Had a meeting in Washington, DC and decided to stayover the weekend to explore and site see. Having been to Baltimore and the Inner Harbor several times in the past and with a weekend to see some sites, I decided to view some of the historical locals that I've previously overlooked. Headed first for Fort McHenry which was the Fort which protected Port Baltimore for many years. It famously did so during the War of 1812 (fought from 1812-1815), so much so that it inspired Frances Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner. As noted on the Fort McHenry site, "“O [View Full Entry]

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Baltimore is a favorite city of mine and not just because of my beloved Baltimore Orioles. It also has an amazing history behind it and still maintains much of that history to this day. Its Inner Harbor has become a famous spot and gets better with each year and seems to get most of the attention. However, Baltimore has so much more to offer. Having seen quite a bit of the Inner Harbor from trips and from when I used to live in Washington, DC, I decided to take a look at some of the historical points and museums that I [View Full Entry]

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After seeing some of Baltimore's historical sites and after having sweated for a time in the hot and humid weather, decided it was time to visit some nice air conditioned museums for awhile. First up was the Sports Legend Museum located next to Camden Yards. The Museum focuses mainly on Maryland professional and college sports. Most popular are the exhibits for the Orioles and Colts/Ravens. Cal Ripken has his own section with several photos taken during his career including some candids with his family. That was probably my fave. The Museum is very well put together. As luck would have [View Full Entry]

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Despite living in North Dakota most of my life, I'm ashamed to admit that I have never before been to the International Peace Garden. Decided to finally take care of that. The Garden is located on the US-Canadian border with an equal half on both sides. 2007 is its 75th Anniversary having been dedicated in 1932. Construction on the Garden actually started in 1934 and was built primarily by the Civilian Conservation Corps of the United States. According to a brochure provided, the workers continued working at the site until the calling of World War II. The Garden is almost 2,400 [View Full Entry]

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Rugby was another stop on my way to the International Peace Garden. A stone monument in Rugby, North Dakota marks the geographical center of North America (the world's fourth largest continent). The location was marked in January 1931 by a US Geological Survey. A clever mileage chart tells you how far away Mexico and some other locations are. Also located in Rugby is the Northern Lights Tower. According to the Dakota Day Trips book, the Tower is about 90 feet tall and depicts the four stages of the Aurora Borealis (Northern lights). It has multiple colors reflecting the lights one see [View Full Entry]

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On my way to the International Peace Garden this morning, I stopped off at Dunseith, ND which is the nearest town to the Garden. Passed by a really big turtle. A really, big turtle. According to the Dakota Day Trips book, the turtle is about 18 feet high and forty feet long. It is made of over 2,000 tire rims. At Christmas time, it dons a Santa hat :) according to the book which would be quite a sight. The artist created the turtle after collecting tire rims for about 20 years. It's apparently the world's largest turtle although Guiness has [View Full Entry]

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Got back from a trip to South Dakota late last evening. On the agenda was a stayover in Pierre, SD where I had a couple hours to drive around the city. I have been to Pierre several times but it's been a year since my last visit. The town is experiencing a little bit of a building boom with some new retail and housing being built. For a capitol city, it's a small city (about 14,000); however, it is extremely pretty. According to wikipedia, Pierre is one of only 5 state capitols which is not served by an interstate highway system [View Full Entry]

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Before heading back to North Dakota, I decided to visit Wind Cave National Park. I have toured a few caves in my life, including Jewel Cave National Monument which is also located in the Black Hills, but hadn't ever stopped at the Wind Cave. It was a blistering hot day so I only wanted to do site seeing which involved cool places. So...a cave was the spot to be! Wind Cave is a very unique type of cave. It does not have the dramatic stalagmites and stalactites that you expect in caves. If you're looking for that, then this Cave is [View Full Entry]

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I can't say that I ever thought that South Dakota would be home to a major dig of mammoths! Surprised to find that it truly is. Apparently, a bunch of the big rascals went and died in a South Dakota spring about 26,000 years ago. Push forward to 1974, and a local developer was getting ready to bulldoze the site to put up some homes and hit some bones. Research began as to what they had hit and they discovered it was mammoth bones. Columbian mammoths to be exact. They've been working ever since to dig out all the bones. The [View Full Entry]

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The last time I was at Mt. Rushmore a couple years ago, the sky was that lifeless light blue which looks white in pictures. My most hated kind of sky for photos. With my new Sony camera and some time when not working, I was determined to get a blue skied photo of Mt. Rushmore. This week, I was in Rapid City for close to two and a half days and it took me until the third day to finally get the pretty blue sky that I wanted. My first day in Rapid City, I arrived late in the evening so [View Full Entry]

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