

I couldn’t resist reading Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a Memoir. He’s one of my favorites and I needed some comic relief after the North Dakota and Minnesota selections. How can you resist chuckling aloud when you read Bryson’s wry wit.

“Iowa’s main preoccupations have always been farming and being friendly, both of which we do better than almost anyone else.” ___ “The climate is ideal too, if you don’t mind shoveling tons of snow in the winter and dodging tornadoes all summer”

Minnesota Prairie Home Addendum

Well, here I am driving into Santa Fe, NM and what do I hear on the radio? An ad for the Prairie Home Companion Rhubarb Tour on the day my Minnesota post went up. I started thinking about Garrison Keillor. Everyone who is familiar with him, the radio show, the books or the movie must associated him with Minnesota. Has anyone received more press or late night television digs than the trifecta Keillor, musician Prince and erstwhile wrestler and governor Jesse Ventura?

I watched the Altman film Prairie Home Companion two days ago and subsequently remembered I have his 2001 book Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 on my bookshelf, it was not one of his best works. 1985's Lake Wobegon Days stands out in my memory as the better read.

The Rhubarb Tour doesn't arrive in Santa Fe until I will be long gone on Aug. 26, but Keillor's presence continues to taunt me as I hop around the U.S.A.

#31 MINNESOTA

Minnesota is the Dakota Sioux words for sky-tinted water. The quarter and license plates proclaiming Land of 10,000 Lakes don’t lead you astray, the state has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined. Minnesota actually has closer to 15,000 lakes but obviously someone decided to err on the side of caution. John & I celebrated our 7th anniversary at Two Harbors Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast, on the Minnesota shores of the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Superior aka Gittchie-gumma (among a number of other variations). We were in the Keepers Room in the main house and it was extremely comfortable. The three bedrooms upstairs share a single bath and I consider us so fortunate that we were the sole occupants that night. If I return, I would opt to stay in the Skiff House, a separate building located across the yard, for privacy alone.

The idyllic Two Harbors is a cliché small town, the perfect place to wile away your summer holiday. It’s named for its two harbors, Agate Bay and Burlington Bay and have humongous iron ore loading docks which we were disappointed to not see in action. We were only there overnight so had to wile quickly. A steam tug Edna G was docked by the taconite loading docks. It’s owned by the Minnesota Historic Society and of course, we had to take a tour. Afterwards a cooling walk out to the end of the breakwater capped off the balmy afternoon.


The next morning we followed the shore north 20 miles to visit the Split Rock Lighthouse which perches on a cliff top adjacent to a state park. I made note of the campsites for the perpetual “next time.”





We retraced our tire tracks to Duluth. The Duluth-Superior harbor is the world’s largest, farthest-inland seaport, and over 1,100 vessels drop anchor each year during the April-December shipping season. Each carries cargo such as iron ore, coal and grain some 2,432 miles across the Great Lakes and beyond. The most famous landmark is the Aerial Lift Bridge. We couldn’t figure out exactly how it works but finally discovered that the 1,000 ton (!!!!) center span is raised and lowered with two 500 ton concrete counterweights, an average of 5,500 times a year. If we had stayed in the area I’m sure we would have witnessed it in action, they say it goes up 25 to 30 times during the height of the season. The Boat Watchers Hotline is http://www.duluthboats.com/ or 218.722.6489. There was a Hampton Inn right on Canal Park Dr., a terrific location to watch it all. Ah, next time… We did patronize Northern Lights Books & Gifts right across the street. I keep finding this statistic: VisitDuluth.com reports “In the early 1900’s mining and timber barons built many of Duluth’s incredible mansions. At the time, Duluth had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.” I can vouch for some of the beautiful mansions.

It seems like a great area for cycling. The 60 mile Willard Munger State Trail, running south from Duluth to Hinckley, is the longest paved path in the U.S. If you prefer to go on foot, The Superior Hiking trail is one of Backpacker magazines ten best trails in the U.S. http://www.shta.org/. Venturing farther into the Land of Lakes you can hike or bike parts of the 100-mile Paul Bunyan State Trail around the 465 lakes in the Brainerd Lakes Area If you’re feeling really adventurous you can paddle the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a dream trip of mine.

Somewhere over the state…Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids. Check out her birthplace: http://www.blogger.com/www.judygarlandmuseum.com%20 . The North Star State is also home to Bob Dylan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Paul Getty, Jane Russell and Charles M. Schulz.

