Madison WI & Wisconsin Dells/ Cedar Rapids IA

 Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. As of July 1, 2016, Madison's estimated population of 252,551 made it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and the 82nd largest in the United States.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens is located in Madison, Wisconsin. Named for its founder, Michael Olbrich, the gardens are owned and operated jointly by the City of Madison Parks and the non-profit Olbrich Botanical Society. The gardens were established in 1952.
Noteworthy additions to the gardens were the Bolz Conservatory in 1991, and a Thai pavilion or sala, a gift to the University of Wisconsin–Madison from the Thai Chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association and the government of Thailand through its king, Bhumibol Adulyadej. Opened in 2002, it is one of only four sala outside of Thailand and one of two in the United States (the other is located in Hawaii).

The Thai Garden contains the sala, which is joined to the gardens by a 155-foot (47 m) arched footbridge crossing Starkweather Creek. This garden has a shallow reflecting pool near the pavilion and is filled with small examples of Thai sculpture. The plants in this garden were carefully selected to give a tropical appearance to the garden in the summer, while choosing plants capable of surviving Wisconsin winters.

Something the brochure doesn't tell you.
The Thai Pavilion was actually one of the last things to land on 9/11 before all flights were stopped, it landed safely just minutes before shut down.

Wisconsin Dells is a city in south-central Wisconsin, with a population of 2,678 people as of the 2010 census. It straddles four counties: Adams, Columbia, Juneau, and Sauk.
The city takes its name from the Dells of the Wisconsin River, a scenic, glacially formed gorge that features striking sandstone formations along the banks of the Wisconsin River. Together with the nearby village of Lake Delton, the city forms an area known as "the Dells", a popular Midwestern tourist destination.

Because of the scenery provided by the dells of the Wisconsin River, Kilbourn City quickly became a popular travel destination in the Midwest. In 1856, Leroy Gates began taking tourists on boat tours of the Wisconsin Dells. These tours were given using wooden rowboats until 1873 when the first steamboat, the Modocawanda, was used. In 1875, early landscape photographer H. H. Bennett established a studio in the city and took many photos of the sandstone formations in the dells, including stereoscopic views. Prints of these photographs were distributed across the United States, further enhancing the status of Kilbourn City as a destination for sightseers. Taking advantage of this, Bennett began offering to take souvenir pictures of visitors to the dells, becoming one of the first to capitalize on the area's burgeoning tourist trade.

Witches Gulch: Not every slot canyon has to be made of red and gold sandstone. Witches Gulch in Wisconsin brings some emerald colors to the party. A wood boardwalk leads hikers into the moss-covered sandstone slot, which in some places is so narrow you can touch both sides of the canyon. Located in the tourist-heavy Wisconsin Dells, visitors can get here either by car or by boat. Witches Gulch was discovered in 1871 by H.H. Bennett, a photographer credited with making the dells popular among tourists.

Stand rock in the Dells shows the unique rock formations and colors seen in the Dells area.








Cedar Rapids  is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County.



Czech Village is located along 16th Avenue SW, which is south of the Cedar River. It is home to such Czech-related businesses as The Czech Cottage, Sykora Bakery, and White Lion Treasures. The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library is one of the major tourist attractions in Cedar Rapids, and the nearby Bohemian National Cemetery may also be of interest to visitors.

Sykora Czech bakery is a must visit kind of place when in the Czech Village.










The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) is a museum and library of Czech and Slovak history and culture located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the United States. Established in 1974, the museum and library moved to its present site in 1983. The museum and library was severely affected by the Iowa flood of 2008. In 2012, rebuilding and expansion efforts were completed and the NCSML reopened.
In 1974, several second and third-generation Czech Americans in the Cedar Rapids area founded the Czech Fine Arts Foundation to preserve their Czech heritage and culture. In 1978, the group's growing collection of artifacts and documents caused them to open a Czech Museum in a three-room house, where the museum attracted additional materials and volunteers. In 1981, the collections were moved to a new building on the museum's current site with the goal of permanent public display. In 1983, the group acquired a 2,200 square feet (200 m²) 19th-century immigrant home and moved it to its property, where it was restored and furnished in the style of the 1880s and 1890s.

