AMERICAN JOURNEYS: Notes From the Midwest Written by Kathleen Rhodes Ideas That Matter Iced Over Shoreline Saugatuck State Park, Michigan AMERICAN JOURNEYS: Notes From the Midwest Written by Kathleen Rhodes American Journeys: Notes From the Midwest © 2014 Success for All Foundation. All rights reserved. ISBN: 9780976785026 Developers: Robert E. 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Joppa Road, Suite 500, Baltimore, MD 21286 PHONE: (800) 548-4998 FAX: (410) 324-4444 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.successforall.org Table of Contents Meet Me in St. Louis ................................................ 2 Chi-Town ........................................................................... 4 VROOM! ........................................................................... 7 Corn Country ................................................................. 9 Prairie Land ................................................................. 11 Wawatam Lighthouse .................................... St. Ignace, Minnesota Great Cities, Great Lakes 13 America’s Dairyland ................................................ 16 Land of 10,000 Lakes .......................................... 19 Dazzling Dakota ........................................................ 21 There’s No Place Like Kansas .......................... 24 Glossary ....................................................................... 27 Index ............................................................................... 28 iii North Dakota Minnesota Soo Locks M ich ig a n Wisconsin Minneapolis Green Bay St. Paul South Dakota Detroit Milwaukee Mount Rushmore Cleveland Iowa Chicago Toledo Nebraska Des Moines Indiana Ohio Omaha Illinois Indianapolis Kansas Missouri St. Louis Wichita The Midwest iv Home Meet Kathleen Contact Notes From the Midwest Community About This Blog News Hi! Welcome to the heartland of America, the Midwest. I’m Kathleen, and I’m proud follow to show you my part of America. I travel a lot around the Midwest with my family, so I Archive thought I’d start a blog about it. 2014 The Midwest is the north-central section • Meet Me in St. Louis of America. It’s made up of twelve • Chi-Town states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, • VROOM! Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, • Corn Country North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and • Prairie Land • Great Cities, Great Lakes Wisconsin. Illinois has the biggest population of any of these states. • America’s Dairyland It’s also home to the biggest city in the Midwest—Chicago. That’s 2013 where I’m from! • Land of 10,000 Lakes • Dazzling Dakota • There’s No Place Like Kansas 1 Meet Me in St. Louis Monday, April 29, 2013 We just got back from our trip to Missouri. Some people pronounce it Mi-zoo-ree, and other people say it like Mi-zoo-ruh. Both ways are right. We spent most of our time in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a big city on the border of Illinois. One of St. Louis’s most famous landmarks is the Gateway Arch. The Gateway Arch is the tallest monument in America. When Mom and Dad told me we were going to go to the top of the arch, I didn’t believe them. How do you go up something that is curved? It turns out, there’s a tram that takes you up one side of Gateway Arch the arch. The tram is made up of a group of pods, and each pod carries five people. It was like an elevator and a Ferris wheel! It was fun, but the pods are tiny, so I was glad to get out at the top. You can walk around and look out windows at the top. From one side of the arch, you can see the city of St. Louis. From the other side, you can see across the Mississippi River to Illinois. After we left the arch, we walked through a big park called Citygarden. The park is filled with sculptures and fountains. One of the fountains is meant for people to play in. Streams of water shoot up into the air, and you can run through them. At night, the water streams light up with colorful lights. Fountain in Citygarden 2 We also visited Grant’s Farm Clydesdales while we were in St. Louis. Grant’s Farm is where President Ulysses S. Grant once lived. We took a tour of the farm, which was a lot of fun. Animals from all over the world live on the farm. Shows are held to teach visitors about the animals. I saw elephants, capybaras, and red kangaroos Clydesdale horses up close. My favorite part of the trip was the horse stables where some Clydesdale horses live. These horses are known for their calmness and beauty. Archive We had a lot of fun in St. Louis! 2014 Has anyone else been there? • Meet Me in St. Louis • Chi-Town • VROOM! • Corn Country The Jewel Box greenhouse • Prairie Land in Forest Park • Great Cities, Great Lakes • America’s Dairyland 1 Comment: 2013 Paul | Tuesday, April 30, 2013 • Land of 10,000 Lakes We went to Forest Park. The World’s Fair was held there in 1904. We explored • Dazzling Dakota a big greenhouse. It is called the Jewel Box because of all the beautiful flowers inside it. • There’s No Place Like Kansas 3 Chi-Town Tuesday, May 14, 2013 When you live somewhere, it’s easy to overlook some of the amazing things that are there. Sometimes you have to be a tourist in your own town. That’s exactly what we did this weekend. I stayed in my hometown, but I didn’t stay at my house. My Uncle Ronald took me and my cousin Penny on a tour of Chicago, Illinois. The first place Uncle Ronald pointed out was the Willis Tower. That’s the huge skyscraper you might have seen on postcards from Chicago. The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the country. It was called the Sears Tower up until a few years ago, so some people still call it that. Then we went to Millennium Park by the harbor. It is a park inside a bigger park called Grant Park. We stopped for a photo in front of a large shiny sculpture that I always thought was a huge bean. My uncle says it’s really called “Cloud Gate,” but I think I’ll just keep calling it “the bean.” Chicago’s Willis Tower Cloud Gate 4 Next, Uncle Ronald took us to Navy Pier. He told us that the pier was originally built for ships carrying passengers and goods to Chicago. During World War I, many Navy personnel lived at the pier. In 1927, it was named Navy Pier to honor the sailors who served in the war. Today Navy Pier is a fun place to visit. It has a lot of restaurants and shops, a theater, and a big Ferris wheel. On our way home, Uncle Ronald pointed out one building that looked very different from the rest. He said it was the Chicago Water Tower. The water tower is one of the few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. No one knows exactly how the fire started, but we do know that it started near a barn. Navy Pier There’s a legend that says the barn caught fire when a cow kicked over a lantern. The fire spread really quickly because it was a windy night, and many of the buildings and roads were made from wood. It took three days to put the fire out. Much of the city was destroyed. Residents worked hard to rebuild it. Uncle Ronald said he will take us to the Chicago History Museum to learn more about the fire one day soon. I ♥ Chicago! The Water Tower 5 deep dish pizza Chicago-style deep dish-pizza 3 COMMENTS: Archive Jordan | Wednesday, May 15, 2013 2014 When I was in Chicago, I ate at the restaurant where deep dish-pizza was • Meet Me in St. Louis invented. Now I can’t get enough of Chicago-style pizza! • Chi-Town Thuy | Friday, May 17, 2013 • VROOM! Hi, Kathleen! I visited Chicago last year. I always heard people call it the “Windy • Corn Country City,” but I didn’t really think it was all that windy. • Prairie Land • Great Cities, Great Lakes Candice | Friday, May 17, 2013 • America’s Dairyland Some people say the Windy City didn’t get its nickname because of the breeze. 2013 In the 1800s, Chicago politicians were said to be windy and full of hot air • Land of 10,000 Lakes because of all the boasting they did about the city. Other cities’ newspapers • Dazzling Dakota called Chicago the Windy City. • There’s No Place Like Kansas 6 North Dakota Minnesota South Dakota Indiana VROOM! Nebraska Friday, June 28, 2013 Last weekend, we headed east to Indiana. Indiana is called the Crossroads of America. One of the first national highways ran through 69 65 Indiana. Settlers passed through Indiana to begin new lives in the West. 74 Indianapolis Many other interstate highways now cross Indiana. 70 70 65 Our first stop was in Kansasthe state’s capital, Indianapolis. Indianapolis is called the racing capital of the world. 69 We visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Speedway is the biggest sporting facility in the world.