More Americana

We are on our way to New Mexico to visit the Georgia O’Keeffe  museum and her home at Abiquiu. We stopped in Columbia, Missouri last night, home of the University of Missouri, the first state university west of the Mississippi. The traditional symbol of the school are six Ionic columns which upheld the portico of Academic Hall, the initial building on the campus. Built in the early 1840s, it burned down in 1892. However the columns were preserved. 

Near Columbia, is Fulton, MO, home to Westminster College and America’s National Churchill Museum. Who knew it even existed? The reason it is there is because Churchill made his Sinews of Peace speech at the school on March 5, 1946. It is when he notoriously said “an iron curtain has descended,” essentially the start of the Cold War. As interesting is the fact that the museum is housed in the lower level of the church of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. The church was built in London after the fire of 1666 by Christopher Wren but was greatly damaged by bombing in 1940. The remaining materials were moved to Westminster College in 1966 and restored as the memorial to Churchill. 

An art installation nearby called Breakthrough consists of 8 panels from the Berlin Wall. It was dedicated by Ronald Reagan on November 9, 1990, exactly one year after the fall of the wall. 

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Alaska Adventure

Well, we aren’t in Alaska looking for gold, but we have already found some treasures. We had a nice flight from Minneapolis to Fairbanks—still plenty of snow capped peaks. 

Visited the Alaska Siberian Lend Lease monument, a piece of history I sure wasn’t aware of. Like the lend lease program with Great Britain, we had an arrangement with Russia. Between 1942 and 1945, almost 8000 planes were flown along he ALSIB supply route. From Great Falls, Montana, planes were flown through Canada to Whitehorse and Fairbanks where a red star was painted on before turning over a plane to a Russian pilot. 

The gateway to Fairbanks is the Antler Arch, made up of 100 moose and caribou antlers collected from all over interior Alaska. 

Rode a shuttle to the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. One of the riders added a little color. I didn’t ask him if he lived down the road from Fairbanks in the town of North Pole!!

Heading Home

I can’t believe we’ve been gone for over two and a half months. We are making our way home, currently in OKC, but we had a nice time in Texas on route. In Fredericksburg, we visited the Texas Rangers monument. They are still in existence, but early on they were a wild bunch. 

You may not be familiar with Buc-ee’s, it is a chain of travel centers known for clean (huge) bathrooms and many fueling positions. We stopped at one just for the adventure and it was quite an experience. The specialties are brisket, jerky, fudge, and bakery. Who could ask for more!!

Then on to College Station and the George Bush presidential library and museum. 

While visiting with friends in Houston we had our first virtual reality experience at the Ramses the Great exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We were taken on on a whirlwind tour of two of Ramses’ most impressive monuments, Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s Tomb. What fun!

And we again enjoyed the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. 

We are hoping for a turn toward spring weather as we arrive back in  MKE. 

Field of Dreams

One more stop in Iowa on our way home—the site of the baseball field in the 1988 movie Field of Dreams.

Rick disappearing into the cornfield. Will he return?

What did he find in there?!?!?

A Visit with my Brother

John is buried in Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver. There are 155 National cemeteries in 42 states. Fort Logan has more than 148,000 gravesites, all with the same headstones. John’s was installed just this week. Linda has been going regularly to place flowers from their garden. I still get teary just writing this. 

Rocky Mountain High

Had a couple great days of hiking with Erich and Ashlee and out grand puppies. 

Hiked along the Roaring Fork river in Aspen where there is a John Denver sanctuary. He was a long time resident of the city. Lyrics of his are carved into the boulders in the Song Garden. It celebrates John’s life and reflects his passion for nature and protecting the environment. 

Populus Tremuloides

That is the scientific name for the quaking aspens. They have been truly beautiful during our time in Aspen. We definitely hit the peak of color. Here’s a view of the Maroon Bells. 

The hike to Crater Lake took us through many aspen groves. 

And the weather has been perfect—lots of blue sky.