Category Archives: Museums

The Colorado Model Railroad Museum

The later half of March is a confusing time to be in Colorado. The range of possible weather events makes it a tough time period to plan for. In the mountains, there are plenty of times snow continues to fall, and provides more high quality snow days for skiers and snowboarders. But, the snow does not always continue to fall, and if it doesn’t, conditions on the mountain can deteriorate fast, as warmer temperatures are likely to eat away at the snow pack.

At lower elevations there is quite a bit of variance as well. March can easily bring Denver, Fort Collins, and even Colorado Springs long strings of 70 degree days. It can also bring heavy snowfall, as was the case this past Wednesday.

There’s no guarantee that the weather will cooperate for any outdoor activities. There is always the chance that skiing conditions will continue to deteriorate without conditions for cycling or hiking at lower elevations improving. For people like me, this time of year has the potential to be quite underwhelming. Due to this uncertainty, I would not personally recommend people travel any great distance to visit Colorado in the later half of March or April.

With leftover snow on the ground, covering the trails and such, this weekend ended up being a good time to visit one of Colorado’s indoor attractions. I often lament that Colorado does have some quality museums, an indoor activity, but that I rarely actually visit them as I am planning outdoor adventures. A weekend like this, with less than inspiring weather conditions is the perfect time visit the Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley.

As should be expected from a museum dedicated to model railroads, there is quite a bit on display here. Following the suggested self-guided tour route through the museum, I started out by going upstairs, where I viewed the model rail display in its entirety.

Although it is neat to see these trains go by, each one carrying a different type of freight across the landscape, model railroads are about so much more than just the trains. They depicts towns, industry, and scenery. Some of the mountains depicted on this display even contain small components of real rock.

The upper floor of this museum is like a trip back in time. Plastered on the wall is a map of regional railways, which were once the primary way in which we traveled around the area. After viewing the photos of historic rail depots, posters from the middle of the 20th Century promoting passenger rail service, and old train schedules on display, I imagined myself in the setting of some quasi-ambiguous time in the middle part of last century, bags packed, ready to hop aboard one of these trains to embark on an adventure. I gaze at these maps, and think about how much I enjoy not only the adventures I have at various travel destinations, but the process of getting there, the journey. The railways, and these models, are all about the journey!

The second half of the self guided tour takes visitors downstairs, to see the components of this elaborate model train display individually. Each segment of model trains tell a story, but not a straightforward story. They show a snapshot of life in different places along this train’s route. Looking at all of these individual displays, it is quite easy to imagine oneself there, as part of the story, or as an omnipresent type of observer. The details and creativity allow visitors to develop a story based on what they see.

In this thriving town along the rail route, I imagine myself getting a dollar out to purchase a soda from a vending machine on a hot day. I imagine what this family is doing. Did they just have a fight? The Man’s arms are folded and the daughter is turned away from her parents, clinging to a stuffed bear.

They got creative too. The scene here is a wildfire being put out by firefighters. This is one of many places throughout this gigantic exhibit where specific events are depicted. Not only do we see where stores are, where houses are and such, imagining the day-to-day life in fictitious towns along the route, periodic occurrences are displayed before us as well.

In a few areas, the builders of this display got even more creative. My favorite one here depicts a kayaking trip gone wrong. This kayak now inhabited by a black bear, with two people having been thrown into the water, only one still holding on to their paddle.

A ton of work went into the displays at this particular museum. It’s been a long time since I have been to a museum like this one, but I picture most model railway museums being similar in nature. It is impossible to overstate how important attention to detail is when creating an exhibit like this, or even when people create model train sets for their own homes and gardens. I do not consider myself detail-oriented enough to put something like this together. I am also probably way too extroverted to want to spend the time putting together a display like this.

Seeing this display, first in its entirety, and then by its individual components, gave me a newfound appreciation for the attention to detail payed when creating this exhibit. None of it would have been nearly as good had anyone involved in building this exhibit taken the attitude I often take that details matter less than the big picture. The story of this exhibit would not be presented properly had one little item, one tiny piece of brick at 1:87 scale been slightly off. Maybe details need not be dismissed. Maybe those of us that are frustrated with dealing with details we deem insignificant need to just understand how they fit into the big picture.

When We Get Stuck

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Here we are, on the verge of something great! It is right in front of us, in plain sight, a brand new endeavor, a great idea, something that’s going to either change the world, change our lives, or just be one heck of a great time! The path in front of us is clear, exciting, invigorating. Never have we felt so alive! With excitement, enthusiasm, and passion, we enter this new endeavor without hesitation. We do our due diligence, of course, but the excitement of what lies ahead by far overwhelms any concerns about what could possibly go wrong.

But then it happens. Shortly into this new endeavor, due to something we either overlooked, poorly estimated, or never even considered in the first place, we find ourselves stuck, much like I was in Vail’s Orient Bowl. That morning, I got off the ski lift, and saw the 15″ of fresh powder that Vail had recently received. Instead of following tracks already made by those who skied in this area earlier in the day, I wanted to make my own tracks. I expected a wild ride through this fresh powder! On the contrary, I suddenly found myself slowing down, and sinking. The realization that I would find myself at a standstill, and need to work to dig my way back on track, is much akin to the realization many of us have when we realize that some aspect of our plan is not going to materialize the way we had anticipated.

