Bonne Terre, Missouri Trip.

Bonne Terre, Missouri trip



So, we took a trip to Missouri several months ago During the lock down, to escape Illinois. As we left the state we stopped to pay our respects to ol' Popeye. . Then, we crossed the bridge to freedom.

Our first stop was to hike at Hawn State Park. It was a beautiful day! After the hike we stopped at a road side business and bought some yard art.

If you want freedom, sometimes you gotta run to the hills. So, we went up to Bonne Terre, Mo. Where we stayed in a caboose, at a historic depot.

After checking in we went and ate lunch in a real restaurant, at a place called Hub's. We had salads, fried mushrooms, and Chicken Wangs! It was great! Then, we had dinner that evening in Farmington at a place called the 102 Tap House. We had wood fired Pizza and Pasta.

We did some sight seeing at St. Francois State Park.  Where people were floating in the river. It looked like a great place to do a float trip, and they have a business set up for that purpose called Cherokee Landing

 

Bonne Terre has an old mine that can be toured by walking or by boat. You can also go Scuba diving down in the mine.  Bonne Terre was built around this old lead mine.

It was just a short get away, so it was time for us to go, way too soon.  As we left Bonne Terre, we stopped at a flea market and bought some more yard art.

Then, we went down to St. Genevieve, Mo.  where we played disc golf. Afterward, we were drenched with sweat on the humid day so we washed up in a bathroom. Then, we went shopping in the historic district, where we bought some ice cream and a fancy bra, while checking out the historic French Creole buildings.

We were going to ride the ferry back across the river, to the Illinois territory, but it was closed due to flooding.

We greatly enjoyed our trip. It was much needed. The cost was low, and could be made much lower by camping and picnicking.

Alexandria, Virginia

Around the beginning of March, my wife and I took a trip to Washington D.C. it was a work trip for her. But, we decided to tack on a couple of days for ourselves. So, instead of spending money on each other for Valentines day, we used the money to go to Alexandria, Virginia. This photo essay is about Alexandria. I will do one on D.C. later on. We really loved Alexandria.

Alexandria Virginia is one of the oldest towns in the country. It is about 20 minutes from D.C., and is where a lot of history took place.  Robert E. Lee, John L. Lewis, and Jim Morrison lived in Alexandria.

Alexandria is right on the Potomac River, and has a beautiful river front. It is home to the largest working art museum in America, located inside an old torpedo factory.

Old Town Alexandria is full of history. Every where you turn there's a plaque on an old brick wall talking about who did what in this building. We ran across the home of Robert E. Lee, John L. Lewis, and Gadsby's Tavern which has served dinner since 1770, and served most of the founding fathers. The historic district is full of art museums, restaurants, and shops of all kinds. The seafood was delightful.

We went to George Washington's Mount Vernon, which was where the General has his working farm. It was a wonderful place.

This is the back of the General's house. When you arrive, you purchase a ticket to tour the house. Then, they move you through it and you end up outside here in the back yard. This porch is lined with rocking chairs that overlook the Potomac.

This is the view from the porch. The government has purchased all the land on the other side of the river, in order to ensure that the view remains exactly as Washington would have seen it.

This is Washington's Tomb. I was surprised, because compared to Lincoln's Tomb. Washington's is very modest.

After you see Washington's Tomb, you can go down another path, through this arched entry, that leads to where the enslaved people who worked the farm, were buried on a hillside. There was no marker until research was done to find where they were. It's hard to reconcile the fact that the father of our country who fought for freedom, and helped create the Constitution, had slaves and buried them in an unmarked grave, like they were old mules. But, I guess that a lot of rich powerful people have buried poor workers in unmarked graves throughout history, regardless of skin color. Why should he be any different? Some people sit in luxury, while others suffer and die to keep them there. That happens today, as much as it did back then.

This is the sculpture that is in the visitor's center where you first come in, and buy your ticket.

This is the wharf at the bottom of the hill below the house. It sits on the Potomac. Washington had a pretty good spread. He loved farming, and put every part of his land to that use. It's a pretty awesome farm.

This is the mill where the grain was threshed out. Washington spent time designing it to make sure it served his needs.

While in Alexandria, we also visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey house.

We try to find Frank Lloyd Wright houses every place we travel. This one is one of my favorites.

This is the view from our hotel in the morning over the Potomac. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, right down on the river in Old Town. The art, shops, and restaurants are all in walking distance and the river front was right behind the building. It was delightful.

