Two for One

Hey tour guide, do you know we are driving through Chicago.  Yes, KW I do know we are driving through Chicago.  What's the problem?  Don't you know gangsters live there?  KW, there are no gangsters anymore.  Well, I did some reading and gookle says different.  Some guy named scar face is the boss.  He kills anyone who gets in his way.  Murder incorporated works for him.  They run booze all over the city.  Oh no, speed up tour guide, we are coming to Cicero.  Al Capone lives there.  Faster, they may have the Tommy Gun, Annihilator, Chicago Typewriter,  Chicago Piano, Trench broom, The Chopper, or better know as the Thompson, and they fire 600-725 rounds per minute.  kw, kw,  kw, KW wake up, you are having a nightmare.  Is it safe to come out?

  

Whoa, where are we?  We are in Wisconsin.  I remember coming into Chicago and I must have passed out.  By the way KW, you used gookle, not google.  Next time check your spelling and you won't have nightmares.

Ok, now that the nightmare is over we are on the way to Harpers Ferry, Iowa.  Sure hope there are no Gangsters.  KW, there are no Gangsters any where.  We are going to see the Effigy Mounds National Monument.  Tour guide, what's an Effigy Mound?  Burial grounds for Native American Indians.  Oh great, now we have to deal with Indians.  KW, your imagination runs rampant and before you ask, it means out of control.  Oh Ok, but I was not going to ask.

Coming to the Park.


Mrs. tour guide stamping.                  


KW & CJ stamping.

Hiking The trails.
  

Tour guide, what are you doing?  I was chasing a bear away.  Tour guide, whose imagination is running Rampant now?  There are no bears in Iowa.  Hey, there could have been.




Looking down the Mississippi River.


Different Effigy Mounds.
  

  

Big Bear Mound.


We found a very nice Antique Mall.
  

TTFN:

PS:

Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves more than 200 prehistoric mounds built by Native American.  Numerous effigy mounds are shaped like animals, including bears and birds.  These were built mostly in the first millennium, by peoples of the Woodland Culture.

Aerial drawing of what the mounds look like.  Unfortunately they are all grown over with high grass and weeds.


Little Bear Mound.  It does not look like this now.  Grass has grown up on all the mounds
 

The first mobster to be featured on the cover of Times Magazine was a Chicago gangster, Al Capone.  Nicknamed Scar Face for his scars on his left cheek, he was known for his brilliant mind that distinguished him as a force to be reckoned with in the criminal underworld.


The Thompson submachine gun is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, that became infamous during the Prohibition era, becoming a signature weapon of various organized crime syndicates in the United States.

Tour guides are hunting Lighthouses

Hey tour guide where are we going today?  Shhhhh, be very very quite KW, we are hunting Lighthouses.  Hey tour guide, are they in season?  What is the daily limit?  I'm not sure KW, but we should bag a couple.

Hello from New Buffalo beach on Lake Michigan.


KW, look, it's our first lighthouse of the season.  New Buffalo's lighthouse at City Beach is not a traditional lighthouse, used for harbor navigation.  It's a recognizable landmark that adds to the beautiful scenery at the beach.  The New Buffalo Lighthouse has a red and white striped cement base with a louver-style siding on the tower.


Whoa tour guide, duck. No KW, they are seagulls, but that's not important now.  Tour guide don't you remember the Alfred Hitchcocks movie The Birds?  Yes KW, I do remember, but..... but nothing, that's a lot of birds up there and if they get more friends to join them we are in trouble.  Ok KW, let me know if and when we are in trouble.  Ok, I will, but don't say I didn't warn you.


Cowabunga dude, oops, I mean tour guide.  Surfs up and we are ready to hang ten.  KW, you are on the back of the board.  Oh man, I knew this must be way too easy.


Off to breakfast at Third Coast Spice Cafe in Michigan City, Indiana. Very good food, or as your  Cruise talking Brother would say, Good Groceries.


Hey CJ, do you see any more lighthouses?  No KW, I do not.  How about you, do you see any? Yes I think I see one over to our left.


Oh crap, CJ go get the tour guide over here fast.  Why? Because that is not a lighthouse, it's a nuclear reactor and it's smoking.  Oh wow, it's another Three Mile Island incident all over again.  KW, what are you yelling about?  Tour guide, look over there, it's a nuclear reactor and it's going to blow.  You do remember the Three Mile Island incident?  You had to work 3 days straight under critical weather alert.  Yes, oddly enough I do remember, but KW that is not a reactor, it's a coal and natural gas-fired power plant.  Oh man, what a relief.  I was ready to run.