Displays of the traditional clothing. This has got to be where I get my sewing skills from.


For hundreds of years Czechs and Slovaks were under the control of imperial and totalitarian regimes that often limited their political, cultural, religious and personal freedoms. In their search for freedom, some people resisted, many adapted and others chose to leave to find opportunity in a new country like America.

Czechoslovakia had survived the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and then in 1938, European leaders Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier and Chamberlain sign the Munich Agreement, allowing Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in an effort to appease Hitler and prevent war. Soon after, World War II breaks out. Many thousands of Czechs are forced to leave their homes and give up their property without compensation.

Over 100,000 Jews from the Czechoslovakia are deported to concentration camps from 1938-41.

From 1945-47 Roughly 3 million ethnic Germans and Hungarians are forcibly deported from Czechoslovakia following the end of the war, known as Benes Decrees, the laws require them to give up their Czech citizenship and their property ( stolen property) without compensation. AKA go home you Nazi's!

On Jan. 1, 1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new democratic nations, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, the end of communism presented an opportunity for change,  it is known as "The Velvet Divorce.

Here is an example of the steamer ships that Czechoslovakians came over on.
Leaving home and moving to the United States was difficult for immigrants - emotionally and physically. While today most people come to the U.S. by airplane, from the 1860's to the 1950's the journey was done by steamship.
There were three types of accommodations on the ships that brought immigrants: first class, second class and steerage. Steerage was the least expensive way to travel, but passengers had little privacy or fresh food, and disease was an ever present threat. 

 The Chihuly collection:
Chihuly's grandfather John Chihuly was born in slovakia and immigrated to the U.S. in 1890.
As a young artist, Dale Chihuly was inspired by the architectural glass works of legendary Czech artists Stanisslav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova. In 1969 he went to Czechoslovakia to meet and learn from them, he spent to years under their wings.






Several of the pieces in this collection were so beautiful that pictures wouldn't do them justice.

I really enjoyed this part of our travels, I learned more about my heritage, got to remember happy parts of my childhood through tasty food and saw some amazing pieces of glass art.
I learned some new fun things, like, one of my favorite artists Mucha was Czech and singer sewing machines Czech! 
Wishing everyone a safe and peaceful week, until next time, be kind to one another.

Fargo ND/ Minneapolis MN

Fargo is the most populous city in the state of North Dakota, accounting for over 15% of the state population.

Fargo–Moorhead is a common name given to the metropolitan area comprising Fargo, North Dakota, Moorhead, Minnesota, and the surrounding communities...
Fun fact: the 1996 movie Fargo which only mentioned the town twice in the whole movie was NOT shot in or near Fargo, ND.

Moorhead is a city in Clay County, Minnesota, United States, and the largest city in northwest Minnesota. The population was 42,005 according to the 2015 United States Census estimates.
The Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, commonly known as the Hjemkomst Center, is a museum in Moorhead, Minnesota. Hjemkomst Center first opened in 1985 and serves as a home to Hjemkomst Viking Ship, Hopperstad Stave Church replica, quarterly museum exhibits, and county archives.
Hjemkomst, which means "Homecoming" in Norwegian, is a replica Viking ship that is permanently housed in the center of the museum. The ship is a full-scale replica of the Gokstad Viking ship that was discovered in Norway in 1880. The idea for building Hjemkomst was that of Robert Asp (1923-1980), a guidance counselor at Moorhead Junior High School. Construction on Hjemkomst began in 1974 at the Leslie Welter Potato Warehouse in Hawley, Minnesota. The warehouse site was then transformed into the Hawley Shipyard during the construction. That same year, Asp became diagnosed with leukemia; however he still continued to build the ship; he had help from other volunteers.
In July 1980 the Hawley Shipyard was torn down for the removal and christening of the completed ship. Hjemkomst was shipped overnight to Duluth, Minnesota, on August 5, 1980. Asp held the rank as captain during the ship's maiden voyage throughout Lake Superior until his death four months later on December 27, 1980. In May 1982, Asp's three sons and daughter along with eight members of Hjemkomst crew decided to sail Hjemkomst to Norway, which was Asp's original dream. The ship departed New York City on June 8, 1982 and arrived in Bergen, Norway 19 July and on August 9, 1982 the ship arrived in Oslo.

