While travelling through North and South Dakota, I occasionally jumped across the state line into Minnesota to see interesting things. If you remember, I didn’t really do Minnesota justice last time I came though, so I used this as an opportunity to visit a few more places, one of which was Pipestone National Monument. Located in the middle of farms and grasslands, this is an ancient but still active quarry where Native Americans dig for pipestone. There seem to be…
Quite often in my journeys it has turned out that places are quite different than I expected them to be. Except for the driving, I really enjoyed Texas; except for the parks, my experience of California was rather aggressive and unwelcoming; I surprised myself by having fun in Las Vegas; I want to keep going back to Amelia Island in Florida; I’m totally fine with never going to Kansas ever again; I could probably live happily in St Louis, Missouri. …
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to go to a few places that I missed on my first loop of the US, including the states of Nebraska, North Dakota, Iowa, and parts of Southern Illinois. I found that some of this area is beautiful expansive farm land — not empty space, but not the most interesting country to drive though either. But every now and then I came across a gem, such as the State Capitol Building…
After spending the morning at the Caterpillar Visitor Center and Museum, I was in the mood for more big machinery, so drove an hour and a half down the road to the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois. Located just a couple of blocks from the Mississippi River, it’s a beautiful building and complex. As soon as I walked in the people at the reception counter welcomed me and asked me if they could help. I replied that I had…
I think it’s clearly established by now that I enjoy playing with big machines. So when I was passing through Peoria, Illinois, the home of Caterpillar, of course I had to stop in for a look. I don’t remember if I heard how old this visitor center is, but it certainly looks like it was opened just recently, and is well designed, fun, and interactive. It’s located just a block away from the Illinios River, where there’s a very nice…