We stopped at a Road Food recommendation in St. Paul for lunch. Mickey’s Dining Car did not impress. The food, when it finally arrived, was fine but we would have preferred to have received what we ordered. I was happiest with Mickey’s when I watched Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and within the first five minutes the camera spanned the Mickey’s rail car. “I need to go there” I thought, and then I realized that I’ve already been there. How sad! It really is a cute location, and Altman used it well in the opening and closing of the film. I would have been better off with a Milky Way candy bar, first created by Frank C. Mars of Minnesota, out of a road side vending machine. Let’s face it, that’s what road food always comes down to isn’t it? OK, I must confess we had two other very enjoyable road food-esque meals in Minnesota. Lunch was good at Bridgeman’s Family Dining Soda Fountain in Floodwood and our walleye dinner with wild rice at The Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors was one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. There is no commercial walleye fishery in Minnesota, it all comes from Canada but the wild rice is a MN staple. Traditionally, August is called “manominikegississ,” the month of rice-making. I participated by purchasing some to take home.

You recognize the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) from the opening credits of Mary Tyler Moore Show. The State Capitol dome was visible as we left the city heading south down I 35. My final MN highlight was driving through an area I had lived in when I was 6 years old. Southeastern MN is flat. It’s primarily an agricultural growing and processing area. I lived in Waseca but time dictated I reminisce at the exit sign only. If I could squeeze in a few extra hours I would have driven through my former small town home and then veered south to Austin to visit the Hormel Food Corp’s. Spam Museum. How cool and kitschy that would have been!

My Minnesota song pick comes from Laura Barton’s 50 songs for 50 states: The Hold Steady’s Stuck Between StationsTales of drinking, dancing and making out in Minneapolis: "These twin city kisses/ Sound like clicks and hisses/ And we all come down and drown in the Mississippi River."

The Book Club Classics! 50 States 50 Books pick for Minnesota is Tim O’Brien’s In The Lake of the Woods.

The Amazon.com description reads: “In 1994 O'Brien wrote In the Lake of the Woods, a novel that, while imbued with the troubled spirit of Vietnam, takes place entirely after the war and in the United States. The main character, John Wade, is a man in crisis: after spending years building a successful political career, he finds his future derailed during a bid for the U.S. Senate by revelations about his past as a soldier in Vietnam. The election lost by a landslide, John and his wife, Kathy, retreat to a small cabin on the shores of a Minnesota lake--from which Kathy mysteriously disappears.
Was she murdered? Did she run away? Instead of answering these questions, O'Brien raises even more as he slowly reveals past lives and long-hidden secrets. Included in this third-person narrative are "interviews" with the couple's friends and family as well as footnoted excerpts from a mix of fictionalized newspaper reports on the case and real reports pertaining to historical events--a mélange that lends the novel an eerie sense of verisimilitude. If Kathy's disappearance is at the heart of this work, then John's involvement in a My Lai-type massacre in Vietnam is its core, and O'Brien uses it to demonstrate how wars don't necessarily end when governments say they do. In the Lake of the Woods may not be true, but it feels true--and for Tim O'Brien, that's true enough.”

I thought it was a creepy page-turner which I’m uncertain if I can wholeheartedly recommend but I couldn’t put down. Again, there was a definite sense of place that made it an appropriate read for the state. The thriller will haunt me if I ever find myself in Boundary Waters. It’s an unsettling enough portrait of a politicians motivation in this election year (Why does it seem that we’re always in the midst of an election?)

#30 NORTH DAKOTA

The world’s largest hamburger, at 3,591 pounds, was made in Rutland, North Dakota in 1982. Obviously we’re dealing with a state that doesn’t deal in half measures. The geographical center of North America is Rugby, ND. The Peace Garden State, named for the International Peace Garden that was built on the boundary between North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. Dakota, incidentally, is the Sioux word for friend.


What is North Dakota road food? My beloved Roadfood book had no listings and www.roadfood.com had only two. The sole selection for Fargo was a candy shop so I was left to my own devices for dinner. Normally I eschew a chain restaurant but I opted to dine at the Green Mill near our hotel. What a pleasant surprise! This Minnesota chain has a few branches in Wisconsin, Kansas and, fortuitously for us, Fargo, North Dakota. Our dinner salads were good as were the wine & beer specials.


