Working Our Way towards El Paso (09-18-13)

Our original intent was to make our way to Colorado and do some hiking in the Denver area, but mother nature changed our plans.  With all the flooding going on up there, the national park is closed, the trails would be impassable, and the last thing they need is people coming into the area. So, we went to plan B, and will head to El Paso to see Paul’s mom.  Along the way we are stopping to do some hiking and exploring.


  Our first stop was near Marquette Kansas.  We stayed at another Corp of Engineers Park, this time on Kanopolis Lake.  The trail we hiked was Horsethief Canyon Trail.

We didn’t hike all of it, partly because the signage was so lacking that we weren’t sure which way to go.  The other issue was that it’s in a canyon and the forecast called for rain in the afternoon.  3 miles later, we were back at the truck, and headed into town to get some diesel fuel.

We drove into the small town of Lindsborg.  Lindsborg is a Swedish settlement, which we figured out pretty quickly by reading the “Valkommen” signs.  One of the first things we noticed in the historic and cute downtown was the horses standing on many of the street corners.  We learned that they are called Dala horses and historically they are carved by the Swedes during the cold winter months and then painted to show them off.  If you search the internet for “Dala horse” the first thing that pops up is the store here in Lindsborg that sells them.


I’m not sure if that means that they are the leading authority on the horses, or that no one else really cares about them!

The Homestead Act (09-16-13)

What is the Homestead Act, and why are we learning about it? We are learning about it because we happen to be in the area in Nebraska where it started and a National Monument was placed here so that no one would forget the historical significance that the Homestead Act had on our history as a nation. As to what it was, it was enacted by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and the general purpose of it was to encourage people to move out west and settle in new areas of the country.  To do that, the Homestead Act allowed anyone over the age of 21 to apply to receive 160 acres of land for free, but that acreage had to be in certain areas of the country.

Of course, there were rules. You had to live on the land for 5 years, build a home on it, and use the land to cultivate crops.  Millions of people took advantage of this program until it was abolished in the 1980s.  The first successful homesteader had his plot at the location of this museum.  His descendants donated the land for the museum.  The last homesteader got his 160 acres up in Alaska in 1986. 

The idea of “taming” the wild west was not a new one in 1862.  As early as the late 1700s our government was trying to find ways of creating settlements out west. Telling “Americans” to go forth and build communities in unpopulated areas pretty much ignored the fact that actually, those lands were not uninhabited.  They had been inhabited by native Americans for thousands of years by that point.   No one asked the Indians what they thought of the idea of thousands of people settling on lands that they already occupied, and as has happened innumerable times over the course of the history of our planet, the Native Americans were shoved aside to make way for new, more powerful people.

Over 270 million acres of land were given away by the Federal government, in 30 states.  Along the wall at the entrance to the museum there were metal representations of all the states that were involved, with a square cut out of it to indicate how much land was given away in that particular state. This picture shows that Iowa had very little land given away, but Minnesota had a lot.

Once the land had been occupied and cultivated for 5 years, the settler could apply for the official patent (deed) for the land.  He or she had to bring two witnesses to the Land Office that would verify the the fact that they had fulfilled  the obligations required of them.

a restored 1800s homestead cabin

The Ingalls Family of “Little House On The Prairie” fame tried, (in Kansas) and ultimately succeeded (in South Dakota),  in receiving their 160 acres of land from the government.

Mutual of Omaha (09-15-13)

{Post Delayed due to Lack of Internet}

Well, just Omaha, really.  Omaha Nebraska. Slowing down the pace a bit, we spent three nights in Omaha.  We were lazy for the first day, and only ventured out to check out the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters.  What a mouthful.

When the Mormons originally started their trek from Illinois to their new home of Salt Lake City, they thought the first wave of settlers would reach their destination within the first year.  They were wrong. Weather conditions forced them to stop for the winter, and they did that in Omaha Nebraska.

Once here, they built a small town of 500 homes.  A smaller “scouting” party was sent ahead to Utah, and along the way they mapped the trail, watering holes, and good camping places. Once the weather was favorable, the Omaha settlers left for Utah,and more pioneers from Illinois took their place.  Over the course of several years, more than 70,000 Mormons migrated through this area.  In fact, it is considered to be the most successful pioneer migration in history.  These people were hard workers, smart,  and willing to sacrifice for the common good- or for God, as they probably saw it.


This is a small museum, adjacent to the cemetery where the pioneers who didn’t survive the winter are buried.  Once we entered the building, we were greeted by a “sister”, a young lady who is on an LDS mission in Omaha.  She was curious about our beliefs and she and I had an interesting conversation about the beliefs of the LDS church.  I enjoy learning about their faith, as long as one tries to convert me!  She didn’t, but she also didn’t let me tour the museum on my own.  She stayed with me, discussing each exhibit.  My only issue with that is that it made me feel rushed as I read the information presented.  Paul took the opportunity to scoot ahead and tour at his own pace.


One of the exhibits showed the handcarts that were used by the pioneers to cart their belongings from Illinois to Utah.  It was actually faster and cheaper to travel that way, since the oxen that had been used previously walked slower than people, and of course needed to be fed and watered.  Paul’s great great grandfather was one of the Mormons who made this trek using a handcart. Although small, this museum had a lot of interesting information.




The following day didn't start out exactly as planned.  The night before we had been having issues with the hot spot and Wi-Fi on Paul’s phone, and after 3 hours of talking with AT&T and Apple, they told us to go to the nearby Apple store and get his phone replaced.  Luckily we had insurance, so it didn't cost us anything. We took care of that before heading to the Henry Doorly Zoo for the day. (Edit: Paul’s new phone doesn't work correctly so we’ll have to replace it again when we get to El Paso.  Meantime I activated my hot spot so we’ll see if I can post with it)

We don’t go to many zoos, and we had just been to the National Zoo in Washington DC, but one of the exhibits sounded particularly interesting to me.  The Desert Dome houses habitats from 3 deserts around the world, and beneath it is Kingdoms of the Night- the world’s largest nocturnal exhibit.  

Here they have switched the day/night cycle, so we can see nocturnal animals at a time when they will be more active.  It was quite an exhibit. I enjoyed it, and most of the rest of the zoo as well. 

  The view of the crocodiles and alligators was interesting because we could see them above the water …

and below.

Some of animals didn't seem to have very much room to move around and definitely appeared bored.  That’s sad.  The National Zoo has large areas for the animals to roam, but then of course there isn't much chance of close up pictures!

The gorillas  have managed to find ways to combat the boredom, however.

They spend a fair amount of time interacting with the people on the other side of the glass. I love watching the gorillas- they are so intelligent!

 

One gorilla has his fun at the expense of the unwary.  He waits until someone is sitting in the round window, and then he runs by and bangs on the glass, startling whoever is sitting there.

We did a lot  of walking, checking out the larger enclosures.















This bird was the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time.  Pretty colors though.

Probably my favorite animals of the day were the lion cubs. They are so adorable and very curious about the people staring at them! They are almost a year old.