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Dominique King
Interests: travel, history, hockey, geocaching, hiking, reading, photography, painting, classic movies, Where’s George, motorcycling
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I've been reading the China Bayles series since Day One...and can't wait to read this new book!
Giveaway! Last Chance Olive Ranch
Giveaway! A copy of China's 25th mystery. Go here to enter through April 16. This weekend, I'm at the Wildflower Center in Austin and at Murder by the Book in Houston. I'll have copies of The General's Women and Loving Eleanor, as well as the new China Bayles.
"Terror" is a book that Tim found, and we both read it. It was pretty fascinating a bit unnerving. I like the books with a Midwest tie, and usually do several of these lists over the course of a year. I've a few more that I'll put up before Christmas...mostly political and a little music. Let me know if there are other books I should try and check out for future lists :)
Midwest reads: More great Midwest-related books for holiday gifting or getting!
Here are a few of the books I've recently read that are by Midwestern authors or about Midwestern related subjects: A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott-I've read several of Alcott's historical novels in the past, but this is the first historical novel I've seen of hers that involves subjects port...
Thanks for stopping by, John! It's been a couple of years since I've been down there myself! Definitely hope we get back down there soon!
Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve: Past and Present
Who would have ever thought that a place once called "Sheldon's Folly" would become one of the Ohio's real natural gems? Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve sits along Lake Erie just a few miles from the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, but it seems many miles away from civilization as vi...
End of the summer means I'll have a double batch of wrap-up posts--look for part 2 of this month's travel links tomorrow :)
Midwest Travel Links August 2016 (Part 1)
Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month: Top 10 Things to do with Families in Iowa-Check out Jody's list of fun things to do in Iowa with your kids at Trekaroo. So pretty much everyone enjoys ice cream, and the "ice cream capital of the world" makes this list ...
I'm so glad Jessie was nice enough to allow me to share it with my readers here...I'd definitely like to be out on the lake watching it now :)
Photo Friday: See and sail aboard a tall ship in South Haven, Michigan
Jessie Voigts enjoys playing mermaid and swimming, especially in Lake Michigan near South Haven where she loves seeing the return of the tall ship Friends Good Will after an afternoon sail. Here she shares a beautiful image of the ship on its evening return one night and a little bit about the h...
I'm thinking the no-power-on-the-bridge thing would creep me out enough!
A ghostly tale in Elmore, Ohio
A tale of lost love and a tragic death haunts the town of Elmore in northern Ohio as the headless ghost of a motorcycle rider allegedly revisits the scene of his long-ago heartbreak at a bridge here each March. The story begins with the promise of a young woman that she would wait for her sold...
The statue will be in Royal Oak until sometime in November if my memory serves me correctly. I really did have to take a second look when I first saw the statues in Carmel to see that they weren't real!
Seward Johnson statues come to Royal Oak, Michigan
The realistic street-art statues of Seward Johnson first caught my eye about five years ago in Carmel, Indiana. I spotted a figure perched on a bench in front of a downtown store, and it took a second look for me to determine that it was a statue rather than a real person! It became a game for u...
Congratulations to the both of you, Paul! This spot is definitely one of Detroit's hidden gems :)
Visiting Detroit's William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse on Belle Isle
The marble memorial lighthouse perched on a man-made piece of land on Detroit's Belle Isle Park is unique among lighthouses in Michigan and across the nation. I last visited this lighthouse on a quiet weekday during the early spring. We were able to park within sight of the lighthouse, but...
Thanks for stopping by and adding to Laura's story, Joey! What little I did learn on my own was fascinating, and I'd love to see someone do a more detailed biography or, as someone else suggested, a film about her life.
The story of Laura Mae Corrigan, a Cleveland melodrama turned heroine's tale
The marker in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery at the grave of Laura Mae Corrigan and her husband, multi-millionaire steel company owner James Corrigan, gives no clue about the couple's scandal-pocked life, Laura's improbable rise to the top of London society, or her highly decorated relief work d...
Thanks for stopping by, James! We'll definitely have to check things out further next time we get down towards Fort Wayne (we're in metro Detroit). The history is always fascinating to me...more especially so as Indiana is celebrating it's 200th anniversary of statehood. Pig farm? I'll have to look for that site!
