This is the final blog for “The Great North America Trip” (at least for 2009……). As I write this, we are at my home in Alexandria, VA. We arrived here on the 14th of October and are immediately immersed in family activities because my son, g/f and baby Fenna arrived last night; my daughter and family will be coming tonight. All are staying for a week, so a great opportunity to reconnect. (And a big change for Betsie and me after 5 1/2 months of being just a duo……)
Anyway, during the last 2 weeks of our trip, we still visited a couple of nice places; some are of particular interest to the Dutch.
In Michigan, we visited the town of Holland. It’s on the west side of the State right on Lake Michigan. The town was established in the mid-1800s by a Dutch minister and his flock; they left Holland because they felt they could not freely practise their fundamental/conservative protestant religion. So they emigrated to the new world. There are several “Dutch” churches in town where until the 1940s the services were conducted in the Dutch language. You also find the customary Dutch windmill; in this case a real one: they dismantled a windmill in Holland which dates from around 1750 and put it back together in Michigan. Quite a project. They have the annual Tulip festival and an interesting museum about the history of this Dutch “colony.” Unfortunately, the weather was very Holland-like: it rained much of the time we were there.
In addition to Holland, there are several other in this area of Michigan which bear Dutch names and with similar histories: groups of conservative protestants that left the Netherlands in the 19th century and established themselves in the Land of the Free in order to live according to their interpretation of the bible.
Below, you see several photos of exhibits by churches that describe the origins and history of these Dutch communities.
Holland harbor on Lake Michigan
A Dutch bakery. The owner Jacob (Jake) de Boer came to Holland with his parents and brothers and sister in the 1950s when he was 4 years old. He took over his father’s bakery. Jake could still speak some Dutch….. His older brother who became a successful soccer coach wrote a book about the emigrant experience: From Holland to Holland. I read it with great interest.
The Holland Museum
Names of many soldiers of Dutch descent who died during WWII; and the real Dutch windmill (in the rain and from a distance as the Windmill Island was closed)
Little towns with Dutch names
The history of the town of “Overisel.” Overijssel is actually a province of the Netherlands.
The town of Zeeland. In the Netherlands, Zeeland is a province. Also an exhibit on the origins of the town and its church
The town of Vriesland. Modern Friesland in the Netherlands is one of the provinces in the north of the country. The exhibit describes the familiar history. The Vriesland church does date from the 19th century. Most churches in the area are not the original ones. Often, they were destroyed by fire.
The town of Drenthe, also named for a province in the Netherlands; and again an enterprising minister who led his congregation to the new world in the mid-1800s
From Michigan, we crossed the border into Ontario, Canada and continued to Niagara Falls. It’s a well-known fact that the best views of the Falls are from the Canadian side. So we did that first. There are actually two sets of Falls. Below, you see the American Falls first; these are a little smaller and you see the water splashing on the rocks below. The second set of Falls are the actual Niagara Falls. These are wider and higher but because of the continuous mist, you can’t see them quite as well as the other Falls.
Next three pictures are of the American Falls.
These three photos are of Niagara Falls proper; all taken from the Canadian side.
The next day, we crossed the border into the US again and took some photos of the Falls from the US side. Here the American Falls
Tourists in ponchos to see the Falls close-up
And one more shot of Niagara Falls, from the US side (no, these two well-rounded people are not Betsie and me….)
A French monk in 1699 was the first European to describe Niagara Falls.
The following chapter of our trip was a visit with Saskia and Robert in the town of Canandaigua (NY). Saskia and I are going back a long time: in the mid-1960s, we were both living in The Hague and enrolled in a teachers-training college to study French. Subsequently, Saskia moved to New York and had a career with PanAm. She and Robert have been married for about 20 years. Robert works for Exxon-Mobil. Less than 2 years ago, they had a new house built: beautiful, modern and spacious, with a view of the lake. Below some photos of their abode (or should I say mansion?).
Continuing in southernly direction, we crossed from NY State into Pennsylvania (PA). Although not at its peak yet, here some photos of Fall foliage along the way.
One place in PA I didn’t want to miss was Hawk Mountain. It’s west of Allentown, PA. Hawk Mountain is well-known among bird watchers. It’s in the Appalachian mountain range. Birds of prey, also called raptors, fly over Hawk Mountain in Fall during their migration south. We hiked up the mountain and joined 100s of other bird watchers to see sharp-shinned hawks, coopers hawks, red-tailed hawks, harriers, merlins and even peregrine falcons fly by.
Hawk Mountain sanctuary also keeps birds of prey that have been injured and can’t live on their own any more. Below a red-tailed hawk and a great horned owl
Next, we visited Pennsylvania Dutch country (around Lancaster) where the Amish of Swiss and German origin continue to live in their 17th/18th century ways: no electricity from outside (windmills are allowed; propane bottles are allowed), no cars (they move around in horse-drawn carriages; all farming is done with horse power); not even bicycles but scooters which you push with one foot; conservative clothes, mostly black suits with white shirts; all married men have beards, but no mustaches. They have their own schools and kids are dressed in long dark clothes. They still speak a German dialect.
They don’t like to be photographed which is ironic because a huge tourist industry has been built up around them. Below some pictures taken in Amish Village (which is for tourists and run by non-Amish) and some taken while driving through Amish farm country
We ended our tourist ways by visiting two Frank Lloyd Wright houses. FLW is arguably the most famous American architect of the first half of the 20th century. Many of the houses/buildings he designed are now museums.
The best-known of all is Fallingwater in southwest Pennsylvania. The house was designed in the 1930s for the Kaufmann family who owned a department store in Pittsburgh. The special feature of this house is that it’s built on top of a waterfall. We didn’t take a tour because on Wednesdays, they clean the house (our luck). We would not have been able to take photos inside anyway. As with most buildings, they are most interesting from the outside. Please, judge for yourself…….
Kentuck Knob is another FLW house close to Fallingwater.
While not as spectacular from the outside, we were able to join a tour of the house itself. Unfortunately, no picture-taking. Only one of the balcony….
On the grounds of Kentuck Knob, there is a permanent sculpture/outdoor art exhibition. Some items were quite interesting, we thought……
After working our way through rush hour traffic around Washington DC, we made it home by 7 pm and rewarded ourselves with a glass of vintage red wine. Not only did we survive, but we really enjoyed our 5 1/2-month sojourn. And we are very happy that we came through it without serious mishaps. And……. we are still enjoying each others company…….
In a couple of days, we plan to share some statistics of our trip. One I can already share. We drove more than 24000 miles or almost 39000 kilometers……..
