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Dallas Arboretum 2019
We enjoy our visits to the Dallas Arboretum. This year was no exception, all the flowers are starting to bloom, the trees are getting leaves, and people are out and about. Here are a few pictures from this years visit.
Mardi Gras 2019
Our travels in 2019 started with a short trip to Lafayette, LA to catch up with Les and Ida Cook, the Buteauds, and Moreaus. Our excuse (like we needed one) was to visit and see the Mardi Gras parades in Lafayette, LA. Mission accomplished.
Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse
Mount Rushmore National Monument…..
is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture’s design and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The memorial park covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level.
We visited twice, once in the evening for their impressive night ceremony and sculpture lighting, and one in the daylight when we got some very nice full sn images.
Crazy Horse Memorial….
… is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski. It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is far from completion. If completed, it may become the world’s largest sculpture as well as the first non-religious statue to hold this record since 1967.
Duluth, MN
Duluth is a major port city in Minnesota and the county seat of Saint Louis County. Duluth has a population of 86,293 and is the 4th largest city in Minnesota. It is the second-largest city on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest metropolitan area on the lake with a population of 279,771 in 2010, the second-largest in the state.
Situated on the north shore of Lake Superior at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes, Duluth is accessible to oceangoing vessels from the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles away via the Great Lakes Waterway and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
A tourist destination for the Midwest, Duluth features the United States’ only all-freshwater aquarium, the Great Lakes Aquarium; the Aerial Lift Bridge, which spans the Duluth Ship Canal into the Duluth–Superior Harbor; and Minnesota Point (known locally as Park Point), the world’s longest freshwater baymouth bar, spanning 6 miles.
We found a most amazing RV Park, which wasn’t really a park but the winter boat storage area. During the summer it has power and water for RVs. And it is in sight of the famous Aerial Lift Bridge and walking distance from a whole array of tourist activities.
Pictured Rocks
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is located on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles along the shore and covers 73,236 acres. The park has extensive views of the hilly shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais in Alger County, Michigan, with picturesque rock formations, waterfalls, and sand dunes.
Pictured Rocks derives its name from the 15 miles (24 km) of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. The cliffs reach up to 200 feet (60 m) above lake level. They have been naturally sculptured into a variety of shallow caves, arches, and formations resembling castle turrets and human profiles.
There is a very informative 2 hour cruise along the shore showing much of the natural beauty of the shoreline.
Soo locks, and Lighthouses
The Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks which enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. They are located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, between the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario. They bypass the rapids of the river, where the water falls 21 feet. The locks pass an average of 10,000 ships per year, despite being closed during the winter from January through March, when ice shuts down shipping on the Great Lakes. The winter closure period is used to inspect and maintain the locks. BTW, the restaurant across of the locks have a great view and serve fresh whitefish.
The Northern Michigan area also has some great hikes and lighthouses. We enjoyed the hikes and found the lighthouses to be most photogenic. The first lighthouse we visitd also was the start of the US Coast Guard and there was an exhibit of the original rescue gear.
Mackinac Island, MI
From Traverse City we drove up to St. Ignace, on the Upper Peninsula (UP). We visited the famous Mackinac Island, a historical vacation area with some spectacular hotels and houses. No cars are allowed on the Island, so everything is by foot, by bike, or horse drawn cart. The gardens here are quite spectacular. The ferry ride over took us under the bridge for a quite different view.
After our day on the Island, we drove to the northern part of Michigan where we found more dunes and nice hiking places.
