Texas State Capitol, Austin, TX
St. George Island, FL
Cades Cove, TN
Fairy Garden, Mount Gretna, PA (We esp liked the rubber duck!)
Austin, TX
Great Smoky Mountains, NC
San Antonio, TX
Central Pennsylvania
Treasure Island, FL
At the Alamo Mission (built in 1936 for the Texas Centennial)
Treasure Island, FL (Winter is coming!)
Mission Concepcion National Park (San Antonio, TX)
Great Smoky Mountains, NC
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Rufus in the Poconos
St. George Island, FL
Treasure Island, FL
St. George Island, FL
Lake Travis, TX (View from our campsite!)
East Beach, Santa Barbara, CA
Treasure Island, FL
St. George Island, FL
St. George Island, FL
St. George Island, East Slough (aka the mosquito coast!)
]]>Camp Meeting Tabernacle
Mount Gretna, PA celebrated its 125th anniversary when we stayed there in the summer of 2017. It was founded as part of the Chautauqua movement, which aims to support lifelong learning by offering entertainment and cultural programming for the entire community. That tradition continues to this day, with a full summer of events offered in various locations, but mainly through two outdoor amphitheaters, called tabernacles.
There are two main communities in Gretna, Chautauqua and Camp Meeting, the latter of which has housing so dense much of it is accessible only on foot.
Beyond the speakers, music, and arts programming, people like Mt. Gretna for its ice cream shop and a small lake.
The Lake
The Jigger Shop
But it may be best known for its porches. It' s hard to find a house in the area without one. Some of our favorites are below.
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What better place to see the total solar eclipse of 2017 than in the most visited National Park in the US!? Ok, I know what you are thinking. But as it turned out, traffic wasn't that bad — at least not for us. Plus, it was a great view!
We camped in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. It's an 11-mile, one-way, narrow loop through backcountry that was farmed in the 19th century, but pretty much abandoned after that. Beautiful — if not easily accessible.
We were in line to enter the loop at 5:30 am; some had gotten there at 1am and traffic was backed up for about 60 miles by the time the gate opened.
There was a bear in the loop that caused a brief delay, but we got the central parking area by 8am and staked out our place under a tree. It ended up being the PERFECT place to wait for about 6 hours!
What do people do while waiting for six hours? Try out their eclipse glasses and equipment — a lot. A particularly enterprising family brought ropes and their kids made a make-shift playground that was used by everyone. Rufus slept. Everyone tried to escape the sun..when they weren't looking at it!
The changes in the environment were the coolest part of eclipse for us. It was like wearing photo-gray sunglasses, everything just got slightly darker...and so much cooler!
And it all happens so fast — as you can see in the video below.
We opted to not buy any special equipment— so we could only take pictures at totality. In any case, no pictures we have seen really did it justice. So, we'd say, if you have the chance in 2024 — go see it in person!
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The house we rented was in the thick stretch of trees you see beyond this farm.
Our closest neighbors were cows and they were great! They didn't even smell! Our roommates however, turned out to be intolerable — mice. Lots and lots of them.
We were a little slow to recognize the extent of the mouse problem, so we enjoyed 3 days of 60-70 degree temps, lovely views, and of course — Woodstock, man!
The site only recently was put on the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally Yasgar's dairy farm, the land was purchased in the 80's is now a non-profit concert and event space.
You can watch a film sitting in bean bag chairs, which Curt and our friends took full advantage of!
Of course....
They had a special exhibit on how counter-culture went mainstream.
The festival grounds, behind the giant picture frame — form a natural ampitheatre.
This field on Yasgar's dairy farm.
The day before we left we went with friends to Roscoe, NY to visit Buck Brook Alpaca farm. These animals are characters — if you ever have a chance to visit an Alpaca farm, do it!
Adult males have fighting teeth, but others only have bottom teeth, so you can feed them.
But the farm is nearing capacity. They started with 60 and have 160+ now. They run a breeding and boarding program.
The animals had all recently been sheared...they leave hair on their heads and legs purely for aesthetic reasons. Also, the guy who shears them comes all the way from AUSTRALIA!
With a great assist from Curt's Mom, we managed to find a place to stay in Curt's old hometown of Mount Gretna until mid-August. It's a cute place, founded in 1892 as part of the Chautauqua adult education movement. We look forward to telling you all about it!
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Colonial Beach, VA — When the carnival came to town.
Montross, VA
Reedville, VA — A historic fishing village comprising one road with water on both sides!
Shiloh School, Northumberland County, VA
Colonial Beach, VA — Not the most happinen' place!
Chinatown, Philadelphia
Calicoon, NY — Our nearest neighbors.
History
We walked from 30th St station to Independence Hall, which, in case memory is not serving you at the moment, is where the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were signed. (Tickets are free, but are timed and offered on a first come, first served basis).
