North of the border

Diefenbunker entrance

Recently I travelled north of the border to a place where the people are the butt of many an American joke, Canada. It's not my first visit to Canada, I've been lucky enough to travel there on several occasions both for business and pleasure, I've always found it has a kind of rugged beauty to it, and the people are both warm and friendly a lot like the folks of the mid-west.   


As I mentioned in a previous blog, a good friend of mine from the North East moved to Canada several years ago, and so my visit had three purposes; to see my friend, his wife and their two young boys, to see some of the breathtaking sites this part of Canada has to offer, and also to answer a few questions I've had rattling around the old grey matter. 

Taken next to the Parliament building Ottawa

I flew into Ottawa where the temperature swings from -40 in the winter to +40 in the summer,  to say it's a city of extremes is an understatement, but thankfully for me it was a balmy +8 so no need for thermals. Travelling from the airport I witnessed the clean up operation that was underway in the city to sweep away the debris of the harsh winter months, and a coating of 3-4 feet of snow.

I was told that it's not unusual to find the bodies of people buried in the snow during winter only once revealed in the spring melt, homeless people in the main who've succumbed to the cold and fallen into a never ending sleep. In this part of world I guess it's just a yearly cycle that they must go through, and yet regardless of the conditions the beat of life continues. 

CN Tower Toronto 

We drove to the town of Stitsville where my friends house is, houses in Canada are similar to houses in the U.S, they all tend to be very large and airy but constructed very simply using light materials which are quite often prefabricated. I received the grand tour from the lady of the house and was shown my friends outdoor pool which I gather is his pride and joy, not bad for a northern lad. 

Over the course of the evening whilst enjoying some prime Alberta beef, I heard about my friend and his families new life together as Canadian residents. I heard all about their lives, where they worked, what they did to relax, what they liked to eat and drink, and even what colour they were planning on painting their new house. For me it was greatly humbling to see my old friend as an established family man to such a beautiful young family. 

Art Institute Toronto

The next day we took the boys out to a cold war nuclear bunker, a subterranean, self sufficient and self contained underground mini city. The bunker had everything you could possibly need to exist under the surface of the earth for months on end, from an operating theatre to an office for the fisheries minister, and a vault containing all of the gold from the bank of Canada.

I couldn't believe how big the bunker was, spread over 4 vast floors, the planning and the conception of this bunker must have been a massive undertaking, and to think it was built in secret over 2 years. I'm pretty sure my friends young boys enjoyed it too as they were both very well behaved, but for my part I didn't realise how tiring two young lads could be. 

Toronto Island


The next day we jumped in the car hand railing Lake Ontario toward Toronto, an easy 5 hour drive by Canadian standards because of the vast distances between provinces. Toronto, like Ottawa was undergoing it's spring makeover and with the overcast skies of the day the main part of the city looked a little drab. After a short tour we took a small ferry over to Toronto Island, in the summer the island looks like the place to be with it's municipal beaches, piers, play parks and restaurants it must be a welcome respite from city living over the water. 

However, at this time of the year the whole island was like a forgotten town, cafes, bars all deserted, not a single car on the road and not a soul on the beaches, this made for quite an eerie feeling especially with the sun fading fast. 

Toronto Island Pier

Looking out from the pier it's easy to forget that you're not looking out to sea, Lake Ontario is so big it's nearly the size of Wales, it's really more like an inland sea. On the other side of the island we patiently waited for twilight to descend, when it did we were treated to a spectacular few of the city across the water, the whole cityscape reflected back at the sky in the waters of the lake. 

With the Island now in complete darkness the walk back to the small ferry was like something out of a zombie apocalypse film, with the island deserted and only ghostly silhouettes to dimly guide us back. It was nice to have the entire island to myself but I'm sure a hot summers evening spent on the beach there would be even better.   

Toronto skyline

Final day, final destination for my mini Canadian adventure and the target for the morning was Niagara falls. Now I knew the falls would be big, for anyone reading this from the North East of England we've all visited High Force, and so we are not strangers to waterfalls but nothing prepared me for this.

