Sunday Snapshots for Summer #1

Here’s to a new post for Sundays: a sunny scene every week through the summer (it’s almost here) because once in a while you just need a sunny smile and a good memory and a good summer adventure.

This will be sort of like Preservation Photos on Tuesdays, but not necessarily something historic (far warning: a fluffly cat or a pink flamingo could pop up in Sunday Snapshots). Though this series will begin with a scene from a historic district in Minneapolis, MN, recalling my last week’s adventures in Minnesota at the SIA.

Sunday Snapshot for Summer adventure #1: cruising around a historic city on bicycle (or foot).

Nicollet Island in Minneapolis, MN. Check out those brick paved streets! 

Bonus points: if it’s not overtly a “historic preservation” scene, connect the dots. Most creative answer wins! 

 

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Preservation Photos #100

The Old Schoolhouse in Isle La Motte, VT.

The schoolhouse was built in 1930 to serve the community and school children of Isle La Motte, and has been rehabilitated as a bed & breakfast/bike hostel. The chalkboards, entry hallway, window banks remain intact and the setting is phenomenal.

Roadside Friday Links

Chilliwack, BC, Canada is losing its dinosaur theme park, Dinoland, which was originally affiliated with Hanna Barbara and named Bedrock City (who else loves The Flintstones!?) You can watch a video of its history and catch some Flintstone images here. The park will close forever on September 6, 2010. Why is it closing? The owner decided to sell the property for financial and health related reasons. Dinoland has the claim as “North America’s only cartoon dinosaur town.” Though it was only 35 years, roadside culture and amusement seems like it’s losing a bit of history.

The United States actually has a few Flintstone related parks: Flintstone’s Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota and Bedrock City in Valle, Arizona. There is also Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota.

These Friday links so often seem to be roadside related. I couldn’t hide my obsession if I tried, so I might as well continue on today’s inadvertent theme.

On that note, abandoned interstates intrigue me and crack me up at the same time, like the I-189 interchange in Burlington that has been sitting there for decades. I’ve heard that the tallest filing cabinet in South Burlington is a monument to the amount of paperwork the interchange and road extension, dubbed the Southern Connector or the Champlain Parkway (another post for another time).  You would expect to find an abandoned old road, but an interstate? Apparently it’s rather common. Check out “Why the Lost Highway” and this page of abandoned freeways. The site itself is quite dated, but still entertaining.

Parkways and carefully designed highways are some of the most enjoyable. What will happen to the Pasadena Freeway and the Merritt Parkway? See this NY Times blog post. The Merritt Parkways is also on the National Trust’s 11 Most Endangered Places List for 2011. How do we adapt historic roads without destroying their character?

Is anyone attending the Historic Roads 2010 conference in Washington, DC from September 9-12? Please share! One attendee, Heidi Beierle has been cycling from Oregon to DC and chronicling her adventures along the way in the effort to research the impacts of bicycle tourism on rural communities. Talk about dedication!  Check out her blog and see her route.

Need more roadside fun? Of course. Check out the blog Go BIG or Go Home, for a family’s adventures as they travel to everything giant. I LOVE it.

Have I actually run out of new roadside photos to share? How about an old one?

The 2006 Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Photo by Sarah O'Shea.

Summer corn, yum. Funny story: the restaurant that was supposed to have the best corn ever, located next to the corn palace, actually ran out of corn and we didn’t get to have any. It figures. Anyway, happy weekend! Happy Labor Day!