A Quick Visit to Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019 to Sunday, August 11, 2019
Washington, D.C.

Back in 2019, when I was working for the water and sewer district, I had a chance to go to Washington, D.C. for a conference.  The conference was scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, but I was able to  pay for a couple of days on my own and fly home Sunday instead.  I always love when that is an option!

I was in conference sessions for full days when I was there, so I really only had the evening hours to explore during the week.  But I made the most of my time! The conference hotel (the Hyatt Regency Capitol) was right downtown near the Capitol, so I was able to get to several nearby places by walking!  When my flight arrived, I took the subway to Union Station, which was about a half mile from the hotel, and then I walked from there.  The first evening that I was there, I had dinner at the hotel, and enjoyed a glass of wine.

Union Station

 

Me

Wednesday at the conference I met a friend, a lady who was there from Kansas City.  We decided to get dinner afterwards and do a little wandering.  We found The Ministry Wine Bar down the street and had a delicious tasting of sparkling wines, along with my wonderful beet salad.  It was so good!  After dinner we walked over to the Capitol building and checked out the outside of the building, as well as the Supreme Court Building.  No matter how you feel about politics in our country, it is humbling to see where the work of our government occurs, and the site where men and women come together to interpret our laws and our Constitution.

Rose flight at the Ministry Wine Bar

Beet Salad at Ministry Wine Bar

A fire station near the Capitol

The Capitol in the evening

Fountain at the Capitol

The Supreme Court Building

Thursday after my conference, I walked over to the National Portrait Gallery to see some of the artwork.  It is open until 7 pm, so I had some time.  They have many portraits of former Presidents, including my man Abraham Lincoln!  They also have portraits of fictional characters, like Barbie!  It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours that evening, and it was less than a mile walk from my hotel.

Abraham Lincoln at the National Portrait Gallery

Barbie at the National Portrait Gallery

A diorama at the National Portrait Gallery

I have no idea what this tin foil creation is!

Friday was the last day of my conference, and that evening, I met up with Alexis, a girlfriend that I went to high school and did 4-H with.  She had another friend visiting too, so it was a party!  We met at the Hill Country BBQ market, a delicious BBQ restaurant about 3/4s of a mile from my hotel.  It was a fun evening and a nice walk to and from the restaurant.

Sliders at Hill Country BBQ

Saturday I went to the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.  This home has an incredible history, but notably, was owned by the National Women’s Party beginning in 1929.  The Party was integral in the fight for women’s suffrage, and the Equal Rights Amendment.  I toured the home; so I will share more about it in a separate post.

The Capitol during the day

That afternoon, I met up again with Alexis and her friend for lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill.  Old Ebbitt began in 1856 as a saloon and boarding house, and become one of the iconic political hotspots in Washington, D.C.  It has moved several times, but has been at its current location since the 1920s.  If you hang out there, you are likely to see some politicians!  Of course, we were there on a Saturday, and there were no politicians to be found, as far as I knew.  We did have a fabulous lunch, and I had the shrimp and grits off their brunch menu with a glass of white wine.  So delicious!

Old Ebbitt Grill

 

Shrimp and Grits – Old Ebbitt Grill

After lunch, we walked over the W Hotel and went up to their rooftop bar.  It is nice to have a local friend to show you around!  The hotel is kitty corner from the White House and has incredible views!  The cocktails there are quite spendy, so it isn’t something I could afford to do all the time, but it was fun to check out how the other half lives, and look out over the White House!

The White House from the W Hotel

 

Me at the White House

From there Alexis, her friend and I parted ways, and I went to go check out the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art.  It was fun to spend a few hours checking out the exhibits.  Of course, there is so much to see there that a repeat visit will definitely be in order!  That evening I had dinner at the hotel bar, and had a delicious chicken Chop salad, and spent the evening relaxing before my flight the next morning.