Pleasant temperatures enveloped us in August but even in November there are days that Fargo is colder than the North Pole, when prairie winds whip up the snow and dirt on the ground causing a blinding horizontal blizzard without a fresh flake of snow falling. If you saw the Coen brothers movie Fargo, you remember the flatness of horizon on the horizon. The city did benefit from the film even though was filmed in other locations. An Academy Awards gala held at the Art Deco Fargo Theatre, formerly a silent film venue, brought enough attention to the theater to raise funds for a renovation. Residents are reported to obey the Scandinavian concept of janteloven (don’t show off), but sometimes a little exhibitionism is what it takes. The FargoDome, adjacent to the NDSU campus, is where some do. It’s an entertainment venue where local. The Convention & Visitor Bureau’s slogan is “Our welcomes are always warm. And that’s cool!” It can’t be said that they don’t have a sense of humor. Some stats: Fargo has 4 tanning salons & 20 city snowplows for 90,000 residents. There were 3 murders between 1998 and 2003 of which 2 are solved. The lowest temperature was -39 degrees and average annual snowfall is 40 inches.


Fargo has garnered some interesting accolades. It’s ranked the Third Least Angry City by Men’s Health Magazine and the environment tops San Diego’s according to Earth Day Network.


A particularly nasty winter melted into a flood in 1997. Fargo was able to contain the swollen Red River of the North but Grand Forks bore the brunt with damages estimated at $2 billion. Red River Rising: The Anatomy of a Flood and the Survival of an American City by Ashley Shelby sounds like a riveting recounting of the disaster. A copy is winging it’s way to me as I type.

Lewis & Clark (oh, them again!) spent more time exploring this region than any other. They first saw grizzly bears in North Dakota. In their honor scenic byways ND 1804 and ND 1806 (note the names are the years they traversed the land) now trace paths up and down the Missouri River. I particularly like the “Lewis and Clark slept here – 146 times” ad. Fort Mandan and ND Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center are the two richest sources of Lewis and Clark history in the world. North Dakota even offers a Lewis & Clark Golf Trail. Someday I hope to follow their trail, sans golf, but I really have a yen to visit the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. “Make a left at the giant dairy cow, then turn right at the “World’s Largest Buffalo,” and if you pass a 32-foot-tall turtle driving a snowmobile, you’ve gone too far.” A menagerie of oversized animal is reportedly visible for miles across the plains. Salem Sue, a huge fiberglass Holstein who symbolized the dairy industry, can be spied off of I 94, near Salem, from miles away. I’m sorry to report that our brief foray into the state yielded no zoological sights. I would have loved to view Wee’l Turtle in Dunseith, or the Fishing Hall of Fame’s, Wally the Walleye in Garrison. Oh know, it sounds like another trip in the plans.


All 50 states have wineries, and I have yet to sample ND wines at Maple River Winery in Casselton www.mapleriverwinery.com


The Walking Trail named in honor of author Louis L’Amour is a highlight of his hometown, Jamestown. Other famous North Dakotans are Lawrence Welk, Peggy Lee, baseball great Roger Maris


In 1951 oil was discovered near Tioga. The Aug. 6, 2008 USA Today reported that “North Dakota’s budget surplus is expected to soar above $1.2 billion by June, according to new estimates of state tax collections. State Budget Director Pam Sharp said the new revenue estimates assume state oil prices will average almost $98 a barrel until July 1, and almost $85 a barrel through June 30, 2010.” Beulah, ND, nicknamed “the energy capital of America” is home to the nation’s first synfuels plant – fuel produced from coal is used as a substitue for natural gas or petroleum. The North Dakota Energy Trail features Antelope Valley Stateion, Freedom Mine, Great Plains Synfuels Plant and Knife River Coal Mining Co.


The present-day capital building, in Bismarck, is commonly known as the “Skyscraper on the Prairie”. It was constructed of white limestone on black granite in 1934 after a fire destroyed the original building and stands a towering 19 stories. The interior of the Art Deco tower features Belgian marble, Honduran mahogany, East Indian rosewood, English brown oak and Burmese teak.


I think of ND as a rural state with most residents involved in agriculture but in as of 1987 more of the state’s population of less than 650,000 lives in cities and towns than farms. Agriculture still is North Dakota’s #1 industry, over 39 million acres, nearly 90% of the state, is in farms and ranches. The majority of those acres are planted to wheat, soybeans, barley, sunflowers, canola and corn. The ND Ag Foundation published a terrific brochure “Major Crops & Livestock of North Dakota.” I wish I could pick up similar material for every state I visit, instead of just speculating what could be planted in those fields we’re zooming by at 75 mph.