The best description I can come up with is, "it looks like an entire sea falling off a cliff". The noise, the spray, the vibration was utterly breathtaking, I still struggle to comprehend the quantity of water cascading over the rock to the violent turbulence below. There's so much energy in the water that standing anywhere near the top of the falls is enough to soak you to the bone, even though the deluge of water is colliding 53 metres below you. 

Niagara Falls

Leaving the falls behind I headed for Buffalo airport, this meant crossing the Canadian border and heading back into America. Approaching the border crossing it all seemed a little strange to European eyes, since the advent of the Schengen agreement which lead to a borderless Europe, we think nothing of passing from country to country without the need for passports or vehicle checks, I guess the yanks don't trust their crafty Canadian neighbours? After a quick document check I was sent on my way and Omaha bound once again.

Now the more astute amongst you may have noticed that I haven't got to the meat of the sandwich in this blog yet, I haven't elaborated on the questions I had hoped Canada might help me to answer, and yet your probably quite happy I haven't began with my pointless rhetoric.  

So, as a special treat I'm going to let you enjoy the stills above and save my ramblings for the next instalment. X

A Nations pride

Arlington National Cemetery

Some cities I've visited have so much to see and absorb that I can't really get what I want to say into just one blog post. It's fair to say Washington D.C falls into this category and this is the third and final part of my experiences in the capital. 

Arlington National Cemetery was created on behalf of the American people to honour with respect, dignity and compassion all those who have served the Nation. It's a place to reflect on the sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of brave men and women have made and continue to make to this very day. 

Walking around the cemetery grounds I found myself in complete bewilderment at the sheer number of white marble head stones contrasted against the lush grass, and gleaming in the bright February sunshine. From the centre of the cemetery, in every direction and as far as you can see there are more and more headstones, they number in excess of 400,000.

The Arlington Estate was originally built as a memorial to George Washington by one of his grandsons, George Washington Parke Custis. During the civil war Washington was teaming with dead soldiers and out of burial space, so the land seized by the government in 1864 was proposed as the location of a new military cemetery by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs. 

The first serviceman laid to rest in the Arlington National Cemetery was Private William Henry Christman, on May 13th, 1864. Arlington is not just a national treasure it's an active cemetery and conducts in between 27 and 30 funerals per day. It's the only national cemetery to hold veterans from all the nations wars, starting with the American Revolution right up to Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Arlington National Cemetery is home to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier, this tomb is dedicated to all soldiers that have been killed in any war and an unidentified soldiers remains are interred within it. 

After the first World War a movement arose to commemorate all of the soldiers lost to war who's remains were never recovered or identified. The tomb in D.C has been guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year since July 1st, 1937. The guards known as Sentinels are specially selected for this prestigious duty and have to fit a specific criteria, they must between 5' 10" and 6" 2", and their waist size cannot exceed 30". 

They keep a constant vigil in all kinds of inclement weather day and night. While on duty the Sentinel paces out 21 steps across a rubber walkway, faces the tomb for 21 seconds, turns again, and pauses for an additional 21 seconds before retracing his 21 steps. 

21 symbolises the "21 gun salute", the highest honour given to any military dignitary.

For the Sentinels selected to guard the Tomb of The Unknown soldier it's both a huge honour and also a way of showing their respect for fellow soldiers lost to conflict. As well as working 24 hours on, 24 hours off, it's said to take the average Sentinel 8 hours to prepare their uniform for the next day which is immaculate and inspected to a very high standard.

The changing of the guard drill routine is probably one of the most amazing bits of drill I've ever seen. The routine is so precise it's as if the soldiers have shed human form and become robots, yet it's still carried out in a fashion that maintains respect, dashed with a little flair. 


It's fair to say I found Arlington National Cemetery to be the epitome of dignity and honour for the Nations dead and I'm lucky to have been given the chance to visit.

To see exactly what I witnessed, cut and paste the link below into your browser and you can't fail to be impressed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqZ-mkdp1H0

So now you have shared my visit to Americas Capital city, I suppose I should end this post with some kind of summary. 

