#32, New York NY (Been There, Born There)

Ah, New York. It was a lot different back when I was born. As a young child I had to do a report on what Long Island was like decades before that and found out it was even different from what I knew. By talking to an older person who had lived there from the early 1900's I discovered that potatoes were grown out on the island away from the city. For decades this was one of the top five locations in the country for potatoes. But after the war demand for housing kept pushing out into Long Island and many of the farms were gobbled up by developers. Fun Fact: Potatoes are still grown on Long Island though only about 1,000 to 3,000 acres total now. It was here on Long Island where I was born into this world.

The original church building

I had a good childhood. In the morning on school days we'd all march down to the corner and wait for the bus. It was less than a mile to school but we all got a bus ride. When I got a little older I walked the 8/10 miles distance, sometimes stopping off at a friends house that had a big slot car track. Kids back then did kid things all by themselves or with friends. We would get all the neighborhood kids together with their bikes and play cowboys and Indians. Don't remember what the rules were but we sure had fun on the bikes. Across the street from our house was an empty field and I used to fly kites. And then there were the times when a bunch of us kids would all ride our bikes down to the local park and stay there all day. We used to make up our own games but we just had fun.

New church sanctuary

Since my dad was a minister you could say life centered around the church. As a young man he shared the life-changing message of the Gospel and many lives were touched in that area. He led the renovation of the original church and the addition of a new sanctuary in the 1960's which remains to this day. I was there for all of it, though I didn't fully understand it all. But I'm sure that such an upbringing led me to the place where I followed in the footsteps of my dad.

New church addition

I had just finished the first semester of seventh grade when our parents said we would be moving to Illinois to start a new life. I had just done a school report on The State of Illinois in the past year, and I had picked that state mostly because my aunt and uncle had moved there. I figured they could provide me with more information than I could find myself. Those were the days you had to go the the library or seek out brochures and books that covered what you were looking for. We didn't have any say in the matter, we just went with our parents. It would be a couple decades before we took a trip, with my dad driving our minivan, back to visit the old haunts from my childhood. My wife was with me and was more interested in all of it than I was.

The Empire State Building

Fast forward to 2005 and our Australian friends were visiting us in Lincoln, Illinois, and wanted us to go with them on a trip to New York City. For years as an adult I had not been able to speak about New York City on a personal level since we had not gone there much. I had never done the touristy things like going up in the Empire State Building or seeing the Statue of Liberty up close and personal, so my wife and I were onboard with that idea. We drove there in one very long ride and stayed in a New Jersey hotel for a couple days, taking the bus into the city and then walking around. This was less than four years after 9/11 and New York City was still somewhat subdued.

New York City in all its crowded glory

The Hudson River in the distance

The emptiness without the World Trade Center

Modern Art?

Statue of Liberty

I bought my first digital camera right before we left on our trip. This would be the first trip we'd ever taken in which I didn't have to skimp on how many photos I allowed myself to take. This time I probably took just over 300 total for the entire week in New York City and Niagara Falls. Compare that to 72 photos in two weeks traveling around Europe. The best part was how clear the photos were now. I had been taking photos for over thirty years with several different 35mm film cameras and even the best ones were limited to the developing process of film emulsion which left much to be desired. But that was all we knew. As you peruse these 50 states worth of photos and stories you will find how positively blurry 8mm movies looked. The 35mm was a larger negative and it was more defined than the movies. With digital photography the resolution was increased greatly. The Canon Powershot A95 that took these photos had a maximum resolution of 2592x1944 pixels, while my present Canon 60D DSLR sports a maximum of 5184x3456 pixels which is four times more pixels. The best part of digital has been that I can store them in the computer for easy retrieval. I must have disposed of all the negatives years back and they were deteriorating even back then. We've still got a lot of photos in their albums but then I have to find the ones I want and scan them in before I can add them to the blog. So just know that you can roughly determine the age of a photo by how clear or blurry it is.

