3 More M States

Posted on September 21, 2013September 21, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

We’ve covered Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, so we have 5 left. The 3 today are Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

Sad to say I have not been to any of them.

M is for Michigan…No.

A quick hit on Michigan’s travel page reveals something I should have guessed…Fall is big business here. Any northern state must have a fall as the cool nights and warm days practically guarantee lovely colors. It certainly seems that Michigan is blessed with the phenomenon.

The web site has a fall color’s map and the first link is to the many scenic drives along the coastline of Lake Michigan. From apple orchards and farms to Wine and Beer trails, Michigan looks like a fall vacation destination extraordinaire.

For Cities we have Detroit, the Motor city. (I’ve flown into the Detroit Airport many times), Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids to name only a few.

Speaking of coastal drives , did you know Michigan borders 4 of the Great Lakes? Yup, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Here’s another intriguing fact, Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state! That was a shocker for me as I would have expected the most lighthouses to be on an ocean coast. I think I heard the are 115 Lighthouses in Michigan. Amazing!

M is for Minnesota…another No 🙁

So I’m searching for fun things to do in Minnesota and what do I find? The SPAM Museum. I’m surprised it’s in Minnesota. I know Hawaiian’s have a love affair with Spam so I thought that’s where it would be.

But no, Just as every Elvis fan longs to visit Graceland, SPAM fans worldwide now have their own pilgrimage to make. In Austin, Minnesota a 16,500 square-foot SPAM Museum opened in September 2001. Museum visitors will be welcomed to the world of SPAM luncheon meat. Now if we move it to Atlanta, GA we can put it next to the World of Coco Cola and then we can eat and drink. Maybe we should suggest that.

Minnesota also has a rich outdoor heritage. There are 5 national Parks or Monuments. One is Grand Portage National Monument – Located on the magnificent shore and boreal forest of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota, Grand Portage National Monument preserves a vital headquarters of 18th, 19th and 20th century fur trade activity and Ojibwe heritage. The monument is enclosed within Grand Portage Indian Reservation, for centuries home to Ojibwe Indian families.

The last “M ” State for today is Mississippi…No, have not yet been there

Does anyone else remember the spelling rhyme . M, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, crooked letter , crooked letter, I , Hump back, Hump back, I ? For the longest time it was the only way I could spell Mississippi.

Once again I turn to the search engines of the internet. One of the first things that comes up to visit is the Hurricane Katrina Memorial located in Biloxi. Also in Biloxi is a little lighthouse we could tour.

A must do scenic route is the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace Parkway follows an old Indian trail and a route used during the American revolution. In 1796 Natchez Trace was a mail route. Today it is a scenic parkway that travels from Natchez, Mississippi (a beautiful small city on the Mississippi River in the southwest part of the state) to Nashville (passing through Jackson and Tupelo on the way). There is a small park on the river in Natchez with a stone monument to the beginning of the route.

I’ve run out of space and time so we may have to revisit Mississippi in some future post.

Only 2 more “M ” states to go. Have you got all 8? We’ll tally up the count in the next post.

Don’t forget…If you live in or have visited any of these states, chime in. We want to know your recommendations.

Maryland and Massachusestts

Posted on September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Maryland is the 2nd “M” state and Massachusetts is the 3rd.

Let’s start with Maryland first.

No… Not really. Maryland is part of what I think of as the political area…It’s close to Washington DC and Annapolis is in Maryland and I can remember going to the Naval Academy with my family to visit my brother.

That’s what I remember the most, that and how impressive it was to see all of the young cadets marching past. I can’t even begin to put into words what I was feeling but I can remember it to this day and it was about 40 years ago, maybe 42. I really don’t remember much else about the visit except seeing my brother and being so proud of him. It was a very emotional visit. So I suppose I could cross it off but I think it needs another visit to be official. 🙂

M is for Massachusetts

Yes..I better say yes. I’ve been living here since 1974. Hard to believe it. I originally came out for company training for 6 months. Once the training ended the only openeing was right here in Malden, MA so I stayed.

Massachusetts has everything you could want; mountains, ocean, cities, rural area, summer sun and winter snow.

We’ve got National Parks and history. My word, we have history galore from Minuteman National Park with it’s Patriots Day Reenactments to Boston’s Freedom Trail. There’s Salem, MA of the historic witch trials, Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall.

As if that wasn’t enough we have nature! We have Whale Watches and Deep Sea Fishing, we’ve got seals and zoos and aquariums.