Independence Hall
We also stopped by to visit the Liberty Bell, (no tickets necessary), which was given its current name in 1835, about 80 years after it was forged. Abolitionists took it up as a symbol, noting its inscription was not yet a reality in our young nation: "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof." Suffragists and the civil rights movement also used the Liberty Bell as a symbol.
The Liberty Bell
Food
Next, we headed to the Reading Terminal Market for some lunch, passing Chinatown along the way (which also provided many options for lunch!)
Reading Terminal Market
Chinatown
Chinatown
Then we headed up Ben Franklin Parkway, which is chock full of things to do and see — parks, libraries, museums and more.
Culture
The famous LOVE sculpture is being refurbished — so we settled for Amor!
Logan Circle
Map room at the Philadelphia Central Library.
The Philadelphia Central Library opened in 1927 and the building is absolutely worth a look inside — it's huge! Plus, they give free tours on most days!
Rodin Museum
The Rodin Museum has the largest collection of Auguste Rodin's work outside of Paris. (Your entrance fee into the Philadelphia Museum of Art is good for two-days and will also get you into this museum.)
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Mike Nicholas — the Sequoia National Park
We also visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is the third largest art museum in the country! On exhibit were the photographs of Mike Nichols, a photographer who specializes in capturing wild places in a truly unique way. For a peek at his work see here.
Rocky with the art museum in the background. It's a popular, but frankly not very attractive, sculpture.
George Washington
If you exit through the back of the museum you'll come upon some sculptures, but also a pathway down to the Fairmont Water Works, which is on the National Register of Historic places. Depending on the time of day, you may see crew teams on the water of the Schuylkill River.
View of the Water Works with the art museum in background.
We took the walking and bike path from the Water Works along the river back to 30th St Station (about 1 mile) to catch our train back to Central PA.
Oh, and one more thing — Philadelphia has a renowned mural arts program. It's amazing! Many are in residential areas, but we caught two in the largely commercial districts we walked through. Mural Arts Philadelphia offer tours regularly — which we highly recommend!
Mural Arts Program
]]>If there was a theme to our travels in 2016 it was "high desert"; this year it's probably water. That's certainly true of our stay in Virginia's Northern Neck. The Northern Neck is a slip of land that has the Rappahannock River one side and the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay on the other.
Fishing, oysters, farms, and "antique shops" are all over, and there is a growing number of vineyards. Towns are really small and for the most part, people are extremely friendly. Oh, and George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe were all born here!
We stayed in Colonial Beach, founded in 1892, for about six weeks. It's pretty far north on the Neck, so we took a road trip to explore. Exploring mostly meant visiting tiny museums, where the docents give you a personal tour that lasts a little longer than you might like. The trade-off is that you learn a lot that you simply would never find out otherwise.
Here's a glimpse of a few places we visited.
Only about 1.5 hours south of DC, the town is on the upswing (there's debate, but that's what most people we talked to said.) It's nothing like it's heyday in the 70s when the river was lined by casinos — but it has a spa, a few new restaurants, and a micro-brewery. We stayed here for six weeks, and for the most part, we had the place to ourselves.
Colonial Beach during a busy weekend — they were celebrating the 60th annual Potomac River Festival.
There are a few small hotels that have been refurbished — this one is kept up, but not operational.
Moon River
We bought a kayak — when in Rome!
Osprey nest on poles all along the river. The town is actually full of birds; they kind of run the place.
Waitin' on the Fireman's Parade. About 200 emergency vehicles — all with their sirens on!
Lynn the head of the Kinsale Foundation; makes a mean poundcake!
You would never get to Kinsale if you weren't trying. We thought we'd check-in at the museum, which was run by a lovely lady named Lynn, who had hundreds of stories to tell. She also had some tricks up here sleeve to get people to stay a bit longer: "Oh, are you leaving so soon? I was just about to cut you a slice of poundcake." She wasn't kidding. Curt was thrilled.
The grain processor — semi-trucks dump the grain here, which is then fed onto large barges.
Like a lot of places on the Northern Neck, Kinsale's economy continues to be driven by practices used for centuries. They still ship soybeans and other grains grown in the area up barges on the river — now they go to a Purdue chicken plant in Maryland.
This may have been our favorite stop along the trip. The town is really just a single road, with water on either side. It has a lovely Fisherman's Museum, which also boasts an impressive model train display and a boat shop where they refurbish donated wooden boats. The docents will provide a guided tour of all of it to you — like it or not!
Reedville. The economy has been supported since the 1800's by menhaden. Small fish that move in large, tight schools. They are harvested for use in feed and fish oil.
A vessel docked at the Fisherman's Museum.
As you move towards the Chesapeake Bay, the towns start to get a bit fancier — they are still rural, but you also have multi-million dollar river estates thrown in the mix. There are some coffee shops and restaurants, and a few hotels as well. Also, the oyster industry has made a big comeback along the Rappanhock River. So, you can find a few upscale places to enjoy them.
Dog & Oyster Vineyard If you always wanted to know what the world's biggest wine key look like — here you go. It's in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Shiloh School. One of its first teachers in the early 20th century was Jesse Ball duPont — she later became a major philanthropist in the area (she was the third wife of Alfred duPont).
