From National Parks

July 22, 2016

Great Hall at Grand Portage National Monument

One of the places Tom and I are assigned at Grand Portage National Monument is the Great Hall. This is the place where we dress up in our fanciest historic outfits. Tom is a “gentleman of the fur trade” and I am a Metis or a native wife. The Great Hall is the most diverse …

July 15, 2016

Canoe Warehouse at Grand Portage National Monument

Tom’s favorite place to work at Grand Portage is the Canoe Warehouse. It is probably the favorite place of most of the men because it is the place with all the tools. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t power tools – the men provide the power and the tools work! The Canoe Warehouse houses a …

July 12, 2016

Isle Royale National Park

A visit to Isle Royale National Park is on the bucket list for most people who love national parks. Unlike most of the national parks, you can’t get to Isle Royale by road. Instead, you have to travel by ferry or seaplane, both of which are expensive. There is only one place to stay on …

July 8, 2016

Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah

Did you ever sing that song, “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah, someone’s in the kitchen I know, someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah, strumming on the old banjo”? Every morning when we have staff meetings at Grand Portage I am tempted to sing that song, because the site supervisor will say, “Karen’s in the …

July 1, 2016

Heritage Center at Grand Portage

About once a week either Tom or I will be assigned to work in the Heritage Center at Grand Portage. Grand Portage National Monument has six areas where we can work with five of them being places where we wear our living history clothing. The Heritage Center is the one place where we do not …

June 25, 2016

Ojibwe Village

Now that Tom and I are back at Grand Portage National Monument, we have completed our shadowing of the experienced rangers in each area where we will work. Grand Portage has six areas, five of them historic, and we will spend time in each one interpreting it and talking to the people who visit the …

June 9, 2016

The Gunflint Trail

On our adventure day last week, Tom and I took off with two other volunteers, Val and Johnny, and drove up the Gunflint Trail. The Gunflint Trail is one of several scenic drives in the area. It follows MN 12 from Grand Marais to the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, 55 miles each direction. Saturday was …

June 4, 2016

Grand Portage National Monument

Tom and I will be working at Grand Portage National Monument for the summer. You have probably never heard of Grand Portage National Monument, so this post is an introduction to the monument and its purpose. Grand Portage is the place where east met west in North America. It was the place where fur merchants …

May 25, 2016

Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument

On our busy adventure day to Dayton last week, we stopped by the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Wilberforce on our way home. This national monument is one of the youngest in the nation, dedicated a mere three years ago. Many people are surprised that there is a Buffalo Soldiers monument in Ohio …

May 24, 2016

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park

On our adventure day last week, Mom, Dad, Tom and I headed over to Dayton to see the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. This is a national park that has six different sites in Dayton so you have to do some traveling to see the national park. We started, as all good tourists should, …

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