Niagara Falls from the U.S. side

Niagara Falls from the Canada side

We drove to Niagara Falls for a couple days as that is a photographer's dream. Our Australian friends were both into photography, as he would take the still photos with his Canon DSLR and she would take videos with her video camera. Remember tha photo taking in 2005 with a mobile phone was not particularly worthwhile. In the two photos above I took the first one and he took the second. I'm not sure why I don't have that many of the Canado side but my guess is I hadn't gotten used to being able to take all you want. Plus I was enjoying the scenery in the moment. We needed our passports to get into Canada though it was breathtaking from both sides.

We made the trip back safe and sound, and then our friends were back on their way to Australia as they said goodbye to a picturesque vacation. At least we both have the photos to remember it by.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#31 New Mexico NM (Been There)

On our trip to Arizona in 2012 we came the southern route through Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. I do remember we had a tough time finding a gas station and nearly ran out of gas a time or two. After filling up during the second day we came across White Sands National Park and stopped to see that beautiful sight. Got a lot of pictures too, of which I'll share a handful.

White Sands Visitors Center

I was told some people were seen sledding down the hill

Didn't seem to mind the hot sand

The other side of a very large sand collection

Sunset in New Mexico

After several hours driving and seeing not much of anything we came into Arizona and found where our son and daughter-in-law lived. This was the beginning of our two-week adventure and I will remind you that it was between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In August. With bright sun every day. Ouch!

This was our one and only time in New Mexico. We didn't even come back through on the trip home as we were skittish after nearly getting stranded there on the way in.

Until next time,

Arktander
(aka David Andreasen)

#30, New Jersey NJ (Been There, Done That)

My fonder memories of New Jersey centered around vacation times while a kid in New York. My parents had a good friend who let them use their little cottage on a lagoon by the ocean near Staten Island. We went there many years and it was probably the first time we as kids all got to go out on the borrowed boat. It would be many more years until we learned to water ski. We also took trips to Atlantic City where I had my first taste of saltwater taffy. Still like it to this day. I get some handmade fresh water taffy whenever we go to Gatlinburg.

Heading out to the ocean

Playing in the waves

First time eating crabs

While we played in the sand and the water of Jones Beach not far from Brooklyn on the south side of Long Island, there was another place that we spent summers as us kids got older. Southwest of Jones Beach was the coast of northern New Jersey, just around the corner through the layrinth of streets and bridges. We had been given permission to use a friends summer house on a lagoon off the ocean, and that had allowed us the chance to use their boat while were there and go fishing while we rode on the waves. We would all put on those puffy orange life jackets and climb into the boats for a ride to the ocean and the smell of salt water. This was the only time and place we'd get to ride in a boat and we soaked it up as best we could. Sometimes we try fishing or putting out a trap and we seemed to catch more crabs than anything else. I remember one my mom caught a small white shark, less than a foot long, with a fishing pole. We got it off the hook and threw it back.

So that's how I know we had a great time in the ocean. We liked to go out every day in the ocean and get knocked around by the waves. In the second still above it seems like the waves were maybe three to four feet tall and we just jumped in them anyway.  We were little kids and we weren't afraid of the water in the least. There's a 5-minute section on the four of us just jumping around like we were having the time of our lives, because we were. We had taken swimming lessons on that very beach and knew how to swim. I imagine that's why I like it so much today.

That third picture shows a plate full of cooked crabs. We always seem to catch a lot of them and that was where we learned what seafood was. They were small crabs with not a lot of meat in them but I can remember us picking out the meat and using it as a garnish on a salad. But just the idea of putting a hook in the ocean and pulling up something that you would eat later was amazing. Once my dad went out on the ocean with some friends on a larger fishing boat and came home with a huge fish over two feet long. I remember we had fish for dinner many times until it was gone. I don't really remember if I liked fish or crab that much but there's a good chance I did since I love seafood today. I've enjoyed my share of endless shrimp at Red Lobster and New Jersey may be where it all started.

