Nature Undone

The National Park Service celebrated its 100th birthday last Thursday, although the first National Park, Yellowstone, was accomplished by President Grant in 1872.  Last week the press doted on the creation of the managing unit for our national parks, this week they have focused on overuse and misuse of some of our great national parks.  The main focus, in an article earlier this week, was on Yellowstone.  Man can affect nature in a variety of ways.  All things are relative, and this post will focus on the fate of one relatively small, but significantly (relatively speaking) beautiful, piece of state property just west of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Waterfall at Pewit's Nest

Baraboo is also home to Devil's Lake State Park, the largest of Wisconsin's state parks.  Yet, the Baraboo area is also the location of other unique geologic and historical features not part of the current park.  Even though I worked for a number of years with the Sauk County Planning Office, I never recall having heard of Pewit's Nest.  A State Natural Area encompasses this unique geologic feature.  Pewit's Nest was created by melt waters of former glacial lake Baraboo as it cut through some fine grained sedimentary deposits.  It is a gorge, containing water falls, and pot holes.  Some of the pot holes are rather large and deep.  At one time its waterfalls powered a lathe which was used to make and repair equipment.  Prior to the water of Skillet Creek feeding a lathe, a man lived in a cavern about 10' above the deep water pool in what was termed a Phoebe nest, of which Pewit is an earlier recognized version,  Hence the origin of the name.

Another waterfall

But, the name does not adequately describe this unique geologic feature. Albeit it is kind of a unique name, almost cute. First, it is a state natural area.  Such areas are meant to be enjoyed, but lightly used.  A large number of people now come to not only swim, but to climb and jump off rocks into the water.  It is now much more highly used than its small parking lot would attest.  My only visit to the site was on Monday, August 22, 2016 in mid-morning.  A number of persons were already climbing and jumping off the rocks, in violation of posted signs.  No doubt it can be fun.  But for the Baraboo rescue department it is not fun.  As of last week Tuesday, they had five rescues for the year.  Two rescues alone occurred on August 18.  It is a dangerous place with rocks difficult to see below the surface.  It has become more popular since it apparently has been described as one of the five best swimming holes in Wisconsin.  I did wade into the water to get some photos, but avoided rock climbing and of course no jumping.  It is heavily used and the trampled landscape attests to that use.  The WIDNR would be much better off installing some wood chip paths and trying to restore some ground cover. Given the rescues and overuse, the WIDNR is in the process of coming up with management strategies for the site.  The lack of proper ground cover can lead to erosion which is detrimental to water quality.

A side wall of rock in Pewit's Nest, with Skillet Creek at the bottom

However, the biggest threat to water quality may not be the ground trampled within a few hundred feet of the creek, but what is occurring upstream.  Most all of us like to use highways to get some place fast.  The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WIDOT) is in the midst of a massive highway 12 bypass of project.  (Massive is a word to describe some of the bridges.) The bypass begins north of South Shore Road and will head to the Wisconsin Dells.  I am sure the Dells area business owners are pleased as punch to get Madison west-siders more quickly and less impeded to the Dells.  The new bypass near the west Baraboo area will be less than one-half mile from the current four lane road way.  No big deal most would say, but to Skillet Creek and Pewit's Nest it very well may be a BIG DEAL.

Waterfall from downstream

You see, the bypass in this area is less than one half mile away from Pewit's Nest and it also crosses Skillet Creek.  Oh, you ask, is the purpose of detention ponds not meant to keep water clean and reduce flooding?  As much as engineer's may think they can mimic natural systems, it is not totally possible.  Detained water as it is released has the ability to scour and affect streams which leads to more stream bank erosion.  Storm basins also can lose effectiveness over time, partly due to sedimentation from erosion.

