Two Days in Gettysburg

The hotel Cody and I stayed in, in Gettysburg the last couple of days had lousy internet. I would have been dead and buried by the time I had gotten anything loaded on there. So now that we are in a different hotel and about halfway home I’ll make a post and catch you all up.

Our first full day in Gettysburg, Cody and I head for my present favorite place on the battle field; Culp’s Hill. It was nice when we started out walking, cutting up through the cemetery. There are cows pastured in the field at the base of the hill. We leaned on the wooden fence and watched them move around for a while when we noticed one who had taken an interest in us. The little white calf had an ear tag that read 802, like our area code at home. As the calf seemed to follow us around we named him Little 802. He became my companion when ever I started for the hill.

That first morning we got rained on, but since we were already out there on the field, what’s a little rain. After climbing the tower and showing Cody the monument for the Washington County boys , we headed for the new Visitor’s Center. It was nice to get in out of the rain, and dry out. It’s a nice up grade and proof that our Government will spend way more money than needed on showy things that really don’t need replacing, while letting our roads go to hell. Anyhow the new place is very showy, and will stand up well, it has a much bigger gift shop, and a restaurant that isn’t worth the time or space it takes up. The very best thing about the whole new place is the new walking path that comes out right across the road from Mead’s head quarters.

With the sun back that afternoon we walked around town, and had dinner at the Farnsworth House. There is a really cool brass frog in the river that runs under the buildings there.
The second evening Cody and I drove out just before sunset to Little Round top so that I could get some shots of the sun going down. We talked for a while to a man from Albany,NY who was down there to look for ghosts. He was waiting for dark to go down by Devil’s Den. I don’t get this part of being on the field, but what ever makes you happy.

Today we headed north in a driving rain. There was a short stop at Cabala’s, and than onto the last exit in PA to buy fireworks for the 4th at camp. Tomorrow we will be home, it will be good to sleep in my bed once again, and to get my kisses from Granger. I’ve enjoyed this time with Cody, every parent should do a road trip with their child now and than.

It was a beautiful suuny start to the day, and we took advantage of the breakfast offered by the hotel. Once again we traveled by way to many trees and swamp land. Most of the land along Lake Superior is what my father used to say “did nothing but hold the rest of the world together“. I did get to see a white deer along the road about an hour out of Marquette. Everything on it was white except it’s two front legs.

We rolled down to Route 2 at noon, and got our first look at Lake Michigan. Cody and I both agree that we like Lake Michigan better than Superior. We stopped a couple of places along the way to look at impressive lake [I was looking for some drift wood I could take home to Mom, but luck wasn‘t with me]. Finally just before reaching St Ignatius ,MI we sighted the great Mackinaw bridge. I wish that it hadn’t been so hazy. I really wanted to get a picture of the bridge, but it wasn’t to be. We continued along toward the bridge and stopped for lunch just before crossing at a Big Boy’s.

After crossing the Mackinaw bridge at a snails pace, with out my looking anyway but straight ahead, we got onto I-75 south, and began hell driving. There are a lot of annoying people on the road out here, and way to much road work. I was never so glad in my life to see the Cabela’s in Dundee,MI and after nine hours of travel to find ourselves at the hotel. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express, which is a really cool place. They have an indoor water park, and a hunting lodge theme all over the place including stuffed animals in the lobby. As a plus after all the time in the car, we could walk over to the Cabela’s, and over to Bob Evens for dinner.

I am not looking forward to getting back in the car in the morning.

On the Road Again

We got up to sunshine and Spring warmth, the first I’ve been told they’ve had in Ely this year. With the house all shut down, the car loaded, we headed south out of town. There is a small amount of sadness at leaving, but Cody and I will both be back in early August.

So anyhow we stopped at what used to be the BP station, and grab a strange mix to call breakfast. Cody had a can of cold ravioli, and I had a bag of beef jerky. When got to Duluth we hit the Best Buy to pick up a couple of comedy CD for the road, and than headed for WI. We ate lunch at a little dinner, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. It was called the Brackers. We passed lakes including the big one, and trees, and trees, and more trees. Can anyone say long boring drive with nothing new or different to look at for hours. [Sorry I’m from Vermont, we like our hills]. Cody and I did talk about how the little towns in Michigan’s UP have seen there better days.

We stopped by the Da Yooper’s Tourist Trap. Cool place worth the time to get out of the car for. The three words Red Neck Trash about covers it. Hey where else can you see the worlds largest snow blower.