My musical choice for the Rough Rider state is Lyle Lovett’s North Dakota It’s a great cowboy tale of guns and the boys of North Dakota who apparently "drink whisky for their fun" but at heart it’s just another sappy song of the lovelorn. Another pop culture reference I can’t forget is The Electric Company’s (early Sesame Street) Fargo North, Decoder—An Inspector Clouseau-type detective who attempts to decode scrambled word messages and phrases using his different machines (one made from an old fashioned washing machine).


A comprehensive list of North Dakota books is at http://www.plainsfolk.com/buffalocommons/100books.htm I read and loved the choice from 50 States of Literature: Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River It’s one of my favorite book that I’ve read in a long time and was a perfect selection for the state. I’m not going to say anymore about except that I highly recommend this book.

#29 SOUTH DAKOTA

A Chinese ring-necked pheasant in flight above the Mount Rushmore National Monument, featuring the faces of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, bookended by heads of wheat: does that say South Dakota? Sure, it works for me and obviously for the U.S. Mint. The South Dakota Division of Wildlife reported all time high pheasant counts for 2007, mainly due to ample habitat from CRP lands. SD is a pheasant hunter’s mecca with several outfitters offering trips, resulting in a huge source of revenue for the state. We drove through miles and miles of country road in the eastern part of the state and were disappointed that we never saw a pheasant. Perhaps the area was too cultivated? It was beautiful nonetheless.

The home of Sparky Anderson, Tom Brokaw and Crazy Horse; South Dakota was the highlight of a road trip I took with my sister in several years ago. We drove east to west on I 90 and after visiting the Corn Palace, Wall Drug and driving through the Badlands, stayed in the worst hotel I’ve ever encountered. It was an experience that somehow enhanced the trip as only extreme hardship can. After no sleep and afraid to shower lest we catch something from the grimy walls we started the next day predawn and arrived at Mt. Rushmore to see the faces emerge from early morning mists. It was one of the most beautiful sights I ever experienced. On the western side of the state Gutzon Borglum began drilling into Mount Rushmore, the 5,725-foot peak rising above Harney National Forest, in 1927. Creation of the "Shrine of Democracy" took 14 years and cost approximately $1 million, though it is now deemed priceless. It’s a landmark recognized around the world that was started as a draw to attract sightseers. Talk about a job well done. We then visited the Crazy Horse monument and drove down into the Pine Ridge reservation. Overwhelmed by history, emotion, kitsch and natural wonders on that trip, I was disappointed that I would only venture across the eastern plains this time around but contented myself with the knowledge that it would be one more state for the year.


Immediately after crossing the state line from Nebraska on I 29 billboards advertising the National Music Museum in Vermillion sprang up on the roadside. A quick cross reference of the map and the AAA book (a terrific resource) persuaded us to make to 20 mile detour to the home of University of South Dakota. The National Music Museum was terrific! They claim a collection of over 13,500 features instruments from all cultures and historic periods. Not too shabby! I especially enjoyed the exhibits from the early 1900’s and wanted to love the third world instrument gallery but became frustrated by the labels. There were numbers cataloging each item but corresponding identification sheets only encompassed half of the numbers. They just had too much in that room and every time I wanted to know more I was stymied.

Just six miles north of town is Spirit Mound Historic Prairie, a hill rising only 100 feet above the surrounding prairie but offering sweeping views of the area (get the flat picture?). Once again Lewis and Clark became a part of my travels. On August 25, 1805, Lewis & Clark took eleven men and Lewis’ dog Seaman to explore the mound. Their expedition was making its way up the Missouri River which runs at this point east to west across the now Nebraska / South Dakota state line. They had a difficult hike in the heat and humidity and Seaman had to be sent back to the river (Seaman was a Newfoundland that Lewis purchased for $20 in 1803. He is mentioned several times in the journals and accompanied them on the entire expedition.) We were much more comfortable: while the day was quite sultry, a stiff, refreshing breeze (note my hair in the picture) kept the bugs down and us refreshed. While wandering through prairie grasses reaching over my head I couldn’t help remembering having read that there is only one poisonous snake native to South Dakota: the prairie rattlesnake. Now, I’m not sure how this statistic relates to other states: is this high or low? Are prairie rattlesnakes rampant? How big of a threat is it? Should I be concerned or amused? Just random paranoia… we emerged back at the car unscathed. Clark wrote: “from the top of this mound we beheld a most butifull landscape; Numerous herds of buffalow were seen feeding in various directions….” I can report no buffalo, no snakes and few bugs but the Park Service did an impressive job with multiple interpretive signs identifying the prairie grasses. I would recommend this site to anyone but big, shaggy dogs.


