Transportation Lesson #2: Mail Boat Delivery Jump Tour (Lake Geneva, WI)

Lake Geneva, Photo by Krenda

"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat...", we all hear about how the United States Post Office employees deliver mail despite bad weather.  We also hear about the many different transportation methods needed throughout history to transport the mail - horse drawn wagons, airplanes, trucks, etc.  There's stories about mail delivered by bush pilots in Alaska and mule train to the Havasupai Indians at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  To learn more, you can take your kids to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.  

The museum includes an exhibit about the relationship between mail and our national parks "Trailblazing 100 Years of Our National Parks."

Then I heard about an experiential learning opportunity on CBS News Sunday Morning segment in which Bill Geist describes a timeless place where the arrival of summer is announced by the first mailboat.  In Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, mail still gets delivered by boat daily from June to September.  It began approximately 100 years ago before the government built roads around the lake.  Before the summer season, Gage boat company holds tryouts for mail jumpers who will ride the boat, jump onto the pier, put mail in and out of the mailbox, and jump back on the boat.

You can take your kids on the Gage boat tour "U.S. Mailboat Tour".  The 2.5 hour tour takes you on a cruise around Lake Geneva to watch a mail jumper in action.  He or she delivers the mail to about 75 homes on the lake with approximately 160 tourists watching.  The service continues as a free service.  To watch the action on Wadsworth 11, the only mail jumping boat in the U.S., you'll need to pay $38 for adults and $22 for children.

Our mail jumper had skills.  He'd sprint to the mailbox.  At one point, he had to jump off the boat and put mail in an entire row of mailboxes, run about a mile, and time it right to jump back on the moving boat.  He really showed off by jumping off a dock and then doing a cartwheel before placing mail into the box.  Everyone cheered for him.  The residents also seem to enjoy the service.  Some would sit on their pier in big wooden chairs waiting for the mail delivery and waving to the tourists.  Another resident waited by his box for a hand delivery.

Besides the entertainment, the boat emcee provides history lessons about the mansions surrounding the lakes and the famous business families like Wrigley owning them.

Today email works fast.  But think about the years of news delivered by the mailman.  Letters from soldiers, love letters, holiday cards, postcards giving you a glimpse of a place far away.  I still find joy in sending and receiving postcards.  Thanks to the U.S. Postal Service employees for delivering through difficult weather or taking a risk to fall in the lake so residents can open a envelope of joy.

Transportation Lesson #7: 8 Ways to Ride a Stagecoach

Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm: Olathe, Kansas

Transportation vehicles can take your kids mind back in time.  Imagine moving at 10 miles per hour with your ten pound or less luggage in heat, cold, dust, and bumpy roads.  Makes you appreciate your last airplane flight a bit more.  In the 19th centuries, stagecoaches acted as a main transportation mode, more rugged and stronger than carriages with thin wheels.  Slower than a horse, but taking heavier loads, stagecoaches delivered mail, freight, and passengers.  At one time, the US had over 150 stagecoach stations between Kansas and California.  The railroad competed and decreased stagecoaches.  The automobile put stagecoaches to a halt. 

We drove out west to see stagecoaches at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm in Olathe, Kansas.  The living history farm provides six rides on Saturday and one ride on Sunday ($7 adults, $5 youth entrance).  During the work week, you can get a reduced entrance fee to see the exhibits and barn, but no ride.

Here's seven other places your family can take a stagecoach ride:
1.  Yellowstone National Park; we visited the park but did not know you could take a stagecoach ride at Roosevelt area for only $15
2.  Jackson Hole, Wyoming; visiting the square, we were aware of the stagecoaches circling the square; 10 minute ride $6-10, Memorial Day to Labor Day
3.  MacDonald's Ranch, AZ; 26540 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ, 48 minutes $48 adult/$45 child; moonlight ride 1 hour $85, 1.5 hour $100; however fee to farm with no ride $0
4.  Tombstone, AZ; Allen St. in front of OK Corral, 20 minute narrated tour of historic town; adult $10, children $5
5.  Harris Stage Lines, CA; 5995 N River Rd, Paso Robles, CA 1.5 hour tour including stagecoach ride $50/person with $200 minimum; also offers camps and clinics
6.  Knott's Berry Farm, CA;  8039 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, CA; Butterfield Stagecoach ride is an attraction; admission $45 (online) to $75 (gate ticket)/person; other rides include Bigfoot Rapids, Calico mine ride, and Calico railroad
7.  Old Sturbridge Village, MA; 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA; May to Oct. rides in reproduction 19th century stagecoach, $3 ride

NPS #2: Pearl Harbor Memorial & Military History

Pearl Harbor Memorial; Photo by Krenda

A shout out to the men and women who are serving our nation and the families who support them. Here's my disclosure - I have relatives who have served or currently serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. I may be biased to think about them and other military families often.  These photos were taken in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor.  Author Patricia Schultz lists "Oahu" as a must see site in her book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and she recognizes the tie to history, "the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor reminds you of the city's place in 20th-century history."

My husband tells the story of his uncle in the Navy in Pearl Harbor during the attack and how he swam below burning water, splashing the water to find a place to come up and breath without flames, and his survival.

We took the opportunity to visit the location of the attack.  If you want to visit Pearl Harbor, go to Aloha Court on Oahu.  You can get free tickets to the Navy-operated shuttle boat ride and walk through exhibit galleries.  Also, you can visit the Pearl Harbor Memorial Theater and learn more at the 23- minute documentary film.

May is Military Appreciation month and Ladies Home Journal has a few ideas to show you appreciate the troops:
- send an e-mail or letter of thanks at Amillionthanks.org
- ship a care package to a soldier through Uso.org/donate
- write an uplifting message at Americasupportsyou.mil
Also, my husband and I have found through our travels, that when you see someone in uniform or meet someone who tells you they are a veteran, it means a lot to stop to say "thank you".