Continuing our week-long travels through the Upper Midwest, day three consisted of a loop from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area south on Interstate 35 to Albert Lea, across I-90 to La Crosse and Portage, north along the I-39 & U.S. 51 corridor to Wausau and a return to the Twin Cities by way of Wisconsin 29 and I-94. The first leg of the nearly 750-mile loop took us south along Interstate [...]
Concluding our run around Minneapolis St-Paul, we met up with long time contributor and administrator of the Facebook Page Minnesconsin Highways, Patrick Lilja. Pat accompanied us northward from Mounds View to Duluth to check out the northernmost reaches of Interstate 35, and the short two-state Interstate 535. Interstate 35W north at the merge with I-35E. The northernmost reaches of Interstate 35W are surprisingly rural as compared to [...]
Day 2 of the whirlwind trip took us around the Shreveport freeway system, northward along new Interstate 49 to Arkansas, around Texarkana on the new I-369 and AR 549 freeways, and northeast to a revisit of the Little Rock Interstates. Meandering southeastward, we crossed the doomed Clarendon Bridge over the White River toward U.S. 49 through Helena-West Helena into Mississippi. Zigzagging southward, we ended up in Vicksburg. Interstate 220 provides [...]
Took Interstate 10 westbound from Northwest Florida to Lake Charles, Louisiana, then U.S. 171 north to Shreveport. Redocumented all of I-10 west to Lafayette, all of I-12 west, Interstates 110 and 210. Took new coverage of I-10 west to Lake Charles and all of U.S. 171 north toward Shreveport as well as photographing the south ends of U.S. 165 and 171. The first construction of note on the day is [...]
And now, a brief interruption. some photos from this previous weekend. The Bay Bridge has had lights attached to it. It's tough to tell from here, but they actually move in patterns. Well worth seeing in person. The lights will stay for the next two years, and can only be seen from the San Francisco side. That other bridge that San Francisco is famous for. This is the view from [...]
The last part of our northwest trip. These are all from Washington; primarily the Bellingham area. The only state-named shield we found north of Seattle. It’s in Bellingham. Smoky sunset in Bellingham. Fires in the Ellensburg, about 150 miles to the southwest. The smoke yields some unusually deep colors. Rocket Donuts in downtown Bellingham features this rocket in front of the building. A 1950s Chevrolet sits rusting by the side [...]
We interrupt the last batch to bring you some surprisingly recent photos: Alaska, from last weekend! A three-day trip, landing in Anchorage, heading out to Fairbanks and Tok, and then back. Mt. McKinley at sunrise. Taken from about 2 miles south of Cantwell, so maybe 85 miles to the mountain itself. At about 8.30 in the morning, the mountain was completely clear, having not yet generated the cloud system it’s [...]
All of day 3 focuses on southern Michigan Interstates. Commenced the day in Coldwater and headed north to Lansing, then west to Grand Rapids and the St. Joseph area and east to Detroit and Port Huron. Very clear and cool day, highs in the low 50s with some northwesterly winds. This view looks at the southbound on-ramp to Interstate 69 from U.S. 12 west & Business Loop Interstate [...]
Began the morning of day 2 just outside Cincinnati on a cloudy morning with the last remnants of cold front moving out. Decided to poke around downtown Cincinnati for an hour or so before heading westward along Interstate 74 to Champaign, Illinois. The trip would turn us north along Interstate 57 and east to Michigan later this day, and how far into Michigan we would make it depended upon how [...]
We resume this batch of pictures with a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Very close to the park entrance, we get this view. An elk calf! Young elk are surprisingly hard to spot, because their mothers tend to keep them very well hidden away. Certainly the first time I’ve ever seen one! A pair of bighorn sheep. That might be literally correct, as it is a ram [...]