The South Dakota Lewis & Clark Trail is choc-a-bloc full of interesting sites and activities. One could easily fill a two week vacation traveling the Missouri River via water or land and follow in their footsteps. Maybe someday…


Breaking away from the all things Lewis & Clark we opted to avoid the interstate we made our way via country roads to Sioux Falls for the night. Our dinner destination, the Tea Steak House, was 5 miles south. Road Food refers to it as “one of the top beef dens of the great plains” and we weren’t disappointed. Their slogan is “Bring Your Sugar to Tea”. Sweet!


We were one of the few automobiles in our hotel parking lot but had trouble locating a place to park. I hadn’t realized that the immense Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was taking place this week, but should have taken a clue from the hundreds of bikes in the area. Our fellow travelers were obviously having a terrific time and displaying camaraderie and good cheer.

Downtown Sioux Falls was a pleasant surprise. Wanting to view Falls Park, we detoured through downtown on our Sunday Morning departure. We passed the Old Courthouse, a sturdy 1800’s quartzite building anchoring the town. http://www.siouxlandmuseums.com/ I was very impressed with the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk. This annual event consists of 50 or more sculptures displayed along the cute downtown Phillips Avenue. The artists lend their work the city for the season and all pieces are for sale. Every year a “People’s Choice” is elected for the city to purchase. The museum-quality artwork is varied and I was thrilled to be able to admire it while strolling through town. They’ve got a great photo tour that you can view via the link above. We walked along the namesake tiered waterfalls in Falls Park and went up the 5-story tower at the visitor center for a better vantage. They have a nightly lightshow in the summer and performances of a Shakespeare play for a few weekends in addition to the Falls Overlook Café and Horse Barn Arts Center. The 42 acre park is a beautiful setting for all sorts of cultural events.


I selected two Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books: Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter for my South Dakota reads. Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series is autobiographical children’s fiction which recounts her early life with her family. Little House on the Prairie is about their move in covered wagon to what is now Kansas and efforts to settle there. I read this book for SD because so many of the experiences & activities detailed took place anywhere on the prairie. The Long Winter is specific to South Dakota’s winter of 1880-81, referred to as the “Snow Winter”; snow began with a three-day surprise blizzard in October and continued with unrelenting storms into May. One early resident wrotethat the snowstorms came so frequently that it was “almost one continuous blizzard”. Most families were unprepared for the early onset of winter with unharvested crops and short food supplies. By January, train service across the upper Plains was halted because of the heavy snow completely isolating the pioneers. Details in The Long Winter match the memoirs of pioneers: the grinding of wheat in coffee mills, the endless task of twisting prairie hay for fuel, the eerie gray twilight of the snowed-in houses, the agony of waiting and hoping that the trains would get through, the steady creep of starvation when they failed once again.

The Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, SD is a top draw attraction complete with covered wagon rides. This is the land where Charles Ingalls homesteaded in 1880 and where Laura met and married Alonzo Wilder.

To close here are lyrics from the Bee Gees’ South Dakota Morning, a rather peculiar perspective...

The sun shines down on a South Dakota morning
And I can see their faces in my eyesI wish they were behind me
My enemy can find me
If only to remind me that I'm really not alone
All the South Dakota mornings I have known
The eagle flies on a South Dakota morning
And I don't see my eagle anymore
Now stranger, I must kill you
You must survive, but will you
I may just beat you down, but will it even up the score
I think I saw the eagle just once more
The rain comes down on a South Dakota morning
And I can't see the sadness in my town
So let it be my pillow for underneath your willow
Wanna go back to you though your nothing but a town
On the South Dakota grass I lay me down

#28 NEBRASKA

The “Cornhusker’s State” quarter features an ox-drawn covered wagon carrying pioneers in the foreground and Chimney Rock, a natural wonder & National Historic Site that is near the North Platte River. Maybe some day I’ll see it in person – the quarter makes a pretty good argument for seeking it out. The sun is in full view behind the wagon; with little imagination you can feel the heat.

