1995 Midwest Trip V (6/29-30/1995)

Thursday, June 29, 1995
[The next morning,] Kent got in 9 holes of golf with Stuart before we left on the next leg of our trip. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, and then took the car tour of the grounds.

Brynne and Kent

Morton Arboretum: Meadow Lake

Morton Arboretum Visitor Center

The Four Brothers (1960, by Arthur Myhrum),
said to represent the four Morton brothers

Morton Arboretum: Fragrance Garden

Brynne and Kent in the Fragrance Garden

We next drove to Lafayette, Indiana to visit the Rs. Kent was David's roommate at Miami University in Oxford, OH. David's wife, Adienne, also went to Miami U. They now have 15-year old Colin and 12-year old Sonia. They are slowly restoring their 100-year old house.

The Rs's house

Dried plants in the bathroom

Friday, June 30, 1995
On June 30th, we headed to Indianapolis, IN to see yet another state capital...

Indiana Statehouse (1878-1888, by Edwin May
in Renaissance Revival style)

Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument
(1888, by Bruno Schmitz)

... and to visit the Indiana Children's Museum. This was an immense 5-level building, with both hands-on activities and museum displays. They had an unbelievable toy train collection, a 2-story water clock, a large netted area for flying paper airplanes, and a carousel. The best part was probably the "What If...?" gallery where we learned about dinosaurs and mummies.  There was also a butterfly garden here.

Children's Museum of Indianapolis atrium

Paleontologist Brynne doing Dinosaur Research

Raccoon Brynne?

Papilio glaucus/Tiger Swallowtails
on Echinacea purpurea/Coneflowers

Assorted butterflies on Liatris sp

Hyalophora cecropia/Cecropia Moth

We then went to stay with the J family, in Dayton, OH. We found their house in base housing, but there was a note on the door saying they had to move due to plumbing problems. We found their new place where they were still moving in. I went to high school with Kathy C J, and knew her husband Rod in Buffalo, NY. Now they have 5 girls: 15-year old Mikayla, 13-year old Angela, 12-year old Danielle, 7-year old Kathryn, and 5-year old Rebekah. Brynne fit right in with the two youngest, but they had to be separated to fall asleep. We saw a rainbow today after a downpour.
Kent was able to go find two houses in which he used to live in Fairborn, OH, 30 and 40 years ago!

Kent's first Fairborn, OH house

Kent's second Fairborn, OH house

Next: Midwest Trip VI.

1995 Midwest Trip IV (6/27-28/1995)

Tuesday, June 27, 1995
Because we were up early the next day, we took the time to return over the St. Croix River to MN and drive up to the scenic town of Stillwater. Lots of brick antique shops, and a street lined with big churches.

John Wolf Brewery (c 1872 white building)

Main Street in Stillwater, MN

Stillwater Lift Bridge (1931), a rare surviving example of a vertical-lift
highway bridge based on the designs pioneered by Waddell & Harrington

Third Street N, Stillwater, MN

Historic Courthouse (1867-1870, by
Augustus Knight in Italianate style)

Back in Hudson, WI we toured the Octagon House. The shape was a trend at the time in the 1850s.

The Octagon House (1855, by the Andrews Brothers in
Greek Revival style: octagon mode)

We then drove through dairy country to the Wisconsin Dells. There we took a boat tour of sandstone rock formations in a gorge cut by the Wisconsin River.

Lower Dells Tour Boats

Cow in a Milk Bottle (the milk bottle is more obvious!)

A couple duck boats heading towards the farther Hawk's Bill

Wisconsin Power & Light Company Dam

Swallow nests in the cliffs

Inkstand

Grotto Rock

We stayed with the T family in Barrington, IL for the next two nights. Kent had played golf with Stuart Tanaka in high school, and had known him and his wife Cheryl when he lived in Columbus, Ohio. They now have 16-year old Cecelia, 12-year old Sonja, and 10-year old Michael.

Wednesday, June 28, 1995
On June 28th, Cheryl drove us into Chicago with Michael. We visited the amazing Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium. Saw a naturalist dolphin show, talkative beluga whales, an immense alligator snapping turtle, a white alligator, among many other marine animals.