Fort Wayne, Indiana: In search of Little Turtle
We recently found ourselves on a residential street near downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, searching for the burial place of a Native American known as a great warrior and a dedicated peacemaker. Sign (right) points to Little Turtle grave (by small slant-top post, left) I first heard of Little Tu...
Hi Tina-I'm not affiliated with the lighthouse...just a lighthouse enthusiast who likes to write about them on my own travel blog. My best suggestion would be to try calling the Old Lighthouse Museum at (219) 872-6133. They open for the season on April 1 and might be able to help! http://www.oldlighthousemuseum.org/plan.html This is the museum director's email mchistorical@att.net
Good luck!
Visit the East Pierhead Lighthouse at Michigan City, Indiana
The history of lighthouses in Michigan City begins in the 1830s when city founder Isaac Elston pushed establishing navigational aids to spur the then-new city's growth as a port. Beacons on the mainland eventually proved inadequate as increased traffic and development resulted in need for greate...
Buildings on Wayne State's campus are pretty much in good repair. The campus has drawn a lot more residential students in recent years...a lot more than when I went to school there several decades ago...so there is a bit more activity on campus as well these days. Campus police are pretty visible, and residents around campus call them first...so there are a lot fewer problems in the area than in Detroit in general. You might want to pick up the recent book Yamasaki in Detroit by John Gallagher to see some recent photos and stories about some of the buildings on WSU's campus and other places around town. I'll stick a link to the book in the article above :)
Photo Friday: A birds-eye view of Detroit's Wayne State University
It's always fun to check back in at my alma mater once in a while, and it was especially fun to take some birds-eye view photos of Wayne State University from the roof of a parking structure near the heart of campus at Warren and Cass Avenues. This view up Cass Avenue shows State Hall (whe...
I haven't heard bad reports about Kewpee and hope your experience was an anomaly, Dave. We lost the nearby Halo lately, so I haven't had a chance to check that out lately, either. Now I'm hungry for an olive burger...
Visiting Kewpee Hamburgers in downtown Lima, Ohio
We recently took a spur-of-the-moment trip to northwestern Ohio and stopped for lunch at Kewpee Burgers in downtown Lima. I loved the quirky, uniquely local, historic, and architecturally interesting building, but I also liked the fact that the classic Kewpee Burger so loved by Lima natives has ...
Thanks for stopping by Sher! I don't ever remember seeing alligator wrestling there, but it sounds just like the type of attraction they'd have! Was it a baby alligator? I remember "wrestling" an alligator in Florida...big build up to it, and I finally said, sure, I'd volunteer...and the little guy might have been a foot long...if he was lucky :lol:
See Michigan's Sea Shell City
I sometimes amuse myself during long road trips by posting random images to Instagram and asking folks to guess where we are at that time. It's no surprise to me that one of my Facebook friends immediately identified my location as Sea Shell City when I posted a photo of a 500-pound clam...
I was thinking of you when I took that photo! I actually remember that a friend of mine found Lamby for me back in the old pre-Internet days (she called around town and located her in a toy store somewhere like South Lyon...and they sent her to me when I called to order her over the phone). How did we survive before the 'net, eh? Is she still around?
Visiting Lehman's Hardware Store in Kidron, Ohio-High-tech marketing in a low-tech world
I've long said that visiting a local hardware store is among the best ways to find some unique souvenirs while shopping local. Tim couldn't wait for me to start shopping here! I recently found myself in Ohio's Amish Country and took the advice of online travel friends who insisted that L...
That is the reason I enjoy doing these link love posts every month :)
Midwest travel links for October 2015
Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month: 12 Ways to Map the Midwest-Where, exactly, is the Midwest? I've heard this question endlessly debated, and Aaron gives us eleven various ways to look at this region of the country at the Urbanophile blog. I generally th...
Thanks for stopping by, Gerald. I'm glad you found some degree of comfort here...I know several folks who are here...or planning to be here as a final resting place. The grounds and how the cemetery staff handled things impressed us, and we're glad to see that they are kind and continue to help people through difficult times.
