Midwest Guest

Midwest Travel Links for July 2017

Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month:

The Keweenaw Peninsula: Quincy Copper Mine and Copper Harbor

I've never been that wild about taking trips myself in small planes and trips underground, but this story from Erin about a trip she and her son took to see the Quincy Copper Mine at Copper Harbor in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was pretty fascinating. I do share her son's fascination with geology and rocks, so I may have to re-think my aversion to tiny enclosed spaces. Meanwhile, I can see highlights of Erin's trip and exploration of Quincy. A bonus? The duo stayed at a motel we've stayed at several times in the past, and I loved the shots of their room at the Bella Vista and the beautiful harbor view that I loved seeing. Think I'm due for another trip up there one of these days? 

 

 

Ohio Amish Country Travels

We loved visiting Ohio's Amish Country in the heart of Holmes County. Share Heathers travels through the scenic country side, visits to the area's "Cheese Heaven" (and several cheese places we also visited), plus a glimpse of the hearty comfort food we also enjoyed so much when visiting there ourselves). Check out her story at the Ohio Girl Travels blog.

 Anniversary of the Miami-Erie Canal

Canal history always fascinates me...probably, at least in part, because we do not have much in the way of canal history here in Michigan. Ronny takes a quick look at the rich history of the Miami-Erie Canal in Ohio. The canal was a major transportation link throughout the state and served to move folks through, and around, Ohio before automobiles, trains or other technological advances made transportation speedier. The canal system in this country played an important part in fueling the westward expansion, but the leisurely place of oxen, horse and mule drawn boats allowed travelers a more leisure look at the passing country side than we enjoy today. Check the story out at the Queen City Discovery blog.  

You'll love this Covered Bridge Town in Western Indiana

Join Chris on a tour of some of the covered bridges in Parke County Indiana. I've long heard about Parke County and its amazing collection of covered spans. It's on a destination on my Midwest bucket list. Meanwhile, I can enjoy getting a little peek at the area with the images on this article at the Indiana Insider blog.

Learn about Indiana's Limestone Heritage in New Exhibit

It is impossible not to see many buildings made of lime stone in and around Indiana! Mark offers us a fascinating look at the history and use of this natural Hoosier resource, the shifts in the technology of the limestone industry and some of the iconic buildings of limestone that are around the country. Check out the story at the Indiana Insider blog.

50 Quirky Things to See in Ohio

Tonya gives us a great list of cool and interesting things so see in Ohio. We've seen a few things like The World's Largest Collection of Rock and Roll Memorabilia (at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland), The Garfield Memorial (at the Lake Side Cemetery in Cleveland), eaten pizza at a Covered Bridge (North Kingsville) and visited the Tomb of President McKinley (Canton). There are still plenty of things on the list I'd love to see yet myself like the Pencil Sharpener Museum (in Logan)  Dave Grohl Alley and the World's Largest Drumsticks (Warren) and the Y-Bridge (Zanesville). Check out this fun list at the Traveling Praters blog.

Laura land

Fans of the "Little House" series of books are well aware of Laura Ingalls Wilder's connection to many Midwestern states and make it a point to visit as many of the places where Laura and her family lived during the late 1800s. Beth takes readers at Midwest Weekends on a quick tour of these sites in places like Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota where Wilder and her family spent time at one point during their life journey. It's fun to see so many of these sites gathered together in one article.

Ashland NE in Numismatic (Money) News

Many classic old bank buildings no  longer exist, but Mark profiles one here that still stands in the eastern part of Nebraska along with a couple of other former bank buildings still in the area. This is a fun look at banks and currency through the years in Ashland, Nebraska. Check is out at the Stay on Route 6 blog.

14 Fun Facts about the North Dakota Capitol

I always love visiting state capitol buildings, and found this round up of facts about North Dakota's unusual skyscraper capitol building quite interesting. This is one of only three skyscraper capitol buildings in the U.S., but Connie found out that this style of building has 80 percent usable space versus the usual traditional domed building we're usually used to seeing as a capitol building. Check it out at the Midwest Wanderer blog. 