Practically anywhere travelers go in Nebraska they encounter reminders of America's westward expansion. The state is crisscrossed by the Oregon and Mormon Trails, the Pony Express, the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Texas-Ogallala Trail and the Sidney-Deadwood Trail. Even the signs for state highways contain a covered wagon outline.

This trip to Nebraska came about because Omaha was by far the most affordable airport to fly into for our anniversary trip to a lighthouse on Minnesota’s Lake Superior. Sure, Omaha is 550 miles away from our destination and yes, gasoline is $4 a gallon, but flying into OMA presented an opportunity to travel to 5 states! How could I pass it up?

I was immediately impressed by the airport. It appeared new and inviting. Our hotel, the Downtown Omaha Hampton Inn was equally sparkling. I spotted six Hilton properties downtown, definitely a good destination for Hilton junkies like me! The suite upgrade reinforced my sentiment.

The largest city in the state, Omaha is a prosperous city of 400,000; home to five Fortune 500 companies. It is birthplace to Gerald Ford, Warren Buffett and TV dinners. ConAgra’s world headquarters back up to the pastoral Heartland of America Park & Fountain where we enjoyed circling the lake despite uncomfortable temperatures. The city has many parks and public areas with art and would be a great place to walk if only it was 20 or 30 degrees cooler! Old Market, a former warehouse district which is now a cultural destination complete with several converted lofts (considering a 1,300 sq. ft. loft rents for $575 – I should live there too!), is right downtown. The collections at the art deco Joslyn Art Museum reputedly hold their own in the museum world, and the Durham Museum at the old Union Station is an affiliate of the Smithsonian. Filmmaker Alexander Payne is from Omaha and his movies “Citizen Ruth” 1996, “Election” (1999) and “About Schmidt” were filmed here. That’s a whole lot of artsy-ness!

French fur traders first visited Nebraska in the late 1600’s. After the US acquired the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Lewis and Clark explored the territory during their expedition from 1804-1806. The Lewis & Clark expedition seems to be an ongoing theme in my travels. It wasn’t by design but I was very interested to learn that the Lewis and Clark National Trail Historic Center was right next to Rick’s Café Boatyard where we had a comfortable lunch overlooking the Missouri River. The banks of the Missouri, the longest river in North America, comprise the state line between Nebraska and Iowa with one exception. Carter Lake is a small section of Iowa that falls between the Omaha Airport and the city of Omaha. Carter Lake was the original streambed of the Missouri River prior to a flood in 1877 which changed the course of the river. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the disputed land was in fact part of Iowa. In 1920 with no services from neighboring Council Bluffs, IA, Carter Lake voted to become an annex of Omaha, NE but that city didn’t want them, so Carter Lake incorporated as a city unto itself in 1930 and remains a thumbnail part of IA today.

The National Park Service Lewis & Clark site had an interesting display and presented a half hour documentary by Ken Burns that gave a comprehensive account of the expedition. It sure cleared up some confusion I had in Montana and will help me out as I continue in their footsteps up into the Dakotas.

Road Food recommended the Bohemian Café; an over-the-top kitschy Czech eatery. We opted for dinners of the recommended roast duck and sauerbraten. The paper placemats list the lyrics and sheet music for the house song…

Dumplings and kraut today

At Bohemian Café

Draft beer that’s sparkling, plenty of parking

See you at lunch, okay?


How could you go wrong? The rye bread and soups were truly great, the Pilsner Urquell (served in an enormous ceramic mug that our diminutive waitress had difficulty hefting to the table) was sparkling. Entrees were less than stellar with Czech dumplings on the side which would have been better put to use as doorstops, but I would go back in a heartbeat. The waitresses wore bright red dirndls and polka music wafted in the background and the décor was hideous. It made me smile so!


The next day our exodus from Omaha had to be on Highway 6 “Nebraska’s First Highway” The brochure assures us that it’s leisurely AND scenic with plenty to see and do. I can’t vouch for that because we were only able to travel 20 miles or so before we veered north but it felt good! The website sure does a good job convincing me I want to travel Route 6 all the way next time! Getting out of town we skirted the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens and finally made it by Father Flanagan’s Boys Town Suddenly we were in rural Nebraska surrounded by corn: acres and acres of corn. We had opted for two-lane roads rather than the Interstate and were rewarded with postcard perfect farms and small towns. The town of Kearney, a bit east of our route sits precisely between Boston and San Francisco., you can’t get much more mid than that!