Shedd Aquarium: Yellowtail Blue Damselfish

Shedd Aquarium: Delphinapterus leucas/Beluga Whale

We later had a taste at the Taste of Chicago Festival, between thunderstorms.

View of Taste of Chicago in Grant Park from a Ferris wheel

View back toward Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum from the Ferris wheel

Brynne in the T's swimming pool

At the T's: Brynne and Tamiko

Michael T and Brynne

I last saw the Ts when I was expecting Brynne.
Next: Midwest Trip V.

1995 Midwest Trip III (6/26/1995)

Monday, June 26, 1995
On June 26th, we explored some of the Minneapolis "Skyway" system, a climate-controlled series of walkways connecting downtown buildings on the second-floor level.

Minneapolis Skyway bridging the street between buildings

We then went to the huge Minnesota Zoo.

Minnesota Zoo: Dolphins Fountain

Brynne with wolf sculptures on the Northern Trail

Minnesota Zoo Monorail

Unusual was the takin, an animal that looks like a hodgepodge of other animals.

Budorcas taxicolor/Takin

Equus ferus przewalskii/Asian Wild Horses

Wading Camelus bactrianus/Bactrian Camels!

Tapirus indicus/Malayan Tapir

There was a butterfly garden in a large clear plastic tent.

Butterfly Brynne

Papilio troilus/Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly and
Battus philenor/Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

Brynne and Kent on a giant Ladybug

We then tried to go to the St. Paul Children's Museum, but the new building was not yet finished. So we returned to the Mall of America to window shop, and have dinner in the noisy Rainforest Cafe (with a simulated thunderstorm). That night we stayed at a Comfort Inn in Hudson, WI. These were the cloudy, rainy days.

Next: Midwest Trip IV.

1995 Midwest Trip II (6/25/1995)

Sunday, June 25, 1995
The next day, June 25th, we were up at 7:00 am because we were still operating on Eastern time. Stopped in Eau Claire, WI to see Paul Bunyan's Logging Camp and the local history museum, which included Lars Anderson's log house. This house was built at the same time in which the American Girl series Kirsten Larson lived. Brynne has read all of the American Girls series books.

Paul Bunyan, Tamiko, Brynne, and Babe the Blue Ox
at Paul Bunyan's Logging Camp

Paul Bunyan, Brynne, and Babe the Blue Ox

Paul Bunyan Logging Camp
Lumbermen's Cook Shanty

Paul Bunyan Logging Camp
Lumberman's Bunkhouse

Chippewa Valley Museum: Dentist and Doctor Offices

Chippewa Valley Museum: Ice Cream Parlor with Brynne

Chippewa Valley Museum: Dollhouse

Chippewa Valley Museum: Lars Anderson Log House (c 1866)

Chippewa Valley Museum: Sunnyview School
(1882 one-room schoolhouse)

Next we drove into Minnesota, and stopped in another state capital, St. Paul.

Minnesota State Capitol (1896-1905, by Cass Gilbert modeled
on St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican)

Cathedral of St Paul (1906-1915, by Emmanuel Louis Masqueray
in Classical revival style)

The weather had been hot and humid, but now a rainstorm hit as we entered Minneapolis. Kent found us as we arrived at the Hilton Hotel. He had just finished his business at the trade show. Together, we then went to the Mall of America, spending most of our time at Knott's Camp Snoopy, the 7-acre theme park in the middle of the mall. We bought a 100-point pass, which was scanned at each ride to deduct points. Brynne's favorite ride was the kiddie roller coaster.

Mall of America: Kent and Brynne at Knott's Camp Snoopy

Tamiko and Brynne

Kent and Brynne play mini golf

Kent and Brynne in a bumper car

Brynne and Kent on the roller coaster

Brynne and Kent on the roller coaster

Mall of America: The LEGO Store display

Inside the LEGO Store

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Minnehaha Falls which was made famous in Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha".

Minnehaha Falls

Statue of Hiawatha and Minnehaha (1887, by Jacob Fjelde, recast 1912)

John H Stevens House (1850, first frame house in Minneapolis, MN)

Next: Midwest Trip III.