Tag Archives: travel

Travel and lecture report: Brainerd, Minnesota

The only slightly creepy animated Paul Bunyan statue at the Paul Bunyan Amusement Park in Brainerd. I did not visit this attraction during my recent visit. Photo credit: John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive (1972-2008), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. 

I’m back from Brainerd. Just a tad over a two-hour drive either way. Not that far compared with other trips I’ve taken this summer.

My hosts asked me at one point whether I (like many other people) had the idea that Brainerd is a town in northern Minnesota. I had to admit I did. Brainerd is, in fact, they explained, just about at the geographical center of our state.

I have a vague idea that I made a visit or two to Brainerd in my youth, but I can only pin one memory down. I know my family visited there when I was a kid, and we saw the animated Paul Bunyan statue (photo above). I also traveled a lot with my musical group, and I have an idea that Brainerd fell victim to at least one of our visits.

But now I’m in a position to recommend the place unconditionally. A beautiful little city in lake country, wooded landscape… and very nice people.

The president of Sagatun Lodge, Sons of Norway bought me a hamburger at a local place first of all (great burger), and then took me to the church where they meet. And here’s an amazing thing – nothing went wrong. I’ve learned to regard it as an inevitability that there will always be some glitch in any PowerPoint presentation. It’s like a law of nature – that’s why I always bring my own projector as a back-up. But their tech guy was there waiting for me, everything ready. I plugged my laptop in and it all worked straightaway. This seemed wrong in some existential way.

The crowd was interested and attentive. Some of them bought books. Then I followed my hosts to their home, where I was shown into a “mother-in-law apartment” that I had all to myself. We had a long conversation before I turned in. I got one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in some time, and in the morning some neighbors joined us for a delicious brunch before I left. I suspect they may have formed the erroneous impression that I’m an outgoing person. What might have confused them is that I can act outgoing when I feel welcome. And I did feel welcome there.

Another amazing thing – the lodge president, a Subaru owner, explained to me the secret protocol that allows you to unlatch the tail gate with the key fob. As a new owner of a used Forester, I had not known this. Ever been gobsmacked? I was gobsmacked.

Many thanks to the Sagatun folks for their hospitality.

Norway Journal, Day One

The memorable blotkake served for me by Einar and Tore. I forgive the horns on the Viking, because trust me — if you tasted one of these cream cakes, you’d forgive pretty much anything.

June 10: Today and yesterday are but one long, long day in the Einsteinian continuum of eastward travel on a continental scale. I woke up yesterday, spent about nine hours in flight over three legs of the journey, and am now ensconced in the home of a new friend in Haugesund Norway, ready to face my first day playing Viking in actual Viking country, tomorrow morning.

A kindly friend drove me to the airport in Minneapolis. We had lunch before we left, and he patiently listened as I obsessed over every awful travel experience that would “probably” happen to me on this trip. I’m an obsessor, and travel is one of my triggers. The idea of being stranded in a foreign country is high on my list of consummations devoutly to be avoided.

But I made it to the airport despite my fears, put on my warrior face, and went to face the indignities of the baggage check-in and the security check. To my amazement, they didn’t reject my checked bag (just at the limit of allowable size), and nobody arrested me for having a big Viking knife inside it, either. I fumbled a bit over the security scan, but again I wasn’t detained by the authorities. I think they appreciated the laugh.

Then the long, long flight to Reykjavik. I had a book to read on my Amazon Fire, but even so, time seemed to have achieved a semi-viscous consistency. I calmed myself by worrying about swelling ankles and blood clots, as is the custom among old men.

My stopover in Reykjavik was short, but I did manage to lose my Amazon Fire. Didn’t notice it was gone till I was on the outbound plane, and you can’t exactly go back to search at that point. I’ve got my business card inside the hard cover, so maybe the finder will contact me. Or I could check the lost and found on my return trip. But let’s face it, Icelanders survived for centuries as ship wreckers. My Fire is probably just spare parts now. (Note the use of my favorite word, “probably.”) Fortunately, I could read on the Kindle app on my phone.

