They also had some mammoths and mastodons.

Here is one of the pits that they are taking remains from. It was stinky but interesting. I like old stuff.

There are lots of gum trees (eucalyptus) in southern California. I am a little torn, as I love gum trees and they remind me of home, but they are not native and in California they are a bit of a pest. There are so many invasive species in Australia that have wrecked havoc on the native critters that I am not crazy when I see Australian species being a pest outside of down under.

The second day we went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for a Tim Burton exhibit. It was a lot of fun. I kept seeing pieces and thinking to myself “I had forgotten that he had done that”. I had also just seen Ed Wood the week before. They were quite militant about ensuring no photographs were taken. Coincidentally, LACMA is right next to the tar pits we had been just the day before.

We meandered through some other parts of the museum. Outside they had this great interactive sculpture that was a hit with the little ones.

My second trip to California also piggy backed, in this case, Lena had a conference at the Disneyland Hotel. I flew in on the Friday, rented a car and we went to Disneyland on the Saturday. I am a bit conflicted about Disneyland. I don't view Disney very positively as a company, but Lena and my mum are both very fond of the place, and there is something friendly about the place. When I was growing up, we went several times.

My favourite is Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, I think because I identify somewhat with Mr. Toad? Is that weird?

The submarines have been mostly supplanted with Finding Nemo's Wild Submarine Ride.

The Jungle Cruise is about 95% bad puns and 5% animatronic ducks.

Me and the pirate ship. I don't think it is a pirate ship, but everyone seems to call it that anyway.

It was nearly Halloween so there were lots of Halloween decorations. Speaking of Halloween they have also updated the Haunted House.

On our second day in the area we went to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. Richard Nixon has a bad rap because of the way he left office. He was an outspoken anti-communist, but in his library he honours a number of communist leaders, like Brezhnev and Khrushchev here. He was complicated. He also created the Environmental Protection Agency and ended the offensive biological weapons program by executive order.

The grounds are really pretty. Nixon was born in the little house the other end of the reflecting pond that was built by his father, and he is buried near that. It is not a bad final resting place.

They also have the helicopter that Nixon road away on after he resigned. It is a famous image I am sure you remember it. Lena took this cool photo of it.

We went to Jack in the Box after the library, and I was almost ready to call it a day, but Lena found these cool ruins on the Internet so we drove down the 405. It's the Mission San Juan Capistrano. I like old stuff.

pretty little court yard with bells.

Stairs.

A place to sit.

Lena had a fun time photographing me through this window.

They also had some fish.

She has sharp teeth. (All the better to eat you with).

There were lots of other fossils, including a whole room full of other dinosaurs. I liked this fish.

We also saw exhibits on Egypt and DNA. Here Lena is posing with the DNA.

Toward the end of the day they were getting ready to host a wedding inside the museum. It looked like it might be grand if you don't mind footing the bill. You can kinda of tell in the background photo of the totems here.

The first day and a half was fogggggggy and we were wondering if we would ever get a chance to see the city!

On our second day we took a taxi to the Museum of Science and Industry where they had the most amazing train set that I have ever seen in my life. It's meant to depict trade by rails between Chicago and Seattle and so feature appropriate icons such as the Tower Formerly Known As Sears, the L, Amtrak and the space needle.

One thing that has changed at the museum since I was there in the 90s is that they have moved a number of things underground, like the U-505.

Lena enjoyed the museum a lot more that I thought she would, but then again there were lots of knobs to turn and buttons to press so I shouldn't have worried.

There was one exhibit in Net World that explained network disruption in a flow network. This reminded me of my days studying computer science back in the day and is somewhat relevant to my real life job for which I earn money.

I think this fun house was supposed to teach us something about petrol but it was so much fun I am not sure what.

Pretty colours pumping theoretical oil products which again I am sure is meant to educate us about something.

When we got out of the museum at closing time the fog had cleared (yay!) so we took a taxi to the John Hancock where we got a birds eye view of the city.

Lena has a pretty smile, that I enjoy photographing.

On the way to Chicago deep dish pizza for din dins we walked by the water tower, which was the only thing they managed to save in the Chicago fire. You can see it in this photograph along with the John Hancock.

Saw this in one on a facade, and it reminded me to keep an eye on it and not to blink. Thank you very much Steven Moffat.

On the last day we went to Millennium Park to wait for the Art Institute to open. I thought this was a pretty fun fountain. The face on the far end blinks, looks lively and watches a face in the closer block. There were lots of kids getting wet and having fun.

I did at some point figure out what this thing was called by doing a google search for "big shiny thing chicago", but I've forgotten what it is now. I think big shiny thing is probably the best name anyway. It was featured at the end of the film Source Code.

Here it is from underneath. It's concave!

...and from the side.

The Institute didn't open until 10:30am, but we finally did get inside, where I saw several paintings by Georgia O'Keefe mentioned previously.

I liked this ally so I took a photograph of it.

...and the side of this building. The steel skyscrapers and the brick buildings was an interesting contrast.

Then we headed to the Tower Formerly Known as Sears (Willis Tower), expecting to be able to grab something to eat before we went up to the top to watch sunset, but I forgot to factor in the fact that everything was closed on Memorial Day, except for a couple of places in Union Station, like this BBQ place which actually had really tasty BBQ sandwiches (I had the pulled pork and Lena took the chicken).

