Speaking as someone who does some writing for a living, we need to pay more attention to the background of the really good writers. You'd have to say Sinclair Lewis is one of the really, really, really good ones.
After all, he was the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Lewis wrote a novel called "Main Street," which was a thinly-disguised look at his own home town and its attitudes.
Lewis was raised in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, which is located west and north of the Twin Cities just off Interstate 94. As you could guess, the town wasn't too happy with its characterization. However, fame has a way of changing attitudes, and now Sauk Center embraces the connection. Here's what the house looks like now. Tours are available in the summer months. There's an "interpretive center" just down the street that has more information - as does this link.
The American Revolution might have come out differently had it not been for Fort Ticonderoga, located in New York State along Lake Champlain.
With the Americans in trouble in Boston, Colonel Henry Knox led the transport of 60 tons of supplies from the Fort to the eastern end of Massachusetts. Think about what a logistical nightmare that must have been in 1775-76, including the lack of roads and the many mountains. The cannons forced the British troops to evacuate Boston, and the Continental Army moved in.
That's the most well-known part of the Fort's history, but there is more to it. The location was an important one during the French and Indian War as well as the Revolutionary War. The area was originally called Fort Carillon, but the French abandoned it in 1759 and the British took over. The fort was renamed for Ticonderoga, and it grew in importance when Crown Point fell victim to a large fire in 1773. Near the start of the revolution, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold thought Fort Ticonderoga was an easy target, and they were right.
The Fort has now become a good-sized tourist attraction for those visiting the Adirondacks. It's a great setting, with a fine view of the lake, and it's in a park-like area. There are all sorts of special events planned during the course of the year. One note - it's a short season in that part of the world. If you visit before mid-May or after mid-October, the gates are likely to be locked. So plan ahead.
The French and Indian War might be our least remembered conflict, since it is the oldest one on these shores and didn't involve the United States ... which wasn't a country at the time. However, there are plenty of historic sites in New York and Pennsylvania dedicated to preserving that conflict.
Such as place is the Crown Point State Historic Site. It is a plot of land on a peninsula at the southern end of Lake Champlain. Therefore, it was in a strong strategic position in the good old days.
In the 1750's, the British tried and failed to take Fort St. Frederic four different times. However, when events turned by 1759, the French simply left it and the British took over the space.
The British Army opted to build a new, bigger fort on higher ground overlooking the French location, which was right on the lake. Two of the main buildings are visible in the picture above, although they've taken a beating over the years. Part of the problem was an explosion in 1773. The Americans took control of the fort during the early stages of the Revolutionary War, but they later evacuated after taking some supplies.
The fort is on a great spot in terms of scenery, and it overlooks the new bridge to Vermont that was finished in 2011. The area does have a visitors center, and for a small fee tourists can see a short film about the history of the region that is quite well done. There are some items dug up from the 1700's on display as well, and a couple of state staffers are there to tell you all about the place. If you prefer, you can simply walk the grounds for free - there are murals to explain what happened.
Back in 1976, the idea behind the Olympic Stadium was to have the first retractable roof. A device would hang over the top of the building and support a cover. When the weather was nice, a button was to be pushed and the roof would come off - perfect for the building's eventual tenant, the Montreal Expos.
Except ... the roof never worked too well, and the cover was left on. Eventually, the city of Montreal opted to construct a permanent tower. Not only would it hold the wires leading down to the roof, but the top could serve as a viewing point for the city.
The Expos are gone, the Tower remains. It's the tallest inclined tower in the world at 541 feet, and the city and region are sprawled out below visitors who take the funicular up to the viewing area. (It's like a cable car.)
When we were there, a storm was just moving into the area. That's why downtown Montreal was a little hazy. It got worse, to the point where we wondered if the funicular would have to stay put for a while as the storm passed. But we made it down safely.
Montreal hosts the Summer Olympics in 1976, and many of the activities were centered around the Olympic Stadium east of downtown. Once the Games were over, Montreal was left with a large space in the middle of a reasonably residential area. What to do?
Turn the space into other useful attractions, of course.
The Biodome might be the most interesting. It contains four different ecosystems that Canada hosts - rain forest, maple forest, Gulf of St. Lawrence and sub-polar region. There are animals, birds and plants from each region represented. The building is laid out into four different quadrants, so visitors start walking on one path that winds its way through all of them. The sub-polar exhibit might have been my favorite, but that may be because the staff was feeding the penguins. The puffins are mighty cute too.
The picture to the right probably needs to be clicked on in order to see it in increased size. There are indeed lots and lots of birds on the recreated cliffs of the St. Lawrence, which overlooks a large amount of water.
Olympic Park has many more attractions, including a planetarium, soccer stadium, and movie theaters. The actual stadium is there as well, even if baseball's Expos are long gone. The area does have a large underground parking garage as well.
We need to take a longer look at this interesting place. So here's a video:
Attention, geography fans.
Speaking as someone who once drove to the spot where the Erie Canal either ended or began at the Hudson River, you'll love Cape Vincent.
All of the Great Lakes eventually drain into the St. Lawrence River, and Cape Vincent sits on the spot where Lake Ontario turns into a river. The place is marked by the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse. The brochure on the town lists the lighthouse as the top local attraction.
Captain John Tibbetts donated the land for the lighthouse way back in the 1820's. They named the place after him. The Coast Guard still has control over the facility, but it does it by remote control in Oswego. There is a visitors' center that is open Memorial Day to Columbus Weekend.
You get there exactly the way you'd think you would. Get off at the last exit on Interstate 81, take a left, go on Route 12 to Route 12E. Eventually you'll run into a road that's marked as a dead end, but actually extends a handful of miles west to the lighthouse.