The flight to Norway was only a couple hours, and palpably shorter in subjective experience. The feeder flight I took to Haugesund from Oslo was almost too short to mention – except that they offered free snacks, which is pretty classy these days. (It was SAS. A free candy bar deserves a plug. Especially when it’s Freya, the Norwegian brand.) The Haugesund airport is not actually located in Haugesund, but across the sound on Karmøy island, which happens to be the home of my forefathers. The farm where my great-grandfather was born almost neighbors the airport. Einar Berdinessen and Tore Ravn Ottesen, my two new friends, met me with great fuss, then drove me to Einar’s apartment in Haugesund, where I’ll be staying for this festival. Supper was exquisite Norwegian smørbrød (open faced sandwiches), and for dessert a bløtkake (cream cake) of great delectability, with a cartoon of a Viking drawn on top.

The Five Foolish Virgins
And now, six foolish virgins.

Later Einar gave me a car ride around Haugesund and Karmøy, where he grew up. (At Hinderaker farm, the likely spot where Asbjorn Selsbane paused to view the royal farm on his way to murder Thore Sel. If you’re a saga fan, you’ll know what I’m talking about. And I’m writing about the event in my Work in Progress.) We looked at some Bronze Age grave mounds on Karmøy, and the Five Foolish Virgins, an ancient array of standing stones. Legend says they are all that remains of five heathen girls who taunted St. Olaf, but they’re actually prehistoric.

All of this was balm to a worrier’s soul. The fears of the day had failed to come true (I’d never actually worried about losing the Amazon Fire), and the fuss these people made over me raised my spirits infinitely.

To crown all, Pres. Biden and the CDC announced that the rule requiring that Americans get a Covid test within 24 hours of flying home would be suspended on Sunday. That test was one of my major causes of worry all through the day.

Is it possible God is not against this trip?

Gone before my time

Ah the adventurous life I live! And mostly from correcting my own mistakes.

I had it on my calendar that I was speaking to a meeting in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday. I made plans and booked a hotel room. Then I happened to look at the scheduling information this morning, and discovered I’m not speaking on Saturday, but on Friday. This required moving my travel plans up, and changing my hotel reservation. And everything I’d planned to do in a leisurely fashion, I must now rush so I can leave tomorrow morning.

I’m an obsessive, so I’m obsessing about all this a little.

Okay, I’m obsessing a lot.

Surprisingly (even to me), I’m not lecturing on Vikings this time. I’m lecturing on my home church. I’ll tell you about it on Monday.

Meanwhile, note to potential burglars: My house will not be empty. My renter will be here. They used to call him Psycho, in the joint.

“Aerial America” on YouTube

Smithsonian Channel has also begun to roll out entire episodes on YouTube, and weekly online “watch parties” are planned to make the “Aerial America” viewing experience interactive despite social distancing. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. EST, Smithsonian Channel’s Facebook page will host state-specific trivia while showing an episode. Each episode will simultaneously drop on YouTube.”

It may not be Epcot’s Soarin’ ride, but it’s close and much longer. There are currently four episodes: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and Arkansas.

Would You Travel to a Book Town?

A book town is a small town with a lot of books for sale. A personal library like Richard Adams’s wouldn’t count.

Hobart, New York, is a perfect example of how having one bookstore in a small town is nice, but having many bookstores together makes a place special—a destination. Since the 1970s, book towns like it have been springing up all over the world. There are now dozens of them, from Australia and Finland to India and South Korea.

Atlas Obscura talks to the author of a book on forty-five of these literary havens. “After we’ve gone through everyone getting excited about e-books and online reading,” Alex Johnson said, “having something practical and in your hand is something that people are happy to travel for.”

Photo by Florencia Viadana on Unsplash

Green Book for Jim-Crow Era Travelers

There was a time when black businessmen and their families could not travel freely throughout the states. There were sundown towns, where blacks needed to leave before sunset to avoid trouble. There were hotels and restaurants which would not serve them. So a New York City mailman produced a green book to help them travel comfortably.

With the introduction of this travel guide in 1936, it has been our idea to give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trips more enjoyable. The Jewish press has long published information about places that are restricted and there are numerous publications that give the gentile whites all kinds of information. But during these long years of discrimination, before 1936 other guides have been published for the Negro, some are still published, but the majority have gone out of business for various reasons. In 1936 the Green Book was only a local publication for Metropolitan New York, the response for copies was so great it was turned into a national issue in 1937 to cover the United States.

Graham Auto Supply, Esso sign, Coca-Cola sign

ESSO stations were particularly hospitable and distributed the green books to all who asked. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in its 90th year, has digitized its Green Book collection.

Inspiring Quotes for the Traveler

1. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a hastily uploaded picture of a plane at the departure gate.”
2. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take.”
I love these. Read more at 501 Places