What is strange is that this experience, of suddenly finding myself stuck occurred at Vail Resort. Vail Resort is not only home to one of the largest and highest rated ski resorts in the world, but it is also home to a ski museum, which has artifacts of the history of both skiing and the resort itself.

Vail_10thMountain

Vail ski mountain was founded by a man named Pete Siebert, who fought in World War 2 as part of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division. This group of soldiers trained in the mountains of Colorado, mainly on skis, and were subsequently deployed to Northern Italy to lead an attack, on skis, in the heart of one of the Nazi strongholds in the region. Many of the soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, despite being from many different places all over the country, found their way back to Colorado, and alongside Siebert, helped develop the skiing industry into what it is today.

The story of skiing, and the story of Vail is summarized quite nicely at the Colorado Ski Museum. In fact, the museum has other exhibits, including one on snowboarding, a bunch of facts about the origin of downhill skiing, which pre-dates Vail and even the 10th Mountain Division’s World War II efforts, and one that shows the history of the U.S. participation in skiing and snowboarding events in the Olympic Games.

Yes, I had to get my picture taken with one of my favorite athletes, even if it is only a cardboard cutout. I was not sure if I would get kicked out for taking this photo, so I made it quick.

The abridged version of the story of Vail is that it opened on December 15, 1962, struggled for a couple of years (the second year they had a snow drought and brought in the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to perform a snow dance for them), and then the resort took off in the later half of the 1960s. After that, the resort periodically expanded, eventually combined with Beaver Creek and became what it is today. For more details, I would seriously recommend visiting the museum. With only a $3 suggested donation, it is a great activity for kind of day where skiers and snowboarders need to take an hour or two off due to weather or exhaustion.

The aspect of Vail’s history that is largely not covered by the Museum is the one that pertained to my own experience earlier that day- getting stuck. The museum has an exhibit, and a video describing the 10th Mountain Division, how they trained, and what they accomplished. They also describe the history of Vail as a ski resort in detail. But, the 10th Mountain Division disbanded at the end of 1945, when the war ended. Vail resort opened in 1962. The only discussion of this roughly 17 year time period between these two events, was that Mr. Siebert was looking for the perfect place to open a ski resort.

In detail, what did Pete Siebert do from 1946 through roughly 1960 (when he started laying the groundwork for Vail)? Nobody knows, but it is definitely possible that he got stuck, much in the same way I was earlier that day. Maybe, like many who returned from World War II, he came back and did not know what to do during Peacetime. Or maybe, he looked at places for years and could not find the right one. It is possible that he could have had a few “false starts”.

Those of us that have ever been, or currently are, stuck, can take solace in the fact that Mr. Siebert eventually, despite what is likely close to a decade of being stuck, put together a world class ski resort. Additionally, many of his fellow 10th Mountain Division soldiers contributed to what Vail eventually became (the shops, restaurants, and even clubs that popped up in Vail Village).

After being stuck in the snow, I eventually made it down the mountain. In fact, after only a short delay, I was able to climb my way out of the deep snow into a set of tracks just to my left. Despite the fact that I did not get what I wanted out of that particular experience, I had a great experience with the remainder of that particular run, finding areas of deep powder farther down, where the terrain is a bit steeper, and then shooting through some glades.

In this particular case, I had no choice but to try to climb my way out of this section of deep powder. In may other situations in life, we do have the option to give up. Unfortunately, we often do prematurely, sometimes simply knowing that there is an easier path. But, the easier path is rarely the more rewarding one. The experience of getting stuck in the snow only to eventually have a great remainder of the run, followed by seeing a parallel experience with the founding of the very resort I was skiing at reminded me that it is often worthwhile to get “unstuck”, but also that it is less of a catastrophe to be stuck in the first place than we often imagine.

We live in a culture that reprimands people for being stuck only for a couple of months. Two months with nothing to show for it- you’re on thin ice …. or out of a job! Sometimes I even reprimand myself for “wasting” a single day! Pete Siebert may have been stuck for over a decade! Yet, he eventually founded Vail, and the experience of living in, or visiting, Colorado would not be the same if it weren’t for this important contribution. So, maybe we need to be less hard on each other, and be less hard on ourselves.

Bozeman, Montana; Where My Journey Begins

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“I had always known that we had the best downtown in all of Montana. And then last year, we were voted the best downtown in all of Montana.” At least that is how Bozeman was described to me by one of the locals, while giving me lunch recommendations. He eventually told me that every place downtown was good, and to only avoid chain restaurants.

The first person I interacted with in Bozeman was the cab driver that drove me from the airport to the REI, where my bicycle had been shipped to, reassembled, and was waiting for me. He described Bozeman as a “town full of expert skiers”. With all of the other observations I had made while in town, and with the other interactions I had with people from Montana, it feels to me as if Bozeman is like a smaller and more extreme version of Denver or Boulder. The cab driver indicated that the town almost shuts down on powder days, as everyone is headed to the mountains. And, the people coming in and out of the bike shops appeared to be people that could ride a fair number of miles in challenging conditions.