Highlights of Hamilton County, Indiana

It's been a several years since I've visited Hamilton County, which is about 30 miles from Indianapolis, Indiana, so I enjoyed virtually revisiting the area with Francesca and her family. This story spotlights several of the favorite places I saw during our visit there, including the historic Hamilton County courthouse in downtown Noblesville, the lifelike statue of a woman grocery shopping in front of the butcher shop in Carmel (where we originally discovered another Midwest treat--Rickle's Pickles) and Conner Prairie (where we experienced a thought-provoking Underground Railway program). Check out the story at the Working Mom's Travels blog.

Hiking during our Galena Weekend

I've always wanted to visit Galena, Illinois, and this story from Mel show us several noteworthy hikes in the area. I particularly enjoyed seeing images of the pedestrian bridge along the Galena River Trail (I'm a real bridge fan, so this goes on the list of things I need to see in Galena!). Check out the story at the A Little Time and a Keyboard blog.  

Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom

Travel through the beautiful scenic farmland near the Wisconsin Dells and enjoy a little old fashioned history and adventure near Baraboo, Wisconsin. I loved seeing the restored vintage railcars learning a bit more about railroad history in the area. Check out Kenneth's story and great images at the Wisconsin Explorer blog.

A Quick Visit to Grand Rapids

We've visited this western Michigan and favorites like Schuler Books & Music many times in the past, but I can see that there are several places I've yet to see here according to Jeff's story. Check it out at the Lifelong Michigander.

Five Favorite Places for Kids on the Sunset Coast, Michigan

Join Jessie at the Wandering Educators blog for another look at western Michigan as she surveys some of her kid-friendly favorites with sites that include some of my waterfront favorites like Grand Haven, Manistee and the Sleeping Bear Dunes area. This definitely puts me in the mood to do a little more traveling myself!   

Midwest Guest Bookshelf, October 2017

Al Franken: Giant of the Senate

This account of Al Franken's time campaigning for, and eventually becoming, a United States Senator from Minnesota was fascinating and oddly inspiring.

I started out many years ago as a political activist, and I headed to college at Detroit's Wayne State University with the idea that I would major in Political Science and aim for a career in political campaign management.

Time has a way of changing your idealist conceptions about your chosen career and early ideals.

I met Tim somewhere along the way...he ran (and lost) for State Representative...with me as his campaign manager in what was always seen as a seat that was not a winning proposition for a changer at that time...but our original enthusiasm and dedication turned to disgust as we saw the field become a sharply divided field where "the other side" became dreaded enemies and horrible people in the eyes of "our side".

We always enjoyed campaigns and jawing with folks we really considered as friends, in spite of any political differences we might have had.

But...when politics became a hateful and adversarial thing where you became suspect even if you said "hello" to a neighbor who held different political views than you...it was time to get out.

I found a lot of Franken's book engaging, and even inspiring, in expressing his obvious love for politics and his job in representing his constituents in Minnesota.

Franken did not have a smooth ride to the Senate. His background as a comedian led many to immediately discount him, his abilities, his seriousness and his sincerely. His initial race was a real "nail-biter". It was one of the closest races in history, and a re-count dragged on for months before he finally officially took a seat as a Senator.

Franken seems to have won over many of his doubters and handily won his re-election campaign for Senator in 2016.

He has a lot of misgivings about the future ahead in a really sharply divided political system...but he also has a lot of hope about working with his colleagues and love for the people he represents.

This one is definitely worth reading for the secret political wonk, for those who miss seeing Franken's humor on bold display and for those who wish we could all be civil again in politics. 

The Other Alcott

This novel is a deft imagining of the story of the youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott, whose real-life adventures were just a tiny part of the canvas that made up the older Louisa's classic story of Little Women.

I knew just a hint of the real-life back-story of Louisa May Alcott's younger sister "Amy", the real-life Louisa's prickly personality (imagined as "Jo" in the classic "Little Women" books), and the sisters' father's stubborn clinging to his precious principles of transcendentalism even as the family faced pressing poverty and the women in the family tried to keep them all afloat with their own work during an era of a definite restriction of rights and opportunities for women.

