A Wedding and a Trans-Canadian Highway Adventure!

I left Muskegon on June 30 at 4pm and drove straight through the night in order to arrive in Burlington in time for the thesis defense of my classmate, Charles, who was out in the field with me, as we both collected our samples. I'm not sure why I didn't leave earlier, guaranteeing me more time on the road in case I got tired and needed to pull over. Those straight drive-throughs to Vermont or back seem to be a thing of the past for me now... But the way I see it is that now I can take time to see sights and friends along the way.

The thesis defense was just one of a series of events that took me back to Burlington. I was also attending the wedding of two great friends of mine, Lydia and Martin. Lydia and I were classmates in the UVM geology department and I met Martin through her and we all played on the same intramural broomball team and sometimes played racquetball together. More often than not, however, we were likely to be seen downtown at a live concert at Nectar's or playing darts at Ake's or cornhole in their backyard while grilling out. It was a beautiful wedding weekend for the two of them and some other friends and I joined them for their ceremony and reception at the Stowehof Inn and Resort up in the mountains just outside of Stowe. The weather was beautiful, the company was fun, and the wedding couldn't have been more picture perfect!

My friend Lauren and I at the wedding. We coordinated oranges.

Tigger, the ring bearer

The newlyweds after the ceremony!

Our geology group at the wedding: Will, Luke, Lauren, Jamie, and myself

I spent the next week house/pet-sitting Lydia and Martin's dog and cat, Tigger and Gobi, respectively, while they were on their honeymoon and while I completed up one last and final week of lab work at UVM, finishing up all the work I started when I went to Germany and continuing the work that took me to Australia and Greenland.

But then the week was over and I needed to start heading back to Muskegon. Instead of driving straight back, though, I decided to take a detour and since I am currently unemployed, it didn't really matter how long my detour was! I decided to make the first leg of my trip home a jaunt up the Trans-Canadian Highway up to Sudbury, Ontario.

Why there? One of my really good friends from UM's geology field camp, Camp Davis, was from Halifax, Nova Scotia and now works for a mining company in Sudbury, Ontario. Linette is an outgoing, friendly, personality, and it had been nearly four years since I last saw her. Needless to say, I was excited! But the tricky part was getting there. I say it was tricky not because of the French-language highway signs in Quebec or the 11-hour drive to get there, but because along the way the highway follows alongside the Ottawa River, which makes the northern Ontario border with Quebec.

The river valley is beautiful, I'm sure, but I've never had a good experience to see it! Whenever bad weather comes through the area, it kind of gets stuck in the valley and makes for terrible driving conditions. I first met this phenomenon a few years ago when I was driving back to Burlington after Thanksgiving in Michigan. On that day, I filled up my tank with gas in the little Ontario town of Spanish, near the northern waters of Lake Huron, and when I got to Mattawa, one of the last outposts of civilization for a few hours, I still had a quarter-tank of gas. It was enough to get me to the next town, according to the map. What the map didn't tell me was that the next town, nor the one after that, nor the one after that, would have open gas stations (or even gas stations) during that time of year! To compound the fear of running out of gas, a snowstorm was blowing through the river valley and at times I couldn't see very far in front of me. It's possible I drove right by gas stations without seeing them, but I eventually coasted into a little gas station in Point Alexander, Ontario - for I had necessarily gotten into the habit of putting my car in neutral as I went down hills to save on gas!

Needless to say, it was a close call, but I filled up and was soon on my way. This time, going on that stretch of the TC Highway, I made sure to have a full tank of gas. So while gas was not an issue, I was starting to worry about the weather again. My dad told me over the phone, right before I crossed into Canada, that in Michigan that morning, they got dumped on with rain - not a constant drizzle, but a wall of torrential rain. And I was running into that now. At least five times, I had to pull off the side of the highway and wait for the rain to pass because it truly was a wall of rain that rendered my view of the road incapable of determining in which lane I was driving!

I eventually pulled into the town of Mattawa only to sit in construction traffic for another half-hour, but once through there the weather cleared up, as did the orange construction barrels and I was soon driving into Sudbury. I never have my phone on in Canada and was stopping at regularly spaced McDonald's restaurants to use their free wi-fi to let Linette know where I was. As I pulled into Sudbury, I checked Facebook to get her address, and committed it to memory...or so I thought. I drove to the address I remembered but it didn't look anything like she said it would, and after checking the names on the mailboxes and talking to a man who lived there, it was confirmed that Linette did not! Not knowing what to do, I drove down random busy streets in hopes that I would run across another McDonald's and check my mail again. Wouldn't you believe that of all the McDonald's, the closest one to Linette's house didn't have wi-fi and neither did the Tim Horton's or the KFC next to it. So I did the next best thing, and drove all the way back through Sudbury to the first McD's I stopped at, only to realize I committed the wrong address to memory and that the address I was supposed to go to was two doors down from the one I visited initially!

