Let it snow

Been running from Old Man Winter for nearly a week and he caught up to us in Columbus, but we were able to dodge north of all directions to clear dry roads and slightly warmer temps. And let's face it, folks up here are better equipped to handle winter. None of the issues experienced in the south during this storm.
Did find the best shave of the trip at the Pilgrim Square Barber Shop in Akron. Old fashioned shop run by Scott, complete with Craftsman tool boxes and air compressor dust off. Lots of boxing and Ohio sports memorabilia, plus the requisite chatter about college football, Christmas and country music, education, travel, and parenting. Good stuff, three hot towels, and smooth shave. Marina was supposed to be blogging, but said she spent the entire time listening to us.
Like Woodrow said, "what kind of education is that, sitting and listening to you?"

That'd be Scott looking out the window. 

Steady snow into Pennsylvania, so we shut down in Franklin and caught a live Christmas play at the local theater after dinner.
More north to get above the wintry mess.

Bucket list item

Marina loves marine mammals, so we enjoyed the Columbus Zoo's Wildlights Christmas show and got her up close and personal with an all time favorite, the manatees. Plus a few others.

Yep, this is why you do stuff like this with your kids. 

A "cute" turtle?

"Just settled in for a long winter's nap"

More aircraft

USAF Museum

Okay, there's five huge hangars at Wright Patterson AFB full of aviation history that would take a week to explore. Seeing all the P-40s and P-51s I built as a kid at1/52nd scale life sized is awesome.
We dashed about snapping photos and glimpses of history. I will be back because I just feel like I owe it to the heroes represented there to read and acknowledge their stories, their sacrifices.

The Wright one

Returned to Dayton with Marina so she could see the Wright Flyer III and experience the Brothers progress from printers to bicycle repairs to bicycle manufacturers to aviation pioneers.
She's hooked and ready to learn more about historical feats like they accomplished. Looks like Kitty Hawk is on the way home.

They determined the accepted lift calculations were wrong so they built their own wind tunnel to test wing designs!

Did their own sewing on a Singer. 

Just love panoramic function. 

Winchester

I've continually professed the merits of going with the Mojo, but I bet there are still some doubters out there, unwilling to spread their travel wings and leap without a PLAN.
For the past two weeks I've had a minor, yet apparently very challenging, goal of purchasing a mid-weight jacket from a clothing store on a town square. Kinda like People's in Kenedy used to be.
Check the map and lo and behold, Winchester is just an hour or so away. How cool would it be to say I found my coat in Winchester?!
Beautiful town square adorned with Christmas decor and monuments to veterans. And on a building on the northeast corner of the square was a sign. ..

Well, okay then. Three blocks to heaven on earth. Mrs. Wicks started making pies in 1944, selling 20 fruit pies a day. How good are they? Today they make 12,000 a day and ship to over 30 states.
But the best part is they still taste homemade!
We tried FOUR for breakfast, sugar cream, the Indiana State pie (Hoosier pie), black raspberry, cherry berry, and the only pie to ever earn a 5-star rating from me - cherry almond!
Tangy enough to twitch your jaw but sweet, with toasted almonds on the crumble, and a perfectly browned and flaky crust.

We head back to the square and meet Tom Batt at the Country Gentleman, an honest to God menswear store. Only took 5 minutes to find the perfect jacket, but we spent nearly an hour visiting. Tom's a traveler, business man, philosopher, reader, community minded, family oriented all around great guy. I encourage you to look up his shop or call him for some Christmas shopping. I'm afraid icons like the Country Gentleman and People's, once anchors of small town commerce will soon be memories and that's a dern shame. Glad Marina got to experience that and the Mojo took us there.

Still don't believe in Mojo? Give up on Santa too?

All I can say to that is I got my jacket from Winchester!

Tippecanoe and other stuff too

Pretty crummy travel day in Illinois and Indiana, and lots of places closed for the season, so mostly windshield time as we stay ahead of the winter blast. Hard to say if the Weather Channel is over hyping as they are prone to do but guess we'll know by tomorrow. First stop was President Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, IL.

Then a covered bridge in Princeton. Love the sign!

And finally the Battle of Tippecanoe, fought in 1811 and considered the first of the War of 1812. Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet , were organizing the western tribes against American expansion, with willing assistance from the British of course. The Prophet convinced the tribes to attack the troops and volunteers under William Henry Harrison while Tecumseh was out recruiting. After a pitched battle and a surprisingly high number of casualties, the Indians quit the field, running low on ammunition.
Despite heavy American losses, the Indians were demoralized by their repulsion and their spirit broken. Most never fought again and by the 1830s were being removed to reservations.