Hope & Glory. This boutique hotel in Irvington used to be a boarding school in the 19th century. Rooms start at $200. If you prefer, they also offer tent accommodations!
Magnolia trees are all around — and in bloom for most of our stay on the Neck!
We mainly knew this as the place we always stopped for coffee (it somehow was on the way to most everywhere we went.)
However, it's also a town that kept a muralist very busy. Below are just a few of the murals that were pretty much on the side of ever business in town.
The Coca Cola bottler for the Northern Neck. It's no longer in operation — the building is for sale though!
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As you know, we cherish the outdoors and try to spend as much time as possible in it. We marched to protect our public lands and in support of measures outlined in the Paris agreement to help stop the threat of climate change.
Curt, Wendy's Dad & Brother
Signs in action!
Beyond that we joined this march because the organizers have done the hard work of building coalitions across diverse organizations, such as environmental groups, labor unions, and economic justice groups, to ensure we work together, rather than at cross purposes. So, we were proud to also march for jobs and economic and ecological justice.
We look forward to continuing the work through local action in the coming months and years. (If you are interested in getting involved in your area, you can find a list of groups involved here.)
Anyway, if you couldn't be there, here's some of what you missed!
]]>Here's some of what we saw over the past month. Enjoy!
Tea Ceremony. Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival. (Nashville does not have a lot of cherry trees — but the US headquarters of Nissan is nearby.)
People's Climate March, DC
Somewhere in southern Tennessee.
Rufus on Natchez Trace. This 440+ mile trail was used by American Indians as a trade route for centuries and later used by European traders.
Florence, AL
Northern Alabama – they are for sale!
People's Climate March, DC
Athena! A big surprise inside the Parthenon, Nashville, TN
Florence, Alabama. Rosenbaum House. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938.
Sculpture Garden. Washington DC
People's Climate March, DC _ People Power!
]]>Here's some of what we saw over the past month. Enjoy!
Tea Ceremony. Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival. (Nashville does not have a lot of cherry trees — but the US headquarters of Nissan is nearby.)
People's Climate March, DC
Somewhere in southern Tennessee.
Rufus on Natchez Trace. This 440+ mile trail was used by American Indians as a trade route for centuries and later used by European traders.
Florence, AL
Northern Alabama – they are for sale!
People's Climate March, DC
Athena! A big surprise inside the Parthenon, Nashville, TN
Florence, Alabama. Rosenbaum House. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938.
Sculpture Garden. Washington DC
People's Climate March, DC _ People Power!
]]>Percy Sledge — Aretha Franklin — Rolling Stones — Bob Dylan — Paul Simon — Bob Seger — Staples Singers — Linda Ronstadt — Cher — Willie Nelson — Lynard Skynard....are just a few of the artists who composed and recorded hit songs in the studios of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
It's a really small town, in a largely agricultural area. We won't try to tell you why and how this all happened there — there's a great documentary for that. (Stream it on Netflix!) If you want to experience a bit of the place, we think this song, by Aretha Franklin best captures the sound the studio, producers, and musicians brought to the music.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio today
We toured the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, which was formed in 1969 by four studio musicians who split from the producer and owner of Fame studios, where early hits by the likes of Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James were composed and recorded.
We got there early and were the only two on the tour — so we kind of got the run of the place. Get a peek below!
The blue address logo on the front of the building is courtesy of Cher's graphic designer. He put it on her album cover and the studio ended up copying it and putting it on their building.
The Lounge. Much cleaner today than it was back in the day, so we were told.
A million dollar grant from Beats Electronics (Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine) allowed the nonprofit that now runs the tours to refurbish the studio with period furniture. In the recent past, the building had been an appliance store.
The Recording Console.
The equipment in the studio is from the period, but not original to the place. (It is apparently much fancier than what they had at the time.) They have recently started recording in the studio again.
The bathroom where Keith Richards composed, "Wild Horses".
The piano parts for Kodachrome, by Paul Simon, were composed on this piano. The piano had been given to a backup singer when the studio closed. She kept it in working condition for decades and donated it back to the nonprofit that now runs the studio.
The Tennessee River
When the artists came to town to record, they stayed in nearby Florence, Al, just across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals and Sheffield where the studios were located.
Florence is home to the University of Northern Alabama and also a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. So, of course we checked that out.
The Rosenbaum house is one of his usonian homes, which were designed to be affordable for middle-class Americans. However, he charged the family $15,000 to design a 1,500 sq. ft home in 1938 — which was not cheap. Mrs. Rosenbaum lived in the house until the mid-1990's, when she moved to a nursing home. At that time, the City bought and restored the house.
Rosenbaum House. Front. The overhang to the right is the carpark.
Rosenbaum House. Back.
Rosenbaum House, Japanese Garden.
