I-90 Archives - Chris Carosa

Tourist Traps to Timeless Landscapes

By Chris Carosa on July 22, 2025

Not all tourist traps are alike. At some point, a tourist trap transcends its label, becoming a “must-see” simply for being so over the top. I can’t remember when we saw the first Wall Drug roadside sign, but its fame far exceeded its actual appearance.

We’d long left Chicago’s skyline behind for the flatlands. Of course, before the wide-open spaces, we traversed Wisconsin and Minnesota. It’s kind of arbitrary, but somehow poetic, to declare that crossing the Mississippi River truly makes you feel “out West” for the first time.

I-90 crosses the Mississippi on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border immediately south of Lake Onalaska. Yeah, they call it a lake, but it looks like it’s part of the river. Stretching 4 miles across, this is the widest span of the Mississippi River (if you include the Lake).

Oddly, crossing the Mississippi didn’t immediately scream “out West.” Instead, my brain went Continue Reading “Tourist Traps to Timeless Landscapes”

Posted in History, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Advertising, American Dream, Bandlands, Betsy, billboard, bison, Catarina, confidence, consecrated Americans, dinosaurs, Dune, E Pluribus Unum, Emma Lazarus, erosion, Faith, fossil, Founding Fathers, France, freedom, geology, Gutzon Borglum, Hamburger, hope, I-90, Italian, Italian American, jackalope, kitsch, Lake Onalaska, liberty, Lincoln Borglum, Luigi Del Bianco, marketing, McDonald's, melting pot, Minnesota, Minuteman Missle Silo, Mississippi River, Mount Rushmore, Peter, photography, prairie dogs, quarter pounder, Rapid City, Reptile World, roadside sign, sedimentary stone, South Dakota, Space Invaders, spirit of America, statue, Statue of Liberty, strata, sweet light, tourist trap, Wall Drug, William Andrew Burkett, Wisconsin, wretched refuse

Chicagoland: Gateway to the West

By Chris Carosa on July 15, 2025

“I’ve hit Chicago, but Chicagoland? Never. That alone made this leg of the journey even more enticing, a perfect way to kick things off.

Not that we needed enticing.

Remember your first day of school? Work? Summer camp? The eagerness. The excitement. That urge to dive in headfirst. Optimism bubbling up. Anything feels possible.

Now, imagine embarking on a long vacation. Same vibe. That first-day buzz. All that anxiety Continue Reading “Chicagoland: Gateway to the West”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Abbott Parkway, Bean, Betsy, Catarina, Cesidia, Chicago, Chicagoland, Cook County, Daley Plaza, Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken, Federal Center, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, George Gipp, Glenbrook North High School, Home Alone, I-90, Ilio's, Italian Village, Jeanmarie, John Hughes, Knute Rockne, Maine North High School, Millennium Park, Notre Dame, Odessa Steps, Peter, Portillo's, Save Ferris, Sears Tower, Seurat, Sisteen Candles, The Battleship Potemkin, The Blues Brothers, The Breakfast Club, The Untouchables, Thruway, Touchdown Jesus, Union Station, Willis Tower

Ode To The Open Road

By Chris Carosa on August 31, 2021

In the minds of many, the fast-approaching Labor Day represents the metaphorical end of summer. Before we take that literary leap, however, let’s spend one final weekend basking in the glory of the sun and the freedom of endless fields of rolling hills, chirping nature, and fragrant wild flowers.

There’s more to it than that, though.

From the beginning of our lives, we’ve come to see summer as a 10-week break. It starts with the calendar of school. Out in June. Back in September. July and August became the Continue Reading “Ode To The Open Road”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged America's First Frontier, Arhcer Butler Hulbert, Articles of Confederation, Beach Boys, British Invasion, car, classic American film, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Endless Summer, Federal Aid Highway Act, Founding Fathers, Great American Novel, hot rod, I-90, inalienable rights, Interstate Highway System, Jan and Dean, Labor Day, lonesome cowboy, Macadmized, Mike Love, Rock & Roll, Route 15, Route 5 & 20, Route 66, summer, The Beach Boys, The Genesee Road, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Highway System, western