Why don’t I remember the great flood of 1997? Apparently the entire region of Grand Forks was flooded that year and much of the downtown burned. As I rode along the waterfront I couldn’t help but notice the imposing new levee system built by the Corp of Engineers. Also, it was unavoidably apparent that the river was flooded again as my bicycle path periodically disappearing into the river! The Red River can really wreck havoc on these poor peoples’ lives.
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Honestly, I wasn’t looking for these structures but there’s so little to see in little railroad towns along Highway 2 that these beautiful libraries stand out! At first they simply caught my eye. Then I would note them as I toured the little main streets. Finally, I decided to seek them out. Sure enough, there was usually a Carnegie Library to be found.
I first became aware of Andrew Carnegie’s libraries when visiting England. As he was Scottish-American I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see more libraries in the U.S. but I was surprised. Who would have thought Carnegie would fund libraries in such tiny towns in the middle of nowhere? Well, as I learned more, I grew to understand. Andrew Carnegie was on a mission which resulted in 2,500 libraries being built from 1883 and 1929. The vast majority were built in the U.S., Britain, Ireland, and Canada.
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Arrived in Spokane in the late afternoon but before finding my hotel I visited two spectacular parks: Manito and Riverside. The former was designed by the firm that did NYC’s Central Park while the latter was done for the 1974 World’s Fair. Both are varied, beautiful, well-maintained and very appealing.
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I’m about to head home via Hwy 2 along the path of the Great Northern.
With the vision of connecting Europe to Asia via a transcontinental railway along the northern United States, James J. Hill founded the Great Northern Railway line. The last and largest obstacle to realizing his vision was effective rail over the Cascades Mountains at the chosen site known as Stevens Pass.
The challenge wasn’t easily met but instead took several attempts to secure a safe and predictable path. First the crossing was done by an extensive series of switch backs which took many hours to traverse. Then a two-mile tunnel was built but both snow and smoke were troublesome and when an avalanche occurred killing many passengers an 8-mile tunnel was built. For 60 years this was the longest in the western hemisphere and its still in use today.
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“They grow up so fast” is a cliche but I feel the lament in my heart. With Courtney half way through college and Kelsey just two years away from high school graduation I know our days with them are numbered. “Cherish the time you have!”
On the eve of Kelsey getting her driver’s license we took a 10-day trip along the West Coast. It was the latest in our series of road trips with one BIG difference: Kelsey would drive. Days covering lots of miles and packed with full agendas with only enough motel idle-time to check mail and sleep, that was the plan and that’s exactly how we rolled!
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It was time to take a day to catch my breath. Being in Hillsboro, OR on a Sunday is a good time to do that. I’m able to attend church with my mother, see old friends from decades ago, and spend time “doing things with mom”. A great way to unwind and prepare emotionally for the next push.
My plans for a return up the Inside Passage and down the Yellowhead Highway weren’t working out. Winter ferries were few and all were fully booked as evidenced by the first available slot: May 17! Also, getting over the Rockies and having ready access to Jasper and Banff wasn’t looking likely with a winter storm en route. I needed a different plan
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Let me set the stage. Kelsey hadn’t been to Oregon since 1998 when she was six years old. She’s now 16. Most of my family lives in Oregon and after a 10-year gap they all had expectations of seeing her … in the 20 waking hours we had scheduled for Kelsey to be in the area. We had a LOT of ground to cover. Ready. Set. Go!
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Hold on to your hat because the crazy-fast pace isn’t slowing yet! In the next twelve hours we entered Canada, ferried across two bodies of water, drove 180 miles, and toured two cities before reentering the U.S. Where we done then? No! We still had sixty miles to drive till we reached our hotel!
We awoke in Port Angeles very early to get in line for the 8:00AM ferry but thankfully I was able to get Starbucks coffee to help me pass the time in line. As we pulled away from the dock I looked back to see the town and rising quickly behind it the Olympic Mountains. An awesome site.
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Our comfortable sunny weather was about to turn wet as we headed north toward the Oregon border. Actually “wet” isn’t strong enough. After driving many hours through the lovely winding roads of the Shorline Highway, we turned inland just above Fort Bragg and the weather became soggy.
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This day could have set a record. Since I had recently visited San Francisco as a tourist and spent 10 days getting to know the city, I was able to give Kelsey an intense overview in just a day. For most people our agenda would have been considered ridiculously overburdened but not Kelsey. We started our tear around San Francisco at 8:00 AM on Saturday and except for sleeping we didn’t slow down till the next morning.
We started the day with a drive around Apple’s campus at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino and continued on to a tour of Stanford University’s campus in Palo Alto. These are a company and a university which we both admire and wanted to see first-hand. We visited both these icons in one morning. The day had only begun!
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