The Natchez Trace, a 444 mile trail that runs from Mississippi to Nashville, is now a parkway managed by the National Park Service. We could pick it up nearby, so, we took the slow road back home to Nashville, following the trade route used for centuries by many American Indian nations.
Overlook
Original Trail (this was detour..the road home was not THIS slow!)
]]>Percy Sledge — Aretha Franklin — Rolling Stones — Bob Dylan — Paul Simon — Bob Seger — Staples Singers — Linda Ronstadt — Cher — Willie Nelson — Lynard Skynard....are just a few of the artists who composed and recorded hit songs in the studios of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
It's a really small town, in a largely agricultural area. We won't try to tell you why and how this all happened there — there's a great documentary for that. (Stream it on Netflix!) If you want to experience a bit of the place, we think this song, by Aretha Franklin best captures the sound the studio, producers, and musicians brought to the music.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio today
We toured the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, which was formed in 1969 by four studio musicians who split from the producer and owner of Fame studios, where early hits by the likes of Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James were composed and recorded.
We got there early and were the only two on the tour — so we kind of got the run of the place. Get a peek below!
The blue address logo on the front of the building is courtesy of Cher's graphic designer. He put it on her album cover and the studio ended up copying it and putting it on their building.
The Lounge. Much cleaner today than it was back in the day, so we were told.
A million dollar grant from Beats Electronics (Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine) allowed the nonprofit that now runs the tours to refurbish the studio with period furniture. In the recent past, the building had been an appliance store.
The Recording Console.
The equipment in the studio is from the period, but not original to the place. (It is apparently much fancier than what they had at the time.) They have recently started recording in the studio again.
The bathroom where Keith Richards composed, "Wild Horses".
The piano parts for Kodachrome, by Paul Simon, were composed on this piano. The piano had been given to a backup singer when the studio closed. She kept it in working condition for decades and donated it back to the nonprofit that now runs the studio.
The Tennessee River
When the artists came to town to record, they stayed in nearby Florence, Al, just across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals and Sheffield where the studios were located.
Florence is home to the University of Northern Alabama and also a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. So, of course we checked that out.
The Rosenbaum house is one of his usonian homes, which were designed to be affordable for middle-class Americans. However, he charged the family $15,000 to design a 1,500 sq. ft home in 1938 — which was not cheap. Mrs. Rosenbaum lived in the house until the mid-1990's, when she moved to a nursing home. At that time, the City bought and restored the house.
Rosenbaum House. Front. The overhang to the right is the carpark.
Rosenbaum House. Back.
Rosenbaum House, Japanese Garden.
The Natchez Trace, a 444 mile trail that runs from Mississippi to Nashville, is now a parkway managed by the National Park Service. We could pick it up nearby, so, we took the slow road back home to Nashville, following the trade route used for centuries by many American Indian nations.
Overlook
Original Trail (this was detour..the road home was not THIS slow!)
]]>Here's some of our favorite pictures from the past few months.
Panama City, FL
Bird Fight! St. Andrew's State Park, FL
Our old friend, fungus. Pine Log State Park.
St. Joe's State Park, FL
Apalachicola, FL (Oyster Capitol of the World!)
St. George Island State Park, FL
Hatch Show Print shop. Nashville, TN
Honky Tonk Row, Nashville
Hatch Show Print shop.
Boot Country, Honky Tonk Row, Nashville.
Honky Tonk Row. Nashville, TN
Cheekwood Gardens, Japanese Garden. Nashville, TN
]]>Hatch Show Print
We were struck by how similar Nashville is to Seattle in some ways— lots of construction and cranes, skyrocketing rents, technology start-ups, vegan/gluten-free bakeries(!) Unlike Seattle, which has 1001 places to buy fleece, Nashville has 1001 places to buy cowboy boots...and although music is a big deal in Seattle, it is positively unavoidable in Nashville.
Here's a run-down of some of what we've seen & done so far.
The Frist Center for the Arts is housed in a former Post Office, built in 1933 as part of a depression era works program (prior to the New Deal). They offer a free architectural tour the first Saturday of the month at 4:30pm — we recommend it before the monthly art crawl! If you want to take in the art it'll cost you $12. The museum has no standing collections. It hosts about 4-5 traveling exhibitions each year.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts is housed in a former Post Office.
From Claire Morgan - Stop me feel exhibit. Taxidermy and bits of plastic, bugs and other naturally found items make for surprisingly beautiful pieces!
When the building was a Post Office.
The designers chose from a standard set of architectural elements available for use in Government buildings at the time.
Sand Mandala from the Buddhist Art Exhibit.
If you saw, "The Parthenon" and said, "Huh?" You are not alone. It was built for Nashville's Centennial celebration in 1897 and is a replica of the one in Greece. The City's leadership felt it would help to instill respect for the arts and philosophy. It later became the city's art museum. It's worth a visit if only to walk around outside (entrance fee is $6 to see the art.) It sits across the street from Vanderbilt University and next to the Centennial Park, which includes a small body of water and lots of trees and flowers.
