Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 14

Quickie Post of Alma

Last week, I finished finally telling youabout the nine-day trip Hubby and I took to the Dakotas in June. The middle ofJuly, I spent two nights in Alma, Wisconsin, with a friend. And even though Itook over three hundred pictures in that short period of time, I am going tokeep pictures from that trip to just this one post.        

Main Street, Alma. So many cool, historic buildings. 
Inside our AirBnb

The railroad tracks through town, the Mississippi River Lock on the right. And way over on the left you can see our AirBnb with the red second story and my blue car out front.  Merrick State Park, where an entire section of the campground had flooded recently. So sad.  Kinstone Sculpture Park, which I had visited the year before,  
so as much as I would like to share all those pictures again, 
I'll just share these few. Still a fascinating place to me. 
Next Prairie Moon Gardens and 
the only selfie I took of my friend and me. 
View from on the bluffs at Buena Vista Park, overlooking Alma. 
So many beautiful old homes in that little town. 
Just down the road is Pepin 
And next is Stockholm. 
Hope you can read the sentiment someone painted on their house and posted on their railing below. 

    Idid pretty good keeping this short, didn’t I? 

Take Heart and Start Climbing

 

“The door to heaven isnarrow. Try hard to enter it. Many people will want to enter there, but theywill not be able to go in.” (Luke 13:24, Easy-to-Read Version)

This past week, Hubby and I took a drive up to Michigan’sUP for a quick visit. We stopped along Lake Superior at my favorite little roadsidepark before heading back home.

I climbed up these stairs, fearful that I would fall.I made it and the view was worth it, even though it was the same view that I’veseen countless times throughout my life.

This time the words “climbing the stairway to heaven”popped into my head. I think a lot of people believe, once you turn your lifeover to God and accept Jesus as your Savior, that getting to heaven is a pieceof cake. Maybe not even as hard as climbing an even staircase, with a secure handrail; maybe you think you’ll ride an escalator to heaven.

More likely, the stairs you need to take to get toheaven look like these. Not only is the door to heaven narrow, but the stairscan be precarious. But start climbing, for Jesus said, “here on earth you willhave many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome theworld.” (John16:33)

Never Give Up On Your Dreams

 Inthe Fall of 1973, I entered sixth grade. My teacher was new to our school,fresh out of college. I was in a smaller classroom with fewer students—twentyof us. Our entire class was one of the largest ever for our town, so we were spreadthrough five classrooms on the third floor of Washington School, with more ofus attending the Catholic parochial school.

I’veforgotten when that school year it happened or why, but one day, our teachertold us about an ancient Buddhist temple in Cambodia, Angkor Wat. I saw apicture of it; I don’t remember if it was in a textbook or projected on ascreen. I was fascinated and enthralled. I vowed I would someday, somehow, gothere.

Flashforward fifty years. Holy cow, fifty years!?!

Andhere we are. Three weeks from now (as I post this), I will be in that plane fora fifteen-hour flight over the United States and the Pacific Ocean, Godwilling. This is the fourth time my friend and I have scheduled this trip sincejust weeks before COVID-19 descended on us.

Iwould appreciate it if you would keep me and this trip in your prayers. Andnever give up on your dreams.

This picture is of Angkor Wat. I borrowed it off of the internet. 
The other picture is me and my classmates that fated year. 
It looks like most of us were only dreaming of a better hair day or at least less hideous clothes. 

Earth and Sky – Dakota Vacation blog post #22

 Earth and Sky – an appropriate ending to our trip to the Dakotas in June. Yes, this is the final post. Aren’t you relieved?

Ata rest stop off of I-90 outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota, we took in ourlast tourist attraction of the trip.

This sculpture, named Dignity of Earth and Sky, sits on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The 50-foot-high stainless-steel statue shows a woman in native dress holding a star quilt. She honors the culture of the Lakota and Dakota peoples who are indigenous to South Dakota.

Also, at this rest area are displays of various Native American artifacts and items telling the story of the western expansion.  

 There are even some friends for the kids to meet.

All in all, it was a very good trip. I’m so thankful that my wonderful husband agreed to it, that he did most of the driving, and that he made me laugh every day, even when the ride was long and my body was aching. Himey, you are my soul mate, and without you, I don’t know how I’d get through the day. 

Stinky Alley Art – Dakota Vacation blog post #21

“There are those who are pure in their owneyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth. (Proverbs 30:11, NewInternational Version) 

Whileplanning our trip to the Dakotas in June, I ran across a place in Rapid Citycalled Art Alley. 

Artists– or probably anybody with a spray can – can put their mark on the brick walls,wooden stairs, and any other surface along this alley between Main Street andSt Joseph Street.

Someof the art looked pretty nice. Other? Not so much. But if people are encouragedto express themselves here, it’s no one’s place to judge.

Thething I noticed, though, was that no amount of spray paint could cover up thestench emanating from all the dumpsters.

Kindareminded me of people who put on airs, dress nice, and show off their money,but inside, they are not very pretty. I think we all need to clean up ourinsides and get rid of the sin in our lives before we bother with ourappearance.

Blandlands – Dakota Vacation blog post #20

Itotally get why they named this area of South Dakota the Badlands.

Buteven this herd of bison was bored.   

Maybethey should have called it the Boredlands. 

Orat least the Blandlands. 