Skillet Creek as it runs though part of the Pewit's Nest State Natural Area

Time has not been pleasant to the land uses along the current Highway 12 corridor on the west side of the Baraboo area.  The current corridor is comprised of standard 1990 to present day land use thinking of big boxes, strip malls and restaurants.  A former Wal-Mart, is now partially occupied by a Gander Mountain, and some past strip malls are vacant.  When thing is sure as taxes, American retailers, unfortunately, follow the interchange.  West Baraboo, has installed water and sewer mains to serve the area of west of the interchange.  West of the interchange will take it closer to Pewit's Nest.  We also know that big box retailers tend to abandon their site after 20 or 30 years and move to a new location. The planning literature is ripe with such exploits of free-enterprise.  Our consumer society likes new, and so then do politicians, at the expense of nature, and economics. Heck, if I were to predict, in 100 years the bypass to the bypass will be built going just west of Pewit's Nest.   

Ready to make the jump from the rock outcropping
into the deep basin at Pewit's Nest

WIDOT likes to say they don't make land use plans, but their decisions certainly affect local decision makers who cannot get enough of an interchange. Perhaps, WIDOT has properly planned storm water control so that the interchange and bypass will have a minimal effect on Skillet Creek. However, I am sure the coming big boxes, strip malls, and other auto-oriented development surely will have a negative effect on this water way, and by extension Pewit's Nest.  Development means more storm water, less natural systems to feed the creek and run through Pewit's nest.   This type of development may not happen right away, but it will happen.  The affect on  the water quality may not occur soon after construction (although remember that erosion is a detriment to water quality), but it will occur.  DOT and the desire of West Baraboo, and Baraboo for what many call economic development may well solve the Pewit's Nest problem for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  

A waterfall as viewed from a downstream location

The engineering and planning literature on water quality tells us that after a watershed is 10% developed, the water becomes impaired.  After 25% the stream quality becomes degraded, or non-supporting.  Regardless of what stormwater management measures are used there will be failures.  There will be problems.  The water quality in Skillet Creek will become so bad, no one will desire to climb the sides of Pewit's Nest and jump in the water. Scouring of the stream bank will occur more quickly eroding the sedimentary rocks than naturally occurs.  Silt will clog the now deep pot holes in which persons jump and swim. Why enjoy the reality of nature when one can enjoy a ersatz experience in the Kalahari Desert just a few miles north in the Wisconsin Dells.  

Source:  2009  City of Fitchburg Comprehensive Plan

Development is not economic when it negatively affects or destroys what nature has taken 15,000 years to create. Economics should not be viewed as destruction, but as working within the carrying capacity of, and more importantly respect for, natural systems.   Unfortunately, man's desire for quick transportation, and our auto-oriented forms of development will undo part of what draws people to the area.  In 100 years Pewit's Nest may be bordered by Baraboo versions of a Wisconsin Dells water park.  Nature Undone.  

Photos by author, taken on Monday, August 22, 2016.

Corn Fest Change

It is said, albeit by their own Chamber of Commerce, to be the oldest corn festival in the state of Wisconsin, having begun in 1953.  I am of course referring to the Sun Prairie Sweet Corn Festival. What is interesting is that for decades claimed attendance was said to be 100,000 persons.  When it first started it was held on Angell Street, north of Main Street, but the festival site was moved to Angell Park a few years later.  Angell Park is but a few blocks from where I grew up.  Things have changed over the years since my attendance at the festival when I was much younger.  I had a long absence from the event, but about six years ago took up going once again at the urging of my nephew, who apparently likes to hear the stories of old.  This post will contrast the days gone by, from my childhood over 40 years ago, to what I see today in the operation of the Corn Fest.  