National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

My Chop salad at the Hyatt Regency

Sunday I flew home and it was once again back to the daily grind of work.  I had such a fun trip to Washington, D.C.  The conference was interesting, and I learned a lot, and I was able to fit in a lot of sightseeing into my free time!  I hope I’ll be able to get back there again soon.

 

 

Book Review: Life on the Mississippi

Life on the Mississippi, by Rinker Buck

I read Rinker Buck’s The Oregon Trail several years ago, so I was intrigued when I saw this audiobook in the Libby app.  Even better, it was available now!  So I got to listening.

Buck sets out to recreate an authentic flatboat journey down the Mississippi River, similar to what the pioneers did in the 1800s.  He finds a boat builder who can build a flatboat per his specifications, and kits it out for a several month journey down the river.  He finds an eclectic group of people to help him on the journey, and sets off, not really knowing how to pilot a flatboat or what the journey will be like.  Of course, he has all the Corps of Engineers maps, showing locks and bridges and what not, but knowing what you have to do is often far different than really doing it.  Despite advice from old-timers that such a journey will result in almost certain death at the hands of innumerable hazards (barges, whirlpools, deadheads in the water), he heads out anyway.  

What follows is a fascinating travelogue and social commentary.  Buck begins on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, connects with the Ohio and eventually lands in the Mississippi River.  The title of the book is a bit misleading, as the bulk of the story takes place on the Ohio.  He begins by taking it easy, learning how to pilot the flatboat, which he has named Patience, and how to dock it in the evenings wherever they stop for the night.  He works out the kinks with the engine mount, and learns how to work together with his crew.  His crew does change over the course of the trip, as people come aboard and depart based on their schedules, their interests, chance and their ability to not annoy Buck. 

The reader is provided with lots of descriptions on the scenery of the river.  What it once would have looked like, and what it looks like today after an untold number of manufacturing plants have gone defunct and lie abandoned.  He details the work done to shore up the banks, and to build and maintain locks, in order to make the river a highway for the ships and barges taking their goods up and down the river. 

I appreciated his extensive research and description of the history of settlement in this part of the country.  How flatboats were integral to opening up this area to white settlement, how the pioneers made their journeys down the river 200 years ago, and how the Native Americans were pushed out as a result of this settlement.  He describes the Trail of Tears, where Native Americans were relocated to subpar lands further west, despite having a history of living in peace with white settlers.  The desirable lands were needed for white pioneers, and so they were taken.  He also describes how the flatboat era made the rich fertile lands of these river valleys accessible, and how this created demand for slaves to work the land for their plantation owners. 

He describes his crew mates and the people he meets along the way.  This is my least favorite part of the book.  Buck is obviously very liberal politically, which is fine, but not relevant to the story.  He basically insults every well-meaning and kind person he comes into contact with.  His crew mates’ personality flaws are dissected and put under the microscope, and every citizen in the southern half of the country is painted with Buck’s broad brush as being a backwoods, conservative redneck.  This is despite the fact that he enjoys and appreciates his interactions with most of these people, whom he describes as being kind, helpful, and generous with their time and money. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but wish he hadn’t insulted so many of his volunteers, or the people he met along the way.

3 stars. 

Retirement Diaries 2024: Almost Spring

We have almost made it to spring!  The weather was fabulously warm for a few days last week, with the temperature Sunday almost reaching 60!  I planned to work on chinking both weekend days and make some progress on getting this log home in peak insulated shape.  Saturday was a great day for it, and I made some good progress on the back side of the house.  Sadly, it was pretty windy Sunday and the wind interfered with chinking.  Best laid plans…  This weekend I know what I’m doing Sunday!

The robins are back!  And I have heard the Sandhill Cranes are already in Southern Minnesota, so they should be here soon!  I took Cora to the vet for her checkup and rabies vaccine yesterday and saw a pheasant by the side of the road!  Cora is doing well; she had some bloodwork done to check for common issues in older cats, and catch it early if anything is going on.  She’s happy and isn’t showing any symptoms that there are any issues though!  I should have results early next week.

