Overview
In the past thirty years I have presented well over 100 public and private tours. These do not include the many field trips I’ve led for my college and adult-education students.
Currently, I offer what I call “virtual tours” only. These are administered by my contracted hosts via Zoom or a similar meetings platform.
I’m quite enthused about this new type of teaching and knowledge-sharing. Like the architectural-geology talks listed on my Lectures page, the virtual tours are presented in PowerPoint format. However, they are much more closely patterned on the face-to-face, site-by-site neighborhood tours I’ve done in years past. And I also access my huge architectural-geology database and photo file in “real time,” during the discussions.
My participants and I explore architectural-geology sites in a particular neighborhood or community in greater detail. While there is a set itinerary, we’re in free-discussion (chat) mode throughout the event, so the discussion is more seminar-like and free-ranging. In my lectures, in contrast, viewers directly participate only in the questions-and-answers section at the end.
My virtual tours can also be customized to meet the specific preferences of my hosts. They are particularly suitable for tour-docent training, historical societies, Earth-science clubs, and architectural and restoration firms. For examples of the virtual-tour venues I’m now developing, see the list directly below this section.
Due to the painstaking effort and great amount of time my preparation for these tours entail, I kindly ask hosts to provide an honorarium. It’s also an acknowledgment of my expertise. Please feel free to inquire about what honorarium would be suitable for a tour you’re interested in.
EXAMPLES OF VIRTUAL-TOUR VENUES
Chicago’s Loop: choose your quadrant (NW, NE, SW, SE) or streets
Chicago’s West Side
Chicago’s South Side
Chicago’s North Side (choose your neighborhood!)
Chicago’s Graceland & Rosehill Cemeteries
Milwaukee: Juneau Town – choose your portion thereof
Milwaukee : Kilbourn Town – choose your portion there of
Milwaukee: Yankee Hill & points north, including Shorewood
Milwaukee: western neighborhoods & Wauwatosa
Milwaukee: southern neighborhoods
Milwaukee: Forest Home Cemetery
Forest Park, IL: Forest Home Cemetery
Evanston, IL: Calvary Cemetery
Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Campus
Chicagoland suburban communities of architectural distinction, including Oak Park, Evanston, Lake Forest, Wilmette, Waukegan, Naperville, Lower Des Plaines Valley (Lemont, Lockport, Joliet)
Southeastern WI: various communities, including Racine, Kenosha, Burlington, Elkhorn, Whitewater, Cedarburg/Grafton, Waukesha, Oconomowoc, Port Washington
Fox Valley towns, IL: Crystal Lake to Aurora
Rock Valley towns, IL: Rockford to Dixon and Ashton
Northwestern IL towns: Freeport, Galena
Southwestern Wisconsin towns: Mineral Point, Platteville, Monroe, Darlington, Beloit
RAY’S PREVIOUS, FACE-TO-FACE TOUR VENUES HAVE INCLUDED:
Baraboo Syncline and Environs, Wisconsin (geology & botany)
Batavia, Illinois (architectural geology)
Brooklyn, NYC: Prospect Park (botany & geology)
Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery (architectural geology)
Chicago’s Hyde Park Neighborhood (architectural geology)
Chicago’s Loop (architectural geology)
Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, River North, & Streeterville (architectural geology)
Driftless Area of Wisconsin (geology & botany)
DuPage County (geology)
Evanston, Illinois (architectural geology)
Fox River Valley (architecturasl geology)
Geneva, Illinois (architectural geology)
Highland Park, Illinois (architectural geology)
Homewood, Illinois (architectural geology)
Illinois Beach State Park (geology & botany)
Illinois’ North Shore (geology & botany)
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (geology & botany)
Indiana Dunes State Park (geology & botany)
Kenosha Dunes Preserve, Wisconsin (geology & botany)
Kenosha, Wisconsin (architectural geology)
Lake Forest, Illinois (architectural geology)
Manhattan, NYC: Central Park (botany & geology)
Manhattan, NYC (steet-tree botany)
Matthiessen State Park, Illinois (geology & botany)
McCormick Ravine, Lake Forest, Illinois (botany & geology)
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (botany & geology)
Minnesota’s Lake Superior Shore / Mesabi Range (geology & botany)
Middlefork Savanna, Lake Forest, Illinois (botany)
Naperville, Illinois (architectural geology)
Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota (geology & botany)
Northern Minnesota and the Lake Superior Region (geology & botany)
Northwestern Illinois: Rock River Hill Country and the Driftless Area (geology & botany)
Oak Park, Illinois (architectural geology)
Oswego, Illinois (architectural geology)
Racine, Wisconsin (architectural geology)
Rock River Valley, Illinois (geology & botany)
Rockford, Illinois (architectural geology)
Shaw Prairie, Lake Forest, Illinois (botany)
Southern Illinois — Shawnee National Forest and Environs (geology & botany)
Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Parks, Illinois (geology & botany)
St. Charles, Illinois (architectural geology)
Trans-Pecos Texas, including Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks (geology & botany)
Winnebago & Stephenson Counties, Illinois (geology & botany)
Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula (geology & botany)
Wisconsin’s Lake Superior Shore (geology & botany)