In times of plenty, as I was growing up, you could get as much corn as you desired for free.  Increased costs caused them to start selling totes, in which you have to fit all your corn.  At first, totes cost one dollar, but today a tote costs $7.  The other major change you note upon entering is that they now charge a one dollar admission fee.  Corn was first steamed at the Oconomowoc Canning Company located right next to Angell Park, and the corn tent was but a stone's throw away from where the corn was steamed in very large steamer basket, which barely would fit in the back of a pick up truck.  Pick up trucks would haul the steamed corn from across the street.  It was always interesting to watch as the corn was unloaded onto a conveyor belt, just as it is today.  Unclaimed ears would run up the conveyor  belt into a dumpster.  The canning company is now a restaurant, and a new steam site had to be built several blocks away.  I guess you cannot blame them for the need to charge for corn now that corn is more expensive, hope to cut down on waste, and of course to pay for the steamer operation, if not its debt.

Husking the corn

Today, volunteers pull the corn off the conveyor belt and want to load it into your tote.  For most years, we have been able to thwart their attempt to limit our collection of corn, by doing it ourselves, or letting them do it and then going back for extra ears and loading more in after husking the corn.  Last year, however, my attempt at a nice load was encumbered by an overzealous volunteer, who kept following our every attempt to load and get every potential ear of corn into the tote.  I recall her rather rudely ruining my planned exodus of an enormous hold of corn.  But, this year, we were not going to let an over anxious volunteer get the better of us. Completely ignoring the helpful volunteer we stacked 22 ears in the tote.  I had room for at least three more, but my nephew commented we need to save room to break this personal record next year.  I think he did not want to push the envelope, so to speak.  The butter girl was so impressed with our haul; she wanted me to reload the tote as she knew she would not get it correct.  Needless to say as I made way though lines of people stacked to purchase their tote, they commented in awe at our heap of corn.   My secret lies in the photo.  You are to be allowed to put as much corn as you can in a tote, but for some reason they think what I do is beyond reason.  I am also one to not let a good ear of steamed corn go to waste.  Anyway, if we were not grabbing it, it is only more ears up the conveyor into the dumpster to become pig feed.

Our 22 ears of  well buttered corn in one tote

Pig feed is how my deceased brother-in-law would describe the eating of corn on the cob. I have always been a big sweet corn eater and why stop now?  I think my nephew likes to hear my stories of eating corn, many of which his father (my twin brother) has likely embellished over the years of telling.  My nephew and his sister did not have bed time books read to them, they were regaled with Uncle Tom stories.  I never knew my mundane life could be considered so exciting.  One story is of the dozen ears I ate the night before boarding a airplane flight to New York.  Needless to say, it was not a pleasant flight.  There is also the stories of the corn eating contest which has gone the way of the free corn. One of my sister's would be dropped off near the park, and would go into the corn tent the back way and obtain a large grocery or garbage bag full of nicely steamed corn.  We would enjoy that Corn Fest namesake that one Sunday every year with the every Sunday BBQ chicken dinner my Dad would make on his enormous (Texan) Weber grill.  

My Dad was involved in a number of civic organizations and would put in many hours working at the brat tent, which used to be right next to the beer tent, or selling carnival tickets, or serve at the Knights of Columbus ring toss game.  When attending the festival, we were not allowed to spend any money for games on the "carnival side."  My dad wished the money we spent to go back to the local organizations that sponsored the games.  We could go on rides, but were encouraged to do so when the tickets had a special, like the first night, or late on Sunday.  Of the games, my favorite was the KC ring toss.  One year I won a whole case of quart bottles.  I was probably about 13 at the time, and had to haul them over to where my Dad was volunteering so he could take them home.  Of course, today, the KC game has you ring the top of a smaller, plastic bottle, and in exchange you get a can of soda.  No more glass quart bottles.

Joe at the KC Ring Toss

It takes volunteers to run booths and events, like the ring toss game.  What I see occurring at the Corn Festival is not unlike what Robert Putnam discusses in his book, Bowling Alone.  The decline of social capital and social organizations in the nation is playing out.  I have previously written on how I also see this manifested in our land use pattern.  The Greatest Generation has it up on the boomers, and others as they were more highly involved in their communities.  The peak period of civic involvement was in my key years of childhood.  You see, the Sun Prairie side used to have a large number of games, in addition to the KC ring toss,  all run by civic or fraternal organizations.  The past six years has shown me that of these games, only the ring toss survives.  There are of course other booths, the ever present evangelical churches displaying salvation, displays of bath re-modelers (more for a home show than a festival), and of course the local bank. This is a major change in our current culture and perhaps not one for the better.  Social engagement is important.  Alexis de Tocqueville commented on it in his seminal work, and of course their is the work by Robert Putnam.