I walked in the door to find Linette napping on the couch but was ready to forgive my hour-long tardiness! We started catching up over a cold beer and then she took me out to a fantastic little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called The Laughing Buddha, that had tons of beers stocked and delicious pizza and nachos. Sudbury is a town famous for its mining industry, and though you can see remnants of a past existence in luxury for the town, it has since become a disheveled and sooty destination. That's not to say it isn't nice. In fact, Sudbury seems to be in the midst of a re-emergence into the world of the living. While the downtown is not lively, per se, there is a large lake in the middle of town surrounded by green parks and dotted with boats of various kinds, under the watchful eye of a shiny new-ish medical center. To me, and I could be wrong, but it seemed as if a lot of young professionals, mostly employed in the mining industries, are breathing a hip new life into the city!

At any rate, Linette and I had a great time catching up, albeit briefly (she had to get up for work the next morning at 5am!), and we were sure to make plans for our next get together, which includes going to the Calgary Stampede, basically cowboy Oympics. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos with Linette while I was there, but here we are at Camp Davis in 2007:

We haven't changed too much :)

I was going to make one more stop in Canada before coming home. An hour outside of Sudbury is a little town called Espanola, which I drove through to get to a marina where I met my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sandee. They own a summer camp on an island in McGregor Bay, a little inlet off of Lake Huron, and they have been trying to get me to visit them up there for years! And for years, things just didn't work out, but this time, it worked out perfectly and I spent the next two days up there with them in the peaceful, sunny, rocky, watery, beautiful solitude they experience every day for three months out of every year! Both days I was there we went for Sea-Doo tours of the bay and all the little islands within it.

I took a nap the first day out on the hammock while the monstrous dragonflies rested nearby

We went to a place called, The Potholes, a little inlet of the bay where, when glacial meltwater was rushing through here entrained large boulders in eddies and carved out deep, perfectly circular holes.

Me sitting on the edge of one of the potholes

A view of Lake Huron (at least a small inlet of it!)

Water lily at the potholes

Beaver dams were everywhere and they even use old boat docks as the foundation for their homes!

A small flock of cormorants flying over the bay

But then early on this morning, after breakfast, it was time to go and Uncle Jim and Aunt Sandee dropped me off at the docks so I could get my car and they could get groceries. It was definitely too short of a visit and I will need to go back, but not before I have time to read up on the real geology of the area up there!

It was a good few days in Canada and I think I'm beginning to embrace this whole not having a job, thing! I'm able to do so many things, it seems, when I'm not on a regular schedule. But sleep is soon coming and I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open! More stories to come soon, but this is it for tonight!

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Driving to Chicago from West Michigan is a fairly monotonous and tedious four hours spent in the car, only broken up by switching to find a new NPR station or adjusting your clocks to keep up with the changing time zones. While it's more efficient and less work on your part, you could take the train to get from A to B, either the Pere Marquette Amtrak line or the South Shore Commuter Line to save you the hassle of looking for parking in the city. The downside of taking the trains is that it isn't as easy to get on/get off at will. But say you decide to take the Commuter Line into the city and get to Michigan City, IN an hour early because you forgot about the time change. What do you do for an hour? If you're like me, you will probably not want to spend it sitting in your car. This recently happened to me over the weekend and I decided to check out a little slice of Midwestern wilderness at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Indiana Dunes is one of the four National Lakeshores under the supervision of the National Park Service. Of the four National Lakeshores, two were created in 1966: Pictured Rocks along the Lake Superior shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais, MI; and Indiana Dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline between Michigan City and Gary, IN.

Originally, this area was settled by Potawatomi Native Americans until Joseph Bailly, a fur trader settled here with his family in the early 1800s on the Little Calumet River that now flows through the park. His home and various buildings associated with his trading business are still accessible along the Little Calumet River Trail.