KW, look over there, it's our second lighthouse of the season.


This is the Michigan City Breakwater lighthouse.


Tour guides selfie, oops, I mean usie with the lighthouse in the background.


Hey tour guide, Mrs. tour guide is going to get in trouble. Why KW?  She is climbing the ladder to go to the lighthouse.  KW, she has climbed ladders before.  Yes, but on the building it says by order of the police climbing on the lighthouse is against the law.


On the way home the tour guides stopped at this antique mall to do old people stuff.  CJ and I stayed in the jeep and slept.


Finally, supper at the Stray Dog Bar & Grill.


TTFN:

PS:

Michigan City Lighthouse.

Built in 1904, the lighthouse has become the most popular symbol of Michigan City, and is the only public operating lighthouse in Indiana.  The elevated walkway, known as the "catwalk", was used by lighthouse keepers for 29 years to access the light tower.  In 1933, this light on the east pier was electrified, and in 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard took over the service.

Mrs tour guide was not arrested.  But she did come back down at the tour guides suggestion.

KW's Weekend Re-Cap

Ladies and gentlemen, you're about to behold a sight so strange, so horrifying, so utterly monstrous, that I urge you who are easily frightened or upset, who suffer from nervous disorders, weak heart, or queasy stomachs, who experience nightmares, and any children under the age of 16, to forgo witnessing this exhibit.  KW, what are you doing?  It's a blog, not a carnival.  Oh well, it sounded good to me when I wrote it.  Ok, it's time to re-cap the weekend.

06/08/2018

The Most Excellent Adventure continues.


Supper at Logan's Roadhouse Restaurant in Triadelphia WV.


06/09/2018

Heart of Ohio Antiques Center in Springfield Ohio.  There are122,000 sq. ft. with 1,425 booths and showcases,  and 30,000 outdoor sq. ft.


Home Spun Childs Tea Set $425.  KW asked is that a lot?


Wall of Iron Skillets.


Old poster from Palisades Park NJ.  Tour guide and his Cruise talking Brother went there as kids in the summer.  We used to cut out free ride coupons from DC comic books.


More Pictures.








06/10/2018

KW, what are you doing?  I'm looking for something.  Just what are you looking for? You said you had  checked the room twice and had everything.  Well, tour guide, I can't seem to find my hat.


I think this is it.


FOUND IT.  This hat is almost as old as you are tour guide.  Ha Ha very funny KW.


So we are finally off to our 47th State visit.  Hey tour guide, what is the 47th State?  KW, Michigan gets that honor.


Oh great tour guide, it's raining.  KW, we have driven in the rain before.  Yes and we won't see CJ till it stops.


Stopping at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  Very nice and easy to get to.  One problem, KW forgot to take pictures of Mrs. tour guide stamping.


Hey KW, wake up, we are coming into Michigan.


TTFN:

PS:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is on the southern shore of Lake Michigan in Indiana.  It has a string of sandy beaches, and trails through dunes, marshland, and jack pine forests.  The Dune Succession Trail at the West Beach has views of the Chicago skyline and the lake's bird-rich wetland. It was established in 1966 by Congress.  The National lakeshore runs for nearly 25 miles along the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

Last night while staying in Greenfield Indiana we saw this in the parking lot.  Mrs. tour guide wanted this (back in the day) banned phrase.  1971 Mach1 Mustang.




At her fathers suggestion, she bought a 1971 Mustang Grande Hardtop.

KW forgot again

Hey everyone, tour guide told me I forgot to end the colonies blog.  I have been kind of busy.  Oh yeah KW, just what were you doing?  Tour guide, I have been busy planning our next trip.  Oh by the way, we are already on that next trip.  Guess I had better get busy.

We are all packed and ready to head for home.  KW, are you sure you packed everything this time?  Yes tour guide I double checked all the drawers and in the closet.  OK, but when we get home, don't come and tell you can't find something.


Come on KW, get in the Jeep.  Ok tour guide, keep your shirt on.  I can't find my hat.  What hat is that KW?  You know, the old blue Yankee hat.  I have had that hat for years.  I thought you checked in the room in every drawer and closet?  I did tour  guide, I did, I did.  KW, stop it, you are not Sylvester the cat.


Wow, look at all that rain.  Tour guide, please don't say rain.


Don't look CJ, it's pouring rain.  I told you tour guide, CJ does not like rain.


TTFN:

PS:
In spite of all the rain, we arrived home safe and sound and ready for our next adventure.  Tune in next week -- same bat time -- same bat channel.