While passing through Missouri on the Great River Road adventure, one of the planned destinations was the Gateway Arch on the St. Louis riverfront.  I've travelled the greater state of Missouri many times in the past but I had never been to the St. Louis area.  And my naïveté is embarrassingly evident by the fact that I thought the Gateway Arch spanned across the Mississippi River.  Now having seen it in person I see that it would have been one heck of an engineering marvel to get the arch to cross the river at nearly a mile wide.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2009 Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch.	2009 Gateway Arch Another perspective of the Gateway Arch.	2009 Gateway Arch The sun hiding behind the Gateway Arch.
2009 Gateway Arch Bart, Molly & Grandma Norvina at the Gateway Arch.	2009 Gateway Arch Molly & Grandma Norvina at the Gateway Arch riverfront.	2009 Gateway Arch Graffitied flood wall beneath the MacArthur Bridge.

We completed our second day of the Great River Road tour in Memphis, TN.  There's no better way to wind up an evening in Memphis than to find some grub and beverages down on Beale Street.  We headed to the downtown area knowing nothing significant about the area other than its musical history.  We left Memphis disappointed though as we all wanted to visit Graceland, but the timing didn't work.

Enjoy the photographs (click thumbnails for larger view)..

2009 Beale Street The store front to A. Schwab's dry goods store.

2009 Beale Street The entrance to King's Palace Cafe.

2009 Beale Street Molly & Grandma Norvina in front of the New Daisy Theatre.

During the first day of the Great River Road tour, we traversed Iowa down I-35, over to Waterloo, and then diagonally through Cedar Rapids to Davenport.  At that point we crossed the great river into Moline, IL and then proceeded to Peoria, IL where we spent the first night.

Enjoy the photographs (click the thumbnails for larger view)..

Molly at the World's largest skillet, Brandon, IA	Herbert Hoover's Presidential Library, West Branch, IA	Bart, Molly & Grandma Norvina at the statue of Isis, located in the Herbert Hoover gardens
The Putman Museum, Davenport, IA	Bart, Molly & Grandma Norvina in downtown Davenport, IA	Bart and Molly playing in Galesburg, IL

While not being a huge rock and roll history buff, I've heard Don McClean's song American Pie, knew of its significance, and even knew the dreadful plane crash had happened somewhere in Iowa.  The first leg of my Great River Road tour brought us south on I-35 near Clear Lake, Iowa, which is precisely where Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper played their finale venue at the Surf Ballroom before flying out on that fateful night.  You can read more about the tragedy at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died or http://www.fiftiesweb.com/crash.htm.

There are a pair of virtual geocaches in the Clear Lake area so as everyone knows, if there's a geocache, I'll stop anywhere.  Holly Shrine (GC6780) is located at the actual crash site and The Day The Music Died (GC8519) is located at the Surf Ballroom in downtown Clear Lake.

Enjoy the photographs..

The trail head to ground zero is located at 315th St and Gull Ave N 43° 13.222 W 093° 22.470	Molly & her Grandma Norvina walking the field to the site	The shrine is located literally in the middle of private property N 43° 13.222 W 093° 22.885
Bart, Molly & Grandma Norvina at the crash site	The Surf Ballroom located in Clear Lake, IA	The original box office at the Surf Ballroom

I had the privilege of being invited along on a paddle of Wisconsin's Kinnickinnic River today.  John Simpson and children were in one boat and Anna and me in another.  The paddle from River Falls to the confluence at the St. Croix River was just over 12 river miles in length with an elevation drop of approximately 130 feet.

Overall the trip was very enjoyable but a lot of work.  It is safe to say that this was the toughest paddling adventure I've ever been on.  The river was a bit on the low side.  Four more inches of water, or even lower draft kayaks, would have made a world of difference.  Generally, the river was fairly clear with only a few obstacles.  There were a few occasions where we had to drag the boat over sand bars or around the fallen tree.  But those times where the water was perfect and your boat was shot down stream more than made up for it.  The toughest part of the journey was getting the boat out of the water and up to the parking lot at Kinnickinnic State Park up above.  If you review the elevation graph, you'll notice the two peaks at the end of the trip.  Those peaks represent the brutal 1690 foot (.33 mile), 160 foot elevation change, portage up to the lot (some of us made the trip twice).

Enjoy the photographs..

The track log of the Kinnickinnic River paddle

An elevation profile of the Kinnickinnic River paddle

Anna and the Simpson gang taking a break

I took a rare day off of work today and continued my journey into attempting to visit every state park within Minnesota for the second straight year.  I managed to visit 6 state parks today along the 336 mile journey.  The state parks I visited were:  Carley, Whitewater, Beaver Creek Valley, Great River Bluffs, John A. Latsch, and Frontenac.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

Carley State Park	Whitewater State Park	Beaver Creek Valley State Park
The trout stream at Beaver Creek Valley State Park	Carvings in the sandstone near Como Falls, Hokah, MN	Como Falls located in Hokah, MN
Great River Bluffs State Park	John A. Latsch State Park	Frontenac State Park

