Category Archives: Travel

Wisconsin

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I spent three days in Wisconsin, which is not near enough to really see the state. However, I was able to at least see a little bit of it by exploring outside of Milwaukee where we were staying. We drove to Madison to see the capitol, then further to the Spring Green area, as I had been told that was a nice place to see the Wisconsin River. We took the back roads and had a wonderful time driving through the small towns and seeing the rural areas. We also drove northeast to Sturgeon Bay, which is a lovely little town. I would have loved more time to go even further north and explore Door County, but we just didn’t have the time. We again took the back roads and saw the rural areas. Wisconsin really has some lovely areas to explore.

Milwaukee River on the north side of Milwaukee

Wisconsin River near Spring Green

Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Pierhead Front Lighthouse

Potawatomi State Park

Milwaukee

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I left Milwaukee today on a cruise of the Great Lakes. I have been in Wisconsin for three full days, but I only spent a little of time in Milwaukee. From what little time I spent here though, I like the city. I imagine I would not like it in winter, but that is nothing against the city. It is a neat city with a lovely waterfront and riverwalks. There are a lot of downtown apartments that look like they would be great places to live. I would like to visit again when I have more time to wander around.

Milwaukee from boat

Trestle Park

Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse Park

Milwaukee Riverwalk

Milwaukee Riverwalk

Daniel W. Hoan Memorial Bridge

Pier Wisconsin and Milwaukee Art Museum

Wisconsin State Capitol

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I am in Wisconsin before I start a cruise of the Great Lakes, so I took the opportunity to tour another state capitol. I am sad to report that this tour was one of the worst ones I have taken. Virginia remains the worst state capitol tour I have ever taken. The reason this was bad is first because the Assembly room was closed for some special event, so it could not be toured, nor could you go in the galley. Second, the tour guide was rude, but more importantly, she was not a very good tour guide. More on that later.

The Wisconsin capitol is similar to many other capitols. It has a large rotunda with decorated dome. It was constructed with a whole lot of beautiful stone, which our tour guide spent a whole lot of time talking about. It has a whole lot of decorations. Some of the decorations clearly had symbolism as our tour guide discussed it, but there was other decorations that the tour guide didn’t discuss and didn’t really allow for questions while walking way too quickly to various rooms. [Hence one of the reasons she was a bad tour guide.] An example of this, is there were some wall decorations featuring leaves and branches of some type, but I couldn’t find out what type and if there was a symbolism for that specific type.

I liked the layout of the building in that it essentially has four wings, and in the four wings are the Assembly, which is the equivalent of the House I think, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and an extra meeting room. Another thing the tour never mentioned was the Governor, and if the Governor has an office or any type of room in the Capitol.

Finally before presenting the photos, I feel the need to explain why I think this tour guide was bad. I have been on enough guided tours, and I personally know enough tour guides, to strongly believe that the number one responsibility of a tour guide is to know where are all the people on your tour are and make sure they can find you and hear you. The guide did not seem to think any of this is true. When we started the tour, she asked if everyone could use the stairs. We all said yes, so we started up the stairs. Very soon after starting, my mom decided that for various reasons, she felt safer taking the elevator. At this point, our guide was already near the top of the stairs, not looking back, and completely out of ear shot. My mom turned around and was able to find a nice police officer who had been near tour desk, and he was able to help her. Meanwhile, I was slowly making my way up the stairs. I can climb them, but I am slow. By the time I got to the top, the tour guide and all the people had not only made it to the top but were nowhere to be seen. I basically had to wander around until I found them, then immediately turned around to try to find the elevator and my mom. She and the police officer came a minute later, and we rejoined the group. When we rejoined the group, it was clear that not only had the tour guide either not noticed or simply did not care that not everyone was there, but she had not stopped talking. Hence my mom and I missed at least five minutes of her tour. About half through the tour, she said she now needed a count of the people on the tour. Why would you wait until halfway through? Perhaps if she had counted at the start, she might notice when people are not able to keep up with her. She also never once bothered to ask if people in the back could hear her. I could go on, but I won’t. It just left a bad impression on me, which is ironic because ever since I arrived in Wisconsin, everyone I have met has been really nice, and when they learn this is my first visit, they have all volunteered information of places to visit and where to eat.