Bozeman is only 50-some miles from Big Sky, one of the most famous ski resorts in the country. Locals, however, appeared more proud of their local ski resort, Bridger Bowl, only 16 miles from town, as indicated by this sign. It was also described to me as “the only non-profit ski resort in the Country”.

However, my mind was not on skiing at the time. My mind was on bicycling, as this was the beginning of a 3-day bicycle journey that would take me through some of the country’s most amazing natural features. And, it would be the most challenging ride I have ever attempted.

After picking up my bike, as well as all of the necessary supplies I needed for my trip at the REI, I rode the first 1.3 miles of my journey, to the Bozeman Inn, where I would spend the evening.

Having my bike shipped to the REI and assembled there worked out quite well for me. The price to assemble the bike from the box is $40, and they pretty much made sure that nothing was wrong with the bike, which is something I really wanted for a bicycle journey that would take me through long stretches without bike shops. They even checked the spokes, trued the wheel, and made sure everything else was working. And, when they realized they still had my tire lock key, someone from the shop brought it to me downtown.

It would be nearly 10:00 P.M. before the sun went down that evening. I had already checked into the motel, but was looking for some information about the town, maybe a bike map, or even a restaurant guide for the time I would be in Bozeman. Instead, there was just a bar and grill located adjacent to the motel. “Lights” by Ellie Goulding was playing quite loudly where people were drinking inside. It was a clear reminder of what evenings were like on a normal night during my “normal life”. So, I had the instinct to go inside, drink a little, enjoy the music, and try to meet some locals. But, I knew better. I was on the verge of something special. It would be a challenging ride, and I needed my energy.

I loaded up my bike with all of my supplies packed nicely into the panniers I had carried with me on the flight into Bozeman the previous evening. I looked around me and saw mountains in all directions, reminding me that, yes, I was in for some challenging climbs in the coming days.

Spending the morning, and mid-day, in Bozeman gave me some time to mentally prepare for the challenge I knew I had ahead of me. I decided to check out the attraction I had heard about the most; The Museum of the Rockies.

This museum has somewhat of an interesting local take on geological, biological, and natural history. Like the Field Museum in Chicago, it has an exhibit that displays how life evolved over time, starting with the single celled organisms that dominated the earth for Billions of years prior to the Cambrian explosion, through the time of the Dinosaurs and beyond in chronological order.

This museum’s exhibit was way more dinosaur centric than the other life over time exhibits I’ve been to. Their main attraction is the “Montana T-Rex”, the biggest T-Rex to be discovered inside the State of Montana.

The museum is quite locally focused. The exhibits on geological history contain a lot of information specific to the geographical area around Bozeman. Most of the dinosaur exhibits are displayed along with a map of Montana which show where the bones were dug up.

Seeing some of these specific exhibits actually changed the way I look at scenery. Exhibits like this one, about the Beartooth Mountains, don’t just show how pretty they are, but show what rock formations can be seen, and how and when they developed. The geological history behind all of these processes, from plate tectonics to atmospheric composition changes, and even processes involving air pressure changes and erosion all help explain why everything we observe is the color and shape that it currently is. And, ultimately, for people who study natural history, all of these rock formations that we observe provided clues to Earth’s past, and helped these scientists discover what we now know.

I’ve looked at a lot of mountains, and a lot of natural scenery over the past few years. It occurs to me that the scenery that we observe means something different to everybody. Some people focus on the aesthetic nature of what they see, a beautiful mountain, a beautiful lake, a scenic overlook. Others focus on the adventure. Wow, this mountain would be great to climb, or this river would be crazy to kayak in. But, still others are trying to deduce how this scenic view in front of them came to be. They are the ones that see red rocks and see the process of rusting, which occurred over the course of 2 billion years, as early photosynthetic life gradually increased the oxygen content of the atmosphere, lead to the chemical reactions that made some rocks red, so long as they have had significant above ground exposure. They are the ones that look at the rocks and see as story, a progression of events.

I almost felt bad, walking around the museum in my bicycle clothes, looking kind of like a bad-ass, talking to people about my bike trip, when the truth is, that I had only biked 7 miles so far, from the REI, to my hotel, and then to the museum. It was the guy at the ticket window that had told me that Bozeman’s downtown was the best one in Montana. He informed me that the museum and downtown were the two places to really see in Bozeman, so I decided to ride my bike downtown, get some lunch, and wait for my friend to join me.

I was impressed by the downtown, particularly the bike parking. After eating lunch at a Co-op (the kind of place that looks like a grocery store but sells fresh made lunch food to workers in downtown areas), I had some time to kill. I was excited, getting kind of anxious, and my mind was active! Maybe it was the 10 miles I had already ridden, enough to get my blood moving. Maybe it was knowing what was to come. Or, maybe it was the downtown, the vibrancy, and the unique-ness.

From book stores, to local shops, everywhere I went seemed to put me into an active process of deep thought. For example, I saw a book. It was titled “Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are incompatible.” I thought to myself how ironic it is. People become attracted to either Science or Religion, but usually do so due to the positive aspects of it; science and it’s intellectual curiosity, religion and the hope and purpose that it brings. Yet, so many people, after choosing to love one or the other, spend more time focusing on the negative aspects of the other one, as opposed to the positive things that brought them to love either science or religion.