Remembering military veterans in Holly, Michigan
The Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan, stands as a memorial to the lives and service of our country's military veterans. This cemetery is about 50 miles north of downtown Detroit and one of two in Michigan providing a site to properly honor vets and their spouses after their de...
I'm not even much of a football fan (I'm more into hockey), but I still found the Football Hall of Fame very interesting. Hoping to get back down to Canton again to see the HOF since it's been redone!
McKinley Presidential Memorial in Canton, Ohio
The McKinley Presidential Memorial honors the president assassinated in 1901, although I hope I'm forgiven for having a real Rocky Balboa moment upon first seeing the memorial and its impressive tiered steps in Canton, Ohio. We visited the memorial on a sunny spring day and found plenty of lo...
Andrew-Thanks for reading my story! No doubt there is more than enough in the story of Laura's life to provide material for at least one TV mini-series or movie. I love finding fascinating stories like these...and the Lake View Cemetery certainly proved a great place for finding stories like this one.
The story of Laura Mae Corrigan, a Cleveland melodrama turned heroine's tale
The marker in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery at the grave of Laura Mae Corrigan and her husband, multi-millionaire steel company owner James Corrigan, gives no clue about the couple's scandal-pocked life, Laura's improbable rise to the top of London society, or her highly decorated relief work d...
Hi Marcy,
Sounds like you should keep your bricks to me! I love finding pieces of history and finding out how to use and re-use them to preserve them :) Good luck with re-purposing your bricks.
Ohio's Hocking Valley bricks pave the nation
Brick walkway at Ohio University campus We knew Ohio's Hocking Valley was home to many 19th century brick factories and learned the names of some of them as we walked the brick sidewalks of Ohio University's campus at Athens, but it wasn't until we searched for a geocache in nearby Nelsonvill...
Hi Jean-The Canton Bridges often have just an approximate date or patent date on their plaques. Try http://bridgehunter.com/ny/otsego/oaks-creek/ for more info about the bridge. The Bridge Hunter site doesn't have an exact date for the bridge's construction, but it does have some info about the bridge's dimensions and condition. You might also try checking with Karen at http://newyorkkingbridge.webs.com/ She's written a number of books and articles about historic bridges in New York
Maple-Foster Canton Wrought Iron Bridge Company span in Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio was one of the most prolific bridge manufacturers during the late 19th century in the United States. The company specialized in designing bridges for locations throughout much of the Midwest (as well as Canada and Mexico), fabricating the bridge pa...
This was a story that really caught the imagination of a lot of folks when the cops acquired the bakery. It's great seeing the biz still going strong six years after the cops initially took it over...and downtown Clare certainly seems more peppy than I remember it being when we drove through a number of years ago.
Cops and Doughnuts, an arresting attraction in Clare, Michigan
I suppose most folks know about the stereotypes regarding cops and their supposed love for doughnuts, but cops in Clare, Michigan have taken the stereotypes to a whole new level by embracing them, saving a faltering century-old business and enlivening this mid-Michigan town with a population of...
Jayne-Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed your stay at the campground and seeing the lighthouse. We love the fact that Michigan has so many beautiful light stations and that we've had the opportunity to visit many of them. Hope you are able to return and visit again soon!
Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse stands tall at the tip of Michigan's Thumb on Lake Huron
The Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse near the tip of Michigan's Thumb marks a crucial turning point for vessels going into Saginaw Bay, warning boats of a shallow reef extending nearly two miles into Lake Huron. Pointe aux Barques ("Point of little boats") takes its name from the French fur trad...
Hi Ann...sorry to say that I don't know the answer to that question.
Michigan's Grindstone City as Grindstone Capital of the World
My dad often brought spent grinding wheels home from the shop to use as planters or flower bed borders when I was a kid, so Michigan's Grindstone City and the large grindstones decorating the yards of homes there always held a certain fascination for me. Grindstone City's heyday as supplier of...
Thanks for the hEad's up Char. I replaced the broken link with a link to a history of Forsland from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Furniture City
Many people know Grand Rapids best as home to the innovative ArtPrize competition, but the city became renowned worldwide for another type of artistry during its heyday as The Furniture City during last half of the 1800s. Tim's father grew up in Grand Rapids and was friends with one of the Forsl...
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