Lena still had a pretty smile at the top of the Tower Formerly Known As Sears.

I also took a few photos of the city.

Our first stop was the Museum of the Confederacy, located in downtown Richmond and consists of two buildings: the museum itself and Jefferson Davis' house while he was “president” of the Confederacy until they retreated from Richmond. The house is referred to as the “White House” of the South, but as you can see from the photograph, it is actually quite grey. The inside of the building is lovingly kept and contains a treasure trove of beautiful artifacts. The tour of the house reminded me a little of visiting George Washington's Mt. Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, or even Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. The tour guide of course proudly proclaimed his ancestor who fought for Lee during the Civil War. The outside of the house was stained and stunk a little of defeat, and the building is surrounded on three sides by a much more impressive and modern looking hospital. When you visit them, the (Union) President's homes seem to hark back to a different time. In contrast, this home and its location give the impression of looking back in the face of modernity.

There was also a place to park your horse. Speaking of George Washington, there was a portrait (probably several) of George Washington in the Grey House and the tour guide explained that they viewed this federal president of the United States of America as a sort of father of the Confederacy because he fought against the Brits in the Revolutionary War and they view the Civil War as a second revolution. I am not surprised by this point of view but I do object strongly to re-purposing historical figures for your own political ends without having anyway to seek permission from the dead. Andrew Jackson, as much as I loath him, expressed pro-union views when asked while he was President, although his pro-slavery views might have suggested a pro-confederate point of view before anyone bothered to ask him.

Another artifact that the tour guide noted was a deck of card that featured the past Presidents, First Ladies and Vice Presidents in place of King, Queen and Jack respectively. The guide was asking me if I saw anything strange about the cards and I didn't really understand what he was talking about, until he explained that they came from a time not all that long after the Revolutionary War and they were still anti-King. To me, I've seen the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards and heard about freedom fries so it didn't seem that remarkable that politics would make their way into the playing cards.

The museum had some old uniforms and a glorious painting of Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The first thing that caught my eye was the flags hanging from the roof though. You may notice the following states that did not secede are included: Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. I have some sympathy for the South. History is frequently written by the victor, and most of the history of the Civil War I learned in high school was written with a northern bent to it. Places like this though, definitely do go out of their way to write the opposing history. I do believe the Civil War was an invasion of the South by the North, and I do believe that they had the right to secede from the Union, but although the issue of slavery was a thorny one, I find it impossible to justify Southern policy regarding slavery, and they do seem to skip over that.

(The Virginia state capitol building, just down the road was gleaming white and much more impressively sized)

Outside of the museum is what we actually came to see: the anchor of the CSS Virginia. I joked to Lena that we could leave now that we had seen what we had come for, but got the combo pass and saw the museum and got the Grey House tour instead. On the plaques and inside the museum when you read about the Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads, you might be mistaken into believing that it was a Confederate victory.

The drive shaft for the Virginia could also be seen outside the museum.

After Richmond we headed down to Raleigh to see Jasper, and the next day we were in Newport News Virginia to see the Mariner's Museum. The jewel in the collection is of course the turret and other exciting artifacts that have been recovered from the USS Monitor. I first heard about the recovery from an episode of Nova which detailed the loss of the ship in bad weather and its recovery more than a century later. Parts of the museum look brand new. Pictured is a mock up of part of the Virginia as she might have looked during her construction.

Although the Virginia inflicted much more damage during the Battle of Hampton Roads, the Monitor was a much more innovative design and is more interesting historically. The most striking is the rotating turret which is the basic design used by warships for decades. The innovative four bladed screw is probably as important. The museum has a full mock up (pictured) that you can walk on and touch, which was great, because it gave me an impression of just how large the ship was. When you see drawings of the ship it always seems much smaller.

Pictured is a mock up of the turret as it appeared when it was recovered from the ocean floor. You can see the real turrets in a tank of water as scientists work to preserve it.

Lena liked the mock up of the Captain's Quarters.

The real anchor could be seen inside the museum. This is the anchor from the mock up.

The museum had at least three theatres. Each was dedicated to a different aspect of the Monitor story:

• the loss of the Monitor
• the Battle of Hampton Roads and
• the recovery of the Monitor's turret

The first two were surprisingly well put together and gave you a sense of being there, despite the fact they consisted mostly of static pictures. The presentation of the Battle of Hampton Roads ends with the Southerns celebrating a Confederate Victory and the North celebrating a Union victory. Although the Virginia did more damage to Union warships in the action, the Monitor prevented her from breaking the blockade, handing the Union an important tactical victory. The presentation seemed, not surprisingly, more balanced than that of the Museum of the Confederacy.

It was pretty outside the museum with a number of trails and wildlife, so I will leave you with some photographs of the pretty.

Fast forward to 2011 and I was back in the states, but had become accustomed to reading Fforde's books in the UK conventions so I pre-ordered One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing from amazon.co.uk instead of amazon.com. It was a nice bonus that it arrived a full week before it came out in the states, and a double bonus that it was the last week I was at the Bureau and the last week that I would be riding the metro which was the perfect time to be reading it. I read the last page on the ride home from my last day.