Butseriously, since I took over a hundred pictures as we drove through, I musthave found something exciting here.

OrI was really just hoping to capture something more interesting than domesticatedcattle. 

Butit’s still possible to find beauty out of what appears to be nothing. And maybe I was just done with vacation by then.   

Journey – Dakota Vacation blog post #19

 Finally– our last full day in Rapid City, South Dakota, back in June! Appropriatelyenough to finish that part of our journey, we visited the Journey Museum. 

Aswe entered the museum, we were met with the night sky, perhaps the first viewof the South Dakota area, before there was solid ground, but there was a “Wheelin the Sky” and a thousand stars. 

Justaround the corner, we were meant with famous prehistoric creatures which firstroamed the area. The dinosaurs. “Don’t Stop Believing” that they reallyexisted. 

Thetopography of the Black Hills was just getting started. Those fascinating rockformations we saw along the Needles Highway? A place to find a “Stone in Love”,several million years ago.

Next,we learned about the earliest people in the Black Hills, the Clovis. 12,000years ago, they hunted ancient mammoths and created rock art “Any Way You WantIt” or they wanted it. 

TheLakota people, part of the Sioux Nation, ruled the Black Hills starting in the18th century. The Journey Museum is home to the Sioux Indian Collection andproof that “Still They Ride”. 

Fromthe Custer Expedition of 1874 to the Battle of Little Bighorn, the exhibitschronicle the western expansion of the 19th century. Some of those events weregood, but others left us asking “Who’s Crying Now”? 

In1972, the Black Hills Flood tragically took 238 lives. It was a lot to recoverfrom, but all the survivors were met with “Open Arms”. 

Sorry that this is sodumb. But this “Girl Can’t Help It” that this was so easy.

Our Freedom – Dakota Vacation blog post #18

If an army surrounds me, I will not beafraid. If war breaks out, I will trust the Lord. (Psalm 27:3, New CenturyVersion)

     Idid some research online for this one, but I decided to go with the memories mydad shared when I was a kid, the things I learned in German class in highschool, and news that happened in my lifetime. If you know for a fact that whatI write here is completely out in left field, please feel free to correct me.

Mydad, who was born in Germany just as World War I was breaking out, told me thatwhen the Allied Forces won that war, they really stuck it to the German people, expecting them to pay millions in reparations. This helped to win thepeople over to Hitler, as he started out by filling them with promises ofmaking Germany great again (Have I heard that somewhere else recently?).

Anyway,I know a lot of things go into declaration of any war, but those were just someof the things I grew up hearing. 

Andthen, Germany lost the second World War. This time the Allied countries of Russia,Great Britain, France, and the United States each claimed part of the countryof Germany as its own – in a way. They also divided the capital city of Berlininto four sectors, one for each of those countries.

Theidea was to temporarily take power away from Germany, so that it wouldn’t retaliateagain and also so that it would be forced to pay those reparations this time while stillrepairing damages made throughout the beautiful country during the war.

Afterfour years, Great Britain, France and the United States turned their segmentsof the country and the city of Berlin back over to Germany. But communist Russiasaid, “no, we’re keeping our parts of Germany so they can become wonderfulcommunists like us.”

By 1961, the East Germans were leaving East Berlin in such droves, that the Russians built a wall around West Berlin, not to keep them in, but to keep those wanting freedom from the communist regime from escaping.

Finally, in the fall of 1989, the Berlin Wall came down in a changing political climate and nearly a year later, East and West Germany were unified into one country again.   

There are segments of the Berlin Wall all over the world, over fifty pieces alone are in the United States, spread out over half of the states.

We got to see this section when we were in Rapid City, South Dakota in June.

It’s a solemn reminder of what war can do and how much we need to preserve our freedom. 

Ok, so some are dead in Deadwood – Dakota Vacation blog post #17

 

Afterdriving up and down Deadwood’s main street, we drove up to Mount MoriahCemetery to see what was happening there. 

Iwas floored that they charge a $2 admission. To a cemetery! Who ever heard ofsuch a thing, but it was only two bucks, and I suppose they get a lot of peoplewandering through just for the famous residents of the graveyard. 

Itwas a steep hike up to those graves – Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. 

Hubbymade it that far, then took up residence on a bench, while I continued towander. 

Iexplored about half of the cemetery, not hiking any further up the steep side.

Not Dead in Deadwood – Dakota Vacation blog post #16

 

Duringthe summer of 1874, General George Armstrong Custer led an expedition to theBlack Hills, planning to find a location to build a fort. Two prospectors joined the group, and on August 2, they discovered gold near what is now the city ofCuster, South Dakota.

Soon,prospectors came in droves to the southern hills. Then, in the fall of 1875, agold deposit was discovered in the northern Black Hills. Miners staked theirclaims and set up camp in a gulch full of dead trees, and the town of Deadwoodwas born. 

InApril 1876, the city of Deadwood was officially laid out.

Dancehalls, gambling establishments, saloons, and brothels were constructed on bothsides of Main Street, causing this area to be known as the “Bad Lands” ofDeadwood.

Overthe following few years, Deadwood was hit with three major fires, a flood, andother hardships, pushing it to the verge of becoming another Old West ghosttown.

Somehow,the town managed to survive. Today, Deadwood could be your tourist destinationfor all the Black Hills offers. Or, if you’re more like my husband and me, it’san interesting town to drive through.