Alexandria, Virginia, has something for everyone, and we will be going back if able. We like the idea of spending our money on travel instead of wasting it on getting presents for holidays. If you calculate how much you spend on presents, going out to eat, and all of that it's a pretty good chunk. Then, if you spend some time trying to figure out how to make your money stretch, it's easy to travel more.  You only live once. That pretty piece of jewelry will sit in a box, long after you are in a box. Go live life.

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

     My wife and I traveled to Pittsburgh in December, and really enjoyed it. Here are some of the highlights in photos.

     Andy Warhol painting. Andy Warhol was from Pittsburgh and is huge there. They have a bridge named after him. They also have a museum of his life and work. I drank coffee there and did some writing in the cafe. This painting is cool to be because if you look on the side in the shadow, you can see a baby face. It shows the transition for birth to death in the skull.

     

     This is a Giacometti. In the Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum of Art. I like his sculptures. His most famous is "Walking man"

     

     Christmas tree. Pittsburgh goes all out for Christmas. Not sure where this was.

     

     Our happy suit case. I read that it's easier to find a bag at baggage claim if it is a bright color, because all bags are black.....but....colored bags get filthy from the handling in the plane. So, we are going to try a hard side colored bag. It might fair better.

     

     Our hotel. The Renaissance. It was nice. The restaurant was great. It was right down town in the cultural district so we could walk to art museums, the symphony, restaurants galore, the ice skating rink, and tons of other things.

     
      This is from the top of the Monongahela Incline looking down, at a river front area full of restaurants and shopping. There are two inclines the other is the Duquesne Incline. Which I irritated my wife, by continuing to call it the Du Quoin Incline. Which is the town we are from. These inclines were built back in the days when Pittsburgh had factories and mines in these areas. The inclines were elevators to bring workers and supplies up and down the mountain. Now they are form tourists and are really nice. We rode to the top and ate at the Shilloh Grill. There are whole neighborhoods, with stores and eateries on top of the mountain.

     
     This was at the Phipps Conservatory. They do a thing for Christmas.

     A Monet at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

     

     Van Gogh at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Normally you would not photograph the art. But, new digital photography doe not harm paintings like the old flash photos did. The museum encouraged it.

     

     Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece of architecture. He has works around the country and my wife, and I go and see them whenever we can. Pittsburgh has several, including his greatest.

     

     Fallingwater. This staircase comes out of the living room and down to the creek below.

      Pittsburgh has tons of bridges, and they painted them Steeler yellow. In the distant past several of the bridges were built and privately owned. The owners made them into toll bridges. You had to pay the toll to cross the bridges into the neighborhoods where all the millionaires lived. Pittsburgh at one time had the greatest concentration of millionaires in the world, because of steel, coal, factories, etc.. The workers could not pay the toll and therefore could not go into the rich areas. In later years, the city and state passed laws demanding bridge maintenance, that became too costly for private ownership to to maintain. So, the city acquired the bridges. I did not have to pay a toll to go and cavort in the rich neighborhoods where I did not belong.

      Close-up of Pittsburgh skyline.

      The Rachel Carson Homestead. She is the author of the book "Silent Spring" which started the environmental movement. The book basically told about the fact that we are killing off all the birds and other wildlife with DDT pesticide. For some reason the house was closed. I guess we were supposed to make an appointment to tour the house. But, walking around peeking in windows is free, and I'm pretty good at making up my own narrative. There's a wonderful nature trail behind the house. I assume that in the day it was built, it was in the country. It is no longer in the country.

     

     The National Aviary was great. It was full of all kinds of birds, and the penguins were hilarious. There was also a Virtual Reality flight simulator, where you flew like you were a pterodactyl in dinosaur days. It was freaky. You could soar and fly past dinosaurs, and it seemed like you were there. It would let you dive underwater in the lake, and come back out. I flew into a mountain and died. It actually was a shock to my system. The brain cannot differentiate, between whether it's real or not, so you get this fear of death and the shock when you hit, even though it's not real. It makes me wonder if it actually really does kill you, but, you die years later from ailment unrelated.
    
  

     Bird at the Aviary. He followed us around cawing.

     Home of the Pirates

      Street art

      This was a park down town, where people could hang out. I think those people were inside that thing smoking dope.