Just like that book, everything I saw brought me to some weird intellectual thought pattern. I should go back to Bozeman sometime under different circumstances, and see if this is just the way the town works. Is there something about the energy of this town that makes people just think in unique ways?

Many Montanans refer to Bozeman as “Boze-Angeles”. In this part of the country, I am guessing this is not meant as a compliment. That evening, after riding to Chico Hot Springs (more on that in my next post), a woman from Butte, MT would describe Bozeman as “pretentious”, and the place in Montana where one is most likely to be judged. And, although I did not necessarily feel judged, I definitely sensed the pride here, consistent with what the cab driver, and others told me. Still, I enjoyed the feeling of being adventurous, intellectual, and on the verge of a major adventure that would also be a major challenge, a major accomplishment, and open me up in a whole new way.

History Colorado Center

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It has been unprecedentedly cold across Colorado these past several days! It’s been so cold that no outdoor activity, not even skiing, sounds even remotely appealing. So, in order to make the most of my time, I decided that today would be a good day to check out the new exhibit at the History Colorado Center. As, I do want to check it out, and will likely be skiing or traveling elsewhere the next several weekends.

The History Colorado Center is a State history museum in Central Denver, located just south of downtown. As the name advertizes, the museum covers the history of the State of Colorado. A similar museum can most likely be found in nearly all state capitol cities.

In my biased opinion, the History Colorado Center is one of the best museums I have ever been to. The reason I say it is a biased opinion is that I definitely prefer museums that cover topics I am personally interested in. I tend to be more interested in science and history than art and lifestyle museums. In addition, I have not been to too terribly many museums, as I tend to spend more time on outdoor activities. So, my recommendation of this museum can be taken for what it’s worth; based on a strong personal bias and a limited sample set of options. But, I do feel like this museum is worth the $12 admission. Today we spent just shy of three hours there, but I do feel like I could spend close to an entire day here.

I really enjoy this museum for three reasons:

1. The museum is highly interactive.

This seems to be a trend in museums of late. I am not sure what instigated this particular trend, but over the past decade more museums have been moving towards more interactive exhibits. This particular museum was constructed only a couple of years ago (replacing the previous Colorado History Museum), and thus many of the exhibits at the museum are indicative of this trend.

Just inside the entryway to the museum is a “time machine” exhibit. These two “time machines” can be physically moved across a gigantic map of the State of Colorado. Depending on where these devices are placed, a user can select a year from a list. Each selection contains a different historical story of Colorado. These stories come from many different time periods and nearly all portions of the state. If one were to watch all of the stories available in this exhibit, it would definitely take multiple hours.

Other interactive exhibits at this museum include a silver mining exhibit, a bunch of screen-selecting games, and my personal favorite, the ski jump simulator. The ski jump simulator not only simulates the building of speed, becoming airborne, and subsequent landing, but also requires that the user mimics the right ski jumping technique. All this is done in from of a screen that shows the ski jump in progress. Improper technique will result in a crash in the simulation, and the length of the jump is also dependent on technique. It is interesting to attempt this ski jump simulation several times to get the best possible result.

2. The museum presents a fairly complete representation of state history.

By this I mean the all regions of the state, all time periods, and all types of people appear to be represented at this museum. Many people think of Colorado and think only of the mountains and the activities associated with the mountains. Some think of Denver and the Front Range cities, but the entire Eastern 1/3 of the state is often ignored. This museum actually includes several exhibits that cover life in the Great Plains portion of the state.

Half of the first floor of the museum is dedicated to the story of a small town named Keota on the plains in Northeastern Colorado. Like many town in this area, it’s economy was primarily based on farming and ranching. Although the town did fairly well in the first couple of decades of the 20th century, it did not fare well during the dust bowl and now is basically a ghost town.

Other exhibits about the history of Colorado’s often forgotten Eastern portion include one on Bent’s Old Fort, and one on the Sand Creek Massacre. With these exhibits, and several others, the History Center Colorado also presents history from the point of view of nearly every ethnic group to ever inhabit the state. One exhibit describes Colorado’s history as a borderland between the United States and Mexico prior to the Mexican-American war. Another one describes the Japanese Internment Camps during World War 2. And, despite the fact that Colorado is only 4% black (as a state), the museum contains an exhibit about a place called Lincoln Hills, a resort in the mountains developed by black people for black people at a time when many places refused to serve them.

In addition to presenting history from all portions of the state, as well as from multiple perspectives, the museum covers times all time periods, as well as both good times and bad times. The Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival is a celebration of the winter sport activities that make Colorado a destination for many. However, the new exhibit covers the importance of water resources in the state of Colorado. This exhibit covers three periods of time where water resources and the management of them made a major difference in life in Colorado. In the 13th century water resources were depleted from the “Mesa Verde” area, leading to hard times for the once thriving Pueblo Indians in that region. Their response was to move south to areas where resources appeared more abundant. Remnants of this civilization can still be viewed at Mesa Verde National Park, the only archeological U.S. National Park. The dust bowl was one of the hardest times in Colorado. Many farmers suffered from a combination of low prices and extreme drought. This began a population decline in the plains, but some remained on the land. Finally, current concerns about water resources were covered, as reduced snowpack from climate change combined with population increases threaten shortages of water resources.