Eaten Ears of Sweet Corn

While my nephew, and my son who often attends with us, will never know the feeling of not having to pay for corn (or a fee-less entry into the event) the main thing they will not see is the volunteers of civic organizations raising money for their own organizations which gets invested back into the community.  Of course their are volunteers, the festival could not run without them, but there is a decline in those important small civic, social and fraternal organizations that helped build the nation.  My father understood this, and as part of the greatest generation, he did his share of civic involvement.  Yes, there is something nostalgic about some of the things that still hold true at the corn fest: the butter girls earn money from tips for college (although I recall buttering as a member of the boy scouts, and back then we used 4 inch paint brush whereas today they wear plastic gloves and roll it in the butter), the conveyor belt, the umbrella clothes line draped with salt shakers (now plastic shakers ather than glass).  But the down turn in the games on the "Sun Prairie" side shows a different side, and a cultural shift. 

As children, we spent a great deal of time at the Corn Fest.  It was the end of summer event.  As for my mom, her benefit was some alone time, as for much of Corn Fest weekend, except Sunday dinner, her husband and the kids were down at the Corn Fest.  Dad working in the brat booth, or at another venue.  As for me, I could either be found eating corn, or playing the ring toss game.  And today, 22 ears of steamed corn for $7, not a bad price.  

Photos by Christopher Hovel, taken on August 21, 2016

Another World

The current hit television show, "The Big Bang Theory" usually deals with the foibles and personality quirks of its scientist lead characters, particularly one intellectually gifted, but high maintenance physicist. The show, however, sometimes deals with matters of scientific interest. One interesting note, is that with the two physicists, one astronomer and the lone engineer among them who “only has his master’s degree” will deal with outer space. For example, they have looked at stars, and Howard, the engineer, was even an astronaut. It also has dealt with Howard crashing the Mars Rover in an attempt to impress a date, and Leonard giving away secrets to a North Korean agent.  Hence, I would not be surprised if they find a way to deal with a new issue going around the galaxy.

Milky Way Galaxy

Star KC 8642852, otherwise known as Tabby, has been followed by the Kepler satellite. It is quite far from earth, being about 1400 light years away.  nformation from the satellite shows that the light curve of Tabby was first reported to have followed a typical light curve for a star of its classification, but upon further review that analysis has been overturned. The light curve provides, from information gathered from Kepler, ten dips of a rather marked nature. A August 2016 study by Montet and Simon notes that Tabby dimmed in its first four years of study by Kepler at a linearly predictable rate, but then dimmed "much more rapidly in the next ~200 days.” The final 200 days of study showed a photometry that remained constant “although the data are also consistent with decline rate measured for the first 2.7 yr.” The dip in the light curve rate was the subject of their paper. The most interesting thing uncovered in Montet and Simon’s professional paper is that “no known or proposed stellar phenomenon can fully explain all aspects of the observed light curve.” Montent is quoted by "Popular Mechanics" as saying that “the part that surprised me was just how rapid and non-linear [the diming] was.” This is a big deal, as either their data is not fully correct, the math wrong, or there now has to be a new theory in physics and astronomy. Time will tell as peer review occurs.  Yet, there is another option.

Death Star

It has been proposed, and of course cannot at this time be discounted, that aliens are building a large superstructure around the star to harvest its energy. While we here on earth are choking and burning on fossil fuel consumption, some other beings may be building their version of a solar array to harvest energy. Could they be aiming to power their own death star to blow up another planet in interstellar warfare? Montet and Simon realize that there are theories that can explain part of what is occurring but no current theory, according the bright minds that look at such things, can fully explain the dimming and flickering of light from Tabby.  In tha that Popular Mechanics article, Montet acknowledged it took them awhile to get their head around their results.