This novel is a debut effort by author Elise Hooper that takes the little-known story of Louisa's younger sister as a background for a fascinating story about a young woman finding her way out from under the shadow of her sister, the famous author, through the tough and competitive art world to find success and happiness in her own life.

May Alcott's story was already compelling and interesting, especially as it was set against the backdrop of Europe with events like the Siege of Paris in the early 1870s and the rise of the rebellious Impressionists and their re-making of the art world at the time.

Cooper's book references to other real-life figures like the sister's father Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and artist Mary Cassatt who really did played some sort of real-life roles in the real-life stories of the Alcott sisters' lives.

Having read Louisa's books, starting during my own childhood and continuing through the present-day and having much admired the Impressionists throughout my own interest in art and painting, I found "The Other Alcott" fascinating.

Hooper's novel echoed some of my own long-held feelings about the Alcotts and their family situation, but the story added to my understanding and enjoyment of the life stories of the youngest Alcott sister.

"Amy" became a real and admirable figure for me that went well beyond her imagined role as the youngest sister of the famous family.  

Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge

Bridge enthusiasts know the Roebling name, with many mistakenly entirely crediting John Roebling with designing and engineering this beautiful span and many others to the early 19th century engineer.

Those of us in the Midwest know about the beautiful Roebling bridge spanning the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. It was the Ohio/Kentucky span that first captured my attention and much of my fascination with bridges and led me to read David McCullough's book about the Brooklyn Bridge several years ago, so seeing Wagner's newly published take on the bridge and its background made it a must-read for me.

I did understand that John A. Roebling initially designed the bridge at Cincinnati, and that bridge bears his name, but I also knew a bit about the important work Washington Roebling did during the decade-plus construction projects involved with both seeing the John A. Roebling and Brooklyn Bridges to completion.

Wagner's book represents an even deeper look at the Roebling family and the complicated bond that led them to create and build such lasting monuments to their work during the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.

John A. Roebling died well before the completion of either span, and his brilliance and reputation worked to overpower the achievements of the rest of his family.

Wagner's does no real favors to the elder Roebling's reputation when it came to being the family patriarch, though.

She delves into the truth of his unyielding and abusive personality, so beware if you are not ready to see the story of the family warts and all.

Especially interesting to me was the largely unsung, and essential, role Emily, Washington Roebling's wife, played in the completion of the bridge at Brooklyn throughout her husband's prolonged illnesses brought about by his work on the bridge. This was at a time when women usually did not become as involved with such complex work, especially as an untrained engineer.

Like McCullough's book that I read nearly a decade ago, Wagner's book is a technical look at the technology, society and politics of the time. It benefits from newer research into the bridge and the Roebling family, but do be prepared to sometimes learn more than the casual reader might like to know about the history of the people behind the story.     

Who Built That? :Bridges

This is a kid's book, but offers an easy way to look at some of the most notable spans in the world and the people who built them.

It includes a short chapter about the Brooklyn Bridge and the part that John Roebling, Washington Roebling and Emily Warren Roebling played in the design, building and seeing the bridge to completion.

The book features ten well-known spans with easy to understand-explanations and illustrations showing some of the technical construction methods used to create these spans.

Fun look at the subject that does not seem to talk down to younger readers that might be interested in architecture or building as a possible career choice.

Foo Fighters: Learning to Fly

Most folks seem to most readily associate Dave Grohl with the Seattle rock scene and as a member of Nirvana, and some long-time fans remember him as coming out of the Washington DC area and Virginia, where he grew up after moving there as a child with his then-single mother...but some Midwest fans take it as a point of pride that Grohl actually was born in Warren, Ohio!

I've read about Dave Grohl Alley there in Warren where they honor him with a display of the "world's largest drumsticks"! This is a place that has long been on my "Midwest bucket list" as a destination!

The story of the Alley and its transformation into a tribute to a rock star whose Ohio roots are unknown to many people even in Warren itself is interesting.