And we’ve got Old Cape Cod with a scenic train and the National Sea Shore and the annual scallop festival. We can even boast great white sharks now!

And we have Lighthouses.

Maine does not have a monopoly there! I believe there are 63 in all.


Annisquam	Baker’s Island	Bass River (West Dennis)
Bird Island	Bishop and Clerks	Borden Flats
Boston Harbor	Brant Point	Brant Point (Old)
Butler Flats	Cape Ann (Thacher Island)	Cape Cod (Highland)
Cape Poge	Chatham	Clark’s Point
Cleveland Ledge	Cuttyhunk	Deer Island
Derby Wharf	Dog Bar Breakwater	Duxbury Pier
East Chop	Eastern Point	Edgartown Harbor
Fort Pickering (Winter Island)	Gay Head	Graves
Great Point	Hospital Point Range Front	Hospital Point Range Rear
Hyannis	Lightship Nantucket I WLV-612	Lightship Nantucket II WLV 613
Lightship Nantucket LV 112/WAL 534	Lightship New Bedford LV 114/WAL 536	Long Island Head
Long Point	Marblehead	Mayo’s Beach
Minot’s Ledge	Monomoy Point	Nantucket Cliff Range
Nauset	Ned’s Point	Newburyport Harbor (Plum Island)
Newburyport Harbor Range Front	Newburyport Harbor Range Rear	Nobska Point
Palmer Island	Plymouth (Gurnet)	Point Gammon
Race Point	Sandy Neck	Sankaty Head
Scituate	Stage Harbor	Straitsmouth Island
Tarpaulin Cove	Ten Pound Island	Three Sisters
West Chop	Wings Neck	Wood End

Head west on RT 90, from Boston and you’ll find Springfield, home to Dr. Seuss and The “Big E” (Eastern States exposition) and the Basket Ball Hall of Fame.

Speaking of sports, Massachusetts is a pro sports kind of place. We have the Boston Bruins, The Red Sox, Fenway Park and Red Sox Nation. Out in Foxboro we have the New England Patriots and we’ve got the Revolution..not the 1776 revolution but the pro soccer team.

We host golf tournaments like the Deutsche Bank PGA tournament.

Heading back to Western Massachusetts Rt 90 rises upward to the Berkshire Mountains. The Appalachia Trail winds it’s way through here and we have Tanglewood and Jacobs Pillow for culture.

There’s still more. Massachusetts loves politics. You can find a political discussion almost anywhere and everyone has an opinion. 🙂 And we have higher education, Colleges and Universities abound.

Harvard Yard

There are too many to list.

Don’t get me wrong, Massachusetts is not all peaches and cream. After all, we had the “Big Dig” too and are still dealing with the consequences.

Talk about a major screw up! Traffic is worse now than ever. And we’re starting to head back to the bad old days of “Taxachusetts”…just when we thought it was safe to take our hands out of our pockets good old Governor Deval Patrick put his hands right in!

But even with all that I still am pretty pleased with my adopted state. It’s a great place to visit and not too bad a place to live.

M is for…

Posted on September 19, 2013September 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Wow, Did you realize there are 8 states that start with the letter M? I am not going to do all 8 in one post, especially since a couple of them are going to be crossed off as visited. So before I start can you name all 8 states?

Alphabetically Maine is first. So while you’re thinking about the other 7 states I’ll tell you a little bit about my neighbor to the north. I fell in love with Maine last year when I had the chance to take 2 “mini” vacations.

Maine

YES.

First thing that come to mind when I think of Maine is the gorgeous, rugged coastline. And if you have a rugged coast you need lighthouses. More than 60 lighthouses dot the Maine coast from the well known Nubble Light in York to West Quoddy Head, the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. I’ve seen and photographed a bunch of them, Nubble, Spring Ledge, Portland Head, Pemaquid and more but I’m a long way from all 60!+

Maine is for “Lobsta” or lobster if you want to be accurate. Everyone’s either heard of or eaten Maine Lobster, those feisty crustaceans that are so good boiled, fried, rolled, baked, in salad, well just about any way you want to eat them. Did you know that lobster were once so plentiful that they were used as fertilizer! Native Americans used them as bait to catch more appealing fish. They were considered poverty food and fed to servants and prisoners. You’ve come a long way , baby!

Maine is for wildlife.

I saw a big bull moose there while walking a nature trail.

I braved the sea to get a glimpse of puffins, crazy little clowns. I never realized how tiny they are until I saw them riding those crashing waves.