The Hatch Show Print letterpress print shop is now housed in and part of the Country Music Hall of Fame. We took the tour ($18) and it was worth it. You learn about the history of this 130-year-old shop and letterpress printing and get to make your own print. The shop started printing bibles and hymnals, became the printer for all shows at the Grand Ole Opry in its heyday, and made it through the lean years of the 1970s by printing wrestling posters! It still prints show posters and has moved into licensing its work.
Hatch Show Print Shop - you can see the blocks used in the printing along the back wall.
Wendy's sister makes a print.
You don't see cars like this everyday.
We originally skipped the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, due to the $25 entry fee and our limited appreciation of the genre. We changed our minds and decided to go, not knowing it was the day they were celebrating their 50th anniversary. We only had to pay $1.50 to get in — what it cost back in 1967!
Graham Parsons' stage outfit.
Commemorative 50th annivesary Hatch Show Print — Free!
Hank Williams' cowboy boots.
When we asked some Nashville natives "Is there anything we absolutely MUST do while we are here," they gave us along list, all of which involved music except one (the Parthenon).
The Ryman
We went to a show at The Ryman (Regina Spektor!), which was a former church that house the Grand Ole Opry until the 1970s.
The venue fell into disrepair until the 1990s when Emmylou Harris recorded a Grammy-winning album there, which drew in investments that brought it back to life.
The sound is great and there really isn't a bad show in the house. (The Hatch Print Shop prints show posters for all shows — $20 each, but get in line for them early. They only print 200 for each show and they go fast!)
Seating is church pews.
Regina Spektor
The Station Inn - get there early. Doors open at 7pm and seats fill quickly!
We took in the free Sunday night Bluegrass jam at the Station Inn — if you go get there early (there was a line when we got there at 6:45pm, doors at 7pm) and sit in the front or the middle...it's hard to hear otherwise. The Station Inn has been around since 1974 and is now surrounded by the shiny and new Gulch neighborhood — full of high-rise apartments, hotels, and fancy restaurants. But this place is decidedly laid back; in between songs they call out food orders "Ron and Dave to the bar, please!" Curt liked it so much he is planning to go back every Sunday!
This has nothing to do with country music, but we can't miss our chance to plug The Flaming Lips! Always a fun show, always an experience — if you ever get a chance to see them, DO!
Honky Tonk Row - The District
We inadvertently ended up on Honky Tonk Row/ The District at 12pm on a Saturday and were TAKEN ABACK at how busy things were at that hour. If you want to hear country or cover-bands, this is the place for you. It's also home to more afternoon Bachelorette parties and boot shops than we've ever seen in one place!
Honky Tonk Row
Johnny Cash Museum
The Johnny Cash Museum is also in this neighborhood. It's most impressive for the personal memorabilia they have — elementary school report cards, pay stub from a two-week job in Michigan, etc. It's worth a visit if you are a big fan, or if you grab the 2 for 1 deal on Groupon (we did!)
We'll be doing some camping in April — too cold in March, plus it snowed! — until then, we have taken advantages of hiking trails in Percy-Warner Park, in the tony Belle Meade area of the city. (Free!)
"Small World" one of the more interesting mansions in the Belle Meade area.
She's weird, isn't she?
In that same area, we also visited Cheekwood Gardens — sadly, the mansion that houses the art museum was closed for restoration while we were there. It made the $20/person admission fee a bit steep. However, the gardens are lovely and we learned a lot about daffodils at the annual daffodil bloom show (Who knew?!)
There's also no shortage of "urban" hiking to be done while exploring Nashville. Parking downtown is pricey, so we tend to park and wander around quite a bit on foot. They also have a bike rental program in the city, if you prefer to roam on wheels!
Mural in the District.
We've got about three weeks left in Nashville before we head back to Virginia. We have a few more music venues to visit and need to cross the Cumberland River to see what's going on in hipster East Nashville. We also want to pop back to Alabama to see The Rosenbaum House, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We look forward to sharing more about that when it happens!
]]>Civil Rights Memorial
We took a day trip to Montgomery, AL to visit some of the key sites of the civil rights movement. We were hoping for inspiration and guidance for uncertain times. We got it! Our trip also made us realize how ignorant we are of these important events and people in our nation's history...we left committed to learn more.
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
Originally known as the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, this church was built in 1883 just a few blocks from the first White House of the Confederacy. The congregation bought the land for some $200 and used discarded bricks to build it. In 1951, the congregation was looking for a new pastor and found it in a 25-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr, who had just finished his studies in the seminary and was completing his doctorate at Boston College. He was the church pastor until 1960, when he return to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where his father was pastor.
In the basement of the church, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized after Rosa Parks instigated it through her refusal to give up her seat to a white patron.
Inside the church
If you take the tour, you'll get to sit in that basement. You also visit Dr. King's office and get to say a few words from a lectern he used to deliver some of his famous speeches. It's not the physical objects or historical facts offered on the tour that you'll remember, though. The tour inspires through the way it is led. Wanda, our guide, had us introduce ourselves to one another countless times, and ended the tour with everyone joining hands singing "We Shall Overcome" and hugging "one person you did not come in here with." No one resisted...as it turns out love offered without reservation and with a generous heart is hard to resist.