Yellow has gained some weight and the subcutaneous fluids are a big help.  He’s so funny.  He’s always so skittish if he’s on the floor and anyone tries to walk up to him.  However, he will happily lay on the floor right behind my office chair with wheels when I’m working on the computer.  Don’t worry, I’m careful when he’s there!

The chickens are certainly noticing the warmer weather and the longer days, and laying more eggs again for spring.  I am going to need to find some recipes again that use lots of eggs!  I also waterglassed my first batch of eggs this weekend.  If you don’t know, waterglassing is a traditional method of preserving raw eggs; you place them in a container with filtered water and pickling lime, and the solution preserves the eggs up to 18 months!  They won’t taste pickled; they are supposed to taste just like fresh eggs when you wash off the pickling lime solution.  The catch is that you have to use farm fresh eggs; store bought eggs have been washed and had the protective “bloom” removed.  I have been saving the cleanest eggs for my next batch to waterglass, and I’m curious to see how they turn out.

Tuesday night was a delicious lobster and shrimp dinner at home!  I haven’t had whole lobster since I celebrated my birthday in 2018.  This one was frozen, so it wasn’t quite as good, but it was a treat!  We ground up the lobster shells and fed them to the chickens; the girls enjoyed the extra calcium!

This week was very social!  I had book club on Wednesday and Trivia night on Thursday.  We got second to last at trivia night, but we had fun, and I was happy with our performance.  One of the categories was cartoon turtles, and it is clear that I’m lacking in cartoon turtle knowledge.  We managed to pull off 6 out of 10 turtles with a team effort though!

Other than that, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, and writing.  I took an online writer’s workshop last week, and it re-inspired me to keep writing a book.  I dusted off the document that I started on several years ago, and have been refreshing my memory on what I wrote back then.  I’m excited to get back to it!

Hopefully, with the coming of spring, I’ll get back on the road and do some more traveling.  Yellow is doing pretty good, so I should be able to leave him for short periods.  The calendar is starting to fill up with some trip options.  Yay!

Book Review: You: The Story

You: The Story: A Writer’s Guide to Craft Through Memory, by Ruta Sepetys

This book was a recommendation from the library assistant at my local library.  We were talking about a writing workshop during book club, and she mentioned that she thought this book was very inspiring.  So I checked it out and here I am!

Ruta Sepetys breaks down and explains the process of writing into manageable chunks, while also interjecting pieces of her own life story into the book to make it more understandable and memorable.  She discusses voice, developing characters, and building the plot, and vividly explains what it means to do so.  She gives the reader a wide variety of writing prompts, and weaves in examples of different voices, how to build characters who are rich and believable, and how to create a plot that draws the reader in.

She also discusses finding your own style of writing, rather than trying to emulate or copy someone else’s.  Only through finding your own style and voice will you be successful, as the reader will want to read something that feels authentic.  She talks about harvesting your memories to create the story and meaningful plot points; what in your life has stayed with you over time, that you find yourself revisiting in memory.  Are you ready to put those memories onto the page?

Sepetys’ writing is authentic; you feel you get to know her while reading about her tips and tricks for writing a good book.  Her stories are engaging, some cringey, some joyful, some heartbreaking and some laugh out loud funny.  She puts herself on the pages while teaching the reader how to do the same.

Her book made me feel inspired to pick up again on writing the book I started working on several years ago.  Maybe I can finally make some more progress on it!

As a side note, I’ve never read any of Sepetys’ novels, but now I want to!

5 stars.

Lassen Volcanic National Park Getaway

Sunday, July 14, 2019 to Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Lassen Volcanic National Park, Shingletown, California

During the summer of 2019 I headed back down to California to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It had been on my bucket list for a while, but I was able to score a reservation at one of the cabins in the Manzanita Campground in the park.  A trip was born!