Joseph Bailly's house

Storage shed for Joseph Bailly's fur trade

The trail passes through Joseph Bailly's trading center and used to then follow along the Little Calumet River, but was rerouted to take visitors through 130 acres of restored prairie land. This section of the trail was one of the many locations in Indiana Dunes NL that you realize you are not very far from industry as giant powerlines tower over the horizon and the muffled drone of highway traffic is heard. Putting that aside, however, you begin to notice the constant chirping of birds, daisies and clover bobbing in the breeze, and the common rustle of the underbrush indicating a chipmunk or squirrel is watching you. I am not sure what the trail is like at other times of the year, but the flowers seem to be out in full force late-June.

Prairie land along the Little Calumet River Trail

Wild flowers guiding the way along the path

The trail then turns back toward the river and leads you across a bridge and along a raised wooden walkway as you meander between the trunks of sugar maples, aspens, tall oaks, black cherry, white pine, and sassafras trees, among others. Heed the warning of signs you see along the river regarding the polluted water; you have to remember that areas surrounding this land have been heavily industrialized at a time when there were no laws regulating chemical waste. I found, though, that taking a few minutes down by the river awarded me with the chance to watch damselflies carefully land on leaves by the banks.

Bridge over the Little Calumet River

Damselfly in the afternoon sun

The trail I took was about three miles long, but I cannot remember the last time I saw so much wildlife in one little hike. At one point on the trail, I was inspecting what seemed to be some sort of animal enclosure and then off to my right, no quite 40 feet away, five deer crossed the path and bounded into the woods - two doe and three fawns! Though my camera was at the ready, I wasn't quick enough to catch them!

After a little while I was worried I had taken the wrong trail. I didn't have a map with me and my phone was in my car, so I was a little anxious, but soon after crossing a few more bridges and going up and down a few stairways, I was let out at the site of the Chellberg Farm where the history of Swedish farmers coming to northern Indiana from Chicago is remembered. It's a very picturesque farm with a two-story brick farmhouse, a large white barn and adjoining fenced fields, now overgrown with tallgrass and wild corn, and a shed behind the barn with examples of period farm equipment.

Chellberg Farm farmhouse

Chellberg Farm barn

Fields at Chellberg Farm.

After walking the Little Calumet River Trail, I stopped at the main Visitors' Center - the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitors' Center - which is nothing more than a glorified rest stop. There is nothing to do there, and I don't recommend wasting your time there. However, if you are like me and participate in the National Parks Passport Program, you need to stop at the Visitors' Center to get your stamp.

 I had a little bit of time left, so I drove over to Lake View and the Dune Ridge Trail. Lake View is a picnic area right along a thin stretch of Lake Michigan. There are not really dunes here, per se, and it's kind of uninspiring. But the little half-mile walk I took at the Dune Ridge Trail was full of things to see. Right along the trail next to the parking lot was a turtle and I kept seeing little sand lizards dart from one shaded clump of dune grass to the next. I didn't even know there were lizards that lived in the dune grass!! The trail takes you up to the top of an overgrown sand dune where you can get views of huge interdunal ponds and wetlands. The flowers were also in full bloom here and I got a great live demonstration of how insects are used to pollinate flowers.

 

 

Now, I think I was a little misleading about my itinerary from the beginning of this post. I mentioned I had an hour to spare before my train came to the Michigan City station. In fact, nothing of what I've posted so far was done in that hour. I came back to explore more of the park after my weekend spent in Chicago. In that free hour, I drove just inside the Park boundaries and parked at Mt. Baldy, a 126-foot high moving sand dune. I had to be quick here, but there was not much else to do. With camera in hand, I hoofed it up the dune along trails rerouted to keep people from climbing up the backside of the dune. The dune is constantly in motion and monitored closely with results showing that the crest of the dune is moving south at the quick rate of four feet per year! On the north side of the dune you can see where sand used to be because now entire tree-root systems are exposed that once were under sand. And though the ever-present cooling tower of the nearby nuclear power station puffs steam, there is something oddly beautiful about this juxtaposition of industry and nature.

Cottonwoods on top of the dune

The northern slope of Mt. Baldy

 

You can kind of see bands of lighter and darker sand which are little wind-swept ripples of sand

 

Within the total span of no more than four hours, I was able to do and see quite a lot of this National Park; but there was still so much left to see! South of the main park land is the Heron Rookery, where herons build their nests and in the Spring you might see baby herons. And then there is the Pinhook Bog, which is not open to the public, but you can participate in a ranger-led tour to get up close with pitcher plants and sphagnum bogs! Let's just say that one visit is not enough. I didn't even get to the western half of the park! I will definitely be making another stop here yet this summer!