Maine has the first National Park east of the Mississippi, Acadia National Park. The park includes Mount Desert Island and Cadillac Mountain.

I still want to try a train ride from Boston to Portland. It’s called the “Downeaster”. It can be done in 1 day but it might be nicer to stay over in Portland a night to see a bit more.

By the way, I wrote a lot of posts on Maine last year. Here’s a link to just one of the many :https://aroundustyroads.com/2012/08/29/day-is-done-gone-the-sun/

Lighthouse Lovers..This Post’s for You

Posted on September 6, 2013September 6, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Hello Lighthouse lovers. Did you know there was a lighthouse in Boston Harbor for sale? I didn’t either but it sure got everyone’s attention today when a record-breaking sale was announced.

Sold! Graves Island lighthouse breaks record

Graves lighthouse is the one I mentioned in a recent post as being in line with Boston Light. (Graves is the one in back in the photo above)

There are lots of lighthouses that you can rent for a night or two or maybe even a week for vacation but do you really want to live there?

Graves light is 5 stories high with 2 bedrooms. One drawback…no bathrooms but I guess if you can afford to buy a lighthouse you can afford to update the plumbing.

Whoever purchased Graves Light got it for the “paltry” sum of $933,888. Not bad for a working lighthouse especially when you realize it was CASH bid.

The US General Services Administration, which conducted the Graves Island Light Station auction, has not identified the new owner of the lighthouse located on a rocky, wave-battered ledge near the entrance to Boston Harbor. But we can tell you it was bought by a Boston businessman whose roots in New England date to the 1630s and who has a deep interest in maritime history. He said Wednesday he prefers to remain anonymous until the sale is finalized, which will most likely be Thursday or Friday. The GSA has said it received bids from 10 parties initially, but the number dwindled to two as the price rose higher and higher. The winning bid is a record amount paid for a US lighthouse. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places since 1987, the Graves Island lighthouse is one of 163 lighthouses located along the New England coast. It went on the auction block in June.

Gloucester Harbor Lighthouse Cruise

Posted on August 24, 2013August 24, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Ok I can tell by my stats that the lighthouse theme is running on empty so I’ll wrap it up for awhile with this last post on the lighthouses I saw on my day in Gloucester.

It was such a beautiful day that I took the Lighthouse Harbor Cruise, not a Boston Harbor Cruise but a Gloucester Harbor Cruise.

The earliest lighthouses were nothing more than bonfires built on hillsides to guide ships .

Sometimes they were lit to draw ships onto the rocks so they would run aground and the pirates could loot the cargo. Obviously a better way was needed.

Lighthouses are old, very old. The first was in the old world. It guarded the harbor entrance to Alexandria in 285 BC!

The first American Lighthouse was built in Boston Harbor in 1716.

By 1771 there were 9 lighthouses in North America, all marking entrances to ports. 1771 was also the first time a lighthouse was built to mark a dangerous spot rather than a harbor entrance.

Fast forward to today. I’m going to share 5 lighthouse with you; the Lighthouses of Cape Ann.

#1. Ten Pound Island Lighthouse

This is a quaint little light located on (where else) Ten Pound Island which is within Gloucester Harbor. It was built in 1821 to aid in navigating Gloucester’s inner harbor. Tiny Ten Pound Island also boasts housing America’s first Coast Guard Air Station.

#2 Eastern Point Lighthouse

This light was built in 1832 on Gloucester’s Eastern Point to mark the harbor entrance. In addition to the light, there is a large lighthouse station which continues to serve as housing for the U.S. Coast Guard.

#3. Thatcher Island Twin Lighthouses

Also known as Cape Ann Light Station, these twin lights are the only surviving multiple lights on the coasts of the United States. The towers were constructed so that when a ship sights on both towers they point to true north, allowing sailors to check their compasses.

#4. Straitsmouth Island Lighthouse

Built in 1835, Straitsmouth Light marks the entrance to Rockport Harbor, a neighbor of Gloucester’s. Although the small lighthouse is maintained by the Coast Guard, the island itself is a bird and wildlife sanctuary owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

#5. Annisquam Harbor Lighthouse

Annisquam light was built in 1801. It marks the entrance to the Annisquam River at Wigwam Point, a popular Native American summer encampment. With the construction of the Blynman Canal the Annisquam River connected Ipswich Bay and Gloucester Harbor.

There is so much to say about these lighthouses, how tall, how bright, what color is the light, how many flashes and of what duration; but to answer all those questions I’d be writing a book, not a post. 🙂 So I’ll leave that to the experts.