Author Nick Wall does a decent job of covering Dave's life after he left Ohio, started his professional life as a musician in Virginia, went on to become a member of Nirvana and what happened after to unfortunate suicide of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.

The biography captures a lot of Dave's frank way of expressing himself and gives readers a good look at how Grohl was able to re-create his life as a musician after unspeakable tragedy.

Midwest Guest Bookshelf, September 2017

Here's a look at what I've enjoyed reading lately.

Motown: The Sound of Young America

 

This oversized book is the "official visual history of Motown"...following the story from its humble beginnings as a vision of Berry Gordy, who, with the help of an $800 loan from his family members, built a company that defined the music of Detroit during the 1960s and helped propel so many Detroiters to become icons in music, leaders in movements for civil rights and helped empower musicians in the world around them.

The book is definitely worth checking out for those stories, as well as a wealth of images I had never seen before in other publications.

The end of Motown came pretty much as I remembered it happening with a move from Detroit to the West Coast. The company sought to rise beyond their Motor City roots, but it really lost its soul and much more in my humble opinion.

The book is still worth seeking out for a fun couple of days to relieve the sights and sounds that justly made Motown truly live up to its name as the soundtrack of the lives of young Americans, especially during the 1960s. It's especially fun for those who vividly remember hearing these tunes so many times coming out over the radio and television airwaves as younger people.

At the Edge of the Orchard

 

This novel starts out in the Black Swamp of Ohio, a muddy and disease-ridden patch of country in northwestern Ohio where people struggled to settle during America's not-always-so-great Westward Expansion. The Goodenough family find themselves mired in the black muck and unable to advance by building a beautiful apple orchard before becoming fractured and broken. Inner demons pull parents James and Sadie down, and their children succumb to swamp fever of one sort or another.

This novel, then, becomes mostly the story of their son Robert as he finds his way through tragedy and travels around the country before a sister finds him after a couple of decades...and he finally finds himself and a family among the redwoods and Sequoias in California.

You wouldn't think that a story about the Ohio frontier and trees might surprise me, but Tracy Chevalier's story took some surprising twists and turns as she made her way through the tale.

Chevalier also wrote several other historical fiction books that include Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Last Runaway (an historical novel about Quakers and the Underground Railroad in 19th century Ohio featured at Midwest Guest several years ago).

If you are familiar with Royal Oak, Michigan, you also might spot the reference to Charles II and The Royal Oak mentioned in passing about a third of the way through this book! Yes, I know my apocryphal history!

Midwest Guest Bookshelf, August 2017

Here's a look at what I've enjoyed reading lately.

 

 

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"

It's very strange to read about things I remember from my childhood, but I certainly had no concept of the importance of Tom and Dickie Smothers to the television and cultural scene at the time (although I do remember seeing the show as a grade-school-age child and the brothers' gentle ribbing of each other, and I definitely remember hearing Tom's plaintive cries of "Mom always liked you best" to his brother Dick's more stoic straight man)...but I don't remember much about their struggles with network TV censorship or the circumstances of the show's ignoble demise after a few short years' run during the late 1960s.

This book, then, was a revelation to me and gave me a new insight into the times and the quickly changing culture I grew up in.

 

 

Never a Dull Moment

This book spoke even more closely to my experiences and gave me a new appreciation for the early 1970s. I always remembered the 70s as a time of superficiality driven by a disco beat, but my memories were really faulty as disco was still several years in the future at that point, the late 1960s were just a pleasant, op-art colored era in my mind, and the year 1971 was surprisingly rich in meaningful music, lyrics and cultural change.

Hepworth's book prodded me to remember rock classics from that year like Carole King's Tapestry, Led Zepplin's album IV, Don McLean's American Pie, acts as diverse as Black Sabbath, David Bowie, the Eagles, Elton John, Grand Funk Railroad (from Flint, Michigan), Roxy Music, Cat Stevens, Frank Zappa, Marvin Gaye, Alice Cooper and more. The rise of FM radio (in which Detroit station WRIF played a crucial and formative role), and the Concert for Bangladesh, which signaled the rise of rock for a cause events, were just a few happenings that came about in 1971.