So anyhow tonight after seven hours in a rental car we are in Marquette,MI. A quick meal delivered to the room from Domino’s, and if we look closely out of our room a view of Lake Superior. It's all good.

In Ely,MN

It was raining when I got into town yesterday, but it still feel like to home to me when I see the Ely,MN water tower. I admit to really loving this place that Cody chose for his schooling. Since Cody had invited a bunch of his friends over for a wrap up to the year cook out, I didn’t get to far from of the house yesterday. It was fun to see the kids as they dropped by , and meet some more of his friends and a few of their parents.

Today I will get out of the house, although most of the day will be spent getting the house ready for the summer, I am going to get a few walks in. The sun is out, and I think I need a good breakfast.

I walked up to Vertine’s, my favorite place in town for breakfast. Than back to house to clean and get it shut down for summer. Cody and I took two loads to the college dumpster, washed four loads of laundry, and now the house is ready to go. We walk over the baseball field tonight and paid a lady whose son is going to be mowing the lawn this summer. Cody also introduced me to his new football coach, we stopped the mail, it’s time to hit the road.

As a side note to this trip, I am reading a book by Jessamine West called “Double Discovery”, about a trip she made to Ireland and England in the 1920’s. [First let me tell you that if you have never read a book by Ms West your missing out]. Anyhow she traveled to the town of Ely England where she fell in love a Cathedral. I traveled to Ely,MN where there are the same number of churches in town as there are bars and liquor store, seven of each. Not bad for a town of just over 3,000.

Anyhow tomorrow we begin to head east.

Trip To Bring Cody Home / Day One

I got an early start on the trip to Cody . I can’t stand being at home with nothing to do but waiting to leave. So I left two hours earlier than I needed to, using the excuse that I need to stop at the bank and Post Office on my way out of town. It worked out well that I did leave early as, I encountered quite a bit of road construction, and arrived at the airport only half an hour earlier that I should have.

Albany Airport is a very easy place to get into and out of. I like to fly into and out of small airports. People are friendlier, and a smile and nice word get you farther. Having made this flight to Duluth more times than I care to count over the last year, being at Gate 4A is a lot like coming home. I already know where to sit so that I can plug in my computer, I know what I’ll find here to eat, and that if I want my favorite kind of Ice Tea I’ll have to walk down to Gate B. This is comfortable, low stress travel.

In about an hour I’ll be on a plane heading west to Detroit. It’ll be at least a two hour flight, and for what ever reason it will take about 20 minutes from the time we touch down until they let us off the plane. I fly NorthWest, because I like the airline, because I belong to their awards program, but mostly I fly them, because they are the only airline that goes into Duluth,MN. I have nothing but good to say about NorthWest, and have always felt that I was somehow important to them. Any problems that have come up in the past while I was flying with NorthWest were handled quickly and to my satisfaction, which I can’t say about other airlines.

My arrival in Detroit was a little early which left me with just over two hours to kill, before the flight to Duluth. If any of you have been in the Detroit Airport you know about the tunnel that takes you from the A gates to the B and C gates. I am always left with the feeling when walking through it that this must be what it is like to live under the ice of a frozen lake. I know that it designed to make you think of fish and water, but my thought as the music plays and lights glow in ever changing colors, is of being locked inside a large block of ice. It really is quite lovely.
When in the airport if you have the time between flights and find yourself in Gates B or C you can’t go wrong eating at the Guinness Irish Pub. This is the second time I’ve ate there and I love it. Now I’m not a drinker so I can’t recommend the beer, but I sure can recommend the Fish and Chips dinner. The fish is light, and how can you ever go wrong with home made potato chips served with coleslaw and a bottle of vinegar.

So a two hour flight latter, on a small plane, where my feet froze, and my butt went to sleep [I don’t know why they don’t pad those seats a little more] and I’m in Duluth,MN. It is still winter here. There aren’t any leaves on the tree yet, and it snowed just yesterday. I am staying the night in the Country Inn and Suites, which for my money is the only place to spend the night when you fly in late. The hotel is close to the airport, and it has big comfortable room at good price. There is one draw back to the big booming town of Duluth, it’s not a late night city. The Outback Steakhouse closes at 9pm, the nearest gas station closes at 10, but hey they have a 24 hour Wal-mart.