We headed to Lassen on Sunday morning, from Weed, California; the drive was a little less than 2 hours and the weather was beautiful!  Once we were in the park, we checked out the Loomis Museum at the north end of the park.  The museum has exhibits on the types of volcanoes in the park, the eruption in 1915, and the animals in the park.  It was a relaxed afternoon, just checking things out.  The kids got Junior Ranger booklets to fill out to get their Junior Ranger badges.

Lassen Peak

We checked in to the Manzanita Campground, the park’s largest campground.  The first night, we had a tent site.  The sites are large and open, you can see all your neighbors, and tents and RVs are largely mixed together.  It is a great campground; it was warm during the day, but it did get cold at night.  Maybe best of all, the bugs weren’t bothersome!  We checked out Manzanita Lake; one day it would be fun to canoe or stand-up-paddleboard on the lake.  The lake is right on the edge of the campground.

The campground also has a general store, with souvenirs, grocery items, ice cream and even beer and wine.  I got a t-shirt, an enamel mug and a bottle of wine to share.  The wine is long gone, but I still have the shirt and the mug!  That evening we made steak and corn on the cob over the fire, and had smores too!  It was a wonderful, peaceful evening around the fire, chatting and watching the crackling fire.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and bright, and we made breakfast on the camp stove.  We didn’t want to dawdle, so there would be plenty of time for exploring!

We decided to start at the south end of the park and work our way back up to the north end, where the campground is located.  We started at the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center and checked out the exhibits, and of course I got my Passport stamp!

We checked out the thermal features and walked part of the boardwalk.  Unfortunately, the boardwalk that goes to Bumpass Hell (yes, that is actually the name) was closed for trail rehabilitation when we were there.  I will have to go back to see it!  There are mudpots, where boiling mud bubbles and lets off steam.  It isn’t as spectacular as the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, but it is still a cool natural feature to check out!

Lassen Boardwalk

Lassen Mudpots

Me Lassen National Park

I loved all the Bristlecone pine trees that were growing in the area, and we stopped at a couple of overlooks and trailheads to check out the views and the landscape.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We wanted to do a hike, but not one that was too difficult, so we hiked the King’s Creek Trail.  This trail is 2.3 miles round trip, although you can connect with other trails for a much longer hike.  Although the hike starts at approximately 7,300 feet in elevation, the trail itself has about 700 feet of elevation change over the course of the trail.  This is one that starts by going down, so you have to go back up a little at the end!  All that said, it is a beautiful hike, through grassy meadows with a creek crossing over a log bridge.

King’s Creek

King’s Creek Meadow

Lassen NP

The trail takes you down a hill, and the waterfall is right next to the trail, giving you nice views of the cascade.  It’s beautiful!

King’s Creek Falls

That evening, we had a reservation for a one bedroom camping cabin.  The bedroom had two twin bunk beds, and the outer room had a queen futon.  So the cabin could sleep six!  There was also a table and two chairs, a heater/AC unit and a lantern.  It was a nice setup! 

That evening we had another nice meal over the campfire, and enjoyed sitting around the fire talking and drinking wine.  It was peaceful, and quieter in the cabin section of the campground.

Lassen Cabin

 

Lassen Chipmunk

The last morning that we were there we went to an interpretive talk about the pioneers who traveled through what is now the park to reach the lush farmland in Western California.  The rangers spoke about the pioneers methods of transportation, how to cook over a fire, and what it was like to travel so many miles in a covered wagon.  The kids finished their booklets and earned their Junior Ranger badges. 

We did a little more hiking, and checked out the huge rocks near the trail.  It was a wonderful end to a nice trip.  One day I’ll make it back to Lassen to check out more of the park.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Women

The Women, by Kristin Hannah

I found this book on the Lucky Day shelf at the library two weeks ago.  Which was a pleasant surprise, as it was just published in early February and the waiting list for this latest Kristin Hannah novel is long, to say the least.