The 8mm Bell & Howell 252

I don't remember that we had a still camera when we were that young but somewhere along the way after I was born my dad got a Bell & Howell 252 8mm camera that was only video with no sound. These little reels of film were pasted together into larger reels and we have nine of those larger reels in digital form. Us kids recently put them all on cd's and now we can watch them anytime we want. Those first three pictures are not from a bad still camera, they are screen shots from watching them on my desktop and converting them into a still image. Most of my memories of early life were reinforced by watching these whenever mom or dad got out the projector. This movie camera in this recent photo is not dad's original movie camera, as we don't know where it is or what happened to it. But my wife saw this one in an antique store and bought it for me in 2023. I know everyone has a video camera on their phone and take them all the time, but back in the day this was a pretty big deal.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#29, New Hampshire NH (Been There)

During our stay in Vermont in 2011 during the fall colors season, we discovered that there were really no places to eat near where we were staying. Since it was a nice drive to a town in New Hampshire that had actual restaurants we made the drive every day to see what was happening there and finding something to eat. Turns out there wasn't much happening there either so we usually just went to the restaurant. Now that we had the internet to find things my wife looked for the closest restaurant which happened to be the Applebee's in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Using her phone maps (this was before we had Android Auto or a built-in vehicle GPS) she directed me to our dining location.

Map of New Hampshire
Used by permission of Nations Online Project

Years before when I used a TomTom navigational device they had names you could choose from for the voice to guide you where you wanted to go. For years I had Mandy who led the way with a pleasant recorded voice, and later there was Susan when they gave you digitized voices. But once we had smart phones I had Kathy leading me around in the car, just like she had in life for over thirty years at that time.

I don't remember if we ever mixed it up and tried to find a different place to eat, or if we did and we decided to stick with Applebee's after that, but we did try to get different meals each day. I know we did the 2 for $20 most of the time as there were things we both liked on that menu. Plus it was cheaper and included a drink. Music to my ears.

When you get to the Maine blog you will realize that we made that trip to the Northeast corner of the United States during the trip to Vermont. There was stuff to do in Vermont and there was stuff to see and eat in Maine, but New Hamphire was the "dinner at night" and "getting from Vermont to Maine" state. Sometimes you have to just accept who you are.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#28, Nevada NV (Been There)

On a beautiful day in August of 2012 we took out from Tucson, Arizona, for a couple days at the Grand Canyon. My son was driving and I was supposed to be navigating but we missed a turn and ended up at Hoover Dam. We made the best of it by taking in the sights around there and we drove across the Dam which meant we were officially in Nevada. My wife is still miffed at me for ruining that day and said we should have gone into Las Vegas just to see more of Nevada. We didn't and she's still miffed at me for that as well.

"Nevada Time"

At least it was a rather nice day to be out and about. We were there an hour or two and got a bunch of photos, only a few which are seen here.

That's a lot of concrete

Should have gone all the way to Las Vegas

The "Dam" Angels

This one is from the Nevada side

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#27, Nebraska NE (Not Yet)

Nebraska has Omaha, and friends of mine moved there for a number of years, but other than that you're on your own. I have driven from Illinois to Colorado on highway 70 which brought me within 100 miles of Nebraska and Wyoming, and within maybe 200 miles of Utah, but other than that those three states have eluded me thus far.

Generated by AI

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#26, Montana MT (Not Yet)

What is there to see in Montana? Since I haven't been there I can only ask the Google, who tells me there are mountains and lakes and a lot of nature. Oh, and bison, courtesy of Ted Turner.

Generated by AI

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#25, Missouri MO (Been There)

Besides my wife's home state of Michigan, namely the Upper Peninsula, we've probably spent the most time in Missouri. For nearly five years we lived in the Illinois side of the Metro St. Louis area and had many reasons to go into the state. Obviously, with St. Louis so close, we went there a lot. Unfortunately hat was in the early 1980's and we didn't have mobile smartphones at our beck and call.

Busch Stadium III

Packed House

St. Louis Arch

At the St. Louis Zoo

St. Louis was a place we enjoyed, in particular the St. Louis Arch, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, and the St. Louis Zoo which is still free. We went to Six Flags Great America on our honeymoon and my wife nearly passed out from the heat. Coming from near Lake Superior she was not a fan of such high temperatures. We would hit one of the malls in South St. Louis now and then as it was a nice drive there and not right in downtown. One of the first things we did in the area was to go to the Arch and take the ride up to the top. Having lived in New York for twelve years without visiting the highlights available there was something I did not want to repeat.

My mom and dad had liked the Ozarks and had a few different homes on the Lake of the Ozarks, so us kids liked going there as well. Later when they retired my dad built a couple homes down in southern Missouri near Branson. We visited them many times there and checked out Silver Dollar City as well. My enjoyed living on or near the water.