Well, here goes.

I was asked again by a friend of mine if I found visiting Washington D.C depressing. I can certainly see why someone would think I felt this way, after all the National Mall of the Capitol is filled with memorials, statues of dead leaders, and a huge cemetery, but depression is definitely not what I felt. 

What I felt was an overriding sense of national pride. The monuments, memorials and graves were all celebrating the vision that many inspirational leaders have shown. It's in this city that tribute is paid to all those who have driven and shaped the United States during it's short history, and it's in the creation of this National Mall that the sacrifices of the many will never be forgotten.

Shots from the Mid-West

An old barn we drove past on the way back from Lincoln.

A crucifix from the Holy Family Shrine.

The Holy Family shrine.

The Shrine from the front.

Another old barn at dusk, I can see barn's are going to become my next new bad habit.

D.C II

Capitol Hill.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

The Abraham Lincoln Memorial.

Washington D.C Metro tunnel, reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Sculpture opposite the Vietnam War Memorial.

The Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool at night.

A painting from the Hirshhorn Museum, looks like a screen test. 

A poor Sponge Bob Square Pants discarded on the Metro line but still smiling. 

Are we any further forward?

Recently I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C, the capital of the United States. The main area of interest in the capital is the National Mall and the many memorials that lie on it's periphery. 

Here are most of them;

DC War Memorial                                                          Korean War Veterans Memorial

Eisenhower Memorial                                                    Lincoln Memorial

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial                            Martin Luther King Memorial

Jefferson Memorial                                                        Theodore Roosevelt Island

Washington Monument                                                  WWII Memorial

United States Air Force Memorial                                 United States Navy Memorial

From the list above you can see a lot of these memorials honour the many poor souls lost to various wars over the last few centuries, but the other memorials honour great champions of civil rights and general liberalism. 

Also from the list you might think that a trip to Washington D.C must be quite depressing, I didn't find it so, I found it to be hugely thought provoking. 

This brings me nicely onto the subject of this weeks blog, "are we any further forward"?

The site of the National Mall covers an area of 146 acres and to see all the buildings and outlying memorials takes at least 2 days, and that's at route march pace. By the close of the second day I'd made it round to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and it was here reading the quotes from speeches he had made during his tenure that the cogs in my tiny mind began to turn.  

"We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to forces of ignorance, and intolerance and slavery and war" 

"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars".

From these profound quotes carved into the granite you get a glimpse of what FDR wanted and pictured the future to look like. His vision for the future was one of overwhelming tolerance, acceptance and most of all, of peacefulness. 

The blood shed he'd witnessed during WWII had convinced him that man must progress beyond such conflicts and be a beacon of light for democratic process. But his foresight went far beyond an end to just aggression.

"No country, however rich, can afford the waste of it's human resources. Demoralisation caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it's the greatest menace to our social order".

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little".

FDR was dreaming of a new world order determined that those lost to war had not died in vain, he longed for a future where there were no hungry mouths or idle hands and men could do great things for the greater good.

I wonder what FDR would think of the world we live in today, where around 60 countries are currently involved in war of some description with nearly 400 different militia/guerrilla and separatist groups?

What would he think if he watched the news and saw the poverty that exists even in developed countries and yet last year the world bore witness to 128 new billionaires during an alleged global recession?

The Martin Luther King Memorial, homage to another great civil rights leader and forward thinker. He is famed for his "I have a dream" speech, this speech is widely regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of American Oratory. It was delivered to over 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963 and was the defining moment of the American civil rights movement.

Looking on in admiration at this great monument I wondered if we would ever have statues built in years to come for the leaders of today. I tried to think of a president, prime minister or king of the present day who leads with such conviction, such selflessness and with such devotion to his people, and I couldn't think of any. 

I thought to myself, "maybe we don't have the struggles that they had during the early twentieth century", but I quickly dismissed this. Today we are beset with problems just as deadly and probably even more complex than they faced in the day of FDR or Martin Luther King. 