A Dyson sphere as a solar array
Artist rendering of what the Alien structure may look like

The Montet and Simon paper is producing a great deal of excitement in the field of astronomy. This is where Sheldon Cooper comes in, perhaps he will develop the theory that will explain the odd light behavior of KC 8642852 and in so doing earn his Nobel prize. Raj and Leonard may well provide input, but one can be assured that since the world revolves around Sheldon he will take all the credit. Sheldon has his own universe, and while KC 8642852 is in our galaxy, to us it is in another world. Of course, this whole study may turn out to be another case more analogous to cold fusion.

Main cast of "Big Bang Theory"

Island

It was probably the most famous prison in all of the United States, and while it had a long history as a military prison, its life as a federal pentientiary was relatively short.  For 29 years, from 1934 until 1963, Alcatraz aka "The Rock" housed the most dangerous federal criminals in the nation.   It was on this date in 1934, August 11, that the first group of prisoners arrived on an island off the coast of San Francisco, and walked into a heavily fortified building.  

Prison block in Alcatraz

It was uninhabited by humans when Spanish Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala explored the small island in 1775.  He is credited with naming the island, at least as far as recognized by American civilization, calling it Isla de los Alcatraces, or "Island of the Pelicans."  The Spanish name has been Americanized.  Alcatraz certainly sounds more foreboding and dark than does Pelican,  but that could simply be a result of mental image of word association with the prison, rather than with pelicans.  The island was sold to the United States in 1849.  In 1854 it gained some now unrecognized notariety as the lcoation of the first lighthouse off the coast of California.  Five years later a US Army detachment was sent to live on the island.  I suspect those men were less than impressed with the living conditions.  Beginning in 1868, Alcatraz became home to military criminals.  Besides housing bad boy soldiers, it housed rebellious Indian scouts, and soliders who had deserted to the Filipino cause in the US war with the Phillipines.  

Prison cell

However, its most famous prisoners were during its 29 year term as a federal prison.  Two of course probably come immediately to mind--Al Capone, and the Bird Man of Alcatraz whose name was Richard Stroud.  Capone, who arrived slightly later in 1934, gained notariety for his exploits in the Chicago underworld, and not because his niece, Delores Maritote, once dated my only still living uncle.  The Bird Man, on the other hand, gained fame due to his ornitholigical studies while impriosoned in Leavenworth.  Some of his studies were published.  It was his killing of a guard in that Kansas prison that gained him an all expenses paid trip to Alcatraz. 

Al Capone, Alcatgraz Mug shot

Escape from Alcatraz was difficult, and it is widely believed of the three or so dozen who tried to escape none were successful.  Although not all bodies were recovered.  Only one man is thought to have swum the distance to shore, and he was found hypothermic and in poor condition when he got ashore.  

Richard Stroud

Due to costs of keeping the prison operational, then Attorney General Robert Kennedy decided to close the prison.  It was briefly occupied by some Sioux Indians in 1964, using the belief from an earlier, 1868, treaty that unoccupied government territory was their's to reclaim.  A more rebellious group of Sioux occupied the island in 1969, but federal marshals put an end to that occupation in 1971.  

Alcatraz

Alcatraz still stands in the nation's collective memory of what a prison was.  Today it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area, maintained by the US Park Service.  Alcatraz sees over one million visitors a year.  Alcatraz is word associated with the prison, and that word in the nation has one intense association, and that association is not of Pelicans.  The Birdman of Pelican Island may have some literary association, but it is no where near as dastardly sounding as the Birdman of Alcatraz.  Stroud was not allowed to continue his study of birds while at Alcatraz.  Hence, it is left unknown what he would have determined from a study of seabirds. As for my uncle and his date, I think it was a one time event of dinner at Chicago's Old Hilton Hotel Boulevard Room, and attending the Ice Capades.  