Top of the Rock near Tablerock Lake

Branson Ferris Wheel

Taking the train on the Branson Scenic Railway

We ended up with a bunch of our family near Springfield, Missouri in more recent years and so we have gone there to visit and have spent birthdays and Thanksgiving and other occasions. On one of our last trips we spent a couple days near Branson and took in some of the sights. We hadn't been there in quite a few years. We went to Top of the Rock, the Branson Ferris wheel, and had a nice ride on the train. The Ferris Wheel happened to be the one that was originally at Navy Pier in Chicago, and though I had never ridden it while up in Chicago it was satisfying to finally get the chance, albeit in another state.

My mom still lives in the area so I'm sure we'll be back to Missouri.

Until next time,

Arktander
(aka David Andreasen)

#24, Mississippi MS (Been There)

Mississippi falls between Louisiana and Alabama as one of the states of the Deep South. While there is no universal agreement as to which states meet that criteria, it usually includes at least Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Yes, I live in the Deep South.

Tiled artwork in the Rest Area men's room

Mississippi started as a passage state as we traveled to Missouri or Texas over the last year since coming to Georgia. But if you look you'll often find more intriguing reasons to stop and investigate. 

Birthplace of Elvis Presley: Tupelo, Mississippi

This is the actual house, fixed up a bit

More details on a sign

Elvis with flair

We were looking at the halfway point from here to Missouri and I mentioned a few towns that had nice hotels and mentioned the name Tupelo to my wife. She wondered why that sounded familiar so she looked it up online, and turns out it is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. So that's where we stopped for the night and then couldn't leave until we looked around the Park area.

So many signs in town you'll never forget you're in Laurel

Ben's workshop where he makes his furniture

There's a little General Store inside where you can buy Sasparilla

Another place that is a destination is Laurel, Mississippi, where television personalities Ben and Erin Napier film their popular show "Home Town" is produced. On one of our trips back from Texas we decided to take a detour south of the highway to spend a couple nights and take in the sights. We did all the touristy things and my wife decided she had to have a special Magnolia flower pillow like they showed on the program. It still has a prominent place in her decor and she has added other magnolia decor here and there. The highlight of the trip for my wife was driving down a street and seeing Ben and Erin walking down to their vehicle. Sometimes it's the little things.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#23, Minnesota MN (Been There)

I decided to go to college in the Twin Cities of Minnesota as I finished up my senior year of high school. By the way, the Twin Cities are Minneapolis and St. Paul which are paired together at the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and St. Croix rivers. What struck me the most was the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" on their license plates and I didn't think that was possible. But it is a fact that Minnesota has over 14,000 lakes of over 10 acres in size within its borders. Within the city where I went to college it was a short drive to one of those lakes and it was open to the public.

Downtown Minneapolis with the IDS building the tallest

Minneapolis at night from the roof of the building where I worked

If there was one thing that stood out from my time in Minneapolis it would be the severe cold in the winter, especially with the wind chill factor. When I started my first job I decided to take the bus but after one minutes in that cold and wind my eyes felt like they were freezing open and I headed back to my car and drove to work instead. It was so cold that cars refused to start, and since mine already had problems starting that made it worse. I made a plan to start and warm up my car every six hours or so, doing so at 7am before first class, 1pm after lunch, 7pm when going to work, and 1am when heading home after work. That seemed to do the trick. At least it seemed to be a better idea than what others came up with, which was to start a small charcoal burn under the engine to keep it warm. The only problem with that was when the fire picked up speed or oil from the engine dripped and accelerated the burn. Every winter several cars caught fire in the neighborhood.

The Mississippi headwaters begin at the north end of Lake Itasca and make their way all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans, Louisiana, a journey of 2,348 miles. As it works its way south through Minnesota it runs right through the Minneapolis/St.Paul metroplex and is the dividing line between those two cities. I've walked parts of the Mississippi River and the Minnehaha Creek, taken photos of the flowers at the Arboretum, hiked through Minnehaha Park and checked out Lock and Dam Number One, and sat along the edge of some of those 14,000 lakes.