It is a novel of the Vietnam War, which tells the story of some of the unsung heroes of the war.  The Women; as in the nurses who worked at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH), and the Evac hospitals further down the line.  The women who came home with their own traumas and PTSD, and were often unrecognized for their contributions by the government, their families and the folks back home.

Frankie McGrath has grown up a rich kid on Coronado Island in her older brother’s shadow, and they are inseparable.  Until one day, when he decides he is going to enlist to serve in Vietnam.  A chance encounter with a friend of his at his going away party gives Frankie an idea that will change her life forever.  She can be a hero too, and she goes to nursing school, eventually enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps so she can be closer to her brother. 

This novel tells the story of Vietnam from a woman’s perspective.  The chaos and mismanagement, the cost to civilians, and the tragedy of so many young men killed or maimed by the fighting.  Frankie comes home changed, having lived through the horrors of seeing so many dead and mangled bodies, as well as the trauma of having her hospitals shelled and her helicopters shot at.  Unfortunately, the reality was that these veterans did not return to an America that was grateful for their service.  Instead they were re-traumatized as they tried to re-acclimate to life at home.

The novel follows Frankie from her teenage years in the mid-1960s to 1982.  The reader follows her through her service to her country, and the aftermath it causes in her post-war life.  It is engaging and raw, and at times I was rooting for Frankie while yelling at her to not be such a moron, and just make better choices!  But that isn’t the way PTSD works.

My only criticism of the book is that sometimes it read a bit like a soap opera, with way more traumatic events thrown in than were necessary.  I mean, Frankie already had it hard enough… 

4 stars. 

Lassen Volcanic NP History

Lassen Volcanic National Park is located in northern California, and its mountains are part of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest.  This park is unique in that it is one of the few places in the world where visitors can see all four types of volcanoes; Composite Volcanoes, Lava Domes, Cinder Cones and Shield Volcanoes.  Lassen Peak, the mountain for which the park is named, is the largest plug dome volcano in the world (plug domes are a type of lava dome).  The park also contains thermal features similar to those made famous by Yellowstone National Park, including mudpots and fumaroles.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Human habitation in the area began thousands of years ago, and four tribes lived and traveled in areas of the park.  The Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi and Mountain Maidu all made use of park areas seasonally for hunting and gathering.  They continue to use these areas today to preserve traditions and celebrate their history.  White settlers first entered the area in the 1830s, and Peter Lassen, a Danish blacksmith, settled in the area.  The Nobles Emigrant Trail then was established through the park area, leading settlers to the Sacramento Valley further west.

Lassen’s claim to fame is that it is one of the few volcanoes in the United States to have erupted in recent history.  Lassen Peak began erupting in 1914, and continued off and on with eruptions both large and small until 1921. Thankfully, monitoring of the volcano had already begun and people living in the area had a warning prior to the eruption.  No one was injured or killed, although some homes and buildings were destroyed.  Prior to that, the most recent eruption in the park was the Cinder Cone, which erupted between 1630 and 1670 (mostly likely 1666, according to tree ring analysis).  The area had been designated as a Forest Preserve in the late 1800s, and then Lassen Peak and Cinder Cone were designated as two separate National Monuments in 1907.  The eruption led to the park’s designation as a National Park on August 9, 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson.

Today the park has a lot to see and do; visitors can hike, snowshoe and ski in the winter, camp, and see wildlife.  There are hiking trails up the mountains, in the wilderness, past waterfalls, and boardwalks built around the thermal features.  Manzanita Lake in the northern section of the park has a large campground, a museum and a store.  The southern section of the park has a fairly new Visitor’s Center.  Sadly, some areas of the park were significantly damaged by a fire in 2021, but many sections of the park have reopened since that time.

I spent three days and two nights camping there in 2019; one night in a tent and one in a camping cabin.  I had a great time, and will tell you about my visit next!