"Get off the Bridge!"

My wife and I got back Thursday afternoon from a trip to Door County.  It was a hastily planned trip, with reservations made about two or less weeks before our excursion to the peninsula.  It was our third trip in the last few years.  I guess you can tell we are getting older when we no longer spend all of our summer vacations in a tent.  My last post dealt with the view of wildlife and changes in the camping experience over the years at Laura Lake.  This post will deal with our recent trip to Door County, and a few of our unexpected experiences in one of the prime Wisconsin vacation locations.

Light House at Peninsula State Park

We stayed at the same Bed and Breakfast as we did in late August of 2013 and in October of 2015.  The White Lace Inn, where we stayed, has four different buildings, and both of our August trips we stayed in the Main House, while our October stay was in the Garden House, in a room with a fireplace.  The fireplace came in handy on that wet, cold stay in the peninsula.  We have always been pleased with the breakfasts served, but noticed this year, the breakfast has become a little more "up-scale" with some new cooks.  The owner commented to us a few years ago that it is a bed and breakfast, not a breakfast and a bed, and thus he had some pride in not having overly ostentatious breakfasts.  I suspect standards, and change in tastes of customers force change.  One of the interesting things about staying in a B & B is they other guests you meet.

Red Sky at Night, Sunset over Green Bay

Having grown up in Wisconsin, I think I tend to take Door County for granted.  However, my wife said after shopping, what else do you do to take up the time of day?  After all, there are only so many natural features to see.   And, if you are a red-head there is only so much sun you can take.  Not to mention, as our camping trip to Laura Lake, this trip had unusually hot and humid weather for Door County.  On this trip we heard from guests living in Colorado, Grosse Point, MI, and the state of Oregon.  All three had come here specifically because they had heard about how great Door County is.  In talking with the persons from Colorado, it was noted that Door County is to us, what the mountains are to them.  The couples from Oregon and Colorado specifically mentioned the size of the Great Lakes, and how that is an attraction for them.  The Great lakes contain 20% of the world's fresh water.  Like the mountains, the water of Lakes Superior and Michigan have formed much of Wisconsin,  Heck, if we did not have the Great Lakes, we may be, well, a less fertile soil version of Iowa.  Fresh water will be our next oil, so we best use it wisely.

Interplay of Land and Water in Door County, WI

Sturgeon Bay Ship Yards

One of our favorite destinations on Lake Michigan is Cave Point County Park.  The dolomite of the Niagara escarpment is the defining feature of the Door County land surface, and the interplay of water and dolomite leads to caves and outcroppings as the water eats away at the dolomite. Twice we visited Cave Point, and our first visit on Wednesday afternoon, we had never seen the place so busy, and in fact they had added an overflow parking lot earlier this year that was almost filled to capacity.  Besides the amount of people we noticed that mainly teenagers and millennial's were jumping off the high cliffs into the water below.  As noted in my prior post, my middle name is "Careful", so I chose not to  participate.  A young lady hit the rocks on her jump in, and I felt a tub like me would drop even further.  I don't recall ever seeing persons jump in before, and if so, not of this frequency where they had  a que line of three or four on each side.  That drew me to the next observation, the water level is much higher than it was in 2013 or even last October.  I was used to walk on the exposed dolomite shelf up and down much of the shoreline.  I would have been soaked if I had tried to do so this year.  The water is said to be about 3 to 4' higher than just two years ago, and much higher, it was said, than even this past spring.  Yet, I did walk  on the trail on the grade above, and a few hundred paces north of the main blow-hole event I came across a totally unexpected site--artwork of man using only the broken pieces of dolomite worn out of the Niagara formation by Mother Nature over the last thousands of years.  A narrow slit of land filled with carins. I had noticed a few such structures on the last two visits, but not near the extent that I now saw before my eyes.  It was really quite the scene.  To think of the time and effort that went into making such simple, yet apparently resilient structures out of simple pieces of dolomite.

