Day-21 Grand Falls to Whitefish

We drove Rt 89 from Grand Falls to Rt 2 and then Rt 2 West past Glacier NP and Rt 40 to Whitefish. Early this morning we found this modern grain elevator. I have several photos of old grain elevators but I had never seen a modern facility that caught my eye. The morning sun glinting on these was special

Although Rt 2 does not run through the park it does provide some very nice images of the Rocky Mountains.

West from the continental divide the route follows the Flathead River

We found this seasonal falls just off the road. They may be small but they are gorgeous.

 

Tomorrow we will visit Glacier. We have been here once some 45 years ago. It rained! The forecast for tomorrow is AM showers so we may be visiting the park in the rain yet again…

Tom

Badlands National Park

Today we were driving Westbound on I-90 through South Dakota and on into Wyoming.This route takes us immediately past Badlands N.P. so we decided to revisit it. What I love about the badlands is the contrast between the prairie and the badland wall

I also like the varied plant life of the prairie.  Here is a thistle seed

and a scrub tree trying to survive in a hostile environment.

Finally, a classic Badlands view

When we were driving east the only rain we hit was in Wyoming, West of Laramie. Today, in Wyoming, we hit some rain again. We went through a weather front; a bit of rain, quite a bit of wind and the temperature dropped 12 degrees in 2 miles and 2 minutes.

Old Mills

When we travel one of my preferred subjects is old grist mills. On out way to the festival we stopped at Metamora, IN. Metamora is an old town on the Whitewater Canal. The town has returned to its roots and celebrates its history.

One of the attractions is the old functioning grist mill

While most of the grist mills here in the states are water powered, in Europe many of the early mills were wind driven. In Elkhorn, IA, there is an old Danish windmill which was disassembled, shipped to Iowa and rebuilt on its present site. It too is a fully functional grist mill and very different than any I’ve previously photographed.

Danish windmill, Elkhorn, IA

As a footnote, we are in Chamberlain, SD where we were in triple digit heat yesterday and it is 83 at 7:00AM this morning…

Tom

Festival–4 Bits and Pieces

My intent was to present the winning entries of the Dress a Sasha contest in this update. I had taken photos of all the entries but when Carol and I went back to write down the titles and artists for all the entries they were already dismantling the exhibit (oops)

I believe that these are the 1st and 2nd place winners of the outfits made by contestant division. If I’m wrong about that, my apologies all around. The theme this year was “Children of the White House” Presidential children if you will.

1st place winner:  Ellen “Nell” Grant, daughter of U.S. Grant

2nd place winner: Children of Theodore Roosevelt.

At breakfast Sunday, this girl was wearing her festival outfit.

Saturday night sunset of Springfield.

Festival–3–Children’s Fund Auction

The Sasha community’s annual fund raising auction brought in a bit over $8,000. With the fund matching programs, the charities will realize around $17,000. Here are a few of the items auctioned and the sales amount.

This nice hand knitted sweater and cap for Gregor with coordinating pants brought $120

This original 8x8 oil on canvas artwork was created for and donated to the auction. It realized $120

These three outfits each generated spirited bidding. When the dust finally settled the total proceeds from the three outfits were $570.

Tom

Sasha History

To celebrate the new History of Sasha book the authors treated us to a display of old and rare Sashas. This posting only hits a very few of the highlights.

Sasha Morgenthaler studio dolls

Another set of studio dolls: Very different but all in similar distinctive outfits.

These unique dolls are factory prototypes that were never produced.

Princess Sasha: A late limited edition doll.

Tom

Festival–Day - 1

The biggest news at Festival is that the book is here…
(If you need to ask what book you’ve not been paying attention)

Here is the book along with the model from the book cover.

Some of you may know that my favorite Festival event is Dress a Sasha. This year the theme was white house children. Here are a pair of Coras pretending to be Malia and Sasha Obama. They even have a dog…

Finally, this early Goetz redhead shared our luncheon table. I think she has absolutely stunning eyes.

Tom