Jasper was charming in his NPR interview, and I had always found it interesting reading about his process of writing, so when I checked his website for his US tour for the book I was disappointed that he wasn't going to be coming to the Washington DC area, and decided to go on a road trip to Raleigh to see him there instead. There were a number of things that I wanted to do on the way anyway, so it would be a good excuse to have a fun weekend away with Lena. I am going to write tomorrow about our adventures in Virginia on the way to and the way back from North Carolina.

The main thing that struck me about the Q&A session after Jasper talked about his writing process and read two sections from his book was how amazingly gracious he was with his fans. Most people asked questions that I could remember the answers to by having read his books, and I know that would have driven me crazy if I had written them, although in their defense some of them had been answered in One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing, which I had a weeks head start on everyone :P

Many of the things that he talked about I had already read on his 1990s esq website, but there were a few nuggets of interest that I hadn't gleaned from that or other sources. He described the way he thought up unusual situations, or ideas, like finding a gorilla in a tree in your front yard, and writing his way out of that. He said that idea of The Fourth Bear came from the fact that the different porridge temperatures doesn't makes sense in the story of the Three Bears, if you understand thermodynamics. All good stuff.

Then came the signing, which I was sort of dreading and looking forward to at the same time. When it came to our turn I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated the entertainment value of the books that he had written, while at the same time trying not to sound like a creepy obsessed fan that lacked respect for his privacy. I honestly don't think I am that sort of person, but I think sometimes it is easier to play that part even if you don't mean to. I shouldn't have really worried in retrospect though, because, as I mentioned he was amazingly gracious to everyone at the event.

When it was our turn he said “Graham is that you?” My name was written on a post-it note for his convenience.

“That would be me.”

He made some comment observing that my copy was the UK edition, and I explained dumbly “I couldn't wait”, which if you will recall is not technically true, but easier to say than explain my life story of ping-ponging over the years between Sydney and the United States.

“What you couldn't wait two week?”, my urge was to correct him, but he corrected himself: “No wait, it was only one week!”

Then I asked if we could take a photo which we did and it was over. I felt like I had missed the opportunity to say something clever, but at least he didn't think I was an Axe Murderer. Next time he is on tour we will have to go see him in the UK and bring a US edition with us.

In Louisville, Lena and I went to the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and took a tour of the factory where they showed us how they made the wooden baseball bats. They were at pains to mention that the forests that the bats were coming from were in net growth, which is good. They showed us the differences in how the bats were made for retail and how they were made for professional players. They gave us tiny little souvenir bats. Lena tried out the batting cage.

I feel bad about putting the Creation Museum in Kentucky in my writings here, because I remember the locals were against having the museum here. The founder Ken Ham is in fact from Queensland (which is in Australia’s defense our crazy state), but when he couldn’t find anyone in Australia who agreed with his literalist interpretation of the Bible (and Genesis in particular), he moved to America. The reason the Museum is in Kentucky is because it is a short distance from Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, which makes it easily accessible to most Americans living in the United States. I am always the first to point out that Mel Gibson is from update New York and has never held Australian Citizenship when he comes up, so it’s only fair that we take “credit” for Ken Ham and to some extent Answers in Genesis (AiG) which runs the museum.

It might be a reasonable question to ask why we were going to the Creation Museum. Neither of us are Young Earth Creationists. Ever since I read about the Creation Museum I have wanted to see it. At first I am not entirely sure why. But what I love about the Creation Museum is the Dinosaurs and the focus on Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament. They also postulate that stories about Dragons may in fact been about Dinosaurs since we know that Dinosaurs and man coexisted since it says so in the bible. I love Dinosaurs, and I have a special place in my heart for Dragons since according to the Chinese Zodiac I am a Dragon. Genesis is also my favorite book in the bible. Well, I should say Genesis is the only book in the bible I managed to get through without falling asleep, but let’s not worry about that too much. Even though I am not a believer, I did want to get into the spirit of things a little bit, and I wanted to be respectful. When I went to the Hermitage, I didn’t much like Jackson as a human being, or a president, or as a general, but I was polite to the people who thought that he was.

Of course now I that I am in the comfort of my own blog, I can be as snarky as I please :) but I have to say that I really enjoyed the Creation Museum. It was the one thing that I really wanted to do on my road trip, and I am glad that I did it. Beyond my interest in Dinosaurs, I am interested in the bible as literature and as an influence on culture. I also think it’s interesting to read about the mental gymnastics that Yong Earth Creationist (YEC) scientists go through to explain their faith. I don’t believe a word of it, but it can be interesting.

First thing I noticed was how expensive it was. It was about $60 for the pair of us. Then they photographed us so they could sell us a green screen picture with a biblically themed background pasted in. Only later I took a look at the tickets, where it informs me in helpful small type that they are allowed to photograph our person, our property and our vehicle for “security” purposes. From memory, the entrance way was defended with Freedom Planters so they must feel that they might be a target. Before we left we bought photograph of us standing in front of Noah’s Ark. I look at the photograph as I write this and I imagine myself thinking, “Shouldn’t they be calling our boarding group now?”

The first order of business was to have something to eat at Noah’s Café. I had intended to get in the spirit of the place and say grace before eating, but as usual anytime food is placed in front of me I forget what I was going to do and start eating. Although I was thinking somewhat biblically as I thought to myself “Thank Adam for original sin, so that I can eat this meat lovers pizza!

