During the spring semester I taught geography, in which one focus was the “power of place” and the questions that stem from where we are raised. I later received an email from a student, explaining how her summer cross- country travels brought a greater understanding of the conversations we had in class. She wrote, I drove across the corn fields of Kansas thinking about how vast the prairies must have seemed to all the families on the Oregon Trail. The storms in the distance were sobering as I tried to think of being in one of them with no protection. As I entered the state of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains began appearing in the distance I thought of Lewis and Clarke and their first discovery of the mountains. Whoa, how overwhelmed they must have been. I was overwhelmed driving up into them and I had already lived in them for years.
I replied to her that when we travelled to and from Wisconsin I would also be looking out the window with new lenses due to the same conversations in class. Since fall break extended our weekend for travelling home, we decided to go around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and through Ontario, Canada.
Here are some of our traveling highlights. Each of these enhanced our understanding of the diverse topography and culture of the US and Canada. If you ever have a chance to take the same course, we highly recommend it!
Northeast Wisconsin – isolated and beautifully wild, incredible foliage, cheese curds, driving through snow squalls in early October, and seeing a snow plow for railways
Rural Michigan – getting gas alongside a motorcade of four-wheelers, colorful foliage
Upper Peninsula, Michigan – fall foliage on the left and expansive Lake Michigan on the right … absolutely stunning, picturesque lighthouses dotting the shoreline
Norway, Michigan – Leif Erikson Appreciation Day (instead of Columbus Day) and the Viking ship to welcome visitors
Mackinaw City, Michigan – the bridge connecting the two parts of Michigan … an engineering marvel.
Frankenmuth, Michigan – Bavarian culture and architecture, Oktoberfest, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland
Thanksgiving Day in Canada- Enjoy the holiday, eh?
Niagara Falls, Ontario – being soaked by the mist, the thunderous noise, tremendous power
Upstate New York and Pennsylvania – foliage, foliage, foliage!
Home, sweet Home- Journey’s End, at last