Wisonsin State Capitol

Rotunda

Dome

Just below the dome, on four sides are fours beautiful glass mosaics representing the four parts of government: Liberty (shown below), Justice, Government, and Legislation.

Liberty mosaic

Badger statue

There is an extra meeting room that was evidently designed as an extra room. All the murals depict transportation.

Meeting room

In the Supreme Court room, there are three murals that depict scenes when great decisions were made.

Supreme Court

Senate Chambers

Multnomah Falls

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I visited Multnomah Falls today while on a cruise of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. I have seen this waterfall in I don’t know how many pictures because it is rather photogenic, especially with the foot bridge that crosses in front of the upper portion of it. The area around the falls are rather pretty and what most people generally think of with the northwest. It is a 0.2 mile hike up from the first viewing area to the footbridge and not too bad of a hike.

Classic photo of Multnomah Falls with the footbridge across it in frame

Pool at upper portion

Upper falls

Fireweed near falls

Short stream between upper and lower waterfalls

View from pedestrian bridge of creek fall terminates into and viewing platform with Columbia River in background

Pendleton Underground

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As part of the cruise of the Columbia and Snake Rivers that I am on, today some of us went on an excursion to Pendleton, Oregon. The main purpose of the excursion was to tour an underground portion of Pendleton. They started building portions of the underground in the 1800s. Underground tunnels allowed them to safely carry gold and other goods from one location to another to prevent theft. Later many bars were below ground as well as businesses. We were shown an area where a Chinese man had a thriving business washing and ironing people’s laundry. There was an old shed of sorts that was well insulated to store ice for an ice cream parlor above. There was also of course the expected speak easy used during Prohibition.

I’ve taken a few underground tours before, similar to this one. This one felt somewhat disjointed. It covered numerous time periods. They also had some examples of things that weren’t actually underground, but I guess they needed to fill the area, and also show a little above ground history. However, it got somewhat confusing understanding what had and had not actually been underground.

Bar

Example of living area

Example of sleeping area and equipment used for trade

Groundwater pump and icemaking area used by well known butchers

Speak easy with moth balls hanging from ceiling to overpower smell of alcohol

Lewiston and Clarkston

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Today I started a cruise down the Snake then Columbia River. The cruise started in Clarkston, Washington. Clarkston is seemingly a twin city with Lewiston which is on the other side of the Snake River in Idaho. I have been planning this trip for close to two months, and it was not until night before last while staying Lewiston before joining the cruise group that I made the connection of the city names. Lewiston and Clarkston. Lewis and Clark. Almost everything in the area pays tribute to Lewis and Clark and their expedition. Why it took me so long to make the connection of the city names I have no idea. Anyway, Lewiston and Clarkston are at the confluence of Clearwater River in Idaho and the Snake River which forms the boundary between Idaho and Washington. The area is interesting geologically and geographically and pretty in its own way. There is a lot of columnar basalt in the area, which I rather love seeing. There is a overlook in North Lewiston, which provides nice views of the confluence.

Confluence of Clearwater and Snake Rivers

Snake River into Hell’s Canyon

Confluence of Clearwater and Snake Rivers

Hanford Reactor B

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Yesterday I went on what is pretty much a nerd tour of Hanford Reactor B. Hanford is the Department of Energy facility where they made plutonium to make nuclear bombs, and Reactor B was the first reactor built during World War II to make plutonium. It is now a National Historic Landmark. The tour included a long bus ride to the site, which gives you a better understanding of just how big Hanford is. The tour then includes several hours to wander around the building, and several presentations by docents. I still can’t quite get over the fact that the public can tour a building where they used to make plutonium, which is rather radioactive and toxic.