Then we walked around the pond adjacent to the Museum for some fresh air. There were several dinosaurs around the lake which I believe were lit up with Christmas lights at night. It may seem surprising that the Creation Museum which advocates bible literalism would have such a Dinosaur fetish, given that accepted scientific thought on Dinosaurs puts them at Millions of years old and not living contemporarily with human beings. I think it’s like the Hermitage though, were they are eager to tell you all about the people who were enslaved there. Let’s get the awkward stuff out of the way first thing!

Once in the Museum proper, they explained how people can come up with different answers with the “same” evidence. This doesn’t seem particularly earth shattering to me. Some people believe that the Bible is the word of God and anything that contradicts it must be wrong. Some other people believe they can figure things out by observing how things work in practice, making theories and proving or disproving those theories. A common refrain throughout the museum were “problems” with “secular” scientists, as in “This is a problem for secular scientists.” Of course nothing that they say is really a problem with science. Science is constantly evolving theories to explain the universe. This pattern goes both ways of course, I was reading a blog critiquing AiG’s explanation for how it can be that we can see objects in the universe which are more than 6,000 light years away, and the author was sarcastically looking forward to the next explanation AiG would come up with when that one fell apart.

Then there is a mini hell house where they show us what happens when you remove God from society. There wall with a No Parking sign covered in Graffiti, and some videos. The first video features two boys in there room. One is playing “violent video games” while the other is looking at pornography on the Internet. There are clothes on the floor, so my first thought is, “hey that looks just like my room!” The next video features a pregnant teenager considering an abortion.

I know the conclusion I am supposed to draw is that without God you through morals out the door, but the one that comes to mind is: “without God, there is no parking and there are no hampers for dirty clothes!”

At the Hermitage, the jarring refrain was “Enslaved Africans” or “Enslaved Workforce”. I was a fan of Transformers from an early age, and one of the characters^[1] called Grimlock would prefix everything with "Me Grimlock"^[2]. In the Garden of Eden exhibit at the Creation Museum they had a speaker repeating (presumably) lines from the bible prefixed with “And The Lord God…” “And The Lord God…” “And The Lord God…” it wasn't at all repetitive!

There were of course Dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden. It’s okay though, because they were all vegetarians back then. Even the ones with sharp teeth obviously designed for eating meat.

They kept talking about Original Sin, and how all animals and people were vegetarians before the expulsion. I saw this poor mock dinosaur who had been killed and was about to be eaten by an animatronic dinosaur. Explain to me again how this poor guy is guilty and worth of being punished because Adam and Eve were naughty? I’ve never believed that the son should be held responsible for the sins of the father.

If they were not ashamed [of being naked in the Garden of Eden], why is she covered up?

—Lena

Because we are.

—me

Instead of “Do Not Touch” signs they had “Thou Shalt Not Touch! Please” signs.

After the Garden of Eden was Noah’s Ark, which was pretty cool (if not believable) from an Engineering perspective, but lacked the overt presence of Dinosaurs (there were Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark; they just weren’t featured prominently in that part of the museum). Noah was in fact a crotchety old animatronic guy at the end who told us all about what he did and why. This is because God told him of course!

Some secular scientists believe that birds evolved from Dinosaurs. In fact I like to call birds “Avian-Dinosaurs”, and Dinosaurs as “non-avian-Dinosaurs”, because I like the idea of dinosaurs still being alive today. I was a little nervous that I would accidentally blurt out one of these terms by mistake while at the Museum and out myself as a secular. This put things strait for me. It says that land animals (including Dinosaurs) were created on the sixth day, whereas birds were created on day five, so clearly birds could not have evolved from dinosaurs. Everything in the museum comes down to this. And you are never going to believe what they are saying unless you already believe. Likewise, if believe what AiG is saying then you are never going to believe in “secular” science (whatever that means).

A dragon reading about himself.

I took a lot of photographs, here are a few more:

On Saturday Lena and I drove out to the Creation Museum which is near Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport (SVG). Lena was flying back to New Jersey the next day so she drove us back, for a 208.1 mile loop, and a total of 2388.0 miles.

On Sunday after dropping Lena off at the Airport I drove 214.1 miles on to West Virginia for a total of 2602.1 miles.

The last day of driving I decided to delay my activity in West Virginia since I was getting tired of driving and looking forward to arriving at my final destination, the Washington DC metro area. On the last day I drove 413.5 miles.

In eight days I drove 3015.6 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah to Springfield, Virginia. In the next few weeks I hope to back track into West Virginia to do the planned activity there.

As a park, the place is lovely. The grounds are well maintained, there are short walks to go on, and lots of informational plaques and signs. The staff in period costume are friendly and happy to answer questions. One guy asked if Jesse Jackson’s ancestors had been enslaved by Andrew Jackson, but the staff didn’t know the answer. Is it a faux pas to ask who ones ancestors were owned by? There are lots of signage devoted to the “enslaved” (we avoid calling them slaves now), although we don’t really know much about them other than what we find by digging up their trash, seeing as how, as property most of the documentation on them was in the nature of inventories.

Apparently Jackson may be the most painted American President in history, when he left office two new states had been added to make 26, but aside from this, Andrew Jackson the President is hardly touched on at all, but then this was his beloved home when he was not living in the White House.