The book gave me a new appreciation for the music and people making it at the time...and a new appreciation for the longevity of the music and its influence on the culture as well. The book makes a solid case for the importance of the music of this era, rather than the overly-hyped 1960s. 

 

 

Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night

I was always a big Letterman fan and I enjoyed some of the behind-the-scenes looks at the long-running show, although I was less than thrilled with some of the personality conflicts and Letterman's personal quirks over the years that I learned about here. It was a great look at the early years in Indiana and his move on towards being a national figure on the television scene.

It was interesting to see how his Midwestern upbringing influenced his well-known sardonic style and see how he became a sort of "voice of a generation".

This revealing biography is a must-read for fans and others seeking to understand the late-night scene and how it developed over recent generations.

Like him or loathe him, Letterman was a pivotal figure and pioneering personality, especially during the 1980s through his retirement in recent years. Stupid Pet Tricks and all!  

 

 

H.H. Holmes: The True Story of the White City Devil

The tale of H. H. Holmes and his reputation as the country's first serial killer lives on such contemporary works like The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, a 2004 book by Eric Larson and an upcoming film from Martin Scrocese and Leonardo DiCaprio, but this new non-fiction book about Holmes and his misdeeds in the Midwest shows us that the tales we've heard in the past are most probably false, or grossly exaggerated at best. The tale usually hinges on Holmes' time in Victorian-era Chicago, but fiction, rather than fact, usually clouds the telling of the industrious swindler's life and misdeeds.

Did he kill 25 or more people? Did he lure fairgoers near the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to his alleged house of horrors to kill them? Did he just make up a lot of stories about the murders eventually credited to him? Was he a psychopath? Was he insane?

This exhaustibly researched book doesn't come to a firm conclusion about most of the mania and myth surrounding the man, but it certainly sheds a lot of light on the shoddy history of journalism, criminal investigations and human nature on display throughout the era. Not so sure that it will appeal to those seeking a lurid tale of death and dismemberment, but can be pretty fascinating to true-crime fans wishing to see how the world of serial killers developed and evolved through the late 19th century, through the 20th century and into the present day.   

 

 

Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life

This book gave me a new appreciation for Redding's career and struggles with the racism of the time in the south that hampered his career...even as he chose to remain in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. This is a fascinating look at the life and times during the mid-to late sixties, and the times and transitions during these years all around the country as Redding became a national and international star.

Aretha Franklin had great success with a tune credited largely to Redding..."Respect". The song, sung by the daughter of a well-known Detroit-area pastor, became a sort of feminist anthem of empowerment for women according to this biography.

I vividly remember ("Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, released shortly after Redding's death...and just ahead of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was in Nashville at that time visiting with extended family. My parents eagerly anticipated attending the Grand Ole Opry for the first time during that trip, but my memory of The Grande Ole Opry closing for the first time in its history on a Saturday night is correct.

Tim and I visited Memphis many years later to see the Lorraine Hotel and view the room where King met his death at the hands of assassin James Earl Ray.      

Anyone have suggestions for other books that I should check out?

Midwest Guest Bookshelf, July 2017

I've been able to get back to reading for pleasure and getting to a lot of the books I've been keeping on a running list of things I've wanted to read over the last couple of years!

A good number of them have some sort of Midwest tie, many of them are music-related, many of them have some sort of regional history tie, and others are just books that I've wanted to read just because!

Some are books I have in my own collection, and a good number of them come to me via the Inter Library Loan program through my local library.

Here's a look at what I've enjoyed reading lately.

 

The curious life and legend of Who drummer Keith Moon comes alive in this book, which concentrates mainly on his musicianship and status as a legendary and pioneering drummer. Still, I did find at least one reference to a story that has a Michigan connection!

Keith apparently had his massive 21st birthday party at the hotel where the Who was staying after a concert in 1967--a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan where the drummer allegedly drove a Lincoln Continental car into the pool!

