From Snoozy to Snazzy

Hi Kids,
This is my new friend Layla.  She's in the first grade in Michigan.  We had breakfast together then went to see an amazing house called "Bishop's Palace."  It was built in 1893 in Galveston, Texas, for Walter and Josephine Gresham and their children.  In 1923, they sold the house to the Catholic Diocese and Bishop Byrne moved in.  That's why it's called Bishop's Palace.

Can you find Galveston on a map?  I'll give you a clue.  Galveston is on an island off the coast of Texas.  They had a terrible storm in 1900 and many of the houses and buildings in Galveston were destroyed.  The Bishop's Palace was on slightly higher ground and was built very solidly so it survived.

This is the library.  The woodwork in the house is very elaborate. 
In this room, the book cases are made of burled black walnut.
Do you see the pattern on the floor?  It is made from small pieces
of wood.  Floors like this are called "parquet" which is pronounced
"par-kay."

During the storm, the windows were smashed in and sea water got on
the floors and made the wood swell and buckle so they had to be replaced.

In many of the rooms, special displays give information for younger visitors.  This one, in the library, is about Peter
Rabbit.  The popular children's book was written in 1903 by Beatrix Potter, an English writer.  The Gresham children
probably read this book.  Have you read it?

This is Mrs. Gresham's bathroom.  Does it look like yours?  It's hard to see but there are three taps on the bathtub.  Can you guess what the third tap is for?  One is for hot water; one is for cold water and the third one is for........RAINWATER!  Ladies used to think that rainwater was better for washing their hair!
                                                       

Above is the fireplace in the music room.  The wood is called
satinwood and the stone is Mexican onyx.  To the right you can
see a close up of a corner of the fireplace.  Above the Mexican onyx, the
trim is made of silver.

Do you see me sitting on the mantel of the fireplace in the parlor?  There were many beautiful things is this
house but I don't think I'd like to live there.  Can you imagine how much work it would be to clean 52 rooms?

I had many more adventures in Galveston and I'll be sending you more posts in the future. 
Love,
Emily

The Only Bear in the Woods

Hi Kids,
Does anyone know the name of this bridge and where it is?  I'll give you a hint: the name doesn't describe the bridge's color -- that's orange.  Even before the bridge was built; even before gold was discovered in California; an American explorer described the bay it crosses -- which flows into the Pacific Ocean -- as a "golden gate" for trading routes to Asian countries across the ocean. 

Yes, it's the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco -- one of the most famous bridges in America.  And Miss Elaine and I crossed the bridge on the way to Healdsburg, which is a bit more than an hour's drive north of the city.

This probably looks familiar from the post card I sent you.  It is the Haydon Street Bed and Breakfast -- a very cozy place to stay -- and the breakfasts were really good, too.  One morning we had oranges picked right off the tree.  Here are lemons growing on a tree in the front yard.  We didn't have any lemonade -- but we could have!

We visited the Healdsburg Museum and met Miss Holly, the curator.  We were particularly interested in the Indians who lived in this area before white people came.  They were Pomo Indians, some of their descendents still live here, and they are famous for their skill in making baskets.  You can seem a couple of Pomo baskets at Philbrook Downtown in Tulsa.  Miss Holly let us go into her office.  She showed us a very old photo of a Pomo woman, Emma Manual, carrying her child in a cradle basket.

Then Miss Holly brought out a cradle basket and let me sit in it.  The basket was made of willow a hundred years ago -- but it was still strong.

Healdsburg is in Sonoma County.  It is very beautiful -- even in winter.  They grow a lot of grapes here -- and olives.

My favorite spot in the county was the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.  Redwoods are more properly called Sequoias.  There are several related trees -- coastal redwoods, giant redwoods and dawn redwoods.  The coastal redwoods are taller, but not as heavy, as giant redwoods and the dawn redwoods are more delicate.  The trees at Armstrong are coastal redwoods.  This is me, lying down, looking up at a tall tree -- but I soon saw trees much taller

Special trees have been give special names.  This is Parson Jones -- the tallest tree in the forest.  It is 310 feet tall. Parson Jones was the man who was married to Kate Armstrong who saved the trees in this park.  I think they should have named the tree after her!  Look how big the trunk is!

This is Colonel Armstrong -- it is the oldest tree, 1400 years old!  It is named after Kate's father who gave her the land.  He was a lumberman but she didn't want these trees to be cut down.  I'm really glad.

It was very shady in the woods.  The trees block the sunlight so few plants grow on the ground.  There are no bears here because there is no food for them.  So I was the biggest bear in the woods!