Lassen NP

 

Book Review: The Novelist from Berlin

The Novelist from Berlin, by V.S. Alexander

Niki Rittenhaus is a young woman trying to make it as an actress and model in pre-WWII Berlin.  But life is tough, and she has rent to pay, so she uses men to get what she needs.  Soon she meets Rickard Langer at the bar she frequents, and discovers he is different.  He is a producer for Passport Pictures, one of Berlin’s film studios.

Soon Niki has the life of her dreams.  She is acting in a film, with Rickard on her arm, living in his plush, luxury apartment.  They soon marry and have a child on the way.  But her husband is doing more and more to appease the Nazis, making propaganda films to support the Reich.  Niki will not go along with it, so she stops acting, and pursues her passion to write a novel.  A novel that does not align with the Nazis ideal for women.  Even though she writes under a pseudonym, she becomes more and more afraid that they will find her, so she runs away with their daughter.  However, Rickard will do anything to have his child back, and soon teams up with the Nazi thugs to kidnap the child.

Niki is heartbroken, and vows to do anything to get her child back, but times are desperate and her life will be in danger if her identity as the writer is found out.  The war takes her to Amsterdam, and eventually back to Berlin, where she struggles to survive and still maintain her morals.  She will not collaborate with the Nazis, no matter how difficult things get.

This novel was interesting, and covered the realities for the German people before, during and after World War II.  Yet the writing didn’t flow as well as it could, and at times the novel moved very slowly.  There were traumatic experiences that seemed inserted to gain a reaction, but with no lead up to evoke that reaction, nor follow through after.  There were characters that the reader becomes invested in, only to never hear from them again.  Of course, this could be seem as realistic, as many people disappeared without a trace during the war, either victims of the fighting, or the concentration camps, or their efforts to flee war torn Europe.  However, later mentions of these characters seem to be an afterthought.

It was a good book, but not a great one.  I enjoyed the story, and the tension between the characters and their lives in a difficult time in history.  It just felt a bit superficial to me, and the writing style was basic.  The sentences didn’t flow poetically, or trigger the imagination for me. I just felt it could have done much more to capture the harsh realities of the war and her situation.

The book is loosely based on the life of Irmgard Keun, a novelist in Berlin.  Like Niki’s, her books were banned by the Nazis.  A fascinating woman; I wish I knew more about her real life.

3 stars.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Kensington Books.  My thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Book Review: The Ghost of Us

The Ghost of Us, by James L. Sutter

Cara hates living in Stossel, a small town outside of Seattle where everyone has known each other since kindergarten, and no one’s mistakes ever get forgotten.  She has just a couple of months left of high school, and then she can escape this miserable place.  The only problem is that she did not get accepted into the college she applied to, so she will have to go to community college.  Her only hope is to make it big as a YouTube paranormal researcher and ghost hunter. 

One night Cara decides to venture alone to the old plant, an abandoned building where Aiden, a senior at her high school, died from a fall the year before.  Things change for her that night, when she discovers that Aiden can speak to her – and only her!  It is finally her chance to prove that ghosts exist, if only he will cooperate with her experiments.  However, Aiden’s ghost has a mind of his own, and he has his own agenda.  He wants to make sure his sister Meredith is happy, and it’s up to Cara to make that happen.  Tit for tat; if Cara does what he wants, then he will help her prove that ghosts exist.

This is a young adult novel, which is outside my usual genre.  That said, it was enjoyable and interesting.  Sutter hits on several themes within the book; teens coming of age and trying to find their place in the world, grief and loss, the dangers of social media, and homophobia.  The pitfall to this approach was that he couldn’t dive too deeply into any one theme, but that also kept the story line relatively upbeat despite the weightiness of the subject matter. 

I was engaged with the story, wanting to see Cara succeed.  I was frustrated when she made mistake after mistake, bumbling her way through life and her attempts to get what she wants and deliver on her promise to Aiden.  I also appreciated that Cara’s best friend was a Christian who showed her love, kindness and support.  So often these days Christianity is portrayed in a negative light, so that was a positive. 