Tours are offered on the hour from 10-1 pm, except on Sundays. The church is still an active house of worship. Cost: $7.50.
The Civil Rights Memorial honors 40 individuals who gave their lives during the Civil Rights Movement. It was developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center after lawyers there realized how many of these people were being forgotten. It was designed by Maya Lin, who is perhaps most famous for her design of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.
Civil Rights Memorial
Inside the center ($2 fee to enter) you can learn more about each of these individuals, a surprising number of whom were children. You can also learn a little bit about the work of the SPLC, perhaps best known today for its "hate watch" effort, which monitors the activities of nearly 900 active hate groups throughout the US.
Some of the young men & women who lost their lives during the civil rights movement.
Our names on the Wall of Tolerance.
You also have the opportunity to add your name to the Wall of Tolerance. In doing so you take the following pledge: "I pledge to stand against hate, injustice, and intolerance. I will work in my daily life for justice, equality and human rights — the ideas for which the Civil Rights martyrs died."
This museum is in the Greyhound bus station where the Freedom Riders, a mixed-race group of activists, were badly beaten by a mob (while police looked on) during their journey to New Orleans from Washington DC in 1961. The Freedom Riders took action because federal law related to the integration of interstate transportation was being violated in the south where local segregation ordinances were enforced.
Greyhound bus station where the Freedom Riders were attacked by a white mob.
Former "colored" entrance.
Although they were the victims of violence on more than a few occasions, the Freedom Riders continued throughout the summer of 1961, until integration laws were effectively enforced throughout the US. "White" and "colored" signs at entrances and for seating were removed from bus and train stations, and lunch counters therein served all regardless of race.
We were surprised by the fact that the Freedom Riders were almost all in their late teens or early 20's. They all were trained in non-violent resistance before setting out and persisted in the rides despite being called "unpatriotic" by the Kennedy administration. There persistence is credited with putting pressure on then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to act.
The Freedom Riders who arrived in Montgomery were almost all in their late teens or early twenties.
The museum is open Tuesday - Saturday. It also offers an exhibit outside the building, which is accessible 24 hrs a day.
Montgomery also has a Rosa Parks Museum, including a children's room, as well as many other sites. All of them are part of the Alabama Civil Rights Trail, which also includes exhibits and interpretive centers along the 50-mile march route from Selma to Montgomery taken in 1965 in support of the Voting Rights Act.
Note: If you do visit Montgomery on a weekend, take note that many of these locations close in early to mid-afternoon on Saturday and most are NOT open on Sunday!
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St. Andrew's State Park
Bushnell, FL....our new "official home".
Visiting the "fancy" beach towns along 30A
Across the street from our "house"
...and the not so fancy places in Panama City.
Women's March on Washington —Washington DC
St. Andrew's State Park
The Civil Rights Memorial honors 40 individuals who gave their lives during the Civil Rights Movement— Montgomery, Alabama
Southern Alabama
St. Andrew's State Park...there are A LOT of pine forests in Northwest Florida.
Southern Alabama
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Arriving in downtown DC via the Metro around 8:30am.
Gloria Steinem at the Women's March. We were actually close enough to see and hear her — we arrived at 8:30am!
Start of the Rally...we had a great vantage point from atop a small concrete planter box outside the Air & Space museum.
Wendy's family. Her sister (at left) embroidered on a scarf the names of daughters and granddaughters of friends who wanted to march, but could not be there.
In that spirit, this week we drove four hours to be part of a small demonstration at the Old Capitol in Tallahassee, FL in support of the Affordable Care Act, through which we and tens of millions of other Americans get our healthcare.
We flew to Washington DC to be part of a massive, global demonstration that was the Women's March on Washington. (We got there early and watched with amazement as things grew more and more crowded...but didn't figure out until 4 hours later that the whole Washington Mall was full of people!)
And we went no further than our kitchen table, to write to our Senators and Congresspeople to let them know that we have voices, and for small people, they are surprisingly loud!
Curtis & Rufus at the Rally to Save ACA, Tallahassee, FL
Near the end...it was quite a bit more crowded...hard to even raise the camera to get a picture!
Wendy and her Dad, taking a break on the Mall post rally. (You can see the march underway behind us.)
It was admittedly a tiring week, but it was also deeply gratifying and energizing. We look forward to more of it in the coming weeks, months and years.
We hope that, whatever you believe in, you'll invest your heart, voice and maybe even your feet, in making sure it's fostered and protected.
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Grayton Beach State Park, FL
I am the heat of your hearth on cold winter nights. The friendly shade screening you from the summer sun and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.
I am the beam that holds your house. The board of your table. The bed on which you lie and the timber that builds your boat. I am the handle of your hoe. The door of your homestead. The wood of your cradle and the shell of your coffin.