One of my favorite small burgs was Oakland, NE, a Swedish community that took their heritage to heart. A miniature stone house marks the site of the first Oakland settler’s 14’ by 24’ sod house built in 1875. (see picture above)

Our final Nebraska hurrah was lunch at the Crystal Café. The Crystal Café is essentially a gas station diner. There’s ample parking for trucks but referring to it as a truck stop seems too grandiose. It was listed in Road Food (I LOVE that book – Thank you again Lois!), and written up in Gourmet magazine. Someone in South Sioux City is adept at PR and I’m grateful. The place was packed with an assortment of truckers and families. We appeared to be the only tourist types. The food was good! Go there if you get the chance. Five inch deep pies looked to be incredible but we resisted. My favorite part of the meal was watching a table of four get up to leave. They were older; three women and one man. One of the women was dressed in black with a lace collar. By her dress, I believe that she was Mennonite but forgive me if I have that wrong. One woman and the man said goodbye and the other two old ladies crawled into a very small late model convertible, a Minnie Mouse car if I ever saw one! Watching those two staunchly Midwestern matrons tool off with the prim passenger clitching her hands to her grey braided bun and lace collar as they pulled onto the road was priceless!

Nebraska boasts some rather interesting facts:
· Arbor Day was created in 1872 in Nebraska by J. Sterling Morton.
· If you add up the total miles of all of Nebraska’s rivers, no state has more.
· The first time in U.S. history that two women faced off in a gubernatorial election was in Nebraska in 1986.
· On July 4, 1882, Buffalo Bill Cody ran his first rodeo, in North Platte.
· From the Aug. 1, 2008 USA Today: “How green is Nebraska going? Officials say the plants at Homestead National Monument near Beatrice are native to the state and require little water. At Scotts Bluff National Monument, foot and bike trails cut vehicle exhaust. At Omaha’s River City Roundup, the rodeo arena dirt will be recycled, and used cooking oil from Nebraska Sate Fair concessionaires will go toward biodiesel.”
· State motto: “Equality before the law” which sounds a little anti-establishment to me.
· And my favorite: A law in Blue Hill states that no woman wearing a “hat that would scare a timid person” is allowed to eat onions in public.

Bruce Springsteen’s unsettling song, Nebraska, relates the tale of the killing spree of Charles Starkweather, inspired by Terrence Malick's film Badlands:
"From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a sawed-off .410 on my lap."
I’d like to do better with my choice of NE song but I couldn’t locate all of the lyrics to Stan Freburg’s “Whatta they have in Omaha”.

There is no better literary tribute to Nebraska than Willa Cather’s My Antonia. Last fall, when John was traveling to southern Nebraska to go deer hunting, his daughter presented him with a gift of this classic novel. He gratefully accepted and took it along. Unbeknownst to any of us (even him!), he was traveling to Red Cloud, home of Willa, the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial , and the Willa Cather Historical Society. Reading the book greatly enhanced his trip and when he returned I eagerly picked it up last December. (Thank you, Clare!) Now I find myself confronting Cather quotes everywhere and look forward to reading it again. Book Club Classics! chose My Antonia and quoted the following passages:

As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running…Perhaps the glide of long railway travel was still with me, for more than anything else I felt motion in the landscape; in the fresh, easy-blowing morning wind, and in the earth itself, as if the shaggy grass were a sort of loose hide, and underneath it herds of wild buffalo were galloping, galloping…

I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.

All those fall afternoons were the same, but I never got used to them. As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red-gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. That hour always had the exultation of victory, of triumphant ending, like a hero’s death — heroes who died young and gloriously. It was a sudden transfiguration, a lifting-up of day.

Definitely gives the reader a sense of place!

#27 MONTANA

Montana, nicknamed "Big Sky Country," was admitted into the Union on November 8, 1889, becoming our Nation's 41st state. The quarter was released in early 2007. It features a bison skull depicted above the diverse Montana landscape with the inscription "Big Sky Country." The bison skull is a powerful symbol, sacred to many of Montana's American Indian tribes. This symbol can be seen across the State on schools, businesses and license plates, and reflects the rich native tradition of Montana, which was once home to large tribes such as the Crow and the Northern Cheyenne. After a visit from Lewis and Clark, Montana became a destination first for fur trappers and later for gold prospectors following the discovery of gold in the 1860s. Cattle ranchers also made their way west to Montana. This rapid growth in population led to boomtowns. A relatively recent nickname, "Big Sky Country" originated with a 1962 promotion of the Montana State Highway Department. It is a reference to the unobstructed skyline in the state that seems to overwhelm the landscape at times. The name reputedly originated from a book by Alfred Bertram Guthrie Jr., The Big Sky. Mr. Guthrie gave the Highway Department permission to use the name and Montana has been "Big Sky Country" ever since. The legend "Big Sky Country" appeared on Montana license plates from 1967 to 1975. This was shortened to "Big Sky" on license plates stamped from 1976 to 2000.