Travel Volunteering - Pine Ridge Reservation (Days 7-9)

I don't think there is any doubt that one of my passions in life is traveling and seeing new places and experiences. But being able to help people while you travel gives you an entirely different viewpoint of the world and a whole new perspective on your life. It almost sounds selfish to say this, but I think everyone should give travel volunteering a try so we can realize what is important in our own lives. We take so many things for granted in our day-to-day life: water comes out of the faucet when we turn it on; we can go for a walk around the neighborhood without an extremely high chance of being struck and killed by a drunk driver; we have enough resources that we can afford to take time off of our busy schedules and volunteer to help people who have none of these luxuries. I think the second sentence of my "Day 7" travel entry sums up my sentiments succinctly.

While Re-Member helps the residents of the Rez with a variety of home reconstruction tasks, our main duty on this trip was to build bunk beds. Lumber was donated from various Michigan lumberyards and mattresses from hotels that just bought new ones. We learned that in many of the houses on the Rez, there would sometimes be over ten people crammed into tiny, tiny buildings with nowhere to sleep but on the floor, on each other, and even in bathtubs. We brought all of that material out to South Dakota with us and the beds we built had the capability to sleep nine people: three on the top bunk, three on the bottom bunk, and three on a trundle bed that slid out from under the bottom bunk. These beds would take up only a small amount of space in the house, but would at least provide a comfortable bed for numerous people.

Day 7 - August 17, 2000

Today is our last day here. I’m excited to leave, but I also feel guilty leaving those who desperately need our help. After a regular breakfast, my group went to St. Albin’s, loaded the back of Rev. Keith Titus’s truck with all the material needed for two bunkbeds. We then drove to a house, almost across the street from our church. This family had just moved into this house. (4 bedrooms) It surprised me. I had heard that all the houses were so dumpy looking, but this one was nice. It was messy, but I’m sure that was because they just moved in. As we set up the beds, I noticed that the family was watching TV and VCR. They had some nice furniture, too. We worked for about an hour, then returned to our church to prepare it for the barbeque. We cleaned up a little, then went to lunch at Bette’s Kitchen, which is actually her house. After lunch, Brennen, Alissa, and I went up with Keith and Keith to St. Albin’s to put the pews back in the church and to lock up. As we came back to the church, everyone else was working inside (cleaning), or outside (painting). The painters were having a paint fight. All the work finally was done, and we had an hour before guests arrived [for the barbeque we were hosting there]. Brennen, Alissa, and I talked on the swings for a little bit. When guests started to arrive, us older kids had to watch the little Indian kids on the playground. After about two hours, guests started to leave. We cleaned up after they had all left, and got our bags packed. Then we had our “unpacking” session. Then we went to bed.

Painting the walls of the Church we stayed at...and each other

The messy painting group

Swing time

Alissa and Brennen

Brennen and Belle

Marc with one of the kids that came to the barbeque

Missy swinging

Earlier that day, while we were driving, Alissa wanted a photo in the fields of sunflowers that are scattered across the Rez. Farming for sunflower seeds and oils are some of the most lucrative businesses on the Rez, but most are not operated by the Natives so they do not reap many of the benefits.

Day 8 - August 18, 2000

We got up, had breakfast, and then had our chapel session. Then we got our bags packed into the trailer and headed home, this time in a van with Sigrid, Cindy, Alissa, Becky, Marc, Brennen, and Ben. We slept most of the way to Des Moines, stopping in Sioux City, IA, for a Chinese lunch. I tried some, and it was okay. We got back in the van and three hours later arrived in Des Moines. We were ally really hyper and had a pillow fight in the van. Then we put “You’re Hot” signs in the window. We got yelled at and then arrived at Plymouth Congregational. We had our showers, ordered pizza, and went to bed.

Day 9 - August 19, 2000

We got back in the vans early today and drove the rest of the way home, stopping once for gas and once for Bob Evans. We got back to Titus’ house in Grand Haven, unpacked, and said our goodbyes, and went home.

The kids from First Congregational Church, back in Grand Haven

The trip was over, and we all agreed it was an eye-opening opportunity for all of us, but was it something we would do again? The answer came the following summer when Brennen and Alissa and I went back to the Rez.