October 2013, we left for Minnesota to be
with Gary’s brother, Michael and attend his exchange of vows with his partner,
Chuck Crank. We also got to see my
brother, Darwin, his wife Sharon and their children Nichole and Troy. Troy has a new baby girl, Eleanor who was
born Aug 2013, Troy & his wife, KaraLynn have an older daughter, Evelyn Grace
and all 4 of them were at Darwin’s house to.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Nichole’s 3 little daughters, could
be we may need to do another Minnesota trip.
(so now we have 3 of the 4 Hemmer babies visited)…it may be next winter
before we see the 4th new
Hemmer baby, LUCY, in Missoula, MT born
to Travis and Jolene Linneman; Travis is
my sister, Michele’s son and her hubby Dennis).
In Minnesota my two cousins, Vonnie and
Lois, reside close to Mpls too, & we scheduled a nice afternoon visit. These girls are Aunt Jen & Uncle Vearl’s
daughters, both have passed away. Jen
was one of my dad’s sisters. We had a
nice memory trip with Vonnie and Lois and got reacquainted with their family
and lives. They are cousins my sister,
Sandy & I would stay Uncle Vearl & Aunt Jen as per a ‘vacation’ when we
wanted to get ‘off the farm’ I guess, and we always had a lot of fun times
hanging out with them. Next time to Minnesota we need to visit with 2 more
nephews, & 3 nieces. We also need to
do the St Paul STATE CAPITAL.
The weather is promising to turn cold
so ON THE ROAD AGAIN…this time a STATE CAPITAL in Madison, Wisconsin and on the
way thru we stopped at a ‘HOUSE OF THE ROCKS’ attraction. What a talented man, Alex Jordan, was
architecturally, along with his musical ability & then there is his eclectic
collections. Onto to the Springfield,
Illinois area to tour the STATE CAPITAL, & the LINCOLN PRESIDENTAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM & the LINCOLN HOME that
he and his wife, Mary Todd, & their children lived for 17 years & just
before he lived in the White House. We walked the streets where his Law Office was
in the downtown area. Springfield has
done a great job of preserving history, so a Historical Walking Tour was
grand, it is one of favorite touring treats.
ABE LINCOLN’S TOMBSTONE, with his wife, is a huge sphere granite
monument with an Arkansas Marble Hallway that leads to the enclosed VAULT of
Lincoln’s Body, in the Springfield, IL cemetery. It is massive long hallway into the area
where LINCOLN’S VAULT is, and his wife and children have their burial vaults
too, they just have plain limestone slabs, and then around the corner another
long hallway to get out (like a horseshoe walkway).
Next is Indianapolis, Indiana &
another STATE CAPITAL off the bucket list, the next STATE CAPITAL is in
Frankfort, Kentucky, in Frankfort we also toured the BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY
and learned how they make the good, better, & best levels of BOURBON. They
never use the same OAK BARRELL Twice, like I assume other distilleries do. The bourbon taste is acquired from whatever
the temperature of that batch is, and the 3 concoctions are determine by the 3 price
levels. Since Gary and I are not bourbon
drinkers, we were kind of surprised how tasty this bourbon was. Nice tour for us as we have only toured a Coors
Beer Brewery in Golden, Colorado. Hey
there is a Budweiser Distillery here in Jacksonville, we might have to think
about.
Next STATE CAPITAL is in
KNOXVILLE, TN where we also enjoyed another Historical Walking Tour, & where
we entered the WVDX Radio Station at the Visitor Center and saw and heard local
bands performing for this radio station, which is something called the Blue Plate Special that occurs weekly. We
were privileged to have heard two bands, one was superb. In 1982 the World’s Fair was held in
Knoxville, so we continued our walking tour from the city market streets to view
the remnants of this Park. There is a huge GOLDEN GLOBE with an elevator,that was part of this World’s here was the history posters of the World’s
Fair & where you could view the town of Knoxville from this Globe. We were lucky to be here during a most
attractive Fall Foliage view once again, as through our entire drive we have
enjoyed the fall foliage as driving south the weather gets a bit warmer too.
In the Smokey Mountain area & by
touring this most magnificent Museum
the Mountain Museum of Appalachia’, we learned a lot about the most
talented mountain pioneers of the 1800’s. The best part was the preservation of
cabins dating back to the 1800’s, and has grown into a collection of historical
musical instruments and clothing items or
tools that were hand made by the mountain families, that also date
back to the 1800’s. The pioneers even
made musical instruments & etc. out of gourds. They were the most talented
people of any Era in my eyes, and many thanks to
Those who preserved these items. Many
musical artists I had never heard of were here, but the many displays let you
know of their musical talents…UNCLE DAVE MACON ‘grandfather of Country Music’.(1872-1952),
his motto…”only a Gibson is good
enough”...was one of 100’s of them.