The science and engineering behind the facility was impressive, and I also enjoyed looking at 1940s era technology and signage. I don’t if it was that era, or the facility, or what, but there were some fun signs all over the place. There were also some hidden historical signs, like all the clocks were stopped at 10:48, which was time on the night of September 26, 1944 when the reactor achieved fission for the first time. I don’t know why, but I was amused that almost every room had a “broom” station, which were pegs on the wall where a broom and dustpan were hung. I think I only saw one room where there was actually a broom in its proper station. I guess they do less sweeping now, or they have moved onto vacuum technology.

I really appreciated that you could wander around and spend your time looking at everything. Most of the areas have decent signage to indicate what you are looking at, although the engineer that I am, I would prefer perhaps a bit more detail. My one criticism of the tour was that they completed glossed over the amount of environmental contamination created at Hanford. In an intro video we watched before taking the tour, they briefly mention that waste was buried to be dealt with later. The docent at one point said they are cleaning up the site, which is an understatement. I know enough about the site to feel like they just didn’t want to admit the contamination they caused. Signs of remediation are present in the building. There were plenty of pipes that obviously had asbestos, and the pipes had clearly been abated to encapsulate the asbestos, so it would not become airborne and thus a hazard. There were dosimeters on the walls everywhere, which were clearly been analyzed frequently.

Hanford Reactor B

Front Face where fuel rods were loaded into reactor, which is behind the front face

Warning Do Not Introduce Heat Source into any opening in reactor unit

Front face close up fittings

For security reasons, it was called the metal loader instead of uranium loader

Valve Pit Room; notice in lower right, tops have been removed from access openings; tops were removed at Russian inspectors’ request to prove no water was going through pipes as part of treaty to reduce nuclear weapons

Exhaust Fan

Wall of something in control room

Control Room, telephone switchboard equipment was used to monitoring equipment

Control Room where operator sat

Control room board with warning “Caution: bumping panel may cause scram”

Fuel Storage Basin, there used to be water underneath the wooden boards where the used fuel was stored temporarily 

Wall of old signs

Old sign (my favorite)

Total Solar Eclipse

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I came to Niagara Falls for the 2024 total solar eclipse with the idea of spectacular images of the eclipse above the falls. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. I was really lucky with clear skies for the 2017 eclipse, so the overcast skies was really disappointing. I got a couple of glimpses of the partial eclipse. Totality did not disappoint. It’s been seven years since I last experienced totality, but I feel like totality was more dramatic this time. It was so overcast that it was already cool and not bright, so when totality hit, it felt very much like night and was very dark.

View of partial solar eclipse through clouds

View of partial solar eclipse through clouds

View of partial solar eclipse through clouds

Niagara Falls during totality

Niagara Falls during totality (note water over falls from long exposure on this photo)

Niagara Falls with partial solar eclipse barely visible in center near top

Old Quebec City

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I have been in old Quebec City for three full days, and it has been a lovely visit. Old Quebec is compact and walkable with the exception of the fact that old Quebec is really just a series of stairs and slopes. Thus something may be just four blocks away, but it is also the equivalent of eight stories higher, so plan accordingly. The old town is surrounded by its original fortification walls, with a citadel at the highest point. Many of the streets are cobblestone, and most of the buildings are clearly original.

Montmorency Falls

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Just outside of Old Quebec City, (as in 15 minutes by car or 40 minutes by public bus), is Montmorency Falls, or Chute Montmorency, which I prefer. The falls are beautiful, and there is a park around it. There is a pedestrian bridge across the top of the falls, and a cable car from the top to the bottom. There are boardwalks at the bottom, and they appear to be building more or possibly renovating the old ones, as currently you can only access one side plus a boardwalk across the river at the base of the falls.

View of the falls from the boardwalk across the river flowing from the falls

View of the falls from the boardwalk across the river flowing from the falls

View of falls from boardwalk near base of falls

Rainbow formed in mist at base of falls, photo taken from observation walk near top of the falls

Closeup of east side of falls showing geological layers and folding

 

Crossing pedestrian bridge above falls

Crossing pedestrian bridge above falls; downstream and outflow into St. Lawrence River