This was Miss Elaine's favorite spot.  The trees here grow in a natural circle.  People named it Burbank Circle after a famous botanist who lived in Sonoma County.  In the middle of the circle were wide benches where people could lie down and look up at the trees.  Miss Elaine did -- and she took this picture.

Love,
Lily

Lily Learns about Cajuns

Hi Kids,
Since Miss Elaine and I are home for a couple of weeks, I'm going to try to catch you up on some of my travels.  In October, we toured Louisiana.  The church above, St. Martin de Tours, is very old -- about 178 years.  It's in the town of St. Martinville.  This place is very important to Americans of Acadian heritage.  In the mid-1700s, these French-speaking people were forced from their homes in Nova Scotia -- an area of Canada.  Since there were French settlements in the part of America we now call Louisiana, many of the Canadians made their way here.  We call them Cajuns -- sort of a sloppy way of saying Acadians. 

This is me with a statue of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- an important American poet.  Nearly 100 years after the Acadians first came to Louisiana, he wrote a poem called "Evangeline."  It tells the story of two Acadian sweethearts -- Evangeline and Gabriel -- who were separated when they left Nova Scotia for Louisiana.  It's a very sad poem -- and might be based on a true story.  

The story was so popular it was later made into a movie.  The beautiful actress who played Evangeline -- Dolores del Rio -- had this statue made and donated it to St. Martinville.

 This ancient oak tree is called the Evangeline Oak and stands on the banks of the Bayou Teche where many of the Acadians landed.

This is Miss Audrey Allen.  She owns a restaurant -- Chambeaugh's -- in St. Martinsville and she introduced me to a classic Cajun dish -- shrimp etouffee (pronounced ay-too-fay.  It has shrimp cooked with onions, peppers and celery and is served over rice.  I had some potato salad and green beans, too, but I'd eaten those before.  It was fun to try a new food and I liked etouffee a lot!

 While we were in St. Martinville we went to the Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site.  This is a replica of a cabin which would have been built by Cajuns when they arrived here.  You'll notice the really steep roof.  They built their houses like that in Canada so the snow would slide off.  They soon learned that they didn't need to do that in Louisiana!

Sugar cane is an important crop in this area and the man who took us around the park cut a stem to show me.  It looks a little like bamboo and can grow very tall.

He cut off a chunk and peeled it so I could taste it.  It wasn't very sweet -- just a little -- and tasted a bit grassy.  It was stringy to chew so I just sucked the juice out and spit the rest out!  Lots of things have to be done to the cut cane before it turns into the sugar we have on our tables. 

 We passed lots of sugar cane fields on our trip.  This is one of them.  I just love to travel.  I learn so much -- and I meet so many nice people!

I'll write again soon.
Love,
Lily

Our Teddy at Tulum

Ola Kids,

Can you guess where I went on my most recent adventure?  Somewhere where they speak Spanish!  Somewhere where it is warm in the winter.  It's Mexico!  If you look at a map, you'll see that Mexico is south of the United States.  See how it swoops down like a big tail?  We were at the top of the tip of the tail near Cancun in the state of Quintana Roo.  This whole part of the tail is called the Yucatan peninsula.  The word penisula comes from two Latin words which mean "almost an island."  The peninsula is bordered by water on three sides.  One more side and it would be an island!

This part of Mexico is the home of the Mayan civilization -- one of the great cultures of North America.  We visited Tulum -- the ruins of one of the important Mayan cities.  The Mayan civilization here was very prosperous from about 1200 to 1550 A.D. -- then, about 550 years ago, it almost disappeared.  It's cities lay in ruins, hidden in the jungle.  For about 300 years, Tulum was completely forgotten.  It was rediscovered in 1840 and today is a major tourist attraction in the area.   

This is Froylan, our guide, who showed us Tulum.  The city was located on the edge of tall cliffs but had a small harbor and was a major port for the early Mayans.  Froylan told us that experts believe about 500 people -- the richest and most important -- lived inside the thick walls that surrounded the city.  About 2000 more people lived outside the walls.  You can see how thick the walls are.

Inside the walls, the grass is lush and green but scattered with stones that show where original buildings stood.  Some of the buildings have been rebuilt so people can get a better idea of what the city would have looked like.  Many of the original stones still show traces of carvings of Mayan gods.  The largest building is called El Castillo -- the castle -- and scientists think it may have been used as a light house to guide sailors.  Other buildings were used for religious purposes or as houses.

Miss Elaine took this picture behind El Castillo.  The little building you can see in the picture is called the Temple of the Wind (Templo del Viento in Spanish).  Isn't this a beautiful place!

