Last night we helped celebrate Kurt’s birthday. Happy birthday, sailor!
Birthday boy.
Category: Fun
Things are picking up.
I’m happy to report that things are picking up in the travel department. Before COVID we happily welcomed regular visitors to Austin and made our share of trips. Four years later, it’s feeling a bit more normal. We took a trip to Denver in January. Noreen and David visited us this Spring. I did a girls’ trip to Santa Barbara. Monte made a guys’ trip to the BVI. We flew up to Seattle in June. Laura came for a visit at the beginning of July. Last week we finished a road trip to see family and National Parks in the midwest.
Monte and I took the Subaru on another road trip. 3000 miles. 8 days and 7 nights. 9 states (well 10 if you count passing through the corner of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas – aka OKKAMO). Made my first-ever visit to a Great Lake. Earned 3 new geocache state badges. Visited four more National Parks, bringing my total to 30. Still lots more to see.
It is nice to reflect that this year alone we have had in-person visits with all of our siblings, most of our nieces and nephews, and even a few grandnieces and nephews. What a treat.
Gateway Arch NP was much more interesting than I expected. The construction of this monument was an engineering marvel at the time, and it is MUCH bigger than I imagined. We took the tour up to the top, and even the tram system was an interesting innovation to learn about. The view from the top was amazing. I was a tiny bit freaked out to look out the window and see both feet of the arch below us(!)
View from the top of the Gateway Arch. The muddy Mississippi River to the east is at the top of this pic.
Indiana Dunes NP was a lovely stop for about 4 hours. We tootled by the homes from the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1933 that have been moved to the lakeshore and are now privately owned and lived in. We scored an amazing parking spot by the beach. And we walked up and down the beach, which did have dunes, but lots of rounded rocks. I waded into Lake Michigan, another first.
The south shore of Lake Michigan. No sea glass was to be found.
Cuyahoga Valley NP was a highlight for me. It commemorates the Ohio and Erie Canal system, with locks, and a tow path for the mule-pulled canal boats. The canal was dug by hand in the early 1800s. It was fed with water from the nearby Cuyahoga River, and carried goods between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, putting Ohio on the map for commerce and transportation. The canal isn’t operating anymore. It was wiped out by floods in the early 1900s and eventually made obsolete by the railway built alongside it. But its footprint is clearly visible and the miles and miles of tow paths make for amazing walking and biking trails. The park is located between Cleveland and Akron and I expected it to be an urban park, but it is in the middle of beautiful forests and hills. It is spread out, so do your research beforehand to pick from the many spots you may want to visit.
We spent 2 half days there, starting at Boston Mills Visitor Center, then visited Brandywine Falls, and the Everett Covered Bridge, walked along the towpaths, stopped in Peninsula to check out the town and to visit Lock 29, and made a visit to the Canal Exploration Center, which helped us to understand the whole canal operation and its history. They have rebuilt a working lock there to demonstrate how they worked.
I’m envious of the people who have this park in their backyard. It’s a beautiful place to get out and explore. If I ever make it back, I’ll bring a bike. And take a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway.
Brandywine Falls @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Everett Covered Bridge @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
A rebuilt, working lock at the Canal Exploration Center @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Mammoth Cave NP. Having driven by this park probably a dozen times, it was time to make a visit. We took the Historical Tour – a 2-hour, 2-mile, guided tour that took us through the cave at numerous levels of its 400′ of depth. It is different from other caves I’ve visited – a “dry”cave – in that it doesn’t drip water from the surface. So, no stalagmites nor stalactites. Rather, the maze of caverns has been cut from adjacent rivers that flow through the cave. It was amazing to experience a tiny bit of its vastness.
A view inside Mammoth Cave along the Historical Tour.
On this trip, we stopped in Rising Sun to visit Gary & Judy, Mary & Megan, and Bryan, and in Gobbler’s Knob to visit Susanne, Lanny, and Mica. We spent an afternoon making peach jam, and brought some home!
It was a great trip, indeed. I have already drafted our national park road trip for next year!
Late night.
I worked an evening show last night at the Bass Concert Hall – The Decemberists. When I saw them on the schedule I signed up. I’m glad I did. Good show. But oh lordie did it get loud. I made it home before turning into a pumpkin by midnight.