The Hopperstad Stave Church Replica is a replica of a Norwegian stave church located on the grounds of the Hjemkomst Center. The church was built in 1998 by Guy Paulson and was constructed of cedar, redwood, and pine. It is a full-scale replica of the 12th Century Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik, Norway. The church serves as a reminder of the Scandinavian heritage in the Red River Valley.

Minneapolis: is the largest city in the state of Minnesota and 46th-largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 413,651. Minneapolis and Saint Paul anchor the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, after Chicago.


The American Swedish Institute (ASI) is a museum and cultural center in the Phillips West neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The organization is dedicated to the preservation and study of the historic role Sweden and Americans of Swedish heritage have played in US culture and history. The museum complex includes the Swan Turnblad Mansion, completed in 1910, and the adjoining Nelson Cultural Center, completed in 2012.

The American Swedish Institute is housed in a turn-of-the-20th-century mansion that was built for Swedish immigrants Swan and Christina Turnblad. Swan Turnblad immigrated with his family to the United States in 1868 at the age of eight. His parents made the decision to leave their farm in the famine-ridden area of Småland, Sweden. The family settled in a Swedish community called Vasa in southern Minnesota where they joined relatives who had settled in the area earlier.
Swan Turnblad was not content to continue in the family farming tradition. In 1879 Turnblad left Vasa for Minneapolis where he lived the quintessential rags-to-riches American success story. After he moved to Minneapolis, Turnblad worked at several Swedish language newspapers as a typesetter. His interest in the printing industry eventually led to his success as publisher of the Swedish language newspaper Svenska Amerikanska Posten. Within ten years he was the sole owner. Under his management, circulation of the weekly paper soared to over 40,000, a substantial increase from the 1,400 it initially claimed. This publication was likely the principal source of Turnblad's wealth.

The institute was really beautiful, they had original antique looms and lace making threaders that made my heart melt.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), formerly known as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres (32,000 m²), formerly Morrison Park.









 This museum had a wonderful collection of native american art as well as asian art, early english art collections, there were many different countries and periods represented but the asian art area was my favorite.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is an 11-acre (4.5 ha) park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is located near the Walker Art Center, which operates it in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. It reopened June 10, 2017 after a reconstruction that resulted with the Walker and Sculpture Garden being unified as one 19-acre campus. It is one of the largest urban sculpture gardens in the country, with 40 permanent art installations and several other temporary pieces that are moved in and out periodically.

There were a few pieces here that I actually remember being at the crystal bridges outdoor exhibit in Arkansas.

These were my favorites that I saw, there a tree filled all the way to the top with wind chimes too but I couldn't get a good enough picture.

The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its slogan is "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." It is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance. It is also the second-largest state fair in the United States by total attendance, trailing only the State Fair of Texas, which generally runs twice as long as the Minnesota State Fair.

The state fairgrounds, adjoining the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, are in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, midway between the state's capital city of St. Paul and its largest city, Minneapolis, near the Como Park and Saint Anthony Park neighborhoods of Saint Paul.

Residents of the state and region come to the fair to be entertained, exhibit their best livestock, show off their abilities in a variety of fields including art and cooking, learn about new products and services, and enjoy many different types of food—often on a stick. The fair runs for twelve days from late August into early September, ending on Labor Day. The Minnesota State Fair was named the best state fair in the United States in 2015 by readers of USA Today.

To say that it is a spectacle is not doing it justice, there is a sea of people.
Attendance in 2017 was a record 1,997,320 people. The highest daily attendance in the history of the fair was 260,374 visitors on Saturday, September 3, 2016.
The Saturday we were there it rained most of the day so there were only about 194,000 people there, we made a lot of new friends.

Minnesota was a really fun and cool place, it had more than I expected to find there as well as a lot of culture, I would definitely go back sometime.
Until next time may your paths be clear, your skies be sunny and your futures bright.... and remember, be kind to one another.