3. The museum has character.

By this I mean there are a lot of little fun things like this Bison topped with a Santa hat. Throughout the museum there are a lot of other little decorations here and there, such as the Welcome to Colorado sign, that just make the atmosphere a bitmore fun. They do this without either going over the top, or seeming too cheesy, which I very much appreciate.

Visiting the History Colorado Center today was a good change of pace from my normal activities, and a wonderful way to take advantage of a day with less than ideal weather. With a fun yet intelligent atmosphere, a complete view of Colorado’s history as a state, and a plethora of interactive exhibits, my visit to the History Colorado Center was a memorable experience. It gave me a lot to think about, and a good overview of the state that I now call home.

Goin’ Down to South Park

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I decided to break with a previous precedent I had set in this blog to only post one entry about a day’s travels. In retrospect, some of the entries I posted a couple of months ago, which combined several activities into one post just because they were done on the same day seem like they may have come out a bit awkward. In reflecting on the travel writing I had previously read, they appeared to make breakouts by experience way more than date.

Since I had already traveled to the South and West along highway 285 to get to Staunton State Park today, I decided to continue along the road a bit to get to Fairplay, Colorado. By looking at my DeLorme Atlas, and then doing a subsequent Google search, I determined that the show South Park, is based (some argue loosely) on this town.

As someone who is a fan of this show, it probably sounds stupid that it took me over a decade, as well as over a year after moving to Colorado, to figure this out. But, I am not one to base my life around T.V. shows. I feel like people nowadays focus too much on T.V. shows. I get exhausted by conversations about T.V. shows, and saddened by people who appear to posses a greater understanding of the lives of fictitious characters on a weekly T.V. show than the lives of actual people who should be important to them.

In South Park though, I see a show that can come to represent something more. Most shows people watch are entertaining, but don’t change anyone’s lives. Sometimes, a groundbreaking show like Seinfeld will come along, but Seinfeld mainly changed the course of television, not history or society. There have been shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that produce commentary about real issues from time to time. But South Park has come, to me at least, to represent an actual societal development. It has come to represent the courage to retain the right to think individually, and come to a critical conclusion of almost anyone or anything regardless of what level of esteem they have come to enjoy by long-standing institutions or large groups of people. It is the anti-group think, and the backlash to the political correctness movement of the 1990s.

However, the South Park Museum in town has absolutely nothing to do with the show. But, it was a really good museum depicting life in the west in the 1870s/1880s. The town was somehow preserved exactly as it was in that era, even down to the layout of the street and buildings. There is even a historic train at the far end of the street.

Over 40 buildings were preserved, from homes, to the general store, saloon, blacksmith, and all of the quintessential buildings needed to make a true “old west” town. Each building contained a significant amount of artifacts from that era, and museum attendees could actually walk through almost all of them and see most of the items used in day to day life here up close. Walking through all of these buildings, I could actually imagine myself back in the old west. I could picture myself living the life of the 300 or so residents of this town during that time period. Overall, I have visiting my fair share of recreations like this, and this one has been the most realistic!

It is quite rare that any kind of museum, or historic town can lead to someone actually imagining themselves to be there! However, there I was, imagining myself washing my clothes at the wash house, picking up supplies at the general store, boarding the train, and even getting involved in a game of cards at the saloon as if I were in the movie Maverick. And all this was after I was expecting an entire museum about an animated T.V. series!

Also included in this museum was a 10 minute film strip about the town, and some basics about the history of the area. All of this is not too far out of the ordinary. As I visit more historical locations throughout the west, I have come to the conclusion that two themes are emerging from the beginning of the white man’s history of the west; fur and gold. Most of the trails and even some of the towns in the area appear to have been established by fur trade, or gold rushes. However, every gold rush appeared to have come to an end within a decade. Some towns, like this one, found another niche (in the case of Fairplay it was ranching, and being a business center and county seat). Others, like the ghost town I wandered through this past weekend, simply died when the gold ran out.

Overall, though, I can’t help but find it somewhat ironic that the history of the west was forced so much by fur and gold. So, it feels to me that as much as we want to characterize the old west with images like this one.

I can’t help but think that since most of the early settlers were searching for fur and gold, the old west can be just as easily characterized by images like this one.

This recreation of the old west town was, of course, walled off from the rest of the town that was significantly more modern looking. A few gift shops appeared to be trying to capitalize on the town’s association with the show, but not as many as I had expected. The town had a somewhat similar layout to most small towns I am familiar with, with a central business district, and some larger shops and houses on the outskirts. But, compared with the only other town above 9000 ft. I have spent a significant amount of time in, Breckenridge, it was a lot less dense. The central business district was quite spread out, amongst a few streets and a fairly large area.

The one thing that definitely did remind me of the show, though, was the mountains outside of town. Some of the mountain views from near town actually seemed to appear almost exactly as it appears in the cartoon.