Sunday drive.
I am not one to complain about all the great rain we’ve gotten this week. God knows we need it. Yesterday was mostly overcast but dry. It was a good day for a drive in the hill country, and for a pickup party at Becker.
Coastal run.
I made a quick trip to the Texas Gulf Coast this past week. I got in some birding at High Island on Wednesday and Thursday. Then made a quick stop into Kemah at my favorite marine resale shop, then back home.
I enjoyed the birding. Not a record setter, but it was the only time I could make it down there during Spring migration. I got some nice photos, saw about 60 species, and brought home another used sail.
I love it down there.
Rainy weekend.
I worked the Girl from the North Country traveling Broadway show this weekend. I was looking forward to it because it was based on songs from Bob Dylan. I didn’t know anything else about it.
It was more of a spoken play, set in the Depression in Duluth, Minnesota. The story is a tad dark, but well done. The singers were very good.
They performed over 20 Dylan songs, but only the lyrics were familiar, not the melodies, as they were arranged very differently than what I was familiar with.
Overall I enjoyed show. But, the highlight was getting to chat with Ann, Shelly, and Laura who were in the audience on Sunday. 🙂
Park Warriors.
As we roll into this year’s Earth Day, I find myself coming home from a whirlwind trip to California where I experienced four national parks in four days with Lori, Doray, and Laura.
The first park was Yosemite, where I got a glimpse of the amazing scenery of El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and Yosemite Falls. We walked through the Yosemite Valley, along the Tuolumne and Merced rivers.
We stayed at the Wawona Hotel. It was comfortable, but the shared bath/shower house attached to the Hotel might not be for everyone. There’s no elevator, so pack light, because everything must be removed from your vehicle at night to prevent attracting bears. The restaurant meals were good. The scenery everywhere was amazing.
The next park was Kings Canyon, a deep glacially-formed canyon where the ‘kings’ are gigantic monarch sequoias, including the one called General Grant. We enjoyed up-close views of these giants, and hiking through incredible groves of trees.
The next park was just down the road, Sequoia National Park. Snow and downed trees had kept the connecting road, Generals Highway, closed this season until just an hour or two before we arrived. This was a much appreciated surprise which saved us hours of driving.
Inside Sequoia, we stayed at Wuksachi Lodge for two nights. It was comfortable, but we schlepped everything up and down stairs here, too. The restaurant and lodge was convenient for breakfast and dinner. But we made our own lunches to eat on the go. We visited petroglyph rock, the Giant Forest of 2000+ year old sequoias, and its museum. We had lunch at Beetle Rock, overlooking the San Joaquin valley. The highlight of Sequoia for me was the hike to, and up to the top of, Moro Rock and its 360 degree views of the canyons and surrounding valleys. It was breathtaking.
Even though we were pooped, we made the trek down to see the biggest known single trunk tree, by volume, in the world, General Sherman. Impressive. But I sure wish it wasn’t downhill from the parking lot at the end of day three. 🙂
The next park was Pinnacles, which featured rugged peaks formed from volcanic eruptions. We didn’t spend much time here but we enjoyed lunch and a hike. We didn’t originally plan to hit this park but realized it was close enough to include in our trip after we arrived.
We started and ended the trip in Santa Barbara, which allowed us to see Laura’s beautiful new home.
I’m back home now. And scheming my next park adventures.
2024 Eclipse.
Happy New Year! I know. I’ve been MIA. Sorry about that. But, I’m still here!
Noreen and David joined us in Austin for the last week or so. They flew down to see the total solar eclipse. Our house and much of Central Texas were in the zone of totality. We wanted to maximize our amount of time in totality. So, Monte picked Lampasas, Texas as our destination, about an hour drive northwest of our house. The forecast was not great for Austin or Lampasas, but we took our chances, and it turned out great.
Lampasas experienced over 4 1/2 minutes of totality, and it was awesome. The clouds cooperated and, like in 2017, the predicted Armageddon didn’t happen. We didn’t hit traffic or crowds.
One thing that was particularly cool, and that I really don’t recall it being as striking during the last eclipse as it was this year, was how upon reaching totality, it was like the lights just turned off. I don’t remember it being that sudden or that dark in 2017.