There were lots of large lizards called iguanas running around the ruins.  Miss Elaine wanted to take my picture with one.  I wasn't so excited about it.

I don't think he was excited about it either.  Here is a close-up picture of him.

 

 

Miss Elaine, Mr. Jack and I had a great time exploring Tulum.  We hope you enjoyed our pictures.
Love,
Lily

Quebec City

Hi Kids,
It's me -- Tiger!  Lily is letting me send you a post to tell you about the trip I took this summer.  I went to Quebec City in the province of Quebec in Canada.  A Canadian province is kind of like one of our states.
Quebec is an unusual province because it is very French while most of Canada is more English.  Even the people here speak French although most of them can also speak English.  In the picture above you can see part of the old city walls behind me.  In olden times, the city was built inside and protected by huge stone walls.  Today that historic part of the city is full and the town has spilled out beyond the walls.

The town is very old and very beautiful.  It gets really cold in the winter but summers are lovely and people enjoy being outside.

This is me with the concierge at the hotel.  He is helping me mail the post card I sent to you!  Have you ever seen such a fancy mailbox?  (Is concierge a new word to you?  Pronounce it con-see-airzh.  It means someone who helps hotel guests with questions about where to go, what to see and where to mail a post card!)

This is me with Steeve Gaudreault.  He was our guide on a tour of the town.  He knows a lot about history and is dressed up as Louis Hebert, the first permanent settler in Quebec.  Quebec City was founded in 1608.  Louis Hebert (pronounced Loo-ee Ay-bear) came to the area in 1617 and settled with his family.  Don't ask me to pronounce Steeve's last name!

A good way to see the city is by horse and carriage.  There are many beautiful old buildings in the town -- particularly in the historic areas.

One of the most famous Quebecois (Kuh-bec-waz) is Louis Joliet.  He was a French-Canadian explorer who explored and mapped much of the Mississippi River.  This is an actor dressed up as Joliet.  He shared a lot more history with us as we sailed down the St. Lawrence River.  This is a very large river -- 744 miles long -- which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.  

The streets in old Quebec are very narrow.  Old Quebec consists of two parts -- the oldest part is Lower Quebec, right on the river bank.  Now the area is full of interesting shops and restaurants -- and this lovely little park.

The larger part of Old Quebec is the upper part -- atop the cliffs.  It's a steep climb, so most people take the funicular -- a sort of elevator on tracks.  

Miss Elaine and I were invited to Quebec to see the International Military Band Festival.  We love music.  And we loved this man.  His name is Boris Dykov and he and two other singers came from Russia to sing in some parts of the concerts.  He had a booming baritone voice.  Men's voices are divided into three types.  Men with high-pitched voices are tenors.  Men who can sing very low notes are called basses.  And the baritones sing in the middle.

The final concert was very exciting.  Each band performed individually but on the last pieces, they played altogether.  There were over 700 musicians.  I wish you could have heard it.  It was so wonderful I got goosebumps under my fur!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip.  Maybe Lily will let me write you again sometime.
Love,
Tiger

Mountain Adventures

 Hi Kids,
This is me sitting next to a cone formed by mineral deposits from hot, hot water coming up from deep underground.  I'm at Pagosa Springs in southern Colorado.  The water coming out of the springs here is
way too hot to touch but people here have figured out some great ways to use it.  We stayed at the Springs Resort.  They mix the hot water with different amounts of cold water to make a whole bunch of hot tubs.  You can choose the temperature you like.

The hotel and springs are on the banks of the San Juan River.  Lots of kids were tubing in the river.  Where you see the blue shades, that's where some of the hot pools are.

Miss Elaine and Mr. Jack liked to get in the hot pools after it turned cool in the evening.  I stayed in our room and kept Roxie, the dog, company.  I really don't like getting my fur wet!

One day we visited an artist's studio.  Fred Harman was a cowboy artist and a cartoonist.

 This is me with a sculpture of Red Ryder, Mr. Harman's most famous creation.  His comic strip about Red Ryder and his adopted son, Little Beaver, ran in newspapers in many parts of the world.  It was so popular that there were also Red Ryder books and movies.

I felt pretty popular when the newspaper in Pagosa Springs took my picture and put it in the paper.  The story told about how I get to travel and share my adventures with you.

Pagosa Springs is in this beautiful valley in the San Juan Mountains which are part of the Rocky Mountain chain.

The Rocky Mountains are sometimes called the spine of America.  They are the place where waters divide.  Water that falls on the west side of the imaginary line called the Continental Divide flows west eventually winding up in the Pacific Ocean.  Water that falls on the east side of the line flows south and east to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.  I'm sitting on the spot where the waters divide!
Love,
Lily