Tuesday June 19 – When reports of predicted 6-10 inches of rain, high winds, and power outages in central Wisconsin arrived last weekend, we decided to break off our planned stop in Chippewa Falls, WI and head back to Stevens…
Monday June 18 – Badlands National Park in South Dakota is about a 60-mile-long arc stretching west to east while only 3-4 miles across in many areas. Most of the park experience is done along the 25-mile “Badlands Loop Road”…
Sunday June 17 – Visiting Mount Rushmore and some of our nation’s founding fathers on Father’s Day seemed appropriate. When Earl and Ethel visited Rushmore in July ’37 only George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were complete. Washington was dedicated July…
June 12-16 After two full days to cross the remainder of Oregon and then Idaho we reached West Yellowstone, Montana. We took advantage of our late afternoon arrival to enter Yellowstone Park at the West Entrance to hunt for bison.…
Monday June 11 – We started our day on Portland’s east side near the western beginning of the Historic Columbia River Highway. Earl and Ethel took two pictures along the historic highway, one from Vista House and the second at…
Sunday June 10 – Dorothea Petersen was born in Drammen Norway in 1828. She and husband Andreas emigrated to the U.S. with their eight children in 1871. Another child, Martin, was born in 1873 when Dorothea was 43. The family…
June 9 – We spent our weekend in Newport, OR as guests of old friends from Stevens Point, Kris and Al Beshire. They chose Newport to retire to and send a heartfelt “Hello” to all their many friends and acquaintances…
June 8 – In 2016 at the start of this adventure, identifying where Earl and Ethel’s “Pacific Ocean” picture was taken was a challenge. We were not familiar with the Pacific coast and there was potentially over 900 miles of…
June 7 – In late December 1964 a massive rain system rolled off the ocean into Oregon and northern California and continued to drop rain for 20 days. When it was done the floods had killed nearly 20 people, severely…
June 5-6, Until we drove US 101 in northern California we had no idea if Earl and Ethel visited the Redwoods? There were no pictures of these tallest trees in the world in their album. Historical and current maps show…
Mon. June 4 – Traveling north from San Francisco Earl and Ethel would have traveled through California’s wine country, although “future wine country” would be a more appropriate description. Grape growers and vintners were present in the 1930’s, but on…
June 3 – Earl and Ethel arrived in San Francisco roughly six weeks after the Golden Gate Bridge first opened on May 28, 1937. They took the following photo of the new bridge. Did they ride the cable cars, go…
May 31-June 2 – Earl and Ethel’s photo album had three pictures tied to Sequoia National Park. Two were separate photos of each of them standing in front of large Sequoias. Some time earlier we confirmed that Ethel’s photo was…
Week 4 Days 27-29 We know we wrote about Grand Canyon being the “granddaddy” of them all, but, after three days in Yosemite we want to temper that a bit. This being both Lynn and my first trip to Yosemite,…
May 27 day 26 –Earl and Ethel did not visit the La Brea Tar Pits, but, we did. Just like those 9-year-olds enthralled with the dinosaur bones (see Day 10 blog) the first time Carl read about Le Brea as…
May 26 day 25 – Earl and Ethel’s Griffith Observatory photo gave us the only indication that the couple traveled to Los Angeles. It was their only photo in LA! The Griffith Observatory first opened in 1935 to wide acclaim.…
May 25 day 24 – It wouldn’t seem right to have a US cross-county road-trip without mentioning Highway 66. Checking our 1930’s road maps the most direct route from Boulder Dam to Los Angeles would have taken the couple to…
May 24 day 23 – Boulder Dam was a “BIG” thing in 1937, as it is today. The physical dam was only completed in 1936. The lake behind the dam was still filling when Earl and Ethel arrived a year…
May 23 day 22 – There were two photos of St George UT in Earl ad Ethel’s photo album. One was of the LDS Temple and the second was a panorama of a portion the city. We were able to…
May 22, week 3 – Earl and Ethel had two photos at Zion National Park in their album. One was of the west side of the “short tunnel” and one of what is called the Altar of Sinawava. We originally…