Arboretum, I love the symmetry

Lock and Dam Number One on the Mississippi River

Bridge over Minnehaha Creek in Minnehaha Park

I mostly liked my jobs while in Minneapolis. My first year I worked in a bank building cleaning up offices and collecting garbage in locked rooms and cages. In case they thought they accidentally threw something useful away they asked us to go retrieve the marked bag. One night I came into building and ran into a friend from school. After a little chit-chat he asked if I wanted to see the computers in one of the bank rooms. Of course I did! It was a huge room, air-conditioned to a nippy uncomfortableness, with dozens of those huge machines lined up around the edges with their tape drives spinning. That may have been one of my very first introductions to computers and over the next few years did some reading about "personal" computers that were in development. I used to sit in the University of Minnesota and try to understand all the jargon and the technology but I knew I wanted one of them. A number of years later I had one, although at a budget level I could (somewhat) afford.

My other job lasted longer and it involved being a courier driver for a company called Courier Dispatch. I know this will be hard for some of you to understand but if you wanted to get forms signed immediately you would call for a courier to come and pick them up and deliver them to where they needed to be signed, and then you might be asked to bring them back to where you picked them up. Fax machines were still a rarity in smaller offices and we drove all over the metroplex getting things from one place to another. Mostly I picked up sacks of mail from companies for hours and then dropped them all at the Post Office. My last day of work, which I had hoped would be taking enveloped from here to there, ended up being me moving an entire office of furniture and beds to another location. I was not amused. Winter was brutal in those old vans as there was no insulation and a very poor heater. It was always freezing there so you had to dress appropriately. At the end of the shift a few of us drivers still working late ended our night at the inside parking area for the vans. Then we'd go get our cars and bring them in to wash them before heading home. We never personally got in trouble but we found out through the grapevine that the bosses found out about it and notified all drivers that they could not do that any longer. It was good while it lasted. I made $5.50 an hour when the minimum wage was $3.10 an hour, which would be like making $40.15 an hour today.

1978 Buick Limited

One Thursday night during my Junior year this little blonde comes up to me and asks me if I wanted to play a game of pool. This was an unusual turn of events as all the girls I ever asked for a date either laughed, said no in no uncertain terms, or agreed to go with me just one time. So I said yet and we chatted about this and that. It seemed like she wanted me to ask her on a date and so I brought it up, but said that I had already planned to go back home in Illinois for the weekend to get my car. She did not seem happy. Dad made good on giving me first chance to buy it and I was stoked. At the moment, more stoked than dating a girl apparently. When I saw her Monday at classes she said she had gotten back with her boyfriend so I went on with school life. A few days later her roommate came to find me in the library and said the little blonde wanted to see me again. Now I was ticked as she was the one who went back to her boyfriend but I went ahead and asked her out. I had my "new to me" car but she never said a word about it, just ignored it as if it didn't exist. So now the both of us still have issues about the other. Somehow some way we got over our intial feelings and ended up dating for over a year, and then married after I graduated. 

She was surprised when I let her borrow the car and take her friends to the mall and wherever else they chose to go. Not many had cars at school and my Buick was known as the nicest car at school. That lasted only a year as the next year a guy came in with a brand new Pontiac Trans-Am Firebird and I was relegated to second best. But she eventually, grudgingly, told me the car was "alright."

When we drove to her home from school we'd take Highway 35 (an interstate highway) up to Superior, Wisconsin and then over into the Upper Penninsula. Even with rear wheel drive back in the 1970's we'd drive through the snow with several inches on the ground. Looking back it was probably not the safest time to travel but sometimes you just had to get away from college and head home.

Going the other direction I would take Highway 61 (not an interstate) all the way down along the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois. That trip was back roads all the way with many towns and many stops along the way. That's just how it was back then as there wasn't always an interstate to take you straight to where you wanted to go. I would often head for home right after work after midnight and drive until I got there by nine in the morning. I'd leave Sunday afternoon to be there ready for class Monday morning.

