Fall has arrived...

The students have returned to Michigan Technological University...  Here you see the strange circle the mascot while playing 99 bottles of beer on the wall. 

On my lunch time walk... so beautiful!

AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival - 2598 Bicycle Race!

This morning nearly 2600 people rode their bikes in one of the "Fat Tire" races held today!   This clip shows  most of the competitors at the start...

I took the video below on final approach to IAD last week was just me messing around with  iPhone Slow Motion Video.  Slow motion at 300 MPH looks a bit choppy!

I've been meaning to post a video showing the inside of the Santa Maria della Reggia,maybe next time!

Hope you liked the videos... just a fun weekend at the end of a lovely summer!

AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML

Quick trip to Gettysburg Pennsylvania

One of my grandparents came to America through the Port of Philadelphia and the old apartments where they each lived with their families are still there!  So Pennsylvania has always been in my family history.  Today I had a chance to do a quick visit to one of the most important Civil War battles - Gettysburg.  I hope you enjoy the pics, it was a beautiful day!

You can actually feel something profound in this place.

Major General John Fulton Reynolds

Maj Gen John Buford

I was particularly struck by this crucifix.  The 142d Pennsylvania Infantry.  In another war my uncle was a proud member of the 28th, his brother, my uncle Peter the dare devil - was 82nd Airborne... I have a few flags.

Oops, well this is me hanging out with time traveler Abe Lincoln...

Yup, Abe was here.

The old train depot...

Typical Federalist Style

Kind of classic.

Hope you liked the picks...

AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML

A Boat and Trains Weekend!

This rock and it's cross shape is said to have been the inspiration for the name given to the river... The St Croix.

Trying to squeeze in all that we can this summer!  This is the mighty St Croix River which delineates the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota.  This spot was near a town called Taylor's Falls.

We visited to hike the park and for a dinner cruise on an authentic paddle wheeler!  The ring you see in this rock face was put there well over a hundred years ago to chain logs as this river played a significant role in the lumber industry of the two states in the 1800's.

There she is!  We cruised on the boat on the left.  The River Princes.

Many fishermen were on the river last night.

The propulsion system are two hydraulically driven paddle wheels.  This vessel only draws 17 in of draft!

This rock is known as the "Old Man of the River."

Hard to find a better place to be!

Campsites dot the shores on both the Minnesota side of the river (right) and the Wisconsin side as you cruise down river.

As the sun set we went below deck for a wonderful dinner.  After dinner most went to the upper deck and listened to Charley O strum his guitar, play the keyboard and harmonica!

So on Sunday, it was a North Shore train ride on museum tracks for a 90 minute ramble along Lake Superior.  BEAUTIFUL.

The train station is a museum that houses some pretty amazing trains, cars and historical displays.

The car above was the funeral car used to transport the deceased  President Abraham Lincoln.

One way to clear the tracks of snow.  This turn of the century plow was placed in front of a steam engine and pushed into and cleared deep snow from the tracks in the Northern Minnesota winter.

It is a large structure.

We rode in the upper deck on the observation car.  This car was built in the 1950's and is still going strong.

The controls of one of the larger steam powered locomotives on display at the museum.  It reminded me of a Gato class submarine.

This caught my eye!  Look at that pedal mechanism!

1892!  The human mind is so creative.  Although not considered a viable product to build, it was non-the-less ingenious.

Notice the eccentric drive.

And the adjustable moment arm.   This mechanism could be tuned to the human factors of an individuals own physiology.  I think it's brilliant!

Hope you all like the pics.  It was another busy weekend in the beautiful North Woods!

AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML

Labor Day 2016

A wonderful summer is coming to an end and this weekend was Labor Day in the US.  We managed to get some canoeing in.  We saw a hawk flying along the river with a trout in its talons... and a few miles down river we saw this guy...

Perched above the river banks this eagle was enjoying the morning...

We headed South to a small town that was having a car show today and wandered through the old main street looking at some American Iron from days gone by.

2005 Ford GT... the license plate says it all!

1941 Chevrolet Special...

Another Shelby  *yawn*

This Plymouth GTX reminded me of my youth. A friend had one.  I remember he twisted the driveshaft off on evening...

A nice '54 Chevrolet

This Ford coupe had a cobra v-8 to move it along.

Classic - '69 Chevelle SS with a 396.

1958 Chevrolet Del Ray

A nice '47 coupe...

Very interesting photodocumentary of the restoration of this '57 Bel Air!

Chevrolet 1 ton Thriftmaster.  More my speed - I enjoy stock "original" cars.

I used to walk to the bus stop every day past a house that had one of these in the driveway.  AMC gave us a lot of crazy cars like the Pacer and the Gremlin... The AMX was pretty nice IMHO. The 360 not so good...

I think this is the venerable '55 Chevy...  Great paint scheme too.

My brother's friend Vic had one of these!  Three 2bbl carbs - this was called the six-pack option.

This Ford's hood can't fly open at speed...

A nice '54 with jet hood ornament - what a classic!

Oooo, Aaaaah, I still think the prettiest car ever to come off of the clay in Detroit.  The Mach 1!

The cockpit of a 1957 Bel Air...  what's that bottle on the floor?  N2O to GO...

 Hope you enjoyed the weekend pics, we had a great time taking them!

AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML

Good Luck At Drexel buddy - I love you!