Walking in York

I've been working on my USA A-Z walks and that's what brought me to York, NE to get Y.  I did this walk with a friend, a most unusual activity for me, because I usually walk alone. That made 10K go by very quickly, but I find on the other hand, that I didn't take very many pictures.

We arrived at York about mid-day, in fact started out around 12 Noon, perfect weather for a walk.

By mistake we missed a corner to 2nd Street, but then after another block my friend looked left and said, "That's a great restaurant." Consulting our maps we found we could turn on 6th Street and end up at much the same place. After walking a bit, we were glad for this mistake because  it took us down a street of huge, beautiful old homes.

There were many, many and this one took my eye because of the blue, which is one of my favorite colors. (After returning home we did a search on the Internet trying to understand the source of the wealth that built these houses, mostly during the first  years of the 20th century. All we could determine is that once York had many small manufacturing companies -- perhaps that created the wealth.)

Nearby I found a beautiful fence with a spring garden surrounding it.

I also liked this sculpture in front of the public library. It reminded me of a similar sculpture in Chanhassen, MN. (See April posts for walking in Chanhassen.)

Our walk took us around a city park also displaying spring flowers.

 Then we entered the York College campus.

The new copper roof on the Prayer Chapel looked stunning against the clouds.

Our walk then literally took us out into the country. We walked about 4K on farm roads and then found ourselves at the county fair grounds. Benches under trees were a welcome sight! We enjoyed a bit of rest here.

A few more steps brought us to the 4-H Building with a historical marker about the start of 4-H in Nebraska.

Soon we were back on 5th Street and the route took us right by the Chances R restaurant. We stopped for a wonderful lunch. So glad my friend was with me, for even had I walked by, I might not have stopped, not realizing what a treat this restaurant is.

Once done we had only 3 blocks to walk to the ending point.We were sitting down to lunch at 2:20, so we walked the 10 K is just a bit more than 2 hours, allowing for our rest at the county fairgrounds. Not too bad for two grandmothers!

Visiting Museums in Lincoln

Part of my reason for being in this area is to do a walk in York, NE. My friend said if I could wait until tomorrow than she could go with me. Good plan, for this morning was cloudy and cool. Tomorrow can only be better.

Instead we visiting two museums in Lincoln. Our first stop was the Nebraska History Museum. One exhibit is about the Terri Lee Dolls that were made here in Lincoln for awhile. The exhibit shows a young mother had the idea for a doll, and went into business with her aunt, who rather took over and left the young mother without much say in the business.

The first dolls came out in 1946. They were first made with ethyl cellulose. Each face was hand-painted. They were to be the same and yet each is just a bit different.

If you look carefully you will notice the doll in the upper picture has lower lid eyelashes while the doll on the bottom does not.

This company was a leader in make dolls for African-American kids. The first dolls from the company were sold in 1946 and these dolls were ready for the market for Christmas, 1947.

Another exhibit involves Nebraska's activities during 20th century wars.

Above is a Patriot truck manufactured in Nebraska during World War 1. Below is a scooter, also produced in Nebraska during World War II. This scooter was designed to be dropped by parachute to troops behind enemy lines.

Our next stop was at the Pho Factory, a Vietnamese restaurant, for lunch.

This is a beautifully decorated restaurant and oh my! is the food good.

Our next stop was Lux Center, a small art gallery. It presently has an exhibit called Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup -- actually the bones in an ear. The objects in the exhibit all make sounds.

Here is a video of one. I had to hold the camera and make the sounds at the same time, so the video is a bit jerky. Sorry.

This exhibit is really fun! A great day in Lincoln.

A Stop at Winnebago

I traveled from Sioux City towards Fremont, Nebraska where I planned to do another walk. On the way I went through Winnebago, NE, the town within the Nebraska Winnebago Indian Reservation. I was surprised to see Ho-Chunk on signs for I associate this with groups in Wisconsin, but some later study on the Internet helped me understand that Ho-Chunk are also in Nebraska, having been forcibly removed here from Minnesota territory. This happened even though the Winnebago were neutral during the time of the Dakota-USA war. I also learned that Winnebago is the name given to this group by the Algonquin tribe. Europeans encountered the Algonquin first and so adopted the name, Winnebago, rather than Ho-Chunk which is what this group calls themselves.

I turned off the highway, first following a sign to Little Priest Tribal College. 

Follow the link above to learn more about this tribal college.

I worked my way back to the school building and parked on a side street.

While taking this picture a man came out of his house and called to me, "Hey! Did you see the buffalo too?" Wanting him to understand I wanted this picture for an English teaching project, I walked over to explain to him what I was doing. Later I thought I should have told him there are buffalo in Poland. I'm sure that would have surprised him!