The story, repeated as fact by Moon himself over later years, is still hotly contested to this day, even by those who were allegedly at the party! The truth seems to be that the car did not take a dunk that evening, but one attendee at the party was Barry Whitman (drummer for one of the supporting acts on the tour, Herman's Hermits) says police were called to the hotel after a massive food fight that caused some serious damage. In everyone's rush to get out that night, Moon tripped over the pavement outside, smashed his two front teeth and had to have emergency dental surgery in Flint that night.

 

Susan Whittig Albert grew up in downstate Illinois. She earned her PhD in English at the University of Illinois, but she lives and works in Texas where she continues to publish books under her own name and other pseudonyms.

This is one of her books in the series about China Bayles, a fictional lawyer-turned-herb-shop- owner who stumbles upon mysteries and solves the case by each the end of each book.

If you're up for something fast and fun that includes a bit of herbal lore and a few recipes, check this series out.

This book is the 26th in this series. Albert has several other series that focus on different eras in history or are works of historical fiction about women.

Who better to talk to moms about the challenges of raising their talented prodigy and knowing when and how to encourage that talent to flourish than a mom who successfully watched and nurtured her own son's rise to rock stardom? Here Virginia Grohl, the rockin' mom of David Grohl who saw her son rise to fame as the drummer for Nirvana during the 1990s and successfully go on to become the front man for another commercially successful alternative band, the Foo Fighters.

Grohl, born in Warren, Ohio, is one of rock's most well-known and well-regarded, musician, guitarist, drummer, songwriter, record producer and film director.

His mom Virginia was a school teacher and raised her son as a single mom in Virginia. Dave Grohl began working as a musician in the Washington D.C. area and joined Nirvana in 1990.

He became more and more active in writing music for Nirvana until lead singer Kurt Cobain's tragic suicide death in 1994.

Grohl, after casting around for a bit and wondering what to do next, went on to establish the Foo Fighters as he shopped the initial album of his work and eventually built a band around the demo where he played most all of the instruments and wrote the songs himself.

The book is a fun read featuring interviews with mom's like Verna Griffin (Dr. Dre's mom), Marianne Stipe (Michael Stipe from REM's mom), Hester Diamond (Mike D from the Beastie Boy's mom) and Janis Winehouse (Amy Winehouse's mom).

Imagine Barack and Michele Obama deciding to embark on a road trip across the country at the conclusion of his second term as President, driving their own car and un-accompanied by a Secret Service detail!

Unimaginable in this day and time certainly, and it was something that even proved difficult for the out-going President Harry Truman to so in the less celebrity-obsessed time of 1953 as he and his wife Bess embarked on just such a trip at the end of his second term as President.

The Trumans wanted to travel incognito as they left their hometown of Independence, Missouri to Washington, D.C. and New York City and back.

The couple wasn't able to entirely evade attention from the press, local officials and the curious public, but they were, at times, to travel on their own and see a good bit of the Midwestern states like Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio as they mostly stayed at small motels, stayed with friends and ate at family diners, while greeting people along the way who shouted "Hi, Harry" when they spotted the duo on the road.

The author sought to re-create this road trip by using the same route and stopping at many of the places the Trumans stopped during their original adventure, capturing a slice of life that is long-gone and something no retiring chief executive before or since has ever thought about doing or would be able to do in these days of heightened security concerns and a celebrity-obsessed public.

The 1964 World's Fair in New York City was set against a backdrop of a world experiencing racial unrest, the country's discomfort with a rapidly growing immigrant population, a rapidly changing music scene, increasingly violent crime, the escalating war scene in Vietnam, a definitely divisive political scene, and other cultural changes. In other words, it really sounds like not much has changed in the country over the past 40-plus years.

The Midwest played, at best, a bit part in the fair as pavilions represented states like Wisconsin with cheese displays, a realistic-looking and -sounding audio-animatronics Lincoln held some fair goers in its thrall at the Illinois display and  the big automotive companies vied for attention for their newest vehicles and innovations at their respective pavilions. 

Long-seen as a financial failure and not really advancing it's stated "peace through understanding" mission, the bill still offers a fascinating look at this not-so-transformative event and the world as the 1960s got underway.

Anyone have any other suggestions that you feel I might like checking out?