This Montana visit was brief; I only dipped my toe into the vast state. We entered on Highway 2 into Glacier Country, as the northwest corner of the state is referred. Our first detour was to the Yaak Falls a few miles north. Large bear identification signs were posted next to a terrific map of the area. Montana has the most grizzly bears in the continental U.S. The state has the largest herds of migratory elk and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in North America. Talk about wild neighbors!

We swung through Troy and made our way to Kootenai Falls. Downstream from Libby, the Kootenai River enters a canyon and forms Kootenai Falls, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the northwest. There are trails and a terrific swinging bridge that crosses the river. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed it during the depression. The bridge is narrow and definitely swings but was well maintained and offered the best vista possible of the river raging below.

The road food venture consisted of a soda and candy bar at Little Joe Montana along Highway 56. Ah yes, we’ve deteriorated to TRUE road food. It was bound to happen eventually.

Our final stop was the peaceful Ross Creek Cedar Grove. Immense 500 year old cedars fill this canyon and the meandering trail seemed more appropriate for wood nymphs than us.

I really like Montana and have enjoyed several vacations in the western part of the state. Nothing beats the wildlife in Glacier National Park in my book. John Steinbeck wrote in Travels With Charley “I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love.”

Coincidently, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newson, was in the state on this same day for his wedding to Jennifer Seibel. No, I wasn’t stalking him, but I did consider crashing the event:

From the SF Chronicle:
The nuptial hobnobbing kicks off Thursday evening with a poolside cocktail party hosted by the Newsom family at the rustic Stock Farm Club resort.
Attire: casual.
Friday night: The Siebel family returns the favor with a "Big Sky Bash" at the family's Bitterroot Springs Ranch.
Billed as an "old-fashioned wedding social," the Big Sky BBQ features "wrangler events, a cowboy cookout and barn dancing."
Attire: cowboy cool.
Saturday, it's golf or tennis at the Stock Farm in the morning, followed by lunch.
Saturday evening: The wedding, 7 o'clock back at the Bitterroot ranch. The ceremony will take place in a field - no frills, no flowers even.
The wedding theme: "Out of Africa in Montana."
The attire: light fabrics, neutral colors and earth tones.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/20/BABF11ROJN.DTL&hw=matier&sn=006&sc=301

What exactly is cowboy cool? I’m sure I didn’t have the right clothes anyway.

Acquired by the US in 1803 as part of the Louisiana purchase, mining played a huge role in the state’s early growth . Today, fields of grain cover much of the state’s plains. There were more millionaires per capita in Helena in 1888 than any other city in the world. Today’s per capita income remains high.

The Battle of Little Big Horn also known as Custer’s Last Stand took place in the southeast part of the state in 1876. In this famous battle, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors defeated General George Armstrong Custer and more than 200 of his men.

Louis and Clark detailed their exploration through the territory and I’ve enjoyed several of the visitor centers along their Trail in past visits.

Evel Knievel (daredevil), Myrna Loy (actress) and David Lynch (filmmaker) hail from Montana. Approximately 900,000 people reside in the 147,046 square miles of Montana. That’s less than 16 people per square mile.

Book Club Classics Chose The Big Sky as the Montana book. If Guthrie truly did coin the name then there could be no more appropriate choice. I confess that it was not my favorite read. Perhaps “Western Literature” doesn’t speak to me but I enjoyed Stephen Ambrose’s history Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West so much more and kept flashing back to passages while I was reading Guthrie’s tale of Caudill Boone which covers much of the same geography .
Other Montana reads are listed in

http://bookaroundthestates.blogspot.com/search/label/Montana
And

http://www.vacationmontana.com/BooksMontanaAuthorsLiterature.htm

Finally I just can’t help singing Chris Whitley’s Big Sky Country to myself as I write this. Check it out…