Nest he asked if I had gone to the Statue Garden.  I told him I had seen a sign for it, but didn't understand what it meant. He went on to explain that the tribe is divided into clans and these statues explain that.

I went back to this area and was glad I did. The tribe had and has a very wise way of managing its community.

The statues were arranged in large circle. Above is a representative view of the Bear Clan. The Bear Clan are responsible for activities pertaining to the earth, including police/peace-keeping functions.

The Elk clan members are responsible for actions pertaining to the maintenance of fire. Certainly before the advent of electricity this would have been an very important function.

The Wolf Clan is and was in charge of public health and safety.

There were about 10 of these statues -- I'm not posting all of them. I'm certain you can get the idea of how the clans take care of the community.

I was so glad that the gentleman had suggested I double-back and visit the Statue Garden.

Near the Statue Garden I saw a nice playground.

Also there were new apartment buildings in this area. 

I had driven through this area about 10 years ago, and it was obvious the area is now more prosperous. Yes, this group does have some casinos, but also if you follow the link at the beginning of this blog, you will learn the tribe operates a development corporation that does activities ranging from construction to accounting to human resource work. This corporation is doing business in 10 states as well as three foreign countries.

It was raining when I got to Fremont, didn't do the walk, went right ahead to Lincoln, but I'm so glad I went by this route, for it was certainly a good stop in Winnebago.

Walking Along the Missouri River

I made a trek to the Sioux City area to do a 10K walk. I searched for a walk in a city that starts with N and when I discovered the walk in the Adam Homestead and Nature Preserve it sounded very interesting. The walk starts with N because the Nature Preserve is located in North Sioux City, South Dakota.

It was a 20 minute drive from my hotel room to the nature preserve. The directions said to look for the big white barn and there it was.

 This structure, fairly new construction, operates as a visitor center and office for the park. I walked in and couldn't find anyone. I looked around in corners and other usual places for the walk box and couldn't find it. Outside was a school group and I thought the staff was probably with the children. I walked out and found a park ranger. She said she would be bringing a group of children in soon and would help me then.

It was really fun to be around these kids. They were probably 4th graders. They were so enthusiastic about anything they found. It's good to see "city kids" getting out in nature.

After getting registered I headed out with the map and followed a trail to the Homestead. I learned this property had been given to South Dakota by Maud and Mary Adams. Fitting that I came to this place. Both of these women were nurses, and both nurse educators: one served for a time as the Dean of Nursing at South Dakota State University and the other headed the nursing program at Morningside College, here in Sioux Falls.

Their grandfather was a Union soldier in the Civil War and used his benefit to homestead to get this land.

 This is the Broussard Cabin, moved here from a nearby area to show the type of cabin settlers built upon arrival. The Adams cabin didn't survive.

Nearby was the house built in the late 19th century.

 This house has been renovated for living in the 21st century, but the sign about the house showed a picture of it in the early 20th century and one could see it was certainly the same house.

Of course a farm needed to have a barn, and of course at this time, all barns were painted red.

Within this museum area is another house, the Shay-Adams House.

Since Adams is part of the name, I guessed this home belonged to a relative. This house was moved onto the farm to prevent the drifting sands of the Missouri River from covering it. (More about that later in this blog.) Near this house, too I found bluebells.

These are one of my favorite early spring flowers.

This area also included a church.

This church originally was built 11 miles away, dedicated in 1906. All the members were from Stavanger, Norway and Norwegian was spoken within the church.

The last building moved here is a school house.

I was wondering where to find the River Loop trail all the time walking around here. Decided to walk back to the Visitor Center to ask directions.

 On my way I found this noisy goose.

By the Visitor Center I found poles marking trails that I had missed and was soon off on the walk.

The walk was on a limestone covered trail through light forest, sometimes with cornfields on one side.

After about 45 minutes of walking I was glad to find a blind.

 I was ready for a rest after walking continuously for more than an hour. And a blind is good for finding out why my phone is telling me to pay attention. Thought it might again be a student in a panic, but no just announcing normal e-mail arriving.

And then suddenly the trail changed and the area looked as if I had arrived at a desert.

 I had thought about walking as far as  the river overlook for my first rest, and was so glad I didn't. As you can see above it is totally drifted with sand.

Maybe you can see why I thought I had arrived in a desert.

Along; the shore I found this lovely and interesting wind-borne sculpture.

And here's what the river shore looks like. I finally understood all the stories I had heard about the drifting sands of the Missouri River.

I slogged through sand for about another five minutes and then I back into the light forest area. I stopped to rest at another blind further down the trail. Then finally I was walking across Cottonwoods Crossing and then it was only a short walk back to the Visitor Center.

This was really a great walk. 

