Turtle Power

Artists find a canvas or a blank wall. We found this painter creating a giant sea mural this afternoon. He was working on the turtle when I was photographing his work.

I thought the image looked like a Wyland. Daughter Kim long has been interested in the art of Wyland. I blew up the image of the guy on the ladder as best as I could and am 90% confident that this is Wyland at work. Easy enough to test my decision yourself.

View from the not so cheap seats

We are going to spend some time in Hawaii. It was a great time of year to leave Minnesota.

Travelling gives me an opportunity to take some nice pictures. I have very few pictures over the years from planes, but I decided this was because I try to avoid sitting next to the window. This is more a comfort thing than a fear of flying. I do not like to fly anymore, but this is more the hassle of airports and the confined quarters of a plane seat for hours on end. No different this time, but the view from the window until we reached LA was great

Home again

Another journey has ended and it is good to be back in a larger living space for a while. Approximately 3500 miles with a long sprint for home means long days in the car.

We try to include some tech in our trips so we can offer new ideas to teachers. Our tech tool for this trip was Tour Builder. This Google addon allows the creation of a journal map with annotations and images associated with key points along the way. It is a great way to share a trip such as ours, but it has classroom applications in highlighting other journeys - say Lewis and Clark and the Journey of Discovery. The map we created is available if you want to explore.

No stress

I was going to complain about the $30+ tools we had to pay to drive through Pennsylvania and Indiana, but Cindy told me that Amish people have a very low rate of cancers. She pays close attention to whatever she encounters that concerns cancer. She thought it was because their lifestyle emphasizes cooperation and low stress. I guess the poor folks from Pennsylvania and Indiana need my money more than the folks from North Dakota and Minnesota. Why this is the case is not worth getting stressed over.

Lighthouses

Maine is famous for its lighthouses. If you have a rocky coast, you need lighthouses. This was the last day of our time in Maine and while we had viewed several lighthouses none were particularly impressive. I wanted a picture of a lighthouse that was close to the image I have in my head. Maybe, if I had a sea kayak and was brave enough to use it, I might be able to get the picture I want.

We made a side trip to Portland to see "the lighthouse". Not bad.

I think Maine and Minnesota should have a lighthouse content. Minnesota has big water and several impressive lighthouses near Duluth. The Split Rock lighthouse is probably my favorite.