Put a bunch of different foods on the Christmas table and call it a buffet

For someone who liked to eat a lot college wasn't the best culinary experience. We were served normal portions for normal persons but I was always hungry. But I did not have the money to just go out and eat when I wanted. So I would eat from the cafeteria during weekdays, but the cafeteria was close on Saturday and Sunday. My first year of school I had to come up with some sort of plan over the weekend. My solution was the Smorgasbord near the school. The word smorgasbord was used to describe a place where you could eat a variety of foods for a fixed price, before the word buffet became popular. While these types of restaurants have mostly gone out of service in post-Covid life it was a lifesaver for me. I would get up Saturday morning and get there about 11am when they opened. I would sit there for two or three hours and eat about 8-10 plates of food, just drinking water, and only had to pay $1.99 plus tax. I particulary loaded up on the fried chicken, roast beef, ham, and fish. Then I wouldn't eat until lunch on Monday. It wasn't a perfect system but it worked that first school year.

The other all-you-can eat restaurant I liked, as did some of my friends, was Anchor Inn. They served mostly seafood like fish and shrimp and crab and such, but also threw in frogs legs for good measure. I did try the frogs legs but they were crunchy-chewy and tasteless so I went for the better tasting items on the menu. They served you much like Red Lobster does with their Endless Shrimp, bringing you portions of what you request until you're done eating. Anchor Inn was more a special place to go as it cost way more than $1.99 to eat your way through their offerings.

I'm sure there are more stories to tell but I'm not sure anyone wants to read that much more of my college years. So, I will end it right here and find another state to write about.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

#22, Michigan MI (Been There, A Lot)

Michigan is where my wife hails from, more specifically from the Upper Peninsula area of Michigan. Who thought it was a good idea to take a chunk of land away from Wisconsin, separated by lakes and a five-mile bridge, and hand it to the hand (of Michigan)? Well it's a riveting tale of sloppy surveying, the infamous Mitchell map, the Toledo Strip which sparked the Toledo War except nobody ever fought, and a final quid pro quo between Michigan and Ohio so that Michigan could be admitted to the Union as a state. Reading about that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Meeting for the first time

What it looked like in the winter...every year

I met my future-wife in college while we were in Minneapolis. I took her back to her family home in Upper Michigan after the school year was over and I was greeted by the first photo. Beautiful weather, lots of trees, nice family. But after we got married we tended to use holiday events like Thanksgiving and Christmas to visit her family. At those times of year it looked like the second photo. It sometimes snowed several inches every day and we'd have to get out the snowblower and clear out the driveway and the sidewalks. Thankfully we also made some trips there during better weather.

A look out towards Lake Superior

One of the Jilly Cows

Marquette Harbor Island Lighthouse

There wasn't a long list of things to do there but we always took a trip to Marquette to see the Lighthouse and walk out on the rocks to the marker. We also had to stop at Jilbert's Dairy for Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream as it was the favorite of nearly all of us. We would also go see the animals at the Presque Isle Park Zoo until that was closed down, but it was still worth the time to take the drive around that point. For dining there was The Villa Capri which was a staple in the area (now closed as well ), as well as Ralph's Italian Deli in Ishpeming for cudighi to bring home and make sandwiches. It is their version of spicy Italian sausage patties, found in the Upper Peninsula. The other local food is the pasty which is a meat and veggie hand-held pie that miners would take to work for lunch. I have eaten all of the above and probably still hold the record for eating the most pasties in one sitting.

The family Christmas tree

Christmas was the special time for my wife and it didn't feel like Christmas to her if there wasn't any snow, so we did go up there a lot in the winter. There was always more than enough snow to go around. The time was made even better as other family members also came and we had visit from other friends and family in town. So did we ever go to Lower Michigan? Yep, had a number of adventures there plus went to Mackinac Island, which lies between Upper and Lower Michigan. 

Went to Joe Ricci Dodge to get my wife's 2006 Charger because she had to have a red one

Celebrated another anniversary at St. Joseph on Lake Michigan, too cold to swim

Took a ferry to Mackinac Island and spent the day looking around

As I close this chapter down I will also mention that I have driven the Mackinac Bridge, the five-mile long suspension bridge that connect the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the Lower Peninsula. The bridge is off-limits to pedestrians every day of the year except for one, and that one day is Labor Day. On that one day the bridge is closed to vehicles as well as ships below. The Governor of the State normally leads that walk. Put in on your calendar and give it a go.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)