And so I am off on what will be at least a week long trip. A chance for Cody and I to get to know each other again, after a long winter. My only regret is that Eddie didn’t choose to come along. But for now I say good night all.

To My Dad on His Birthday

Today the 29th of April my Dad would have been 75 years old. I have been thinking about writing a memorial for him since early February, on the anniversary of his death. Dad died fourteen years ago on the 4th of February, when my sons where little Kindergarteners. At the time of his death I have no doubt but that he was the center of mine and the boys lives, and that’s not to take away from husband, it’s just that Dad was that kind of man.So anyhow, Dad was born in 1933 to an un-wed teenage mother with epilepsy. I’m not sure about the whole story of my father‘s birth, but I know he was brought up as a foster child by my Grandmother Corey. His birth mother didn’t give him up on him. When she married, Doris and her new husband had my than 4 year old father come to visit, with the thought of him living with them. Dad wasn’t having any of it. When they found him, he was sitting in the middle of Route 30, and told them he was going home. So home he went, to Maple Hill, and remained a foster child.When Dad was eight he was walking home from school one afternoon when he met Gram running away from the house. She was screaming “he shot himself, you‘ve got to get help”, and she ran right on past him. Dad went onto the house, to find out what he getting help for. Up stairs in his Foster Parent’s room; he found that his foster father had killed himself with a shot gun. This event dragged Dad into court, as the State of Vermont didn’t think that my widowed Gram Corey could or should keep a [by the time it got court] 10 year old boy. I’m sure that Gram had support from many of her family member and neighbors on the Hill in keeping Dad. What he remembered though, was the Judge asking him what he would do if taken away from Gram Corey. He told the Judge he would run away, get into trouble, and would be in court to see him often. The Judge told Gram Corey to take him home, and told Dad he never wanted to see again. The Judge never did.Dad worked for and loved dearly a couple who farmed a short distance from Gram’s Maple Hill home. Their names where Lydia and LeVarrie. Lydia feed him that great heavy filling old farm food, and I believe taught him to respect women. LeVarrie turned him into the man he became. He learned to work hard long hours, he learned to hunt and fish, and to give to and take care of others before yourself from this this couple. He spoke of them frequently through out his life.Dad only made it through the eighth grade, and yet he was one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. He watched the news and read the paper every day. He and I often read the paper together in the mornings. Right up until the day he passed away, he never failed to discuss the news, and he taught me to express and form my own opinions this way [by the way he respected my opinion which often differed from his own]. If a problem came along Dad never failed to find a way to solve it. At work, where he invented several items for the local plant he worked for to increase safety [they gave stock as a thank you, for saving them money]. He had an uncanny memory for directions and people’s names. He did pollution reports the State required of the company he worked for, filling out the forms and running the water tests twice a week. During the Korean War Dad wound up; after training, teaching future officers artillery at West Point .Even now after my Dad has been gone for 14 years there are very few days that go by that I don’t think about him. I often meet people, who I don’t know, but know me through my Father, and still want to tell me how much they miss him. As a matter of fact when I introduce myself in my home town to locals, I often introduce myself as Ernie’s daughter. My sons bring him up a lot more than you would think considering their ages when he died. They talk about things he taught them to do, and places he took them, as little five and six year olds. He was a man who reached out and touched lives, and changed them. For me he is the person I hold myself up to, and judge my self worth against.I am a lucky person, for the Dad that I got to have, even if for not nearly long enough.

A Political View from VT

Today as people in my neighboring state of New Hampshire head to the poles, in the countries first Primary, I though it was a good time to get a couple of things off my chest. First being from Vermont I know that what I think matters very little to any one running for a National office. By the time our little state holds its primary on March 4th, the whole thing will be pretty well over, but for the party http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/events.phtml?format=chronological That doesn’t mean that we don’t take an interest, up here in this little state, that it sometimes seems no one has heard of.