Couldn’t help think how much my Dad would have so enjoyed that quote,
and all of the instruments displayed. It is also a museum of the various artists of the 1900-2000 era
too, to which their instruments and clothing articles are displayed. Many
cabins are preserved here, and some collected from around the mountainous area
of this 3-5 state region. There is the
dirt floor cabin that belonged to Daniel Boone, and also some fine 2 story
cabins with verandas, along with the work buildings of the blacksmith, loom
making, dairy barns, school and church cabins also. Like I said it is a very historical & magnificent site to see and a must see to you all,
Sandy and Wayne will attest to this fact.
It is in Norris, TN.
On
the Road Again to Pigeon Forge, TN
to see a grand Christmas Musical, great and talented performers, with a variety
of routines, & they used live animals (camels, donkeys ,birds) also. A local Pigeon Forge couple sat next to us, and
said it is the best Christmas or Smokey Mountain Opry of them all, and they have
never miss it since they moved there 11 years ago. We were near Gatlinburg, TN & so
got to do another historical walking tour, which took us to a site where the Moonshine is made, you can actually belly up to the bar to try the many
flavors (besides White Lightening) that are concocted on this site. Of course, we had to purchase some to share
with all of you when we get back to SD to our family & friends. There were
live & talented mountain music bands, they even had about 50-75 rocking
chairs to sit on in this outdoor theatre. Farther down the road was an entire 5
block area of Art & Craft shops. Got
to see a fella carve a Dulcimer, and thought of my friend, Sherril, who owns
& plays a couple of them. I had
never heard of them, until I was at her house & she showed us what they
were. If we had not seen her dulcimer’s we would not have known what those
instruments were in the Appalachia Museum.
The fella who was making them, demonstrated the difference between a
$300 to a $1500 one also.
On the Road Again to North Carolina, to
view the Blue Ridge Mountains, and go to Asheville to tour the BILTMORE
ESTATE. It is probably more grandeur than
the White House or Vatican, it is an American Masterpiece. It is built in the Blue Ridge Mtns just
right, so you can wander from room to room to view those mountains, with a
variety of height-colors-trees-waterways. George Vanderbilt family loved to travel,
and has treasures on display from England, Italy, France, & Asia. The first Christmas Eve was 1895, & since
Mr. Vanderbilt took pride in showing his home to others, he entertained many
famous artists & even the neighborhood children. His great-grandson, Bill Cecil Jr. says
“guests remain a central part of the estate today, and thus keep alive the
pleasure of entertaining, and the preservation of the historical mountains and
land as a working private plantation estate & enterprise”. As a tourist, we are so glad they have these
open house events, and because of its massive size and grandeur, I assume it is
the only way dollar wise to preserve it too.
It
was at this time, we decided we wanted to go to Myrtle Beach, SC so that meant
we would not be driving north to tour the State Capital in Raleigh, NC. (We
have yet to tour the far NE area, or as per Virginia, Washington DC, & New
York… so we may have to plan to do it then)
Next STATE CAPITAL is in Columbia, SC,
across from it is a Trinity Episcopal Church built in 1812, and we attended
mass at the ST PETER’S Catholic Church, built in 1824. Now in our travels since Sept 2011, we have
viewed many artistically magnificent catholic churches, but I must mention that
this one had the most fabulous
Stations of the Cross. They have
an Opera Theatre in Columbia, and the Choir performed just like an Opera House
performance…it was more than AWESOME!!!
Columbia also has the State Museum, which fortunately for us had an
Exhibit of King Tut replicas from the Smithsonian Institute, sadly they would
not let us take photos or videos of this.
Myrtle Beach is typical of most beach
areas, except it has theatres for musical performers to entertain, when Gary
was in basic training at Ft Bragg, NC they took the soldiers to Myrtle Beach
and they were able to see the Righteous Brothers. It was one of the reasons why we had decided
on touring the area, of course, all has changed so much, never verified the
exact area, where he saw them. The
weather was too chilly for beach enjoyment, but the sun was out and with
jackets on and off we did enjoy our long walks on the boardwalks, especially
Barefoot Landing, which connected to our RV Park. No theatre shows because we had spent our
money on shows at Pigeon Forge.