      This is a mural on the side of a building. Pittsburgh has tons of murals like this. This reminds me of the Jetson's but I think it's Pittsburgh in the Jetson's

      Street art. These are big musicians. I ate some pizza for lunch down the road from here. The cultural district has lots of these things, and galleries to view.

     Homeless person. There were many that I encountered as I walked around down town. One guy asked me if I could buy him some candy at the candy store. So, we went inside and I told him to get whatever he wanted. After a few minutes, he came up with about 10 candy bars. I figured he would grab only one or two. Note to self....the phrase "get whatever you want" can be interpreted in different ways. So, I was at the checkout, and before I could pay he asked if I could give him money to go see his momma. So, I told him that he had to pick between the candy bars or momma. He chose momma, oddly enough. So, I gave him the money, and he took off to visit his mom. (I know what you are thinking. I have no clue what he did with the money, and honestly I don't care. I assume he went to the local crack dealer and enjoyed his day in an alley somewhere. But, honestly I can't prove that. I'm just called to give and love. If I had his life, I'd probably be smoking crack and drinking too. If you are so worried about homeless people bumming and drinking then why don't you do something about it. And yes, you can.) Later that day I was walking down the sidewalk, when a guy with no legs flew past me in a wheel chair. He had a cup of popcorn in his lap and was the happiest guy in the world. He wheeled into a little bus stop area and waited for the bus. I walked past and went to the corner to wait on the light. I saw him lean over in his chair to thrown his blanket over his stump, when all his popcorn fell out on the ground. He cussed up a blue streak. I almost died trying not to laugh. Then, lickety split, he leaned over in his chair somehow and picked up every stitch of popcorn. Then he rolled over to the trash can and threw it inside. I walked up to him and handed him some money. He looked at me and said "What's this for?" I thought I was in trouble, and had insulted him. So, I said "I saw you spill your popcorn, and pick it all up. I felt bad about it, and wanted to get you some more." He smiled, took the money, said "God bless you" and rolled off down the side walk like a shot. He was the happiest man in the world again, as we rolled toward the liquor store...I mean.. the popcorn stand. If I didn't have legs I might be rolling around Pittsburgh drunk too. But, I honestly cannot say what he did. I just hope he's happy..

      This is one of the other Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the area. Kentuck Knob, It was built after Fallingwater.

      Windows outside. They all are doors that open up into the living room. Frank Lloyd Wright, was about bring the beauty of nature into the home and architecture. His designs used native stone, and incorporated the natural lines of the area.

      Frank's official panel on his houses. The older ones don't have it. Kentucj Knob was built in the latter days of his life.

     Kentuck Knob Balcony: All those doors open up from the living room onto the balcony. It did not need air Conditioning.

     

     The view from Kentuck Knob

      We hiked some trails at the Ohiopyle State park, and had lunch at an outfitters. The town of Ohiopyle is completely given over to the life of Kayaking, Hiking, Mountain Biking, Camping, Rock Climbing, and all things adventure athletics. The eateries, stores, lodges, camp grounds, the whole thing is themed for the outdoors adventurist. There were lots of hippies. They had backpacks and beards. But, they were not like real hippies, because they had all the best Northface gear. It was hiking boots, hippies and vegan burgers every where. We talked about going back and kayaking the river, and doing more hiking there.

      The river we want to Kayak.

      A Trestle high above the trail we were hiking. At this point we were lost and had gotten off the path somehow.. And yet there was a path we were on. My wife saved the day when she pulled out the phone and found us in the woods, and showed that we were only a little ways off the main trail. Which is what I figured. Sometimes, I feel like Google is snatching my manhood and sense of adventure. The women and their magic boxes of truth have all the power now.. Gone are the days when you could feed a female a line of hooey and she would believe you. Now she googles it. Google has ruined everything.

      This was a cool wooden bridge that went over the river and into the town

     Images from the Phipps Conservatory

     

     We went to the Symphony here to see Handle's Messiah.. It was down the street from the Renaissance hotel. Where we were staying. It is also a historic building. In it's day, it was the largest theater, west of New York. Here's a article about it from my blog:
https://tripplannerblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/heinz-hall-pittsburgh-pa.html

      Pittsburgh Skyline. These are the highlights of our trip. I enjoyed it and took tons of other pics, but I assume people have lives, and don't want to sit and look at my stuff all day. Pittsburgh is a great place if you get the chance to go there. They have tons of sports, shopping, it's a place where the people care, and our proud of their home.