That being said the park tries hard, but doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of the Jacksons. On one sign it is mentioned that most of the fortune of the family was tied up in the slaves themselves, and that there were about 150 slaves living on the plantation. Jackson was a Unionist (although he died before the Civil War), his children sided with the Confederacy, and the family fell on hard times after the war. It’s hard for me to feel sorry for people who are leading exceptionally privileged lives on the backs of slave labor though. According to one sign, Jackson didn’t even pay his overseers very well, and turn over for the position was high.

Their favorite “enslaved African” is Alfred, who was honored with a Christian burial next to Jackson and his wife in the garden. It would be hard not to notice that his final resting place is segregated from the whites also in the garden. He may be their favorite former slave to talk about because he was one of the only part of the “workforce” that decided to stick around after the Civil War when they were free to go. He became one of the first tour guides for the Plantation, and sold post cards of himself, demonstrating his skill as a budding capitalist.

They had part of a PBS video at the start of things to give you an overview of Jackson and includes some things that he actually did as President. I should say that I had mostly made up my mind about Jackson, although I am willing and interested in seeing what his defenders will say in the modern context. In the museum and park itself I found only one mention of the Trail of Tears, although not called that by name. In a lonely corner I found a small card that said:

Indian Removal

In Jackson’s first years as president, the question of Indians living on land that white settlers strongly desired for growing cotton came to the fore. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Bill, believing it was better for the Indians to move west rather than have continued warfare as settlers forced their way onto Indian land. As Jackson said in his message to congress on Indian Removal in 1830:

It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with the settlements of whites; free them from the power of the states; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers and, and perhaps cause them, gradually under the protection of the Government and through the influence of good counsels to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized and Christian community…

It is either highly charitable or highly diluted to think that Jackson even believed that what he was doing was “better for the Indians”, and not simply that he was doing it so that white settlers could steal their land. Which part of the government’s protection was the forced removal of the Cherokee to Oklahoma, for example, where human beings were forced to leave their homes with only the clothes on their back, and in which at least 4,000 people died, to say nothing of the other tribes that were moved.

I didn’t care for the neo-Greco-Roman-American architecture of the main house. It’s all slave made brick and columns of ugly. The innards were not anything to write home about either, although here I am writing about it. The afore mentioned friendly tour guides in period costume play zone defense passing the us off to each other as we see the insides.

All of the streets around the Hermitage seem to be named after Jackson. You will see Andrew Jackson Blvd. crossing Old Hickory Dr. Then there was also the oddly named Old Lebanon Dirt Rd., although it was paved.

On Friday I drove 451.0 miles for a grand total of 2179.9 miles.

I think that Optimus Prime would make a terrific president. He is like a cross between George Washington and Abe Lincoln, only without the character flaws. Failing that, the 90s were pretty good. The Clinton Library is modern looking, along the river in an area that looks a little industrial and just a little run down, but only enough to make it interesting.

Naturally of course the innards of the library advocate for the goodness of the Clinton years, especially their handling of the economy. One statistic in particular grabs my attention: the decline in crime over the Clinton years. Advocates of Rudy Giuliani like to point out how crime in New York City went down under his administration, while his detractors point out that crime declined in all large cities in the United States over the same period. Both men are taking some credit for the same good times. I think politicians take credit and blame for crime and the economy often undeserved.

My fellow Americans, tonight we can say with gratitude and humility; we built our bridge to the 21st century. We crossed that bridge together. And we’re not going back. To those who say the progress of those last eight years was just some sort of accident, that we just kind of coasted along, let me be clear: America’s success was not a matter of chance; it was a matter of choice.

—Bill Clinton

A couple of times the displays paint the picture of young forward looking Democrats running against old war hero Republicans that form a bridge to the past. I like the displays inside for the most part. My only complaint is that there are too many videos playing and overlapping audio. This is a library damn it! Shhhhh! On one side of the displays they have copies of the President’s daily agenda in three ring binders for the eight years he was President. On the other side they have touch screens with all the same information. I plug in my birthday in 1995 to see what the President was up to. Most of it is there, but several chunks are redacted.

There are lots of artifacts. This one, a chunk from a Russian ballistic missile destroyed in disarmament was compelling and had some Russian writing thrown in too.

In the upstairs they had gifts given to the “American People” during the Clinton administration. They also have a reproduction of the oval office as it appeared during the Clinton administration. It’s okay, but it would be more compelling if at least some of the stuff weren’t reproductions.

Now I am interested in visiting the Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter Libraries. Nixon’s is in California which I go to frequently as it is on the way to Australia, and Carter’s is in Atlanta, which I plan on visiting on my road trip of the deep south!

On my way out of Little Rock an unmarked police car zooms up right behind me and tail gates me for several miles, making me very nervous. Fortunately I am not speeding, so I guess he was just an obnoxious driver in addition to being a cop.

In Oklahoma I saw two Jesus signs, one Jesus license plate, but no pro-life signs. Fortunately I do not have to listen to the radio as I have lots of CDs. There were about a million FedEx trucks headed to Oklahoma City, but I didn’t notice a comparable number of UPS trucks. Does FedEx have some big sorting facility there or something?