[Joke: There is a reporter standing in St Johnsbury VT with a well worn New Hampshire state map in his hand looking really confused. A local asks the reporter if he needs help, seeing that the guy is quite distressed. The reporter say yes he has been trying to find this St Johnsbury town on his map, and it just isn’t there. The reporter looks up at the local and says, “I don’t know how I could have done it, but I think I must have crossed the border into Canada.” The local stands there a few minute, smiles, and says, “Yupe; looks like that’s just what you did.” {disclaimer: if you’re from VT and still living here that made you smile. If you moved away from VT, and have asked “what state is VT in”, you’re laughing your head off right now. If going I don’t get it, it’s because you’re not from Vermont…we’re sorry}]

Anyhow back to what is bothering me about this race, and no it’s not that the world doesn’t care what we think here in little VT. My trouble is the rather racist attitude we are letting the press impose on us the voters. I am talking of the spoken belief of many a talk news person, that all women will either vote for Hillary because she is a woman, or we won’t for vote for her for the same reason. Because after all, it is well known that the average American woman of voting age cares nothing about policy, or issues. This is right up there with thought that women voted for Hillary’s husband back in the 80’s because he was good looking. Think about the fact that the biggest news out of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign this week is that she almost cried when asked about her feelings in a dinner in NH http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/story?id=4102187&page=1 I don’t remember people making a fuss when Bill teared up. Come on people this thinking that as a woman I’m going to vote one way or the other because of the sex of a candidate is just like the people who tried to keep the Vote from women, by saying that we would only vote the way our husband’s told us to.

And while I’m complaining, how about the media’s take that all black’s will vote for Obama. Please, give people some credit for the ability to think. Perhaps if people support Mr. Obama it is because they like his idea, and feel that he could make this country a good leader. I haven’t even heard what a black woman is supposed to do when she goes to vote.

I can only guess that these views come out of the Democratic party, who has spent the last forty some years telling America they aren’t smart enough to vote right [the last few elections where it has been applied that half of Americans who voted for George Bush aren’t well educated enough to know how to vote], that we can’t have school choice because we wouldn’t know how pick a good a school for our children, and that we are much better off relying on the Federal Government to fix all our problem, than on our selves. So maybe as much as I hate to think it, perhaps America has been reduced to voting for President not on issues and policy, but on who is the best looking, the right sex, the right religion, the right skin color, the nicest sounding speaking voice. I sure hope that’s not the case. As for me, not that anyone really cares what I think, but come Nov this white republican woman from the little state of Vermont will be voting for the best…candidate.

Winter Weather

Out side my window today is a dreary damp much to spring like day for the first part of January. Vermont like, I believe most anywhere on earth, can throw all sorts of weather at you. We are known to have as much as a fifty degree change in temps, with in twenty-four hours. I am however a fan of a good old hard winter, and this don’t look like that.

Ten years ago today [7 Jan 1998] we had here in New England a plain old January thaw. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wice98.htm The difference being that the weather was just cold enough to cause a heavy ice build up in VT from Addison county north. Down here in little Bennington Co, we watched as all our snow melted away, and mud appeared everywhere. Much like this year we had, had a good snow pack, and it was looking like a nice winter, than in a blink all was washed away by a warm rain. For someone who gets truly depressed every spring when winter comes to an end, stuck in a little trailer with two young boys, I couldn’t have been any unhappier. I was than, and now thankful of the fact that we weren’t covered by the sheet of ice to the north of us.

However, to get back to today’s weather and our temp changes, I would hold up the difference four days can make. Back on the 3rd of this month we had a chilly below zero day, and two sub-zero nights. Oh to me, with a good a snow pack and snow shoes to be used, what happiness this sort of forecast creates I can’t begin to express. The only thing that would have made me happier was if snow had been coming. Now here I sit, with big green patches showing up in my lawn, and balmy 53 degrees. Heck you don’t even need a coat, I could have been out in short shelves [really I’m not kidding a t-shirt would be fine].

I know there are perks to these thaws and breaks in the winter snow and cold. It gave me a chance this morning to clean up the walkway of any ice that had built up, and to get rid of the snow that slid off the roof. The snow banks from plowing, which were shrinking my driveway have receded enough, that I can now see missing pieces of lawns which will have to put back in back in place in April or May. Also considering the high cost of heating our homes, this warm spell will cut the bill a tiny bit [although I contended that it is colder in the house, when it’s warmer outside during the winter].

I can’t however stop thinking about the cold temp, when the snow squeaks under your boots. I want a fresh clean snow pack to enjoy playing on. I love the feel of a biting wind on my face. I’m sorry that everyone doesn’t know how to enjoy a good old fashioned Vermont winter http://gonewengland.about.com/library/users/ucvtmoon.htm. If you don’t like winter, well that’s why God made FL. As for me I’ll try to take consultation in the fact that statistically January thaws don’t last all that long, and around here winter doesn’t really get rolling until February and March.