Cairns at Cave Point

Yet, humans also can spring surprises, too.  After our visit to Cave Point Wednesday afternoon we headed to Sturgeon Bay to watch a series of tall ships come in to the channel for the night before heading out Thursday morning to Green Bay. We plan to see the tall ships in Duluth, and did not know until we arrived in Sturgeon Bay that they would come here for the night.  We walked down from our B & B a few blocks to the harbor area and congregated on the west most of the three drawbridges crossing the channel between Lake Michigan and Green Bay.  I went further up to the middle of the bridge to get some better photos.  Like many drawbridges this had much of the draw part being a metal surface of squares, which caused cars to make a thunder sound as they sped by.  My wife stayed further down, and could hear the announcement to clear the bridge, which, because of traffic noise on the metal, I could not hear.  She and others were yelling what the bridge master had been saying--"Get off the bridge!"  Of course, cars still rumbled by, and a man next to my wife says, "Look at the guy in the green shirt, he is just standing there", to which my wife says:  "That would be my husband."  At least she did not disown me, or provide the comment that this proves her long held belief that I am deaf.  I eventually did hear the bridge master's words, when there was a lull in the traffic.  

Me on a Dolomite Shelf at Cave Point

Of course, the small water craft traveling the channel did not have to stop, unless a sail boat needed the draw bridge to be up.  This can provide a people watching opportunity. I missed one such people watching opportunity, but luckily quickly heard about it in order to get the photo.   What I missed, but saw in the photo, was a young woman in a speed boat who was bent over the front of the boat and her derriere stuck up in the air, in, to put it mildly, and ill-fitting swim suit.  People on the bridge were aghast, at what they had seen, which made me take a photo.  I did not know what they had seen when taking the photo, but figured something on the boat drew their attention.  An elderly gentleman next to my wife yelled out to the young lady in the boat--"Shake it Baby!"  A picture is worth a thousand words, so let the following photo tell the story. Although, let me just say, with the west sun beating down as she headed east, she would have some nice red-hot buns.

Red Hot Buns

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  Ships of old did not have the sophisticated weather equipment we have today.  Hence, why they would have created such witticisms based on their experiences. My final commentary is based on an observation I had while standing on the bridge with the bridge master apparently yelling at me to get off.   The Spanish entry, El Galeon, had arrived earlier in the day.  This ship is a 1:1 replica of an early 16th century Spanish galleon ship, which were the cargo ships of the day.  Some of course were captured and became a pirate ships.  When I think of a tall ship this comes to mind.  In any event, Sturgeon Bay is noted for its ship and yacht building, and what I noticed just beyond El Galeon was a large contemporary cargo ship under going some repair.  Past and present in one photo, showing how shipping has changed, and how the world has changed.

Spanish Galleon in front of Present Day Cargo Ship

Change is one constant of life on earth.  I saw change at the Lake Michigan waterfront at Cave Point, I saw someone who needed to change on a pleasure craft in Sturgeon Bay, and I saw the differences between past and present shipping in a tale of two ships.  That is why I studied, and continue to study, geography, as it is the interplay between man and nature.  The Spanish galleon ships were created to more efficiently transport large amounts of cargo across the ocean, and the machines of today allow much larger ships of metal to do the same chore.  Shipping, is representative of economic geography.  The woman in the ill-fitted swim suit also represents a change in human and cultural geography--tastes (or lack thereof in dress).  The cairns erected on the rock outcropping at Cave Point, is the interplay of physical and cultural geography--to the days when cairns marked something meaningful.  The increased water level is certainly a part of the basics of physical geography-weather and climate.  The physical forces of nature formed Door County. And the obtuse, clue-less guy in the green shirt not hearing the bridge master--that was clearly representative of behavioral geography.  

Geography of Place, Sturgeon Bay, WI Sidewalks