So why is it that today's leaders don't seem to have the spirit that leaders of the early twentieth century had?

Well, I'm obviously not in a position to read the history books of the future, but to me it seems like todays leaders are more preoccupied with pleasing third parties and financial backers, rather than the very people the were chosen to represent and they seem to fundamentally lack selflessness, a quality there predecessors had in spades. 

And there, in the presence of these great statues and quotes Idolised in stone, I stumbled upon the harsh realisation, that really when it boils down to it, we aren't any further forward.

Why visit South Dakota....Again?

One of the few rules I've tried to stick to during my time in America, is not to visit the same place twice. However, I've broken this rule a few times since I've been here, with multiple trips to Chicago and of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, South Dakota.

In Omaha, whenever you mention to anybody that you're planning a trip to South Dakota you always get the same response, " why are you going there, there's nothing to see but rocks". I've really enjoyed my trips to South Dakota, for one, it's nice to get out of the cities, two there's so much nature to take in, and three, you'd probably never fly there from the UK.

So for this weeks blog, I thought I would prove my point with a bit of an extended stills selection, with lashings of the obligatory ramblings you've all gotten used to.


The Badlands

On a sunny day.

 On a cloudy, hazy day.

This is the second time I've visited the Badlands National Park, it consists largely of sedimentary rock which has simply eroded in dramatic fashion. It's easy to trace the geological history of the rock as the layers of different rock and sediment have left different coloured bands on the landscape as a guide. 

I found the rock to be really soft, it simply crumbles under foot and the park is actually eroding at a rate of 1 inch per year, so best get yourself to South Dakota before it's gone. 


Triangle Ranch.

The house you see in the above images was bought from a Sears, Roebuck & Co Catalog for the princely sum at the time of, $ 3,825. It arrived on two railroad cars and was completed in 1923. Houses are again available today to buy via catalogue, funny how everything goes full circle. 

The lady who owned the house had the courtesy to sit and chat, she told me stories of growing up as a cow girl and the struggles her forefathers bore to forge lives as homesteaders. I could have honestly listened to her for days.

The Homestead Act was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on May 20th, 1862. In a nut shell it meant that a patch of unappropriated Federal land was given to pretty much anyone who could provide an 18 dollar filling fee. Under the terms of the act they were required to, build a home, make improvements and farm the land for a minimum of 5 years. 

Life was hard for early Homesteaders, winters were brutal, summers harsh and back breaking work was undertaken by hand. They had to learn how to farm and build on a very steep learning curve. The Lady of the house seemed to know intimately her family history, she was still to this day grateful for the struggles her ancestors endured and spoke of them with such respect and fondness even though she'd never known them.


Minuteman Silo.

South Dakota was home to many Minuteman missiles during the Cold War with the Former Soviet Union. Just by the side of the I-90 is a disused minuteman silo, it's not signposted, but if you know where to find it just a simple chain link fence marks the site out. The blast door is half open, a glass atrium has been placed over a training missile so you can get a glimpse of what an intercontinental ballistic nuclear weapon looks like. 

This particular site is Delta-09, there were 150 similar sites spread accross western South Dakota, from 1963 to 1991 this silo contained a fully operational Minuteman missile. The Silo itself goes three stories under ground, some decommissioned Silos have been bought privately and turned into houses.


The Minuteman II's warhead is more powerful than all the bombs the Army Airforce dropped on Europe in their successful bombing campaign that led to American victory in World War II. It's quite sobering to think that just meters away from the freeway there's a weapon with such destructive power, and yet you might drive by it everyday and never be aware of it's existence. 




Custer State Park.

The above shots were taken in Custer State Park after snowfall the previous evening. The Kalamazoo River runs through the park which is the best name I've ever heard for a river, not really too much to say about the park except it was beautiful. 

And, I know I have a problem with taking pictures of trees, I'm currently undergoing therapy, please try and bear with me while I address this issue.



Behold, Carhenge!