On the return trip, I once again encountered the Colorado Trail, at Kenosha Pass, which is the mountain pass that separates the “South Park” area from the Front Range. I do find it odd, though, that this mountain pass is at an elevation less than 100 feet higher than the elevation of the town I was just in.

Finally, the two images above that I did not take, the mountain man and the woman with the fur and gold, are credited to the site http://www.123rf.com.

A Continental Crossroads

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Many places refer to themselves as a “crossroads” of some kind. In fact, every sign welcoming motorists to the state of Indiana refers to the state as the “Crossroads of America”. Indiana’s claim to being the “Crossroads of America” has to do with some of the earliest long distance highways, including the Lincolnway, which pre-dates Route 66, passing through Indiana. Even now it is a place many have to drive through to get to destinations like Chicago, Detroit, and Louisville.

Duluth’s claim to be a “continental crossroads” seems even more substantial than Indiana’s. The North American continent includes Canada and Mexico, as well as the United States. Duluth makes this claim based on railroads and waterways. Duluth was an important rail hub in the heyday of the Minnesota lumber industry around 100 years ago, with lumber from points north being hauled to Duluth to make connections to other areas, both by rail and by ship via Lake Superior.

With this history, one of Duluth’s major attractions is their historic depot. This depot, located in the center of town, contains several museums, including an impressive rail museum. Many old trains are on display here, and visitors can view the inside of many of these trains, including the passenger and dining cars, as well as the conductor’s cars.

One of the most impressive trains on display here was an old snowplow train. This particular model, was used to plow large amounts of snow, as much as 12 feet high. Seeing this is not too surprising given Duluth’s cold and snowy climate. Residents of Duluth undoubtedly put up with more cold and snowy weather than I would ever imagine wanting to experience.

Duluth is a place I had never been to before. In 2007, I did visit Bayfield and the Apostle Islands, which are only 90 miles away. But, I never did visit Duluth. I did not specifically avoid coming here, but I did not seek it out either. I guess that would make it kind of a “neutral” place for me. We all have a lot of places like that. Places we would not make a specific point to visit, but would not avoid. Duluth is quite far North, and out of the way of most American road trips. In fact, on the trip here from Minneapolis along I-35, there were plenty of billboards advertising resorts in Canada, specifically Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Duluth turned out to be kind of an interesting place. It is still very much of an industrial town. Many industrial towns in the Midwest have experienced a certain amount of decline, leading to the term “rust belt”. From what I saw here, the decline seems to have not been as bad here, and there still appears to be a significant amount of industrial activity. I almost wonder if this town looks a lot like the other industrial towns in the country looked like back in the 1950s or so before much of this happened.

There also are kind of neat bluffs just outside of town. They kind of remind me of the river bluffs I would encounter along the Mississippi River along I-90, in a completely different part of Minnesota. The town appears to have mostly been built in the lower terrain right along Lake Superior, giving it a neat lakefront. I still wonder if people hike up these bluffs on a regular basis, the way Boulderites regularly hike the Flatirons.

But what about Duluth’s claims to be a “continental crossroads”? Well, the fact that it is an important shipping port definitely backs up this claim. It was out of Duluth that the tragic voyage of the Edmond Fitzgerald left in 1975. This voyage, intended for Cleveland, was one of a number of journeys taken along the Great Lakes from Duluth over the years. From points north and west, it is the nearest access point to the Great Lakes, which provides shipping access to the Atlantic via the Erie Canal. Also, with a good number of ports along Lake Superior being in Canada, Duluth’s importance undoubtedly stretches beyond the United Sates.

But, does this make Duluth any more important than I had previously thought? Maybe not? I mean, there are tons of airports near an international border that can call themselves “international airports” by virtue of their location more than their flight availability. And, almost every town that refers to themselves as a “crossroads” of some kind have some kind of story to back up their claims. The truth is that, the world is full of crossroads. Routes and trails have criss-crossed the continent for a long time, and along these routes and trails, many important connections have developed in quite a few locations, each with significance in the history and development of our nation. This is actually one of the things that made our country great. It is not once place that made us who we are, nor is who we are just one thing. Everybody had input. And, more importantly, everyone had the right to decline input as well. Minnesota is quite different from Texas, which is also quite different from New York. Each place developed differently, and each “crossroads” across this great continent has their own unique way of life based on what kind of “crossroads” they are.

The Dachau Concentration Camp

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Today was a rather somber day. The weather kind of sucked, could, drizzly, and I doubt it got above 10°C. We spent most of the day in Dachau at the concentration camp memorial and museum. Dachau, which is less than half an hour from Munich, was the site of one of the largest concentration camps and the one that set the standard for many others. Nazis would refer to it as the “Dachau spirit”, when demonstrating how other concentration camps should operate.

I did not expect to spend nearly as much time there as we ended up doing. In fact, we ended up missing a meal because of that. Maybe that was fitting for the experience of being at a concentration camp. As we learned today, those detained in the concentration camps often experienced starvation. The museum and audio guide had a lot of information. It also included a detailed history of Adolf Hitler’s NAZI party, and a lot of videos and first hand accounts of the day-to-day life inside the concentration camps.

