Glade Creek Mill in WV’s Babcock State Park is arguably one of the most picturesque mills in the country. If you have ever seen a photo of an old mill along a small stream there is a very fine chance that it was Glade Creek. Yesterday the light was difficult but it is such a nice site that I’m working through it.
Here is the mill itself.
This is the classic view.
This is a variation on the classic view.
Tom
Our poor Sashas have been cooped up in the car since we left home and we won’t be to Festival ‘til Thursday so we thought we’d let them out and play a while at Carol’s aunt’s. This was really fun for them because Francis has a really big yard with trees and fences and…
Here are all three of the girls playing on the footbridge.
Carol found a tree to climb
Cora liked climbing on the fence and Julia offers her a hand up.
Crossing from Iowa into Illinois we crossed the Mississippi River and stopped at the Illinois welcome center. Due to budget problems Illinois has closed all their tourist information offices but from the grounds I got this shot of a tugboat and barges on the river.
Later we stopped at Starved Rock State Park which is on the Illinois River. This boater was out enjoying a beautiful summer day.
If you drive I-80 through Nebraska you’ll see the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument as it is built over the freeway.
We’ve talked about visiting it before but for whatever reason it has never actually done so. This time we did.It’s a pretty impressive experience. When you go in you’re greeted by a costumed greeter who directs you toward the ticket seller. After you obtain your ticket you ride an escalator to the entrance of the exhibits.
Exhibits trace the linking of the coasts, by wagon trains, telegraph, rail, telegraph, pony express, stagecoach and finally the Lincoln Highway which became US 30 and then I-80. All of these took advantage of the Platte River Valley. The lighting of the exhibits was absolutely exquisite making photography easy. The Wagon Train segment covers all of the routes, Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon trail.
Diorama of the ill fated Mormon handcart train.
Today the plan was to drive I-80 from Rock Springs, WY to Ogallala, NE and find something to do there. Since we had lots of time we stopped at Fort Fred Steele Historic site which is just off I-80 so wouldn’t take too much time.
Reconstructed Schoolhouse behind ruins on Officer’s Row.
On our way out we stopped and talked to the Ranger who suggested we drive WY Rt 130 through the Snowy Mountains and rejoin I-80 at Laramie so we did.
Lake Marie near the summit of the Snowy Mountains. The highway summit is 10,800 ft. Dropping down out of the Snowys we followed the North Fork of the Little Laramie River.
Today was a shortish driving day, about 440 miles and a bit over 6 hours. That gave us some free time this afternoon so we took a short side trip through a wind farm.
Then we stopped at Fort Bridger. We rather expected that this being July 4th weekend there would be some sort of re-enactment going on. This was not to be the case but the docent in the general store was in costume.
The little stream which runs through the site was at full flood and many of the paths and fields were flooded. I did get this photo of the officers quarters.
So we’re on our way to Springfield IL to the Sasha festival.
Along the way we’ll stop by and see Carol’s aunt who lives near Cleveland. Today was our first driving day and a reasonably longish one. This is a route we’ve driven often before so we didn’t try for any deliberate photo stops. This one was taken from the Idaho visitor center and is of the Snake River. Across the river is Oregon.