Where else in the world would you find a tribute to the UK's Stonehenge made entirely of old cars, yes of course you guessed it, it had to be America. After driving through some of the most worn out and battered one horse towns I've ever witnessed you arrive at Alliance. Carhenge was built by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father, he later added other sculptures on the same site which came to be known as the Car Art Reserve. 

The site has been used in popular culture and found it's way into film, music videos, television programmes and commercials. Only in America...




Chimney Rock.

Heading South West from Alliance you come to Chimney Rock which stands prominent on the landscape. As migrants moved from the eastern half of the continent to the western half they travelled along the Oregon Trail and to many weary travellers "Elk's Penis", as the native Americans called it, would have been a welcome break from the bleak landscape they had seen for much of their journey. It also signalled the end of the Prairies as they continued westward toward the Rocky Mountains.

South Dakota as I'm sure you'll now agree, has a lot more than just "rocks" to see.

Anti-capatlist Mountains

The Natural World

Breckenridge, Colorado, located on a ten mile stretch of the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies sit high above sea level, hitting 14,000 ft in most areas. They stretch from Central New Mexico in the South, to the Liard River, Canada in the North. 

The Rocky Mountain range actually represents more than 100 separate mountain ranges, rather than one uninterrupted chain. The mountain range, which holds the Continental Divide, draws visitors from all around the world who wish to climb it's peaks, study it's wildlife or take in it's views.

I was lucky enough to visit Breckenridge during the holidays. Areas such as the Rockies never fail to impress me with their natural beauty, areas like this seem to have more than their fair share of sky than anywhere else and they always bring meaning to the term, "big country".  

Spending time in the outdoors always leaves me feeling refreshed, energised and brings about a cleansing of the soul. Living amongst such giants, even for a short time, helps to put life into focus and can give a renewed perspective to your worries and troubles. 

There is definitely something invigorating about breathing in crisp, clean air, air that doesn't carry the heaviness of concrete surroundings or the toxicity of a bustling metropolis. For the length of your visit, you feel at one again with mother nature, as if you're drawing on some kind of primeval instinct. 

And this brings me nicely onto the subject of this weeks blog, "are we spending too much time indoors, and if so at what cost"?

We are less active now than we've ever been, yet sitting here typing this, I can't help but feel slightly hypocritical. With our advances in communication over the passed few decades, we now have on-demand television, social networking and computer games so realistic you need never leave the house again.

But what is the cost of all these advances, have we lost our raw and elementary connection to mother nature?

After a little digging on the internet (more hypocrisy) the advantages of spending time in the great outdoors are numerous. Not only can outdoor pursuits reduce stress, they can also reduce recovery times from illness, fight against cancer and boost your mood. 

With a little more digging (yet more hypocrisy) the effects on humans of being at one with mother nature can be even more profound. Research suggests that people become less self focused, they begin to put the welfare of others before themselves, in other words, people become altruistic. 

And it doesn't end there!

People start to reject consumerism and become anti-capitalistic, material possessions lose their relevance and a new importance is placed upon relationships. People focus more on self enhancing values and re-discover their moral compass. 

So, in summary being outdoors can not just improve your health, but it can also make you a better person, a win win situation.

But what does all this mean to me, you may be asking yourself?

Well, firstly let me put your mind at ease. 

It doesn't mean you'll be manning an anti-capitalist barricade outside a meeting of the G8. It doesn't mean you'll be dressed in a black boiler suit, wearing a gas mask smashing up your local HSBC shop frontage. And, it doesn't mean that you should sell all your worldly possessions and move to a log cabin in the Alaskan wilderness.

What it does mean (I know I'm stating the obvious) is that we should all try and spend a little more time in the company of mother nature. The next time you're feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, take a walk amongst hills, streams, rivers, trees or fields and allow your cares to drift away. 

We are lucky in the UK, in that more of our mountains are accessible without specialist equipment or training, and because of the size of our little island, we can usually be within an hour or two's drive of a National Park.

When was the last time you visited one?

Feel the breeze, breathe the air and reflect...