I managed to slip away for part of the day for a state park tour of southwestern Minnesota.  I managed to stop at 4 state parks during the 438 mile journey.  The state parks included:  Kilen Woods, Lake Shetek, Split Rock Creek and Blue Mounds.  I topped off the day by completing a very fun geocache called Are You Up For It? (GC1R7CZ) by threenow24 located in Blue Earth, MN.  It was rated a 1.5 difficulty and 4.5 stars for terrain.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

Kilen Woods State Park	Lake Shetek State Park	Split Rock Creek State Park
Dandelion at Split Rock Creek State Park	The quartzite bridge at Split Rock Creek State Park	Blue Mounds State Park
Bart sitting atop a quartzite outcropping at Blue Mounds State Park	A prickly pair cactus growing amongst the Quartzite at Blue Mounds State Park	Bart atop the railroad bridge abuttment in Blue Earth, MN

On a recent trip to Minnesota's great northwest, I had the opportunity to visit The Penturen Church.  The very isolated chapel is located deep within the Beltrami Island Forest, directly on the border between Roseau and Lake of the Woods counties, approximately 1 mile north of Beltrami county.  The only way to approach the chapel is by forest and minimum maintenance roads.  The nearest blacktop highway is 24 miles to the south or 12 miles to the north.  Hayes Lake State Park is to the northwest.  My Verizon phone did not show any cellular service within two miles of any blacktop surface.  This location is without a doubt, the, most, remote spot I've ever been in within the state of Minnesota.

The chapel was built back in the day when the first settlers came into the area to log.  The building standing there today is not the original structure.  At some point in time, by either degradation or by fire, the building was destroyed and the building you see today was rebuilt to replace the original.  The chapel itself remains open 24 hours a day for all to experience.  On the altar there is a guestbook that indicates hundreds of people have visited over the years.  Beside the guestbook, a fishbowl is stuffed with donations to be applied towards chapel maintenance.

If you're ever in this area and you enjoy out of the ordinary sites, The Penturen Church might be of interest to you.  Even if prayer is not your thing, this important piece of history lost in the hinterlands of Minnesota, is an excellent experience.  And for those that are interested, there also happens to be a geocache (GCKN93) located in the woods about 400' behind the chapel.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

The entrance to the property.	Front view of the chapel.	Side view of the chapel.
The pulpit, contructed of  SPF plywood siding.	Full view of the pulpit and altar.	The church bell.

I really struggle with these made up holidays; Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, you get the picture.  When Nene mentioned to me that we'd be doing something outside today as a family my interest was piqued.  When I was told that it was decided we'd go for a bike ride along the Cannon Valley Trail, I was elated, and tried with all my might to keep from showing my excitement.  This wasn't going to be a geocaching trip but it was the next best thing.

I've been on the Cannon Valley Trail before but only in short fragments while exploring around.  If canoeing the Cannon River was any indication of the views and scenery I could expect, I knew I would not be disappointed.  And I wasn't.  The trip today made clear to me that the required trail pass for this excursion is well worth the $3/each we should have paid.

The Cannon Valley Trail is a privately owned, paved bike trail, along a former railroad bed.  It stretches from Cannon Falls to Red Wing which is roughly a 16 mile ride.  Nene, Sheila, Anna, Laura and Matthew rode the first 3 miles of the trail and then headed back for a 6 mile round trip.  Molly, Ryan and me continued on and rode the trail to the Welch station for a ride of 12.25 miles.  While Molly sat and rested, Ryan and I continued another mile down the trail to grab a nearby Hybrid Letterbox (geocache).  The total distance for Ryan and myself was 13.75 miles.  Nene and Sheila drove around to Welch where we all met to make our way home.

The 13.75 mile route we followed along the Cannon Valley Trail

A graph of the elevation profile along our route.  I'd like to point out that the first 3 miles were all up hill.  The little ones peddled that distance on their own using their training wheels.

After a family dinner at Famous Daves, I called on my own mother to wish her Happy Mother's.  It was only by coincidence that a brand new cache had just been published in Farmington.  I picked her up and attempted to score the FTF on the cache.  Not only did we score FTF, but we managed to score a FTF on another cache published in the same area yesterday.

So, all in a days work, an extended bike trip, dinner at Famous Daves, geocaching with a pair of FTF's to boot..  it really is, Happy Mother's Day to me.  Thank you to my beautiful family.

The Minnesota State Park Geocaching History Challenge last year was such a success, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has decided to do it again.  Except, this time, Minnesota critters are being used as the theme and geocachers will have all of three years to complete the challenge instead of 7 months.  On Saturday, May 2nd, 2009, the Minnesota State Parks Geocaching Wildlife Safari Challenge went live with a geocache hidden in each of the 72 state parks.  The challenge was introduced to the public during an event held in conjuction with the Minnesota Geocaching Association at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park.  In addition to kicking off the new challenge, the event also gathered together those that completed last years challenge for a photo opportunity.

Click here to see the finalists of the 2008 Geocaching History Challenge

Following Saturday's kick-off event, I managed to visit four state parks:  Mille Lacs Kathio, Crow Wing, Charles A. Lindberg, and Father Hennepin.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

A fragment of the 194 attendees on the event log	The 2008 Geocaching History Challenge Finalists	Mille Lacs Kathio State Park
Crow Wing State Park	Charles A. Lindberg State Park	Father Hennepin State Park