The overarching theme is just how horrific it was. Those imprisoned- their life meant nothing, their suffering- nothing. Many starved to death, were gassed, forced to work, and were mocked and humiliated on a regular basis. I’d always known about this horrific event, but until today I had never seen actual images and videos of it. This put it in a whole new perspective. I was mostly in disbelief about how something so bad could happen. And it happened in a first world country only several years before my Dad was born. Maybe that is one reason we are so fascinated with NAZI history, it is not nearly as far removed from us in the early 21^st Century United States as Greeks, Romans, Barbarians, etc.

Hitler and the Nazis are brought up and quoted a bit in causal conversation, in my opinion way too callously. Sure, it may be possible to compare the Defense Authorization Act with some things that occurred in mid 1930s Germany (specifically granting the government the right to detain indefinitely without due process), but after viewing this I feel it is kind of disrespectful to those who actually experienced the holocaust. We usually bring up Hitler and the Nazis to prove a point. But, we can probably find a more respectful way to make our points about the political climate in the early 21^st Century.

More thoughts ran through my head, as despite our overuse of NAZI comparisons, it is still a very interesting case study in how a major economy/ first world country could go down such an evil path, and so recently too. The rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany is almost always linked to the penalties and sanctions placed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War. But, what really lead to World War I? It seems less well known than WW II. I am sure historians have good theories, but they are certainly less discussed in history class. Also, were we (US and allies) the good guys in WW I? After finally learning about Woodrow Wilson’s anti-German propaganda machine in the 1910s (no thanks to high school history class), I just don’t know anymore. I think this is one reason people love to talk about World War II. There is a very clear sense that we were the good guys, and NAZI Germany was the bad guys. Very few wars are like this. We try to romanticize past wars, especially the Civil War when you learn about it in Illinois, but further investigation shows that it was not nearly as clear-cut as the Land of Lincoln would like it to be.

Another thing that has pestered my in my head about Hitler is why he is always labeled a “right-wing” dictator. Usually, this is done to contrast him with Communist dictators; Mao and Stalin. There are important differences. Most notably, Hitler’s Germany did not squash all corporate activity. In fact, there were corporations who worked with the Reich. However, the label is still misleading. When translated into English, NAZI translates to “National Socialist Movement”. In the U.S. socialism is considered left wing, at least on economic scale. Also, many of the propaganda posters for the NAZI party I saw in the museum complained about the evils of greed and capitalism. Rallying against “Jewish Capitalism” was seen in a lot of NAZI propaganda in advance of the 1932 elections.

I also learned that different groups of people were treated differently inside the camps. For instance, Austrian nationals captured after the 1938 annexation of Austria were treated much better than Jews. The more favored groups, while still having it rough, were not treated as rough, and had a higher survival rate. Before today, I did not know that people were actually occasionally released from concentration camps. This occurred mainly before the war. And then there was a period of time in 1943 when they tried to improve conditions in the camps to increase survival rates to meet labor demand for the war effort.

I also did not know that corporations would pay the secret service for slave labor from these camps. In fact, the German economy kind of became dependent on this labor, much in the same way the pre-civil war South was. Overall, it was a learning day. But, after all the walking, and the chilly weather, I was tired, so we did not do much else.

Touring Innsbruck, Austria

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The weather was not quite as nice in the mountains this morning, so we took a day off from skiing. Hopefully we’ll be rested for tomorrow- we plan to ski the Stubai Glacier, a place where it is possible to ski year round (although I don’t think many ski in the summer).

After sleeping in a bit, we hit up the Alpenverein Museum, which is a museum of mountain climbing I saw in an Innsbruck information packet. This museum was great, and only 4 euro each. We saw the complete history of mountaineering, including the tools people use to scale a mountain, how people map out mountain passes/routes/terrain, pictures people drew of mountains, stuff about mountain sickness (from high altitude), and stories and thoughts from mountain climbers themselves.

The thoughts got deep, as one mountaineer saw mountain climbing as a metaphor for overcoming our self-induced inhibitions in life, and others saw mountaineering to be associated with freedom in some other way. However, the thing that stuck in my mind was the story of rope. Specifically, the quality of rope was improved greatly in 1865, in response to four mountaineers falling to their death due to poor rope quality. From a 21^st Century point of view, it seem as though we should have been using much better rope all along, recognizing that human lives are at stake. It brings up thoughts about the insurance industry charging inadequate rates in Florida prior to Hurricane Andrew, or the fact that the financial markets had to explode before they stopped leveraging 40:1. Why are we so often collectively unable to recognize these risks until a disaster of some kind happens?

We went to lunch after the museum at a placed called Maria Van Bergund. The food was great, but we had a strange encounter. This woman sitting at the table next to next to ours was wasted (noon Sunday, and we were not sure what she was wasted on). Abby noticed this first, but I thought it was no big deal, as I continued to share thoughts on mountaineering. Then, she started asking me questions. She spoke little to no English. At first here somewhat less intoxicated friend helped her out (he knew English better). Eventually, he left and she came over and sat at our table (to be in the sun). Random people do talk to me a lot. I feel like I am typically a welcoming person, and when I’m in a decent mood, I give off a fun and approachable vibe. So, I try to have a conversation with her but I know very little German, so it’s hard. I think Abby was nervous. Eventually, she moved to another table, as she desired to sit in the sun and the sun/shade pattern advanced. When she sat with a random old man, she got asked to leave the restaurant. This did, however, spark up a pleasant conversation with a nice family from the UK. Some of these events were strange, and I may have been uncomfortable, but I’d still rather stuff like this happen periodically and deal with the stress it causes than never have anything interesting happen. Simply put, monotony would suck more than occasional stress, or drama. I did not expect many encounters with random people in countries where I don’t speak the language, but the way I am, I don’t think I can avoid it, even here.

