Nostalgia

Webster defines Nostalgia:

1. a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former   place or time

2. a yearning for the return of past circumstances, events, etc

3. a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past

I guess I agree...and I guess lots of others must as well...and here's why...

I know "I'm not alone" in my love of lighthouses when there are books, calendars, pictures and plenty of others out there with me when we are visiting them, taking pictures, walking clear out to the points in all kinds of weather!  "Historical" groups raising money to keep them and refurbish when they are no longer needed and no longer being used.  They are up and down every coast, every lake, and loved by young and old!  Here are a few beauties we've visited recently along the Great Lakes...

Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse, Kewaunnee WI

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal North Pierhead Light (c1882) Sturgeon Bay WI

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse (c1899) Sturgeon Bay WI

Another one is old barns!  We've been traveling through "America's Dairyland", Wisconsin, and what joy it's been to see so many beautiful barns that's been saved and decorated with the heritage barn quilts.  They don't have to, they could have just replaced them with the more modern metal ones, but they chose not to, and many of us are glad they haven't!

And take a look at these three beauties from Michigan!

Like a number of other cities, Green Bay has created a wonderful National Railroad Museum that Jack and I spent almost a full day at.  What a collection they have gathered!  They have some "one of a kind" locomotives, such as the Dwight D  Eisenhower WWII command train and the Union Pacific 1940s "Big Boy" weighing in over 600 tons.  They even had a rare Aerotrain, something that was tried, and failed, back in the mid 50s. It was in pretty bad shape, but the model of it sure was a beauty, to bad it didn't work!  A guy by the name of Bauer collected "Drumheads", which I had never heard of before, they are "the colorful, illuminated signs hung at the rear of America's top trains.  Their mission was to help identify and promote the finest means of travel on the rails." He donated his entire collection to the museum, and what an incredible collection it was too!  In his bio, he said he wanted to collect "something different that no one else was collecting, but didn't know how big they were until after he ordered his first one and it arrived in three crates!"  Pretty funny, and it didn't seem to stop him! 

The Eisenhower, The National Train Museum, Green Bay WI

Marie in front of The Big Boy, The National Train Museum, Green Bay WI

The Aerotrain model, The National Train Museum, Green Bay WI

The Bauer Drumhead Collection, The National Train Museum, Green Bay WI

I even got to fulfill a "nostalgic dream" and go aboard a tug boat!  I'm not entirely sure why, but I've always loved tug boats.  They are just so cute...something about them being so little, yet so strong - pulling those great big ships!  I've always fantasized how cool it would be to own one and just tootle along the open waters.  But, of course, I've never even been on one...until the other day!  Kewaunee WI has the 1943 WWII Tug Ludington that they have carefully restored and allow tours on board, all for the grand sum of $1 each!  She was only one of 8 tugs constructed specifically for the war and participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy as "Major Wilbur Fr. Browder", towing ammunition barges across the English Channel.  In 1947, the tug was transferred to Kewaunee by the Corps of Engineers and renamed the Tug Ludington.  Since its arrival in Kewaunee, was the construction & maintenance of many harbors on the Great Lakes.  A conservative estimate is that the tug has hauled over 1 million tons of cargo since she's been here...a well deserved retirement, I'd say!  I was thrilled to have finally gotten the chance to see the insides of a "real workhorse"!

Let's hear if for all the people who keep our "nostalgia" alive!

...kicking back in Wisconsin,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Oh Canada! Second stop, Nova Scotia...

After driving all through the Bay of Fundy, we next entered Nova Scotia, and once again stopped at the Visitor's Center and loaded up with brochures and a map. The weather wasn't great, but we made the best of it anyway...after all, how many times does one get to travel all the way to Nova Scotia!

We spent a day in Halifax, while it rained. The Farmer's Market was quite something, but nothing I couldn't live without. We spent most of the time in their Maritime Museum really enjoying the various exhibits and stories. Seems that they had the unpleasant job of bringing in all the bodies from the sinking of the Titanic. They had quite a large exhibit from that time and the various memorabilia connected to it. Afterward, we drove around the city where I saw some pretty cool murals & buildings. While driving back, we drove through a small town called Truro that had some fun sculptures, they were carved from their stately elm trees that they loss to Dutch elm disease. They decided to turn an unfortunate situation into a plus, so sought support from the local businesses and was successful in having three artists turn them into a thing of beauty! Clever.

The scenery along the water's edge was nice and we were able to track down a few lighthouses and some really fun, funky "yard art" along the way. Jack couldn't get over the amount of wood people had stacked up getting ready for their winter! We talked with one person who said they average between 6-14 cords depending on the size and age (older homes are harder to heat) of your house. She said it was about $600 per cord, if you did the cutting yourself! Ugh, that's cold!!

I will confess, I was under-whelmed with Nova Scotia over all. I sure don't understand what all the excitement was about. Perhaps we didn't venture in "deep enough", so I will give them the benefit of doubt. My most favorite thing there tho, was watching the sun rise! Nova Scotia gets the sunrise first. It wasn't planned, but I just happened to come awake at the right time and once I realized what was happening, I grabbed my camera and dashed outside! What a show! I've never seen anything like it. I was so very glad I got to see it, I'll remember it always. All in all, the trip wasn't a bad one, just not what we had expected, I guess. Truth be told, I think America is much prettier!




























































































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...on the road in New England, Marie

For the love of Lighthouses...

Like so many others, I love lighthouses. I'm not sure why, or when my fascination for them began, I just know that if there is one within 100 miles of where we are, I want to go see it. It's not so much the inner workings or the "keepers area & cottage" but more the grand stateliness of them. I love looking at them and of course, photographing them. It's always a fun challenge I give myself to see if I can really capture it in a unique or special way.

Because of this, I "encourage" Jack to take us to every town possible that has a lighthouse! One such place was Pensacola Florida. We had "come close" to it en route to Sarasota, when we stayed in Milton, but not close enough to get to the lighthouse. Now that we had more time, I "encouraged" Jack to route us through there, siting that Pensacola also was the home of the Blue Angles, and all that "military stuff". He was wise to me, and just smiled and said he would take me to the lighthouse, we didn't need to go see any of the "other stuff". My hero. One of the things we have to always keep in mind though, is that most lighthouses were built out on a point with a small road leading up to them and getting a large mortorhome to them wasn't part of the street planning, even when "tourists" were part of the equation years later. We made a phone call and inquired about the riggers of getting to & from it and parking and was assured it "was done all the time". Phew! Once there, I thought her remarks were a bit exaggerated, but Jack was able to handle it all, and we had a great time visiting a beautiful old lighthouse...my first "black & white one!












































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/


...on the road in Florida, Marie