I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty. Ye who pass by. Listen to my prayer. Harm me not.
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Joshua Tree National Park
Integratron — Landers, CA
Galletta Meadows
Joshua Tree National Park
Salton Sea
Sabino Canyon, Tucson AZ
The Grand Canyon
Wukoki Pueblo - Wupatki National Monument
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Sunset Crater
Petrified Forest National Park
Tent Rocks, New Mexico
El Santuario de Chimayo
Valles Caldera National Preserve
Bandalier Cliff Dwellings
Petroglyph National Monument
Canyonlands National Park, UT
Arches National Park, UT
Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Mesa Verde National Park— Cliff Palace, CO
Cortez, CO
Cortez, CO
On the way to Hovenweep — CO/UT border
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park
RIo Grande - US/Mexico Border
Marfa, TX
Marfa, TX
Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
Courthouse, Marfa, TX
Mississippi River, Memphis, TN
Graceland, Memphis TN
Pisgah National Forest
North Carolina Arborteum
The Biltmore, Asheville, NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Middle Prong Wilderness Area
BlueRidge Parkway
Shenandoah National Forest
Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
Yogaville, Buckingham, VA
...the Florida Panhandle! Wishing you a year of adventure in 2017!
]]>We didn't realize we were going to be spending so much time in what was the homeland of the Ancient Pueblo people, ancestors of current Hopi and Zuni tribes, among others. We never got tired of exploring pueblo ruins, cliff dwellings or petroglyphs. We were also blown away by our three-hour behind the scenes tour of the Anasazi Hertigate Center in Colorado.
Wupatki National Monument
A bangle made from a clam shell. Anasazi Heritage Center.
Worst House — Don't rent a 600 sq ft house near a railroad track!
We took a detour in August to stay in Marfa, TX, population ~2,000 and rented a small, adobe house, which in fairness was lovely in many ways. Some of the reviewers on Airbnb had mentioned the train, but they cast it as a "fun addition" to the experience. It came through 5-8 times throughout the day and night and often shook the whole house as it passed. For Rufus especially, it was a nightmare...as a result, we had about 2 sleepless weeks...before the local vet suggested melatonin for Rufus. It worked like a charm!!
Marfa, TX House
Marfa, Tx
We didn't take the Vanagon out much in New Mexico and unfortunately picked up a family of mice, which we only discovered after we arrived in Colorado. We'll leave out the details...it was as bad as you imagine. On the plus side, the Vanagon was the cleanest she's been all year after that episode!
Close second — On our way to Marfa, TX Curt drove through a swarm of bees...it was alarming and there was sticky gooey stuff all over the Vanagon that required taking gasoline to it to remove.
The Grand Canyon
This is highly subjective and limited to where we actually visited, BUT, looking back through our photos, we realized that Northern Arizona provided some of the most breath-taking photo opportunities and hiking of the year. It's worth spending a few weeks there if you can (we spent two months and still missed a lot!) Here's a bit of what the area has to offer: The Grand Canyon, the Red Rocks of Sedona, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, the Petrified Forest National Park (unbelievably beautiful!!), Sunset Crater, ancient pueblos at Wupatki National Monutment, Arcosanti sustainable community...among so many other places.
We only spent a hot minute in southern Utah, but heard it's also chock full of great places to visit — we only got to see Arches and Canyonlands on a single day.
Sedona, AZ
Horseshoe Bend (Page, AZ)
Painted Desert National Park
Sunset Crater (near Flagstaff, AZ)
Petrified Forest National Park
Arcosanti (Mayer, AZ)
Tent Rocks
If you've read our blog, you'll know we do alarmingly little investigation into an area before we go there. We have found pleasant surprises everywhere we've gone, but Tent Rocks in New Mexico really blew us away. As did Valdera Calles, which recently became more accessible to visitors, when it transitioned to management under the National Park Service. Finally, we didn't anticipate hiking at 10,000 in the Santa Fe National Forest, only to follow it up exploring petroglyphs in a desert landscape around Albuquerque.
Tent Rocks
Cliff Dwelling's at Bandelier National Monument
Santa Fe National Forest
Petroglyph National Monument
Valles Caldera
Big Horn Sheep!
Our first stop was Joshua Tree, so we explored a lot just out of sheer excitement. But the proximity of the National Park to our house (5 miles to one entrance 10 miles to another) made exploring a breeze. We were never so close to so many opportunities again...we were grateful for it!
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
You may consider this to be a strange category to include, but we came to appreciate the impact of local government staying in so many different communities this year. We were mightily impressed by the town of Cortez, population 8,000. There were a plethora of community amenities, from high-speed internet to lots of community green spaces, a community gym and fitness center, a fantastic library, huge outdoor pool...amongst many other things. The local government provided copies of their annual report all over town, so we picked one up and read it! As it turns out, a town with a plan and dedication to work toward it can get a lot done for its people. (The neighbors were pretty interesting, too!)
