133) Keweenaw National Historical Park

Visited: Wednesday, September 8, 2021

This park has an interesting story to tell; it's all about the history of the copper mining of the area.  But it's an oddly put-together site; the historic site, vis-a-vis the visitor center, is quite nice, but there are a _lot_ of other components to the site - a number of mines (which we passed on, not being anxious to go underground), and a number of hikes and the like.

The story of the Italian Hall panic of 1913 was rather heartbreaking - a union event there during a strike was interrupted by an anti-union person yelling fire, leading to many deaths in the panic.  The strike was, in many ways, the beginning of the end for the business.

We drove by a number of the mines, but the one other stop we made was at the Porcupine Mountains; it's a separate site - a state park - but was the most interesting of the many (many) areas recommended by the Keweenaw NPS site.  The Porkies are well worth visiting if you're in that part of Michigan.

132) Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Visited: Tuesday, September 7, 2021

For some reason, my mind wants to call this site _painted_ rocks, not pictured.  But it's a beautiful site, with sandy beaches on Lake Superior, gorgeous rock formations, and many waterfalls.  Not having enough time to plan, we settled for a sampling of the treats, but very much enjoyed what we got to see.

What I wish we'd done: scheduled a boat tour.  It's far and away the best way to see many of the structures; I can easily picture us coming back to do so, when we finally get to Isle Royale

Unrelated: What I didn't expect coming here - there are pasty shops all _over_ the upper peninsula.  Apparently a result of miners from Cornell coming to the UP after the tin mines back home closed, but - nearly every local restaurant seems to advertise their pasties.

131) Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Visited: Monday, September 6, 2021

This was the start of an on-the-fly trip, set up to replace the trip to Europe that we had to cancel at the last minute.  And it was a rather spectacular start, on the whole.

The park consists of lots of shoreline, as would be expected, but includes a variety of features including the dune which it's named, a plethora of forests which fight with the dunes for control of the land, an old rescue boathouse which, while not open due to Covid, had an excellent docent who was very informative and engaging, and lots of dunes to climb.  We settled for one - giving us a great look onto Lake Michigan - and really enjoyed the lookouts from the Pierce-Stocking drive.  We didn't opt for the main dune climb - frankly, I hate sand, and the earlier path (which filled my shoes with the stuff) was more than sufficient for me.

What I wish we'd done: take the ferry to North and/or South Manitou Island.

130) Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

Visited: Saturday, September 19, 2020

After three straight positive experiences, I suppose it was inevitable that this would be a bit of a disappointment.  The fossil beds are interesting - but you don't really get to see them, just some of the fossils.  A few.  Without a lot of context.  Making the most interesting aspect of the site being that it abuts the Oregon Trail - but even that isn't quite as interesting as the California Trail at City of Rocks, there being no markings, and following a far smaller segment of the trail.

We did have fun driving back to Boise by going West; we were soon on dirt roads in - nowhere.  Literally; looking on a map after, there is no name for the place we drove through.  Vehicles we saw on the road: 1, a tractor we saw shortly before returning to pavement.  Cows we saw on the road: 6, including one who wanted to race us.

129) Minidoka National Historic Site

Visited: Friday, September 18, 2020

One of the great things about the NPS sites in Idaho is how isolated they are.  You drive and drive - and eventually get there.  But you're a long way past the last city with a population of even 500.

And that is precisely where nearly 10,000 Japanese-Americans were sent during WWII.  Not that the other interment camps were any less isolated, of course; and not that the situation in Minidoka was worse than elsewhere; it can reasonably be argued that it was among the better camps, and it was certainly preferable to Tule Lake.

I have a real challenge with Minidoka; my father was a civilian POW during WWII.  And I've heard many times about the challenges my grandfather's family faced - including being rescued by the US Army just a day before the Japanese were planning to kill all of the POWs.  The situations weren't identical by any stretch - but I can't help but notice how much better the situation was in Minidoka.

But better does nothing to excuse Minidoka.  Which is well presented - particularly the difference between the first, second, and third generation immigrants.  The visitor center is new, and is fantastic - it _fits_, and tells the story of the site very well.  The choice of having a baseball field (along with two of the barracks which served as living quarters - and everything else - for those interned) _fits_, on the whole; there was a lot of life at the site.  Doesn't excuse things, but - it gives the site a sense of hope that I hadn't really expected.

128) City of Rocks National Reserve

Visited: Friday, September 18, 2020

City of Rocks is an entirely different type of weird from Craters of the Moon.  Here, they're not growing lava, but - huge boulders, spaced out randomly across the valleys.  We saw more people rock climbing here than I've ever seen doing that before, probably collectively - every large rock where it was allowed had multiple climbers.

But even more fascinating - at least to me - were the signs of the California Trail present on the (dirt) road through the park; it wasn't difficult to picture wagons passing through.

On the way to City of Rocks we saw a coyote at the side of the road - the second most interesting wildlife of the trip.

127) Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve

Visited: Thursday, September 17, 2020

Craters of the Moon feels like - nowhere else, really.  There's a _bit_ of Hawai'i Volcanoes to the site, but - it's just a taste of that.  The lava cones are particularly impressive; it amuses me to no end that one is called Snow Cone.  Almost as impressive as some of the lava - which really seems to be growing up from the ground some places - are the fields of little white flowers, according to the information there being a type of Buckwheat, which uses an extensive root system to support the miniscule bit of the plant that shows above ground.

I'm not one for camping, but there is camping at Craters of the Moon, and - I could almost see it.  At least with an RV; it's just such an odd place to be that being there longer would be fascinating.