I guess I’ll have to travel somewhere if I’m going to see another. There’s one in August 2026 in Spain, maybe I’ll make that one!
Birthday girl!
I headed down to the University of Texas campus today to meet up with a bunch of friends to celebrate Laura’s birthday. Not all the ladies could make it, but we had a great lunch at Gabriel’s Cafe in the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, just down the street from the UT Tower. We all enjoyed catching up with eachother. Afterwards, we walked the few blocks to the Blanton Museum. Tuesday’s are free!
I haven’t been down to the museum district since before COVID. And things sure have changed! There is a new pedestrian-only mall that goes all the way from the Capitol Building, up to the Blanton – and huge new office buildings where there used to be only a surface parking lot.
The Blanton has done much work on their grounds, and this pretty awesome feature consists of a dozen 3-story tall structures that they call Petals. They provide much needed shade.
I need to come down more often to enjoy the exhibits.
Happy Birthday, Laura!
Expanding horizons.
Recently, a friend shared that her daughter and colleagues were starting a used and vintage online book shop. Wanting to support them, I signed up. After taking a look, I was intrigued. The company is called Vignette Books (@vignettebookshop on instagram, http://www.vignettebooks.com). Their approach is that customers self-select an “Edit;” which is essentially a category of books. They have a quiz for customers to find out which Edit most matches their interests. I took the quiz and found the “Natural” Edit was a good fit for me.
So, you select an Edit, and then order a set of 1 to 3 books that Vignette Books picks from you from a curated set of used and vintage books in their inventory.
My order came a week or two ago and I was pleasantly pleased with the selections. One was a book about whales, their evolution, and history. I read that one first. I think I could now have a chance in any Jeopardy category about whales 🙂
The second was a biography about Rachel Carson, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I knew Carson wrote Silent Spring, but I didn’t realize that her background was marine biology and that she had written 3 award winning books on the ocean, sea birds, and other sea life prior to writing Silent Spring. So, now I’ve begun reading them. See how that expanding horizons thing works?
The next book of my three from Vignette Books is in the on-deck circle, and it is a story of a trek through the Arizona desert to find a stone carving of a maze similar to one found in Wales. I’m looking forward to that one, too.
If you, too, are intrigued, check out Vignette Books!
One more show for the road.
The Texas Performing Arts 2022/2023 season is coming to a close. I worked as a volunteer usher for my eighth event yesterday, a production of the Broadway in Austin musical Hairspray – very colorful, talented singers, and great tunes. In a month or two I’ll decide whether to sign up for the next season. I very much enjoyed the shows I was able to work.
Happy Birthday, Paul!
How is it that we know so many old people?! :). Today we celebrated Paul’s big birthday with him and his crew. It’s getting hot out there!!!
Celebrate.
This week we drove down to Houston to celebrate the birthday and anniversary of friends of ours, Asha and Shekhar.
I’ve known Asha for over 35 years, which seems strange just typing that. We were roommates way back when. We ended up moving to the same state, though different cities. She’s always reached out to remain connected over the years, and for that, I am thankful. I’ve enjoyed her family as it grew over the years, attending her wedding, and getting to know her husband and her strong, successful daughters as they’ve grown up.
Happy Birthday Asha, and Happy Anniversary Asha and Shekhar!
Time warp.
This afternoon I went to a movie theater with several girlfriends to watch the film Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. I think Diana suggested we go, but what a great idea!
I don’t think I’ve been inside a movie theater for over 5 years. Probably a lot longer. But the new cinemas sure are comfy. Monte and I need to get back to it. Plus… bottomless popcorn!!!!
I didn’t even know this movie was made, but when I heard about it, I knew I had to see it. Judy Blume’s book came out in 1970. It’s about a 6th grade girl, ~12 years old, spanning one year of her life, going through puberty, moving schools, and making new friends.
I read this book when I was 11 or 12, myself, a few years after it was published. It struck a chord with me back then. And, it struck that chord again today in the theater. I enjoyed the movie. It even brought a tear to my eye as it brought up feelings from nearly 50 years ago. I can’t understand why anyone would have a problem with this book, let alone ban it.
Go see it!
Sheila365 