The Writer's Poke

I have a confession to make. I compare every state park I visit against Indiana’s Turkey Run State Park. Turkey Run is my ideal state park, and although it’s the state park of my childhood, I know it’s not just nostalgia speaking. I have visited Turkey Run a few times as an adult, and it hasn't ceased to impress me. It has a total of ten trails, and to access most of them, you must cross Sugar Creek on an impressive, well-maintained pedestrian bridge. The trails themselves are everything that you might want – they go through narrow sandstone gorges, some require ladder climbing, and others follow “creek beds.” For me, Turkey Run is about the hiking, but I also have fond memories of canoeing down the shallow (sometimes too shallow) Sugar Creek. But this post isn’t supposed to be about Turkey Run. It is supposed to be about Minnesota's Whitewater State Park, which may well be the nicest state park in the southeast Minnesota region. It is much smaller than Turkey Run, a...

Lanesboro is one of my “what if?” places. What if we moved here? What if we opened a coffee shop downtown and lived on the second floor above it? After a recent day trip to Spud Boy’s Diner, my head was full of “what if?” thoughts. A quick real estate search showed that two storefront locations were currently available in downtown Lanesboro. One was right next to Spud Boy’s, a prime location, and it included a one bedroom loft. The other, just off the main street, included a two bedroom apartment. The asking price for both was roughly what we paid for our current house. Breakfast at Spud Boy's Diner. I asked Linda what she thought about moving to Lanesboro to open a coffee shop. Surprisingly, she didn’t immediately scream “NO!” Not that this is her typical reaction to my silly “what if?” propositions, but she often is my voice of reason. For this idea, however, she said, “Well, it would be quite a life change, but it would be doable.” The doable “what ifs?” are th...

When you see the little Tower, you're there.  A few days ago, the idea of climbing the Elba Fire Tower crossed my mind. It would be a good excuse for us to make a pit stop at the St. Charles Bakery, a bakery we had never been to before, and maybe it would make up for the last time we climbed the Tower. The last time we climbed it, I had uncontrolled asthma, and that made it quite a challenge to climb the 633 steps (plus or minus) to the top. A few days ago, I was feeling pretty darn good, but for a variety of reasons, it would take five days before we actually made the drive over to Elba. And, for the last few days, my right Achilles’ heel has been hurting. Just the joys of growing older, although to be honest, I've been dealing with gout and general pain for almost fifteen years now. A nice day for a climb. Doesn't look that much of a climb from a distance...  Temperature-wise, it was a perfect day for a climb – about 70, and not too sunny. Before maki...

Some time ago in the spring, I found out that David Ellefson, bass player and co-founder of Megadeth, was rebranding the coffee shop in Jackson, Minnesota. Every so often I would tell Linda that I planned to drive over there to check it out, but the morning that I actually decided to drive over there to check it out, I think I surprised her. I’m not sure she thought I would ever do it. “What else are you going to do over there?” “Oh, that’s it. Just drive over there, order a cup of coffee, and drive home.” I had checked out Jackson on Tripadvisor, and honestly, Jackson seemed like it didn’t have much going on. My mind map of southwestern Minnesota was mainly a blank. I knew that I-90 drove through, but I thought perhaps the interstate was a metaphor: Beware ye who enter here, lest ye be on your way to somewhere else. When I told Tavi we were driving two hours to visit a coffee shop, the idea didn’t seem far-fetched to her. She only had one question, “Do they serve hot ...

West Concord, Minnesota: Population 782 Distance from Rochester, Minnesota: 31 miles Reason to drive there: Only one – Omar’s Café for Sunday Brunch Sunday mornings in West Concord are incredibly quiet. No one in town is stirring, and except for the few cars in front of Omar’s Café,  you might be forgiven if you thought you were in a ghost town.  The view in the middle of Main Street looking to the east.  Why did Omar decide to open a cafe in, of all places, West Concord? I've never asked him the question directly, but I'm sure part of it has to do with the location. Yes, it's a 30 mile drive from Rochester, but maybe that works in his favor. If you want to have Sunday morning brunch at Omar's, you're going to have to make a firm decision to go. It's not a cafe that you end up going to on accident.  Linda and Octavia heading in.  Is it worth the drive? Sure it is. We've had Sunday Brunch at Omar's maybe ...

The Wired Rooster Coffee Shoppe  -- Caledonia, Minnesota I've lived in Minnesota for over ten years, sure, but that doesn't mean I've actually seen much of the state. Like most people, I know what I know, and I go where I go. And that's the extent of it. But once I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to make it to Alaska this summer, it occurred to me that I had plenty of sites to explore in the immediate region. First stop: Caledonia, Minnesota. Where's that? It's a small town in the southeast corner of the state. Before I opened my Rand McNally Road Atlas, I had never heard of it, and before I punched the town name into Trip Advisor, I didn't know if there was anything there worth visiting. Distance from home: About 75 miles. Challenge #1: Leaving by 6:30 a.m. Challenge #2: Taking my dog, Atticus. Actually, Atticus is a good dog on a road trip, but the forecast indicated that it was going to get into the 90s. I wanted to ...

