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Where Has Aaron's Flat Stanley Been? |
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Home Franklin, Wisconsin April 23, 2009 Boy, it sure has been a busy seven months but here I am, back where it all started. I've been to three foreign countrys and traveled many thousands of miles. I've seen so many interesting sights and I've even had my own web site (thanks John). It's reallly good to be home in Franklin, Wisconsin with Aaron but I want to thank EVERYBODY that took the time to take me around and take my picture. So many people got into the the Stanley Project spirit. I know that Aaron and I sure learned a lot about our country and our world. Again, thank you all. Flat Stanley Click here to see Aaron and I back home. Stanley Park Vancouver, B.C., Canada April 21, 2009 After all the hot sun, it was nice to spend a cooler Spring day in Canada. We stopped at the U.S. border's Peace Arch Park. Then it was on to Vancouver's Stanley Park, a great place to relax. I got to see many statues and sights all around the park including a runner, a girl in a wetsuit, and more scary sticks, Totem poles. There were no tunnels, but there is a Third Beach. I know, I was there. After leaving the park we went to the HR MacMillan Space Centre. They have a really scary crab out front. But inside was really neat including a model of the Hubble Space Telescope. There we enjoyes a show called "Sky Stories: A First Nations Journey". Very interesting Indian culture stories. Before leaving the downtown area, I just had to stop by the home of the Vancouver Canucks. Here are the pictures from Vancouver, Canada. Click here to see the pictures. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic April 19, 2009 No time to stop now. The day after the Bucks game I was off again. This time it was to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic was discovered on December 5th 1492 by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage to the New World. At that time the island of Hispaniola (as Columbus named it) was called "Quisqueya" by the Taino Indians who occupied the land. With a population estimated around 600,000, the Tainos (meaning "the good") were peaceful and hospitable to Columbus and his crew of Spaniards. Columbus himself grew a particular fondness for Hispaniola, describing it in his journal as "a beautiful island paradise with high forested mountains and large river valleys." The spirit and charm of the Dominican Republic is captured in its music, food, and national pastimes. Known for its professional winter baseball, handcrafted cigars, and annual music festivals, the culture of the Dominican Republic is never stodgy, or boring, It's always an artful and colorful expression of life. Located in the east of the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana is the home of the most beautiful beaches of the island with endless white sandy shores and millions of coconut trees. Miles of coastal reefs in tranquil crystal clear water are perfect for scuba diving. Enjoy these vacation pictures from Punta Cana. Click here to see the pictures. Milwaukee Bucks Game April 11, 2009 The day after the Brewers game I got to go to a Milwaukee Bucks basketball game. It was very cool and the Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. Check out these pictures from attending the Milwaukee Bucks game. Click here to see the pictures. Brewers Opening Day April 10, 2009 Here I am attending opening day of the Milwaukee Brewers. Click here to see the pictures. My Misadventures At The Third Tunnel March 22, 2009 I got a chance to revisit Korea with Artie Cardona. We played tourist and I got to see many differnt things. We ended up at The Third Tunnel of Aggression, a tunnel under the border between North Korea and South Korea. Photos are forbidden within the tunnel, which is now well guarded. This is a very serious place, but I did have fun. Click here to see the Powerpoint slideshow. Vacation With Aaron February 21-27, 2009 On February 21st I flew out of Milwaukee in a snowstorm that held up our plane for 2 hours. We landed in Las Vegas and drove to Lake Havasu City where Aaron’s grandparents are spending the winter. In Lake Havasu City they have the original London Bridge which was moved to Arizona. The cornerstone was laid in 1968 and the bridge was opened in 1971. The is also an area around the bridge called the English Village. They have the four corners marked by heraldic dragons on pillars. On Monday the 23rd we left for the Grand Canyon. On the way there we took the famous Route 66 through Oatman, AZ. Oatman is an old mining town founded in 1906 where descendants of the original miners burros wander around freely. They had a cowboy gunfight in the middle of town while we were there. From Oatman we followed Route 66 to Kingman, AZ. where I had my picture taken in front of old Santa Fe locomotive #3759. We arrived in Williams, AZ and stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. In the morning we took the train to the Grand Canyon. WOW!! The Grand Canyon is awesome. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt made the Grand Canyon a national monument. On Wednesday we went to Yuma, AZ where I got to visit the Yuma Territorial Prison and the Yuma Quartermasters Depot. We also took a picture at the Yuma Proving Grounds. On Friday February 27th we were on the road again. I was heading for Las Vegas again. This time I was going to ride over Hoover Dam on my way there. Hoover Dam was very impressive but the bright lights and noise of Vegas was calling me. I had my picture taken a lot and even met Aaron’s Great Grandmother. I also got to meet a very famous celebrity, Sponge Bob Squarepants. Click here to see the pictures Part 1. Click here to see the pictures Part 2. Templeton, California January 31, 2009 Flat Stanley was visiting Chris and Erin Lawrence. This is at the beginning of main street down town where they live. Click here to see the picture. Panama City Beach, Florida January 24, 2009 Flat Stanley was visiting Doug and Joni Lawrence and the pet bird Lucy just had to get into the act. Lucy loves Stanley! Click here to see the pictures. Hot Springs, Arkansas January 19, 2009 Flat Stanley went to the horse races at Oaklawn in Hot Springs Arkansas. Boy did he have fun! He got to go up to the Terrace Carousel and have his picture taken with many of the original carousel horses. He was so excited. We went back down stairs and got a few more pictures and then we were able to go out to the stables and Flat Stanley got to see some real horses, up close and personal. He told me that was very exciting!! Click here to see the pictures. Mt. Vernon, Texas January 18, 2009 Jan Lawrence and I (Barbara Lawrence) went out to take Flat Stanley pictures at the High School. Then we went to our new Musical Art Park on the school grounds. Our local Arts Alliance promoted this park and thankfully, it was open today. Each of these instruments can be played and the instructions to play the songs are noted on each of them with a heavy wand type of thing (looks like a huge microphone but isn't) that hangs from each instrument - more than one person can play at a time. I went to the dedication of this "park" last year and it started to rain just as the dedication was almost over. They had one kid at each "instrument" playing the song noted but the kids practiced for a few days to get the songs to play. Jan and I both tried to play them but they take some time to figure out. These stay outside all the time but being they're not electric, they're supposed to last forever. Click here to see the pictures. Korea January 15, 2009 It appears that stow away efforts landed Flat Stanley a long way from home. Here he is with Artie Cardona getting ready to do a road march at Camp Humphrey's, Korea. I hope he has a passport somewhere. Click here to see the pictures. Las Vegas, Nevada What an exciting time I had with John & Cheryl Schmit as we visited Las Vegas on December 13 through 17th. They went to visit Blanche Glaeser, John's Mom. We met her at her church, Good Samaritan Lutheran, on Sunday. Then on Tuesday I got to see a lot of the casinos and entertainment spots on the Las Vegas Strip. That's a big street where most of the hotels are. Our hotel had a real live lion in it. I got to watch him eat. We left Las Vegas just before the big snow storm closed the city down. Whew! Click here to see the pictures. Seattle, Washington I had a great time sight-seeing around the Seattle, Washington area. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, John & Cheryl Schmit took me on a fast trip around town. On Wednesday the 26th, we went along the eastern part of Lake Washington and saw the longest floating bridge and Mt. Rainier and the Cascade mountain range. I passed Microsoft and went on to Expedia to arrange special travel plans. Click here to see the pictures. Thanksgiving day was cloudy but there were still sights to see. We went to Alkai Point to view the Olympic mountain range and also saw the mini Statue of Liberty there. You can't beat the city skyline view from that angle either. On the way home we stopped at the Museum of Flight to check out the Concorde and Air Force One on display there. Click here to see the pictures. Friday was rainy (typical Seattle) but away we went. There I was at the Center Of The Universe in Fremont, on the north side of the city. They also have a huge statue to the local hero, Lenin. Hiding under a bridge was a troll. He even has his own VW bug! From Fremont we went to the Ballard Locks to watch boats pass through. With all the rain there was a lot of water passing through the dam and fish ladder. Headed back we went past the University of Washington, Husky Stadium, Safeco Field (home of the Mariners), and Quest Field (home of the Seattle Seahawks. So much in so little time. Whew! Click here to see the pictures. Lambeau Field After we left the museum we went to Green Bay where we stopped at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. Lambeau Field is an outdoor stadium. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field. For that reason, it was also informally known as New City Stadium until 1965 when it was renamed for Packers founder, player, and head coach, Curly Lambeau. Lambeau Field was the first stadium built for the exclusive use of an NFL team, and is the longest continuously-occupied stadium in the NFL. In 1955 the other "NFL" owners had threatened to force the franchise to move to Milwaukee,Wisconsin if the stadium conditions in Green Bay were not improved. In 1956, Green Bay voters responded by approving a bond issue to finance the new stadium. The original cost in 1957 was $960,000 (paid off in 1978) and its capacity was 32,500. The new stadium would be the first modern stadium built specifically for an "NFL" franchise. At that time, all the other NFL teams were playing either in facilities shared with Major League Baseball teams, or in other pre-existing shared facilities. The new City Stadium was officially opened on September 29 1957 as the Packers beat the Bears 21-17. In a ceremony before the game, the Stadium was dedicated by Vice-President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Click here to see the pictures. EAA Museum During the week of Teachers Convention (October 29, 2008) I went back to the Upper Peninsula with Aaron and his brother, Ryan. On the way up we stoped at the EAA air museum. The EAA was founded in 1953 by veteran aviator Paul Poberezny along with other aviation enthusiasts. The organization began as more or less a flying club. Paul Poberenzy explains the nature of the organization's name, "Because the planes we flew were modified or built from scratch, they were required to display an EXPERIMENTAL placard where it could be seen on the door or cockpit, so it was quite natural that we call ourselves the "Experimental Aircraft Association". Homebuilding is still a large part of EAA, but the organization has grown immensely over the years to include almost every aspect of aviation and aeronautics. The EAA AirVenture Museum is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of aircraft in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The museum is located adjacent to the Oshkosh airport runways. The museum was built in 1953 by a small group of experimental aviators who wanted to display their hand-made planes. It is the only Experimental Aircraft Association museum in East Central Wisconsin. The museum's collection displays over one hundred and fifty planes. The AirVenture Museum is a key tourist attraction in Oshkosh and hosts the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event in the summer months. Pioneer Airport displays some of the oldest planes the museum has. This airport is located at Wittman Field and is open for all of summer and into the fall months. The Pioneer Airport runs all of its planes off of a runway made of grass and is used to park cars during the AirVenture event. Although the airport is not available to tourists during AirVenture, it gets most a lot of attention. The Pioneer Airport contains one of the most popular airplanes at the museum: the Ford Tri-Motor. Not only does this specific plane deliver rides, but it is also one of the oldest planes the museum owns. A large group of people can take this plane out at one time as it can hold up to nine people and the pilot. Click here to see the pictures. Franklin I left Aaron's grandparents house on the 23rd of October and went back to Franklin. I joined Aaron and Ryan and their Dad on a trip to build deer blinds for their dad to use during deer hunting. We stopped for a couple of pictures. Click here to see the pictures. October 13, 2008 - The Cornish Pump The Cornish Pump was featured in the History Channel's Modern Marvels Series on the World's Biggest Machines. Iron Mountain, MI. is located on the Eastern Menominee Iron Ore Range. This entire area reflects the mining and logging heritage. One of the area landmarks is the Cornish Pump, the largest steam-driven pumping engine in the United States. The town of Iron Mountain began in 1879 with the discovery of the Chapin Mine, now considered one of the greatest iron mines in the world. Mines had been discovered all around the "iron mountain" but not like the Chapin. After exploration, it was discovered that the iron was over 6,100 feet wide and varied in depth from 50 to 150 feet. Part of the iron was found to be located under a cedar swamp. The Chapin mine was the wettest of the mines ever worked. At first, ground pumps were used to handle the seeping water, but as mining was done at deeper and deeper levels, the ground pumps were useless and the wetness caused serious problems. By 1889, the E. P. Allis Co. of Milwaukee (forerunner of the Allis-Chalmers Co.) was commissioned to design and build a pumping system to handle the mine's water. The pump cost $82,000. The 725-ton Cornish Pump was capable of pumping 3,400 gallons per minute, or 5,000,000 gallons each 24 hours from a depth of 1,500 feet. The Cornish Pump is named