Getting carried away

Not me, but the local brews I am encountering along the way. Plan to do a beer tour of the USA when we get home, but based on the accumulation, may take longer to travel that liquid road than I originally assumed. Still room for most of Marina's stuff in the truck, but we'll be going to double stacking after next stop.
Can't help it, we're in Wisconsin. ..

All of these are brewed within 50 miles of Monroe, WI. 

The bottles make a merry, almost Christmasy sound as we travel along.

Blessed are the cheese makers

You'll pardon my blatant theft from the Pythons, but after visiting Cedar Grove Cheese it's just how we feel.

That's 8,000# of milk, say a thousand gallons and will become 800# of cheese. 

The hoops where the curd is stored. 

At Cedar Grove it's less than 24 hours from cow to cheese. 

They consider themselves "small" because they only use 133,000# of milk to make 13,300# of cheese... per DAY! Use 30+ dairies in the area, all certified hormone free (they test before each load) and the milk is never stored more than 24 hours.
The ancient and relatively simple process is automated now but still fascinating. After flash pasteurization the milk goes into huge vats the starter, called rennet,is added and th the liquid begins to curdle forming curds. These can be flavored and sold as is to Ms Muffet et al or pressed into drums and aged.
The whey byproduct is sold for either proteinuria drinks or road deicer. The waste water is filtered through their own wetlands greenhouse and returned to the land.
Absolutely wonderful, and tasty, stop at this innovative, holistic,  "little" cheesery.

Foggy slog

Travel in southern Wisconsin was really hampered by cold fog and1/4th mile visibility. Baraboo is the home of Ringling circus, but the museum was closed for the season. The original theater on the town square is nice though.

Attempts to hike on the Ice Age National Trail and see glaciated carvings also thwarted by the weather. At least the snow was pretty and the temperature stayed above freezing or it would have been a mess.
Did find a new and tasty pie in Reedsburg, black hickory pie. As a fruit pie guy, the nut genre seldom tempts my palate, but the toasted hickory nuts on top made Greenwoods Cafés better than any Pecan pie I have had in a while. Again, I am no expert on the squirrel food, but this was good.

Drove through Helena, WI and turns out this was Frank Lloyd Wright's home area. Most of the buildings were closed for the season, but Marina got a glimpse of this famous American architect's works.

Man, I could live here!

America's dairy land

This region of the Upper Midwest is dairy country and we've begun our collection of cheeses to bring home. The ice cream is harder to transport so we're just carrying it in our tummies.
This really is beautiful country, a rolling sea of farms and forests with islands of pristine white farm houses, red barns, silos, and towering Catholic Church spires dotting the view. Like something out of Currier & Ives only prettier.
And bountiful. Cranberry capital of America, dozens of traditional brewers, and great ethnic foods.
We found some Sprecher sodas while ordering our cheese sandwiches, then discovered they brew beer and run German restaurants. Enjoyed sauer brauten over spaetzel, tasty IPA, and blueberry soda for dinner. Likely gain more weight in Wisconsin than any other state.

Commerce research

No problem waking Marina up for our morning drive into the Mall of America in MSP. I was a little concerned about the wintry mix on the roads but crews in this part of the world handle it with ease.
Besides, cold weather and a little white stuff makes it seem more Christmasy. The Mall is a shopping marvel and like a small city protected from the weather, complete with beautiful holiday decorations and roller coasters!
We were there mostly for the rides, but did notice there weren't many shoppers carrying bags. Guess they were all home doing Cyber Monday.

Sponge Bob's ride is vertical. 

The Lego store's exhibit is awesome, even to an old kid. 

Even did a little hunting. Oh yeah, Dad's still got it!

Effigy Mounds Natl Mon

North American woodland Indians built numerous earthen mounds from NY to MN and the Gulf from 400 to 1300 A.D. Some were burial and others ceremonial. As a fan of human accomplishments, what's most amazing to me is not that they built so many using woven baskets and deer bone diggers or made them unique like these shaped like bears and birds.
I am intrigued by the security and abundance of food they must have enjoyed to have the luxury to undertake such massive endeavors. Or, did they have extraterrestrial assistance?
I suspect the land's bounty and lack of cable TV were major contributions to this prehistoric marvel.

A nice view of the Mississippi River when you take a break from your mound building. 

Lock No. 10

One of the points where they attempt to control the Mississippi. Note the increasing ice pack.

Snake Alley

Located in downtown Burlington, IA, Ripley recognized it as the world's crookedest road. The bricks were laid on edge so that horses could gain better traction. Probably would have been a bit more fun in a Mini Cooper rather than an Expedition EL, but we made it without kissing a curb.