From Saint Paul to Sioux City

Yesterday I took an afternoon drive from Saint Paul to Sioux City, Iowa. I didn't see any snow, but many places there is a lot of standing water in the ditches, probably left there from recent snow melts.

Agriculture is very delayed. In the long drive I saw only two farmers out in the fields doing anything, and those were on the Iowa/Minnesota border.

While driving my phone told me I had mail and wondering if I was hearing from a student in a panic. So I stopped at a rest stop along Highway 60. Yes, a student was in a panic, but later when I opened up the computer I found she had done the assignment she thought she had missed.

At this rest stop I spent a bit of time enjoying the birds at the bird feeder.

Miles down the road red train engines caught my eye. I double-backed through the side streets of the little town of Hinton, IA to take this photo.

Really sharp looking!

Many things in this part of the state carry the name, Floyd. Floyd was the quartermaster of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He died in August, 1084 in this area, the only member of the group to die during the expedition. It is now believed he had a ruptured appendix, a health condition that defied treatment on top of bluff over the Missouri River in 1804.

Now the next story will be a 10K walk in this area.

Spring Maybe?

Today was a big music Sunday at my church. I'm on the support team for the music program so I was one of the volunteers that prepared snacks for the choirs to enjoy in the break between the 9:00 and 11:00 services. I usually go to the 4:30, but stayed for the 11:00 since I was there. Then home for a light lunch and little nap since I had awakened at 5:30 AM this morning.

This afternoon is quiet and beautiful, so I took a little walk along the river to try to determine the river depth. (I had on flip-flops finally -- called klopki in Polish -- love that word, it's just how they sound.)  After the drought of last summer the river has been really, really low.

The first thing I noticed is that pleasure boats are out. Maybe they've been there before but this is the first time I've seen them this spring. Their use of the river is a bit restricted right now, however, because Lock #1 is closed due to fast river current.

The footing on the High Bridge has markers on it to tell boat captains the clearance between the river level and the arch on the High Bridge. Today I could see the river is finally at "normal" level.

During the floods of 2010 and 2011 these supports were totally submerged with the river being 15 feet higher than it is today.

Walked back along the sidewalk to the front of my building. Here's a view of the spring flowers.

For several days this week these have been covered up with a blanket as we endured the last cold days of winter -- hopefully!

Festival of Nations

In 1922 a Festival of Nations celebration began in Saint Paul. It continues to this day. Yesterday I walked up to the Xcel Center where it is held. It has been several years since I've attended the Festival and everything was in a new place.

After getting a ticket I took an escalator down one level and was immediately in the Cafe. Many groups representing countries or culture have booths selling food. It was 12:30 pm so I was interested.

Here is the Hungarian booth and not to any surprise, one dish was gulyas.

But it looked like "American gulyas" not Hungarian gulyas, so I walked on.

I enjoyed seeing the hats that are prominent in many cultures.

Above is the Colombian booth.

I wandered about until I got to Norway and got a rice pudding with lingonberries. This is one of my favorite ethnic foods, even though I'm not a bit Norwegian. Actually began eating this at the Norway Pavilion at Disney World!

Then another turn around the cafe and I stopped at the Polish booth.

I got a serving of sernik with cherries. I took this over to the Cafe Stage and sat and enjoyed musical performances while I ate the sernik.

My next stop was the bazaar. Below is a photo of the Ghana booth, largely clothing.

 This area also had some demonstrations of cultural arts. Below is a woman showing Slovak straw weaving.

My next stop was the World Stage. Here were dance performances. Below is a German group with a bit of May Pole dance. According to the narration, the idea of dancing around a May Pole began in ancient German culture.

And here is a long video of a group of Polish dancers from the Kashubian area. The narration for this dance explained it represents the sea; the Kashubians live close to or on the Baltic.

 
After watching dancing for more than an hour, I went to the booths showing simply culture -- nothing to sell.

 Here are a group playing a Yemeni game.

The Hungarian culture booth had an exhibit about the Children's Railroad in Budapest. I had a lovely visit with the woman at this booth as we discussed Budapest, Pecs, and Targu Mures, her home town.

I kept looking and looking for the Romanian booth.

Finally read the fine print on this sign and discovered these countries were not participating in Festival of Nations this year because the dates coincided with Orthodox Easter. They will be back next year when the calendar puts Easter on a different date.

It was now about 4:00 and I was a bit hungry so I went back to the food booth area and got a kielbasa. Oh, it was good!

I had good intentions of watching more musicians and dancers but I was really on stimulus overload and decided after 6 hours to walk back home.

Outdoors it seemed like the world had changed. The sun was out and the breeze was warm.

My path towards home takes me to the Science Museum Plaza. Here I found a wedding party gathering for a photo.

 This shows that the Festival of Nations exists in the real world, too, in Saint Paul.