I remember as I am about to leave the state of Oklahoma that one of my favorite non-fiction authors, Sarah Vowell is from the northeastern part of the state where, “being at least a little Cherokee … is about as rare and remarkable as being a Michael Jorden fan in Chicago” (Vowell is herself a little Cherokee). In one episode of This American Life she relates the story of firing a cannon with her father, a story which is a sort of microcosm of politics in America. In another she and her twin sister retrace the Trail of Tears, which of course leads them back to Oklahoma. I am getting tired of my music CDs, so I put my audiobook version of Assassination Vacation (a terrific listen btw-), which is read by the author. As I listen to her read the book, I am starting to see many connections between the places I have and am going to be visiting on this trip. I had already started to see some of them before re-listening to the book and it’s interesting how everything in American history is all interrelated. Once I get to the end of my journey, I hope to connect some of these dots.

I have friends who live in Manhattan, not far from where the world trade center once stood. Some New Yorkers, I know, resent tourists coming to see where the fallen towers once stood. “Why didn’t you come when they were standing” one asks me as a proxy for the tourists on more than one occasion. I actually did go see it when it was still there and I’ve never been interested in seeing it since the collapse. So why would I want to go see the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum which memorializes the April 19th attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh?

I think it is because I am interested in the history, and in this respect I am well rewarded. The museum attached to the memorial does the best job I have seen of telling the story, starting with an audio recording that just happened to being made on April 19th, followed by the first TV news accounts, and artifacts from the attack. It goes on in excruciating detail. I am interested in the investigation that leads almost immediately to Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices, and later the evidence gathering which leads to convictions.

One thing that I found very difficult to see was a room containing pictures of the victims and artifacts chosen by the families to represent their loved ones. One man’s box included a TNG era communicator pin, which I relate to being a Star Trek fan, and it makes it so much more personal. One child’s box had a collection of Lion King figures. The deaths of the children are understandably the hardest to deal with emotionally.

One thing I think the museum expresses how everyone came together during the tragedy during the immediate aftermath and during the rescue operations. How terrible people were brought to justice using the rule of law and due process. I think like a politician seeking election, our principals do not count for much when they are convenient. It is when they are inconvenient that you find out if they really mean anything, and I think that Americans showed everyone that our principals do indeed count for something.

The memorial outside is a quiet and solemn place. Oklahoma City itself is not busy or crowded, at least on the day I am there. I took some photographs. It’s full of meaning, as most memorials like this are. I am quiet and contemplative.

I drove 431.3 miles today for a total of 1294.8 miles.

Ensign Pavel Chekov once quipped that the Garden of Eden was just outside of Moscow. In fact the residents of Lucas know that the actual location is the corner of Kansas and Second Street. Samuel P. Dinsmoor, Civil War veteran and sculptor, is described by Wikipedia as “eccentric”. Calling Mr. Dinsmoor eccentric is like calling the pope catholic. The word simply does not have the magnitude do the man justice. Mr. Dinsmoor reminds me of that elderly opinionated relative that everyone has and nobody is fool enough to argue with at the family dinner table. He created the “Garden of Eden” as he called his lot in Lucas as a tourist attraction. Everything about the property exudes his unique personality and populist politics. I think it is fair to say that the man was a visionary.

He built the house out of limestone “logs” in the form of a log cabin house in two years, and spent the next 20 years creating the concrete sculpture that surrounds the house. The sculpture is highly political, but I don’t think I could possibly do it justice. You really have to go there to see it yourself. He also built a mausoleum where you can see Mr. Dinsmoor in his decaying glory inside the coffin that was designed all by himself so that he would continue to be a tourist attraction long past the end of his lengthy life.

He was a true do-it-your-self-guy. There is a little sign on the stairs down which indicate they were hand crafted by Mr. Dinsmoor, but his character is so self-evident in the piece it is not necessary to specify. He married his second wife when he was in his 80s and she was in her 20s. They had two children (both currently living), one of whom flew bombers in Vietnam. There can’t be many Vietnam vets whose father had been a Civil War vet.

This is my coal house and ash pit, with Labor crucified above. I believe Labor has been crucified between a thousand grafters EVER SINCE LABOR BEGUN, BUT I COULD NOT PUT THEM ALL UP SO I HAVE PUT UP THE LEADERS – LAWYER, DOCTOR, PREACHER, AND BANKER. I DO NOT SAY THEY ARE ALL GRAFTERS, BUT I DO SAY THEY ARE THE LEADERS OF ALL WHO EAT CAKE BY THE SWEAT OF THE OTHER FELLOW’S FACE.

—Mr. Dinsmoor’s booklet THE CABIN HOME.

This is the roof of the mausoleum, including an angel to help Mr. Dinsmoor up in the event that he was going to Heaven. He also had a bottle of water by his side in case he was going to Hell, he could reach up and have some water since there is no water in Hell.

Every door and window in the house is a different size or shape. Mr. Dinsmoor felt that it would make the house a more interesting tourist attraction.

Family portraits. The frames made from cigar cases are not from the house or Mr. Dinsmoor’s family, but “they fit the period” and are now part of the collection.

This flag is made of concrete, but it is on some sort of hinge so it actually blows in the wind. The bird perched on the top is a Turkey. Mr. Dinsmoor, like Benjamin Franklin, believed that the Turkey was a better choice for national symbol than the Bald Eagle. I counted and there are indeed 48 stars.

