Taking a look around my state

[logcabinmama]

Since some of us are not able to go on vacations now, I thought this would be a good way for us to show what we have in our states and maybe someone might just decide to visit.

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Great Idea. I do love Minnesota in the Summer and Fall. It is fun to have virutual tours of the places we love.

[logcabinmama]

Is Minnesota the only state that has any interesting things to see????? From the looks of this thread, it must be. Sure happy I live in Minnesota.

 

[redhenfarm]

Calendar of events:

http://www.astoria-usa.com/events.shtml

Scandinavian festival:

http://www.astoriascanfest.com/

Northwest hummingbirds:

Check out local events/pictures:

http://www.oldoregon.com/

http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/archive/humm/humm.html

A wonderful lavender farm:

http://www.shootingstarlavender.com/

Our local co-op:

http://www.thecommunitystore.org/index.php

My favorite restaraunt for special times but darn! the owner/chef is returning to be an episcopal priest and closing the restaraunt:

http://www.home-spirit.com/

 

 

 

corrected last 2 links Caveman

[logcabinmama]

These are some good sites, Jan.

 

[redhenfarm]

Oh, that's too bad about the Home Spirit url. I can get it when I click on it. It shows the old house the restaraunt is in. The restaraunt/bakery are on the main floor and the chef and his family live upstairs.

 

[redhenfarm]

Forgot to say - on the oldoregon url listed above if you click on movies made in Astoria - Kindergarten Cop was filmed in the school my oldest son went to kindergarten at and it was his old classroom (NOT his teacher )

The Goonies house is owned by one of the nurses I used to work with. She bought it a few years ago and had to do alot of work on it. I think she told me last winter she had no heat in the house except area electric heaters so it sounds like much work to be done. The house is near the school where Kindergarten Cop was made but I think a lot of people are fooled because there's a house nearby with a decoration on their outside chimney that says Goonie House. That's not the house - it's further up the hill. My friend puts up signs every now and then but people steal them for memorabilia.

 

[Guest Guest]

http://www.westbendgrotto.com/

 

http://www.nationalballoonclassic.com/

 

http://www.fortmuseum.com/

 

http://www.lhf.org/

 

http://www.madisoncounty.com/

 

The things above are things I've liked to do many times. Listed below are a couple of addresses for a variety of other things to do.

 

http://www.iowasmartidea.com/faq.html

http://www.traveliowa.com/

 

Iowa isn't really noted for tourism but there's a lot of neat things to see if you're traveling through.

 

Give us a try!

[logcabinmama]

 

 

 

[Guest Guest]

No, I've never been to Blue Bunny but I did call them once. When DD was about 4 she was eating an orange sherbet pushup and said this is crunchy. We looked and there was 1/2 a cricket left in the ice cream.....ACK!!!! We called and told them and they sent us a bunch of coupons for free pushups. DS was 10 at the time and couldn't imagine DD ever eating them again but it didn't bother her a bit!!

 

John Wayne's birthplace is in Winterset where I put a web address for the covered bridges. Did you see any of the bridges while you were there?

[redhenfarm]

Dee, You just answered a question I had - whether there were other grottos in the country. There is a beautiful one in Portland, Oregon. When my sister learned to drive she and a friend took me there and it was so amazing. The grounds are so serene but the wonder is where you take a little elevator to an upper section on a bluff where there is a garden with (I think) the stations of the cross.

Jan

[redhenfarm]

Here is the website for The Grotto in Portland:

http://www.thegrotto.org/

 

[Synn]

Illinois the Land of Lincoln

http://www.springfield-illinois.com/

http://www.lakeshelbyville.com/

http://www.shelbyville.net/attractions.htm

http://www.arthuril.com/

http://www.siu.edu/~jadams/thumb1.html

 

[Synn]

I could have sent you sites on Chicago. But........ I wanted you to see my neck of the woods down deep in Central Illinois. Did ya'll see the covered bridge? It's my favorite and just little piece up the road. If not here's another link and a little story to go with it.....

http://www.lakeshelbyville.com/images/CoveredBridge.jpg

THOMPSON MILL COVERED BRIDGE

A braggart's confidence in his area led to the village of Cowden. Henry Marcus Cowden had settled on a farm in Southern Shelby County. When rumors of a railroad began in the 1870's, Cowden bragged to customers at his machine shop that it would cross his farm and a town would grow there. Others scoffed, but Cowden was right. When the railroad came through, early in 1872, the town site was surveyed and Henry Cowden and his wife, Susan, deeded land for the city.

 

When you hear of Cowden you're sure to hear of the Thompson Mill Covered Bridge. Built in1868 to span the Kaskaskia River, the Thompson Mill Covered Bridge is the state's longest existing covered bridge. One of only five remaining in the state.

 

Cowden is also near the site of the oldest pioneer settlement in Shelby County. A grave from that settlement is dated 1801.

 

Cowden isn't a village to rest on its history. Every year, visitors come to the annual Cowden Pioneer Days. This three-day event in August celebrates the past, but also the present with food, fun and entertainment, including a nationally sanctioned rodeo.

 

 

 

[logcabinmama]

Yes, Dee, we did see a covered bridge.