after the pumps which dewatered Cornwall's tin mines. The flywheel of the Cornish Pumping Engine is 40 feet in diameter and weighs 160 tons. The cylinders plus upper and lower cylinder heads weigh 60 tons. The engine stands 54 feet above the floor of the engine room. The Chapin Mine was the leading producer on the Menominee Iron Range. By 1890, Iron Mountain became known as "the payroll city of the north" employing from 1,800 to 2,000 men. In this year, a record 742,843 tons of ore were shipped out. In the years between 1880 and 1932, the mine produced 27,506,868 tons of iron ore. The mine was closed on August 1, 1932. Huge amounts of iron ore still remain in the ground, but the cost of mining the ore is prohibitive. When the mine closed and the pumps shut down in 1932, water rose up in the mine and filled two pits, one on each side of Stephenson Avenue (US 2). These bodies of water are known as the Chapin Pits, The Pit, or East and West Chapin Lake. Pine Mountain Ski Slide The Pine Mountain Ski Slide is one of the tallest artificial ski jumps in the world. It's a really big slope and a really big slide. Every February jumpers come from all over the world to jump off the Pine Mountain ski slide. You have to climb up to the top of the slide and carry your skis. The jump looks like a slide but you are standing up on skis. You go down the slide fast and jump off and fly like a bird. It's hard when you land and you have to stop before you get to the end. The ski slide, built in 1938, has seen more competitive ski jumping than anywhere else in the U.S.. The "King of Hills" is a 123.5 meter ski slide, the world's highest artificial ski jump. The scaffold is 186 ft. high, the length of the slide is 381 ft. The height of the landing hill is 349 ft. and the length of entire run is 1,440 ft. Estimated speed at take off from end of scaffold is 55 to 60 miles per hour, landing is 65 miles per hour. Click here to see the pictures. Peshtigo Fire The October 8, 1871 Peshtigo Fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, has the distinction of being the conflagration that caused the most deaths by fire in United States history. The Peshtigo Fire is mostly forgotten, having occurred on the same date as the much more renowned Great Chicago Fire. Firestorm On the day of the fire, a cold front moved in from the west, bringing strong winds that fanned smaller fires and escalated them to massive proportions. By the time it was over, 1,875 square miles (or 1.2 million acres) of forest were consumed, an area approximately twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. Some sources list 1.5 million acres burned. Twelve towns were destroyed. An accurate death toll has never been determined since local population records were destroyed in the fire, with estimates of between 1,200 and 2,500 people thought to have lost their lives. The number of names listed on the 1873 Report to the Wisconsin Legislature listed 1182 names. Peshtigo had an estimated 1,700 residents before the fire. More than 350 bodies were buried in a mass grave,[3] primarily because so many had died that no one remained alive who could identify many of them. The fire was so intense it jumped several miles over the waters of Green Bay and burned parts of the Door Peninsula as well as jumping the Peshtigo River itself to burn on both sides of the inlet town. Surviving witnesses in Peshtigo reported that the firestorm generated a fire tornado which threw rail cars and houses into the air. Many of the survivors of the firestorm escaped the flames by immersing themselves in the Peshtigo River, wells, or other nearby bodies of water. Some people drowned while doing so. Click here to see the pictures. Upper Michigan Arrival On October 7th I arrived at Aaron's Grandma and Grandpa's house in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Click here to see the picture. Miller Park The first place that I got to visit was Miller Park, Miller Park is the home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. The day that I went to the baseball game was a very special day. It was the first time that the Brewers had played in a play-off game since 1982. Everyone was very exited and it was very noisy in the stadium. It was a lot of fun, especially when the Brewers won the game against the Philadelphia Phillys. The final score was 4 to 1. Click here to see the pictures. Introduction to Stanley Hi everyone, my name is Stanley. I was created in September of 2008 by Aaron Simmons at the Country Dale School in Franklin, Wisconsin. My job is to travel around and have my picture taken at famous places. After I have my picture taken and it is entered into a log I go into an envelope and I'm sent to someone else to be photographed again. I'm sure that I will get to see many things and go to many interesting places during my travels. I will keep this diary of where I go and what I see. Click here to see the pictures. Click here to see the pictures from where I've been!
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