And what would the Garden of Eden be without Adam and Eve? Originally Mr. Dinsmoor had the pair buck naked, but this didn’t go down well with the founders of the town, so Mr. Dinsmoor gave Eve and extra-long hairdo to cover up her naughty bits, and Adam put on a masonic apron of some sort.

Eve’s buttocks.

An old radio.

Mr. Dinsmoor signed his creation, in a way, here under the porch roof.

So far the Garden of Eden has definitely by far been the highlight of the trip.

While driving through Kansas, I counted 7 Pro-Life signs and 5 Jesus signs. Today I drove 351.5 miles 1294.8 miles total and I am staying the night in Oklahoma City.

Panorama Point, the highest point in all of Nebraska was just as underwhelming as I hoping it would be. Everything else in the state was literally downhill from there. It doesn’t look that much higher than everything around it, in fact if you went west or south you probably wouldn’t have to go far to find something higher, but by then you’d be in Colorado or Wyoming. If the marker weren’t there you’d not be able to tell that there was anything remarkable about the place. It was “Discovered” in 1951 by Art Hendrickson and Claude Alden. My guess is that in a state so flat the first thing you go looking for is not the highest spot in it.

One thing that people who are just a little OCD like to do is some specific activity in every state. I ran into someone outside of the Utah capitol building whose OCD goal was to see every capitol in each of the 50 states. Some people go to Panorama Point in an effort to visit the highest point in every state. Why, I ask, be so consistent. I am going to do something different in every state that I haven’t already been to. Jon Stewart is advocating reasonableness in his rally for sanity, so I’m not going to visit the highest point in Alaska (Mt. McKinley at 20,320 feet) because that would be an insane and unreasonable extreme. Instead I’ve now been to the highest point in Nebraska, a modest and quite reasonable 5,424 feet above sea level.

There was a small heard of buffalo just down the hill behind a wire fence when I got there. They got spooked and ran north away from me while I was there. It sort of reminded me of Antelope Island with the yellow grass and the buffalo. Well except for the island part.

Driving to the highest point was a surprisingly adventurous trek down several lonely dirt roads. The last track had moderate ruts that made me a little nervous given the clearance on my vehicle. Entrance to the dirt road required a $3 donation. It had rained early in the morning, leaving the ground damp. There is a inscribed rock to let you know where you are, and a log book to sign. Apparently I was the first person there today. There was only one other party yesterday. My car is coated in dirt and now needs a wash.

Most of the rest of the day was spent driving. There were a few things that I would have liked to stopped and seen, but I didn’t have much time and it all went by so fast. My friend and Nebraska native told me that I was the first person to say that and that “most people say Nebraska is soooo slow and boring :)”

Also I dunno if it has something to do with Wyoming and Nebraska, but the public bathrooms I have been too on this trip so far have all been really clean! I drove about 487.8 miles today, 943 miles in total.

In the northwest of the state you have Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I have been to both on trip in the past: I thought Grand Teton was magnificent, but as for Yellowstone, if I never see another geyser in my life it will be too soon. My little road trip takes me on I-80 in the south of the state, which parallels the Union Pacific. There are countless ghost towns that sprang up on the promise of the railroad coming through. Some flourished for a while only to die out when the railroad forked into a different direction, or finished stopping there. A few are accessible easily from the freeway, although most are in the back country and require a 4WD. I’d love to come back to Wyoming with a 4WD to check some of them out.

One of the easily accessible ones in Fort Fred Steele, 14 miles east of Rawlins (one on line source confusingly says it is west of Rawlins, but if you see it, don’t believe it). It was established on 30 June 1868 to protect the Union Pacific and officially abandoned 3 November 1886. The remnants of the fort were purchased by civilians (except for the cemetery which is still owned by the federal government). In 1939 the town faded away after the Lincoln Highway was rerouted away from the town. The only original structure still standing is the Powder Magazine. Aside from that, there were still a few original intact structures until 1976 when two remaining former barracks were burned down by vandals. Good job guys.

The foundations of most of the buildings can be clearly seen, as well as some of the chimneys. There must be something inherently structurally sound about the way chimneys are constructed because they are the most sturdy remaining objects in Bull Hill ruins near where I used to live in New York State as well. Visiting the site is more than a little bit eerie because aside from the distant murmur of I-80 and the wind it’s nearly silent, because nobody is there. I don’t mean just that nobody visits there (although for the hour and a half I was there nobody did), but they don’t even have park staff on duty. It’s strange, because a lot of work has clearly gone into the presentation of the park. Several of the buildings have been reconstructed, which I actually think is a pity, and the bathrooms, while only having pit toilets, have clearly been cleaned recently and have a fresh coat of paint.

There was a spot to collect donations. I put five bucks in, because I thought the effort they had put in was worth it. On one side of the donation envelope it says “NON-PAYMENT OF FEE SUBJECT TO FINE” while on the other it says “The State Park does not require the payment of any fees, but if you enjoyed your visit and would like to make a donation to help improve the park we welcome your support.” It was a perfect complement to the schizophrenic nature of the place.

In all I drove 455.2 miles today in about 8 hours, including an hour and a half at the park and a few short stops for rest and meals. I’m spending the night in Cheyenne.

