From Teddy Roosevelt NP to NY

Wild horses in Teddy Roosevelt.

After we left the Dakotas, we commented on how we missed the buffalo and wild horses.  There are places in this country that throw you back to a radically different way of life. It is a wonder that this country has remained unified and directed with anything like a common purpose.  So often out west, we'd encounter people who live half a day's pickup ride from anyone else.  In those circumstances, things like electric cars seem silly.  Then we get to places like Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, or NYC and the contrasts are profound.




All the problems with high water this spring start up here in the upper Midwest. Every stream and river eventually flows into the Mississippi.  Even in
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota the rivers are

used for commercial purposes.  The whole system is enormous.

Coon Rapids NP near Minneapolis and a NP service area at Jay Cooke State Park were nice finds.  From there it was on to the Upper Peninsula where we visited the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Park and Father Marquette National Monument near St. Ignace, MI.  Just over the bridge and you find the Sleeping Bear Dunes, a big surprise for us.  It's a quarter of a mile, nearly straight down, to the shore from the top o f the main dunes. It was fun watching kids rolling 400 yards down to the water and then cryng for parents to carry them back to the top.

Nice sport for a nap, don't you think?

Gigantic or awesome as the kids would say.

After the James Garfield House outside of Cleveland, we got home to central NY having started an adventure that would take us into New England, down through NJ and Penn., and down the east coast to Florida.