If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit. What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leave me a comment. Destination #6 : Honningsvag, Norway Honningsvag, Norway is the first destination on this list reachable by cruise ship, and for some reason, I imagine Honningsvag to be a lot like Barrow, Alaska – minus the English speakers. The current population of Honningsvag is around 2300, and the area itself has had humans roaming around it for at least the past 10,000 years. An Alaskan cruise is fun, but the two main cruise route options are the Inner Passage and the Gulf of Alaska. Both options don’t take you all that far north. Although I haven’t gotten out the ruler, I’m guessing that Honningsvag is about 700 miles further north than, say, Anchorage, because 700 miles is the approximate distance between Anchorage and Barrow. In other words, a Norwegian cruise may be a lot like an Alaskan cr...

  If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit. What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leave me a comment.  Destination #7: Easter Island Easter Island is probably the most remote island inhabited by human beings. Located in the South Pacific Ocean, Chile and the continent of South America are 250 miles to its east. No human beings live on an island to its west for over 1200 miles. So where did the human inhabitants of Easter Island come from? Most likely, Polynesians traveled over 2000 miles to reach the island around 300 A.D. If true, this must be one of the most amazing travel stories never written. The folks who traveled back in that day weren't sailing via luxury yacht, and they certainly didn't have the ability to carry many provisions with them. Needless to say, they didn't have maps, didn't have an end destination in mind, and didn't have any clue when they'd ...

If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit. What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leave me a comment.  Destination #8: Vladivostok, Russia Something attracts me to the idea of visiting places where nobody else goes. I’m sure many Americans go to the places I’m mentioning on my Ends of the Earth Top 10 list, but I don’t personally know anyone that has visited Barrow, Alaska, for instance; and I only know three people that have visited South Africa. These places aren’t impossible to visit, but people generally need a very specific reason – or a very passionate drive – to visit them. Just to name a specific place, I’ve selected Vladivostok, but more generally, I could simply say “Siberia.” When I read Colin Thubron’s In Siberia , I become fascinated with the idea of visiting what I had always imagined to be a vast snow-covered wasteland. Siberia is not a wasteland, of course. Well, not com...

If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit. What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leave me a comment.  Destination #9 -- Barrow, Alaska All I know about Barrow, Alaska, I learned from watching the zombie flick 30 Days of Night . In other words, I know nothing about Barrow, Alaska. Barrow is the northern-most city in North America, and its main claim-to-fame may be that it’s the biggest city in the National Petroleum Reserve.  As far as I can tell, the city has never been attacked by zombies, but polar bears have been known to drop by for unexpected visits. Current population is 4,000, and apparently folks have been calling Barrow and the immediate area home for the past 1,000 years. This amazes me, as there were probably countless other places that people could have homesteaded back then, and yet out of all the places in the world, they selected Barrow? Amazing. Did these people cross...

The Earth is more or less a big, blue ball, and balls don't have ends. Nevertheless, we speak of the "ends of the Earth," and when we in the West speak of the "center," we're usually not referring to the Earth's core. The United States, after all, is "the most important country on Earth." Everywhere else is only important in terms of its "distance" (physically and otherwise) away from us. (I don't actually think the U.S. is the center of the world.) I have a special love for the ends of the Earth; in my imagination at least, I picture worlds much different from the one I live in; sometimes I hope I never have the chance to visit any of them, because I don't want to be disappointed to find out that "there" is very much like "here." If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit. What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leav...

Have you ever done a vacation package with Friendly Planet? Linda and I have thought about doing one for a few years now, but the timing has never been right. Almost all of their options interest me, but the Taj Mahal Express has to be right at the top. I would, of course, want to add the Nepal extension. What a trip it would be... http://www.friendlyplanet.com/taj-mahal-express.html

Kodiak, Alaska (after 1964 earthquake) Some places you hear about, and even though you have never been there, you imagine what they're like. Right now, Kodiak, Alaska is such a place for me. I can picture it in my mind's eye, and part of me never wants to actually visit, lest I be highly disappointed with reality. My only trip to Alaska was in 2005, and I long to go back. On that trip, all I saw of Alaska was the part allowed to cruise tourists on the inner passage. I absolutely loved the hell out of it, but Kodiak seems even more remote. And yet, it also seems more accessible, as it's on Alaska's maritime highway. So, if you've stumbled upon my blog, have you been to Kodiak? Or, what place have you not been to that you imagine being heaven on earth?

South of Monterey, California, is the famous 17 Mile Drive. If you want to take it, the locals will make you pay $9.25. Is it worth it? Yeah, I think so. In fact, after a fairly disappointing cruise, I think this drive was the highlight of our trip. What you'll experience in these 17 miles: breathtaking views of the Pacific, some pretty cool multi-million dollar houses, trees, and deer. I didn't realize that this is where the Pebble Beach golf course is, but from the little we could see of it, it looked amazing. And, I couldn't imagine playing golf in this location. It was so windy there today that I'm sure even Tiger would have to fight hard for par.

This was our second cruise on the Celebrity Mercury -- the first time was to the Mexican Riviera in Dec. 2004. This time, we tried the Pacific Northwest (Astoria, Oregon; Seattle; Vancouver; Victoria), the first run of the season. To begin with, the ship was late repositioning from Mexico. We would find out a few days into the cruise that they knew the ship would be late; however, we were never notified. So, while we were there to board at 1 p.m., the ship didn't arrive until after 3 p.m. It was scheduled to leave at 5 p.m., but they were still loading on luggage at 7:30 p.m. While we waited to board, the passengers were housed in different locations depending on cabin type, and since we had a balcony room, we were among those lucky enough to receive sandwiches and water. Others apparently didn't receive food. Unfortunately, one of the people in our location choked to death on his food, and none of the cruise or pier staff were prepared to assist this elderly passenger. My wi...