Salt Lake is a great place to go skiing. There are several world class ski areas less than an hour’s drive away. Each resort caters to a different type of skier, so no matter your skill level or your preference there is a place that you are going to love. I like Brighton myself because it offers the sort of environment that I remember from skiing Pajarito just outside of my home town. I also like Alta, which is popular among non-snow boarders.

The capitol building is just up the road from the house. The other day I saw a big red bus with the words “Fire Pelosi” written on the side. Although Utah is deep red, there is a strong liberal streak in Salt Lake itself, especially at the University of Utah.

Utah’s outdoors are well known for Arches and Monument Valley. All of that is a long way from Salt Lake. Nearer there is the largest publically owned heard of buffalo on Antelope Island. I took this photo four years ago with my old Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 mounted on my old Minolta 7D. Mum was driving the car carefully so as not to startle the beastie.

Back on the mainland is Hill Aerospace Museum right next to Hill Air Force Base. They have a great collection including an SR-71 and a couple of MiGs.

My favorite place to eat in SLC is the Red Iguana. It’s also my favorite Mexican place outside of New Mexico.

At the crosswalks, they have neon colored flags that you are meant to carry with you when you cross the street. Seriously, somebody thought this up. Then somebody (maybe not even that same somebody) didn’t stop the first somebody and implemented the idea. Mum and I laughed at Don when he picked one up the first time (not being in the know we didn’t even notice the flags). Then when I took Lena to Salt Lake and picked up the flag to cross the street she laughed at me.

The Alfred McCune Home is also located near the center of the city. I always remember it as being featured in the seminal photo book The Americans by Robert Frank. Although not as interesting as some of the other photos in that book, I am always compelled to take a photo of the building whenever I pass it… either as an homage or a rip off. Depends on if you like it or not I suppose.

Unfortunately this trip to Salt Lake has mostly been devoted to packing up the car and getting ready to go. Tomorrow is the first car leg of my road trip!

I am not counting Pennsylvania or Nevada in my trip since I’m only using the airports, but I do think they deserve an honorable mention since I have visited there for actual non-transportation related activities in the distant past. I decided to fly PHL -> LAS -> SLC on Southwest where “Bags Fly Free” (screw you Delta). Even though LGA is closer, PHL has fewer hassles.

Southwest has at least three aircraft that are painted to resemble Shamu from Sea World. I was excited to see one of these aircraft landing as I got to my gate. Unfortunately she parked at a different gate so I flew on a jet with the standard Southwest color. Our flight was delayed out of PHL by about 45 minutes, but they made up time and arrived at LAS on time. One of the passengers remarked, “If they can fly this fast when they are late, then why can’t they always fly this fast?” Well, I can think of at least two reasons:

1. Fuel economy, it costs more and consumes more fuel to fly faster.
2. Scheduling on the assumption that all aircraft will fly as fast as possible, without any hiccups or technical problems would mean delays would be more disruptive to the system as a whole, flights waiting for delayed aircraft would snowball and we’d all be late for dinner.

but thanks for thinking about yourself.

Philadelphia, which was once the capitol of the United States, has tones of historical interest in it. The thing that had me drive down twice when I was still living in New York State was the USS Olympia, which I mentioned is parked on the opposite bank to the USS New Jersey. The Olympia is interesting because it represents a transition period when the navies of the world were switching from wooden to steel warships. Even though the outside is steel and bristling with guns, much of the inside is slightly warped wood, reminding me of an old hotel with twisting hallways I stayed at in Warwick. It’s also interesting for its historic role in the Spanish American War when it was Commodore Dewey’s flagship in the Battle of Manila Bay.

When I got off the plane in Vegas they had done away with the terminal and brought us directly to the casino. Seriously… there are no clocks (in an airport) and more space devoted to slot machines than places to eat. I suppose you could say that I don’t like gambling, but it exists in so many places that I think that so long as it is limited to the casinos and other places I can avoid it’s okay. In Vegas it is so pervasive that I can’t!

New Jersey really isn't as bad as New York City dwellers would have you believe. In fact, I personally do not think that NYC is really something that you ought to be boasting about, and the ugly parts of Jersey are the ones that are closest to NYC, and I don't see that as a coincidence. The best parts of New Jersey are rustic, and pretty. The worst things about New Jersey are its odd right hand turns and the fact that you can't pump your own gas. Jersey, like everywhere I have lived is going to have a few memorable attractions that I am going to miss. I never thought it would be the case.

Today we went to Cheesequake, one of the many nearby state parks. We walked for about 90 minutes. My GPS was perched on my head as that seemed to be the best way to get a signal, and allowed me to practice my posture. A few of the impatient trees were starting to turn in color. The weather has turned cool, but not too cold to as to require a sweater once you get moving.

Once we went to Camden where they have the USS New Jersey parked. It wasn't as unsafe as everyone said it would be. We just went to see the ship though. It's across the river from the USS Olympia in Philadelphia. I like museum ships, so it is a wonder that I had never made my way to see it when I lived in New York State (I visited the Olympia twice).

When I was living in New York State I would sometimes drive down to northwest New Jersey and meet up with e and Jack for hiking. There were many abandoned places to explore and not many people living there. It was a dark time in my life, but it was a nice activity with a good friend.