Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 26, 2020 · 3:32 pm

The Ghost of GnomePa on the Lincoln Trail

In 2016, Grandma died.

In 2017, Grandpa took off with me to visit all the state parks in Illinois. We left on our first trip two days after Christmas in the winter of that year. The temperature was -2 F. When we reached Starved Rock State Park, he pulled out his CAT orange stocking hat and immediately transformed into Gnomepa. We only made it on two trips. In the fall of 2018, Gnomepa succumbed to illness. His last words to me: “I wish we were at the Ice.”

The mission continues…

August 2020, during this journey my cousin and I visit parks #21-24 out of 72. Fox Ridge, Eagle Creek, Wolf Creek, and Ramsey Lake State Park. Plus we added on State Historic Sites: Lincoln Cabin, Monroe House, and Vandalia First State Capitol.

GnomePa in the Ice

Careful Communion in the Time of Covid

On the Lincoln Trail in Charleston Illinois

Illinois treats Lincoln Well

Like Living in the 1850’s

GnomePa would have said “This is Cool!”

Eastern Illinois Pioneers

A working farm

White Oaks of Some Sort

Grandpa loved the woods

And trails to the river

And Sandbars

August was kind to us

living creatures of all kinds

The Monarch still rules

Ramsey Lake

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Filed under American History, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

Tagged as gnomepa, Illinois, Lincoln, state parks

August 3, 2020 · 3:03 pm

Atoning for our Sins

The Dakota Sioux controlled this quarry from 1700 to the mid 1850’s before American settlement started poaching the valuable mineral. This red/brown stone was soft enough to carve and durable enough to last centuries. Ceremonial pipes carved from the rock for thousands of years. This stone made its way all over the Americas before the Europeans arrived. The one square mile site is a sacred place for the Plains Indians even today. The United States government protected this valuable commodity and gave exclusive quarrying rights to the Sioux. The rest of us can still respectively enjoy the stunning red quartzite cliffs, the flowering prairie, and the waterfall fed forest.

An American Indian Monument

A quarry no longer used

This is either the pipestone or quartzite

regardless of type its stunning

The Town of Pipestone used Quartzite

The quartzite is abundant

The pipestone is much deeper underground

The trails through this monument surprise

sacred land for the Sioux and Crow

Minnesota – hard to believe

3/4 mile trail it’s worth an hour of your time

Active Quarry for American Indians

U.S. History omits the horror of assimilation

The trail surrounds a prairie

a river runs through the land

wild bergamont

lizard’s tail

Sacred ceremonies still continue

A peaceful place to commune with nature

Connections

Becoming a Voyageur

I ran into an off duty park ranger at the historic Kettle Falls Lodge in Voyageurs National Park. After we exchanged pleasantries, discovering we were both from a St Louis county in two different states, and joking about the St Louis Arch becoming a National Park, he asked, “Why did you come to up here? Let me guess – you have a list?” He continued to complain to me that the people of the lists just stop at the visitor centers and get “passport” stamps and never really see Voyageurs. He shook his head slowly.

Of course I have a list. This is my 50th National Park out of the current number of 62. My group had rented a boat and were seeing the park. I don’t think the ranger noticed. He may have just wanted to preach a bit. He finally sped away in his speedboat equipped with dual 150HP motors leaving us to slowly explore the park in our 50 HP powered, dinted pontoon boat. Pre-Cambrian rocks 2.8 Billion years old