Monday May 21 Day 20 – Grand Canyon is so appropriately named because it is, well, grand in so many ways. Nothing we’ve seen touches it in overall size, beauty, vistas, colors, ruggedness, history, sunrises, sunsets, night-skies, etc. Earl and…
May 18-20, days 17-19 – Friday was a travel day. Driving from Capitol Reef to Bryce NP, we visited the Anasazi Indian Village State Park in Boulder, UT. The archeological site was occupied 1000 to 800 years ago. We drove…
Thursday May 17, day 16 – Today we toured Capitol Reef National Park. Our 6-day detour east from the route Earl and Ethel likely took through central Utah to Bryce Canyon NP took us to three national parks, one national…
May 16, day 15 – We went to Natural Bridges National Monument for the bridges but fell in love with the night sky! In 2007, the International Dark-Sky Association named Natural Bridges NP as the first Dark-Sky Park. This designation…
May 15, day 14– Still on our side trip from the main route, we traveled to Canyonlands National Park. While only about 30 miles away from Arches NP its scenery is a world of difference. Where Arches is fluid, Canyonlands…
Earl and Ethel likely took highway 89 from Salt Lake City directly south to Bryce Canyon National Park. We chose to veer east on Highways 50 and 191 to stop at three other national parks in Utah that did not…
May 14 is our 35th wedding anniversary. A love story within the honeymoon story we’re following. We spent the day within Arches National Park just outside of Moab, Utah. It was wonder-filled!
Day 11 May 12, Salt Lake City, Utah Earl and Ethel took three pictures in Salt Lake City. Two were at the Utah State Capitol and one at the LDS Temple. We took duplicate photos at each location they did. …
May 13, While on the road, this year Mother’s Day provides much opportunity for reflection and warm feelings. Our original intent was to document Earl and Ethel’s 1937 honeymoon and share it in printed version with each of our adult…
May 11, day 10 – There was no photo record of Earl and Ethel visiting Dinosaur National Monument, but we did, and took a number of photos too! The park is just off their route and there was certainly enough…
May 10, day 9 – Today was a 300+ mile travel day from Idaho Springs CO to Vernal Utah (about 15 miles across the Colorado border). Our route was Highway 40 and took about eight hours with stops. It was…
May 9, day 8 – Idaho Springs CO, Elev. 7540 Ft. We began our day with a tour of the Phoenix Gold Mine. A photo was taken of Earl and Ethel at the entrance to the Star Tunnel, a gold…
May 8, day 7 – We drove to the top of Lookout Mountain just west of Denver today to visit the Buffalo Bill Cody museum and grave-site as Earl and Ethel did 81 years ago. Trees have since grown to…
Kent Tempus of the Green Bay Press Gazette / Oconto County Reporter has put together a wonderful article released today about our trip. He attended our presentation and interviewed us at the Oconto Historical Society on May 4 . Follow…
We walked the two blocks from our AirBnB guestroom to Denver’s Washington Park with great childlike anticipation. Wash Park as it is referred to by locals did not disappoint! Our first view of the park occurred right where Earl and…
Earl and Ethel encountered a cattle drive and could not resist getting a photo to document the moment. We couldn’t either! We traveled almost 1,000 miles on Highway 20 from Rockford to the Nebraska-Wyoming state line to capture the following…
As mentioned in the “1st Leg” tab very likely the couple stayed their first night at the East Side Inn in Rockford, IL. The building is the first of many that they visited that is now on the National Register…
We left “at seven” from Oconto and headed for Waukegan IL We stopped at the Waukegan Historical Society to see if they had information on where the County Clerks Office was located in 1937 for dispensing marriage licenses? The building…
What a wonderful start to our travel adventure! 35 friends, community, and family members turned out Wednesday evening to see our “Sentimental Journey” presentation at the Oconto Historical Society Beyer Home and Carriage House Museum. There was high Interest because…
Our adopted theme for our 1937 Honeymoon Trip Take Two has been “Sentimental Journey” by Les Brown and His Band of Renown, Doris Day as singer. Though the song was first released in 1945, its words and music seem to…