In the Southern areas of NC, SC, &
GA we toured many of the Museum, Historic Sites, Military Forts, Missions,
& Railroad depots/museums & learned more about mountain life of pioneers,
Slavery, & Plantation life that allowed those owners of slaves to build
marvelous plantation homes. Learned more
in depth history of the American Revolution & Civil Wars, how the coastal
towns had to defend themselves with Military Forts from coastal invaders. Each museum, fort, missions, or railroad
depots display some of each or one in
particular more than others. We learned
that you cannot assume just because you saw one you have seen enough, each of
them are displayed differently, and it is worth touring as many as you can to
develop a different opinion of our past histories or learn something completely
different . Some of it what has been
preserved or collected in those different areas by prominent citizens or
historical figures, or salvaged the items that were not destroyed in the wars
or pillages of towns. Preservation is
best, so if enough citizens and money are available it makes a difference.
At Charleston, SC we toured a planation
for the first time in the USA, it was the Boone Hall Plantation. Even though we had viewed many videos,
and read lots of historical facts in the museums all through the southern
states, about slavery, this plantation was a walking tour of the slave history
with individual cabins each had video and posters of explanation of the
different part of hardship of daily life as a slave family & how they coped
with it thru religion & music. The plantation
home tour was presented by different characters dressed in the attire of that
era, and we toured the fields, as they are today, because this is a working
farm yet. (We couldn’t help but remember the planation tour we took in Jamaica a
large mansion for the owner, & an open wagon tour thru the plantation
fields).
The Charleston, SC area is very friendly, but hard to drive around in, because of the long lines of heavy traffic (we think they need new highway revitalization). The Savannah, Georgia area is beautiful, as it is along the Savannah River, and the historical district is along that river...but you actually drove on un-level cobblestone roads, which usually had one way traffic to drive down to the River District, and one way traffic to drive up out of the River District area…worth it as they have a Boardwalk to enjoy the historical sites and the Savannah River-Boat Traffic too. We liked this area & were lucky enough to see large ships with cargo containers getting loaded or unloaded. Because we were there for the Christmas Seasons, many areas were brightly lit up, they even had a Boat Christmas parade on the River in the River District area. In the upper town of Savannah it is easier to get around, as the streets are laid out in districts (22 of them with a Park in Each of the Districts) each district tells the history of Savannah, and you can see the many antebellum homes, most still used for businesses or office buildings. I actually didn’t want to leave Savannah.
Time to get to the warmer weather of
Florida, we drove to Jacksonville, and toured the historic towns of St
Augustine & Amelia Island. We will
stay here a month or Jan 5th, then go to Silver Springs, we had been
driving & touring daily since Oct
20th, we are getting old so tire easily, so stay longer in the
Florida RV sites to catch up on rest. We
have not toured much as of yet, as it has been time consuming preparing my Christmas Gift cards to family, this END OF
THE YEAR HISTORICAL LETTER, which is sort of like a ‘blog’ should be.
Our 4 daughters and their families had
the Shafer Christmas Gathering, on Dec. 21st, and all of our
Grandchildren were present too, as Nathan flew home from Phoenix, and Amber,
who now lives in Rapid City made the trip also.
Brianna is completing her Associate degree in Omaha yet, (graduates June 2014), and made the drive
also. Ashlee is on break from SDSU, and
glad those finals are done, she gets a little homesick, and that seems to be
her biggest battle with attending college (good
she is only a few minutes from home).
Josh is making a career change, resigned from his manager job at K-Mart
in Huron, sold his house and is continuing his Business Master Degree in the
Sioux Falls area. Angie made a big move from Custer to Brandon/Sioux Falls
area, she lives with Dawn & her girls, and got her old job back at the
MedVantx in Sioux Falls, and has already been promoted to Inventory Assistant,
which of course she likes as they liked her well enough to hire her back &
promote her too. Dawn had a successful
hysterectomy in Oct, and has gone back to full time work, still exhausted. We told her that may last 3-6 months, busy at
work, and a busy single mom is exhausting.
Gary and I worry less as Angie and Dawn live together and have each
other. We feel blessed that our four
daughters get along so well to make our entire Shafer Family so enjoyable…&
a big thanks to their children too… as they do gather together ‘often’ to stay close…special thanks to
Rick & Russell for always being there for all 4 of our daughters
posted on Jan 1, 2014 HAPPY NEW YEARS... MAY GOD SHINE HIS ETERNAL LIGHT ON EACH & EVERY ONE OF YOU, SO THAT YOU ARE OPEN TO HIM ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME. MAY EACH & EVERYONE OF YOU HAVE GREAT HEALTH, LOVE TO SHARE, AND A SMILE FOR ALL YOU MEET IN YOUR DAILY LIFE ADVENTURES. Kay Shafer
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