Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial

Hot diggity dog!

More from the Flight 93 Memorial

Flag of Heroes

At the Flight 93 Memorial. 20 years.

"Let's roll."

Happy sees his shadow in Punxsutawney

Guess it will be an early fall.

Zippo

A great American story. Bics may have the market but there's nothing like a Zippo. The museum in Bradford PA is something. 

Watkins Glen International Raceway

The track was closed to spectators but the engines roaring in the distance stirred the soul. 

Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice.

 

“In the summer of 1983, a large number of women established the Seneca Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice near a nuclear weapons storage depot in Seneca County New York. There, women gathered to protest nuclear weapons and to critique the “patriarchal society” that created…those weapons.”

These are the opening sentences of Louise Krasniewicz’s book Nuclear Summer: the Clash of Communities at the Seneca Women’s Peace Encampment. More specifically, as Krasniewicz documents, the protestors meant to stop the deployment of Pershing missiles to Europe.

I was part of that summer as a military police officer at Seneca Army Depot. I was also part of a unauthorized “welcome committee” soldiers who, with beer in hand, spent an afternoon at the encampment arguing the merits of a Mutually Assured Destruction strategy. Peace through strength we said. Peace through disarmament they said. No one’s positions were changed.

Ultimately, the Pershings were deployed. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The Soviet Union was no more by 1991.

What you see in this photo is the now abandoned farm house that was the Women’s Peace Encampment. Forty years on, no sign of that political effort remains. There is no placard, no marker. There is no hint of the role this bit of land played during one summer of one year of the nearly half a century of the Cold War. A friend tells me that not an oversight. She says the community wants to forget. They didn’t agree with the protestors and didn’t want them here. Seneca County doesn’t want a reminder so there shall be none. The event shall be forgotten. Except my those who lived it and who read Krasniewicz’s book.

Sun over Lake Seneca

A little amateur-ist sunset photography in honor of my brothers. 

Harriet's final resting place

Located in a corner of Fort Hill cemetery in Auburn, NY, is the final resting place of a little lady with a big heart. There's so much history in the area.

Watkins Glen State Park

What a beautiful place in the world! A river cuts through the earth to create a cathedral of stone, wood and water. I hiked most of the 1.5 miles in.

Seneca Falls

The birthplace of the women's rights movement. The National Park Service visitors center is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 to 4, because service is right in their name. 

Thank you, Mr. Serling.

It's not uncommon for the television to be tuned to the Sci-Fi Channel all day during a Twilight Zone marathon.  Stopping by Lake View Cemetery in Interlaken, NY to pay my respects was high on my to-do list. 

Seneca County and the war effort.

The families of Seneca county NY did more than their share to battle fascism and communism. An ordinance depot and naval and air force training bases were built on thousands of acres of upstate farmland. 'Thank you' seems woefully inadequate.  

Detroit-Style Pizza

From Buddy's,  the original. 

The Sunrise Coast

Near Huron Beach off Hwy 23. 

Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac Bridge connects the Upper Peninsula with Michigan main.  I was here in 2013 while riding the Iron Butt Rally.  I had more daylight today.  

Ashland, Wisconsin

They don't call themselves "Gateway to Lake Superior" but they probably should. A pretty town with a lot going on. 

Happy comes home

It's Happy's first trip home after coming to live with us in 2011. I should have shown up during business hours, with an appointment and with $1,200 in my pocket. 

Center yourself

Scandinavian Heritage Park

It's well worth your time to stop by the Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot.  Great examples of architecture and statues of people of note.  Here's Happy with Hans Christian Andersen. 

Freedom of Movement

Thank you North Dakota!

Camp Disappointment

The most Northerly point reached by the Lewis and Clark expedition.  

https://www.nps.gov/places/camp-disappointment-mt.htm 

Kootenai Falls

Near Libby, Montana. Apparently,  there's a species of sturgeon that live in this river. 

China Syndrome

A Peloquin theory; every isolated Western town with a population over 5,000 has a Chinese restaurant.  Here's Newport Washington's.