The cons: I thought the sex was a bit overdone, and not really necessary for the plot of the book.  Most of the intimacy in the books I read is more implied than overt, and I thought that would have supported the notion of romance more.  There was also a lot of today’s teenage jargon, which didn’t bother me, but also won’t age well as slang changes quickly.   

Overall, it was well done, and it would interest teens and young adults, especially those who have an interest in the paranormal.

3 stars.

Note: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.  This is my honest review.

2024 Retirement Diaries: Back from Michigan

My Mom and I got home from our trip to Michigan on Sunday evening.  We were away for about ten days, and had a wonderful balance of doing some sightseeing, antiquing and thrift shopping, and relaxing.

We headed out the Thursday before last, heading out from Minnesota at about 7:30 in the morning, and made the 10 hour drive in one day.  Fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the Midwest mid-winter, with some rain, no snow and periods of sun.  Traffic through Chicago was light; way better than what I generally experience going through Seattle in the mid-afternoon!  Other than rest areas, gas and a drive-through for lunch, we basically just cruised all day and arrived in Michigan around 7 pm, in time for a delicious chili dinner at my aunt, uncle and cousin’s house!

The next week we kept busy, but not busy at my usual travel pace.  We checked out some antique stores, some thrift stores, and a new rock shop in town.  The rock shop was huge and had so many cool rocks!  It was hard to control myself. 

My cousin and I went to breakfast with her coworker and went to the beach at Lake Michigan to look for rocks.  We were there for about an hour before we were completely freezing, but it was a worthwhile trip.  I found an amazing agate!

We had lunch and dinner with another aunt, uncle and cousin.  I took some walks out in the neighborhood, and one day it was even too warm for my coat.  It is unheard of to be wandering around in the winter in just a fleece!

One afternoon we went to a local high school play and that evening we ate seven layer dip with tortilla chips and watched the Superbowl.  Wow!  The game was mostly boring with a lot of spice thrown in right at the end!  I thought the half-time show was rather meh…

We checked out a local museum in Kalamazoo, which had a small exhibit on the history of the mental asylum in the area.  It originally opened in 1859, and was known as the Michigan Asylum for the Insane.  The hospital is still in operation, celebrating 165 years this year.  Malcolm X’s mother and the inventor of the Gibson guitar were both institutionalized there.  It was an interesting exhibit, and they showed several books that have been written about the asylum and the asylum system.  Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t have a gift shop!

I got lots of reading done, and some writing, and it was nice to spend time with family.  One evening, we watched Oppenheimer.  I know it got mixed reviews even though it has been nominated for 13 Oscars.  For sure, it’s long, and it’s hard to sit for that much time without your butt falling asleep.  Plus it is a complicated story, so you have to pay attention, and it helps if you know at least some of the background for the development of the atom bomb.  But I thought it was a really good movie!  Better than Killers of the Flower Moon, which I saw a few months ago.

On the way home, mom and I did a two day drive and diverted to Galena, Illinois.  Galena is one of the most historic cities in the Midwest, with white settlement going back to the 1820s.  Plus, the Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant lived there for a time!  In fact, nine Civil War Generals are from Galena.  There is too much there for Galena to not get its own post, so watch for that in the future!  It was also frigidly cold while we were there, and some things were closed for the winter, so this is certainly a little town I will want to visit again.

We drove a bit of the historic Route 20 (the longest road in the United States), and the Great River Road (which goes along the Mississippi River) on the way home as well.  We were able to travel through small towns and farmland, and get off the main highways.  Most of the attractions were closed, as we headed through on a winter Sunday morning, but it was a beautiful scenic route!

All in all, it was a fun family visit, with a bit of sightseeing, and well worth the trip.  Hopefully next time I’ll be able to see my family on the other side of the state as well!