EWGSI

  According to Aaron, our education presenter on the cruise, the Mississippi River valley is a major fly path for many eagles (and other birds). While they can be seen in almost all states, they are predominately in Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here is some Upper Mississippi River eagle trivia: An eagle's head stays dark until age 5. In the early 70s, DDT nearly decimated the eagle population.  When only one nest could be found (by boat/survey between St. Paul and St. Louis) a loud alarm was raised and finally in 1973 DDT was banned.    Unless you are Native American, it is illegal to own any part of an American Bald Eagle.  Eagles mate for life; they lay 1-3 eggs per year with only a 50% survival rate.  Eaglets fledge in 8-12 weeks.  Nests can be as big and heavy as a VW bug!  Eagles only weigh 7-8 pounds and have a 6-8 foot wingspan. They can turn their heads 180o.  Females are 1/3 larger than males. The name "bald" comes from an Old En...

  Ever heard the term mudlarking ? If you’ve talked very much with me, you know that mudlarking, or beach-walking-looking-for-treasures is one of my favorite activities. I’ve been a beachcomber all my life and just recently learned about mudlarking. Nicola White has a YouTube channel showing her walking along the Thames foreshore in London at low tide and finding wonderful and interesting things, some even dating back to Roman times. I’m hooked on her posts.   So of course on my cruise I looked for opportunities to walk along the Mississippi and see what I might find. The river is at a 40-year low which means lots of beach exposed that hasn’t been in 40 years. Here is our ship moored just below the St. Louis Arch showing the LOW river line. I did pick up some interesting glass and other stuff and did create a window-art piece with it.... here are my finds in t he raw (laid out on a daily bulletin on the ship):    It was here that I found my biggest find!  The...

  Of course I snagged a Pecan Praline at most every opportunity! They are quintessentially The South and they are beyond description delicious. Several of my fellow passengers and I went looking for The Best Praline recipe and we agreed: this looks like it! But all did agree on this: you must have a candy thermometer for best results.  ******BEST Louisiana Pralines Recipe These Louisiana pralines are the best sweet tooth treat because they're sweet, filling and so addicting. A mix of cream, vanilla, and pecans combine perfectly to make this easy bite-sized candy. Prep Time 5   minutes Cook Time 15   minutes Total Time 20   minutes Ingredients 1 1/2   cup   chopped pecans 7   tbsp   salted butter 1   cup   light brown sugar 1 1/4   cup   granulated sugar 1   tbsp   pure vanilla extract 1/2   cup   half & half Instructions Combine the butter, sugars, and half in half into a large saucepan, then turn t...

  On this particular trip, I didn't see very many cemeteries but always and of course, those I did see made an impact on me. Top Left:  A typical rural cemetery near New Orleans. Bottom Left:  Take from a book on New Orleans, a typical city cemetery. Right:  The final resting place of more than 17,000 Union dead at Vicksburg National Memorial Park. Look closely and you'll see some upright stones and some flat stones. The flat ones were when the identification of the soldier was unknown. Scanning the whole scene, it was so sad to see how many flat ones there were.  The park signboard on the right also shares this:  "At hundreds of Civil War battle sites the remains of fallen soldiers lay nearly forgotten, scattered in woods, fields and roadside ditches."  Now did they gather those up to bury here??? Burials in cemeteries in New Orleans are tightly packed together and above ground. Why? The water table is too high for in-ground burial. The deceased are n...

  I've been to St. Louis and took the tiny tram to the top of the Gateway Arch several times but it's always a thrill.  From the viewing window at the top, look how teeny the cruise ship looks! (Ship nearest the bridge.) Arch Trivia: The cost to build the Arch in 1967 was the same as the Louisiana Purchase, $15,000,000.  The Arch sits on the smallest national park in the U.S., only 98 acres. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the park in 1935. Construction on the Arch was begun in 1965 and was finished in only two years.  The Arch is 630-feet high and there is 630-feet between the ends of the Arch legs. The purpose of the Arch was to commemorate Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase and all the pioneers settling the United States.  To go to the top, only 5 people can squeeze into the little tram cars for the 5-minute ride to the top.  You get 10-minutes up there and then it's back down.  Next trip to the Midwest, you MUST visit the Gateway ...

  When our cruise ship was near Davenport, Iowa, I learned about the Rock Island Arsenal. I had heard about the Black Hawk War but had no idea that disputes over ownership of this place sparked that conflict.  Located on an island in the Mississippi, it was established as a government site in 1816 first as a defensive fort and then, in the 1880s, a government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the U.S. Still in use, and even as being designated as a National Historic Landmark, the arsenal still produces ordinance (bullets), artillery, gun mounts, small arms, aircraft weapons sub-systems, grenade launchers and a host of associated components. Some 250 military personnel work there along with 6000 civilian workers.  Back to the Black Hawk war.  In his autobiography, Black Hawk wrote:  "When we arrived (to our tribal summer camp) we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island...We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the is...

When you imagine a pirate, Johnny Depp might come to mind. The Mississippi River pirates were real but they weren't as colorful as Johnny depicted.    Between about 1806 and 1844, there certainly were pirates prowling on the Mississippi River. Any of you remember this Walt Disney movie: I had no idea there were pirates on the Mississippi and when the ship's education guy told about these fellows, I was really surprised. I never learned about this before! River pirates have operated along rivers all over the world. Quoting from Wikipedia:  "American river piracy in the late 18th and mid-19th century was primarily concentrated along the Ohio River and Mississippi River valleys. River pirates usually operated in isolated frontier settlements which were sparsely populated areas lacking the protection of civil authority and institutions. These pirates resorted to a variety of tactics depending on the number of pirates and the size of the boat crews involved, including deceptio...

    No matter where in the world you live, and certainly in America, you'd recognize the "Nothing Runs Like A Deere" logo.  John Deere was born in 1804 in Vermont and moved to Illinois in 1836 and began manufacturing tools. He made pitchforks, shovels and plows. In those days, a product was not made until ordered, which was a very slow business model. By 1857, the company was manufacturing a variety of farm equipment; that year their sales reached 1120 implements per month. John Deere as an American business icon was off and running.   There are three main John Deere museums and a big selling item these days are the John Deere tractor toys. SPAM is another iconic midwestern product. I always thought the letters stood for "Special Processed American Meat," meat that was portable and sent to the troops in Europe during WWII. SPAM is a brand of cooked pork introduced by Hormel in 1937. The origin of the name is not fully documented (so maybe I'm right?).  SPAM...