In the afternoon, we walked about 3 km, partially uphill to the Bergisel ski jump arena, where the 1964 and 1976 Olympic ski jump took place. I was curious about how people watched this particular event. It did not seem possible to me, but I think I was overestimating the spatial scale of the jump in my head. I imagined what it was like for a ski jumper. According to the info, once you start you accelerate to 90 km/hr in only 4 seconds! Then, you take off. You have a view of the whole city while in the air, as well as the entire crowd, and multiple mountain ranges. Then, you have to land- how mind bottling!

Rome to Florence

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Today started with a ride on the fastest train I have ever ridden: The high-speed train from Rome to Florence. It topped out at 250 km/hr (155 mph). Traveling at those speeds did not feel too different than traveling at 60, 70, 80 mph as I commonly do in my car. However, it was definitely noticeable that the scenery was going by faster than what I was used to, and that we were moving much faster than all the cars we saw on an adjacent highway. There are also a lot of moderate size mountains in Italy. I think we spent about 25% of this trip underground, in tunnels under mountains.

Our hotel in Florence was much nicer. Mainly, it was a lot bigger, our hotel in Rome was really kind of small, but I guess that is what to expect in such a crowded area. Luckily, our hotel room was ready for us when we got there, which was before 11 AM. So, we were able to drop off our bags and go straight to the Galileo Museum. This museum is actually not very well known, but it was our choice to be unique and go somewhere different. This paid off for us, as the place was much less crowded than many of the other sites in town. The museum itself was a really good deal, for only 4 Euro each, and it is quite stacked with ancient scientific instrumentation. The museum also contained a historical narrative of the history of science.

After visiting the museum, my mind was fixated on the Renaissance. Specifically, why it happened. Why was it that people suddenly became interested in this stuff after nearly a millennium of seemingly not caring about any of it? From sometime in the 1400s onward, there’s been a cascading of scientific discovery and invention; new instruments to measure the weather, directions, proof the Earth is round and not the center of the universe, observations of other planets, electricity, the steam engine, etc. All of this made our lives much better than those that lived 1000 years ago. But, what triggered it all? There seemed to be an interest in navigation after European Nations discovered and started colonizing the new world. But that was discovered in a quest to find trading routes. So, was it all just a quest for cheaper cooking supplies, and spices in the aftermath of Marco Polo’s epic journey to the East? Or, was it a new “age” of sorts, as explained by both Western and Eastern Philosophy/ astrology where humanity undergoes cyclical trends both long term and short, where thinkers like Aristotle and Socrates lead the emergence, or Renaissance out of the previous dark age (in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization), and Galileo and Copernicus leading the emergence, or Renaissance being discussed here.

Florence is a beautiful city. We went out ourselves exploring it, after going to the museum and eating lunch. First, we climbed some outdoor stairs to the top of the Michelangelo Garden. Then, we climbed the indoor stairs in the Duomo. That is where we encountered the most annoying American tourists of the entire journey. This family was climbing the stairs (there are a lot of them) to the top of the Duomo. The mother and the oldest son were behind us, and the father and the younger daughter were in front of us. The mother in the back was getting claustrophobic and kept complaining- over and over again. On at least six occasions, she threatened to turn around and go down. The last one was after the father/ daughter had informed her that they saw the top! The only one in that group I respected was the little girl. She was like 6 years old maybe, and she actually taunted everyone else. The older son kept asking the Mom is she was okay. I bet she had expected climbing this Duomo to be exactly like going to the top of the Empire State Building, with a nice fancy elevator. These people probably give American tourists a bad name.

The Arzo River, all day long, was filled with rowers. No other water activites were going on.. NO … NINE! No boats, no cruises, only rowing. It is like a local law. Also, the tops of the buildings looked like Mexico/ New Mexico (red clay). We kind of enjoyed walking around here more than Rome.

Finally, at the end of the evening I got to try two Italian beverages. Grappa, which I thought tasted like a combination of Vodka and bread. The beverage is drank by Italians in a similar way that that one beverage in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you know, the tall one that Ian’s parents get drunk on, is drank by Greeks. Also, Martini, a sweet vermouth beverage. I enjoyed this one very much. Both of these beverages were given to me for free. How’s that for Italian hospitality.

The Action Story

Learning about the world and about ourselves through travel and experiences

Category Archives: Museums

The Colorado Model Railroad Museum

When We Get Stuck

Bozeman, Montana; Where My Journey Begins

History Colorado Center

Goin’ Down to South Park

A Continental Crossroads

The Dachau Concentration Camp

Touring Innsbruck, Austria

Rome to Florence