The Pipe People
Art on his farm
When we arrived in the more familiar East Coast this fall, we found ourselves working more and exploring less. While this was somewhat to do with the general rhythm of our work and visiting family, we realized that we also just need to commit to getting out there, even when everything is not as new. This means 2017 poses new opportunities for dedication to adventure!
Shout out to Rufus. She's been a trooper!
2017 starts out with (hopefully) lots of sunshine, blue waters and white sandy beaches in the Florida gulf coast! We look forward to sharing the experience with you!
]]>The museum is free, open daily (except Monday). Tours are offered on Saturdays at 10:30am. We missed the tour and are sorry we did. It's a small place and a guide probably would have helped us get more out of it.
Like Native people in the United States, indigenous people in Australia are diverse. The museum does a nice job helping you to understand a bit about the cultures of the artists. The work on display when we visited largely focused on art that depicted a sense of connection with land and country.
From the Art and Country exhibit:
Brandy Tjungarrayai (1930-2012); Pintupi
"This painting tells the story of two ancestral men (the two circles) who tried to lift the earth to heaven. To do this, they took six magic stones (the semicircles) from inside their stomachs, and placed three on each side of the waterhole (the central rectangle). After heir plan failed, they wept and traveled to another waterhole, where they still reside today. The artist has used contrasting colors to create the illusion that the magic stones are lifting the waterhole up from the rest of the painting." (Exhibit literature, Kluge-Rohe Museum.)
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa (c. 1943); Pintupi
"Many paintings from Central Australia are symbolic maps of the artist's country. Concentric circles represent important named places in teh landscape, while the lines between them show paths of ancestral beings. This painting refers to a series of stories called the Tingari Cycle, and this particular story is about bush grass. The seeds of the plant are gathered and ground into a paste, which is then cooked on coals to create damper (bush bread." (Exhibit literature, Kluge-Rohe Museum.)
]]>Thomas Jefferson
The Rotunda burnt down in 1895. Students managed to save this statue of Jefferson, by dragging it out of the building on their mattresses.
Thomas Jefferson was not a practical man. Practical people likely don't author the Declaration of Independence, become the Third President of the United States or found a University while in the 80's. On the other hand, practical people probably don't spend 40 years building their house, die $107,000 in debt, or leave a complicated legacy of slave ownership and suspected sexual assault. He's a tricky guy.
We took two tours related to Jefferson today. One at Monticello, his house and plantation, which he started building in 1768. (Tours are $20-$25 for adults). The other at the University of Virginia, specifically the Academic Village, which he designed and built from 1822-1826. (Free tours daily at 10am and 2pm.) Both tours tried to provide a balanced view of Jefferson, looking at both how he benefited the country and State of Virginia (Louis & Clark Expedition, Louisiana Purchase, "all men are created equal"), as well as the harsh legacy of slavery and racist views that he embraced. In that regard, Monticello offers a 45-minute tour focused specifically on slavery at Monticello, as well as app for a related, self-guided tour.
Here are a few things we learned.
The Lawn at the University of Virginia. Designed by Thomas Jefferson. The two-story buildings had classrooms on the first floor, faculty housing above, and student housing in single story rooms at right and at left.
Students still live in the housing on the Lawn.
The University of Virgina was unique for its time because it was designed as a campus, not just a single building. Jefferson designed a series of interconnected buildings for both classrooms, and student and professor housing. The focal point of the campus was the Rotunda, which housed the library, not the chapel or other religious building, which would have been more common at the time.
Students still live in the lawn housing. About 300 hundred applications are received for 50 spots annually. There are no bathrooms in the rooms, however, so our guide told us we would probably see people walking outside in bathrobes (embroidered) on their way to the showers. We did.
The Rotunda, which housed the library in the early years of the university. It recently was refurbished and now has classrooms and study rooms for students. It's quite posh.
The State of Virginia paid for most of the construction, which was undertaken by slaves, local tradesmen, as well as artisans brought over from Europe.
Study area on the second floor of the Rotunda.
UVA admitted it's first African American students in the 1950's or 1960s, to graduate school programs and only after lawsuits. It admitted women starting in 1970.
UVA has "secret societies"! They aren't that secret though, because they paint their initials all over the campus.
Monticello. If it looks familiar it might be because it's on the US nickel.
Jefferson tore down the second floor on Monticello after he returned from France (he was Minister to France for a while). He wanted to incorporate elements of French architecture, a big one of which was that buildings that were multiple stories looked like they were single story structures. Did I mention he was not a practical man?
Monticello front entrance. You can see some evidence of Jefferson's love of gadgets here. The weather vane on the roof is connected to a dial on the ceiling of the porch, making it easily visible to residents — kind of like an early weather app.
Monticello was sold soon after Jefferson's death due to his massive debt. It was purchased for $4,500 by a guy who tried to cultivate silk worms on the property... unsuccessfully. He sold it to Uriah Levy, the first Jewish commodore in the US Navy. The Levy family would preserve and maintain the building (with an interruption during the civil war) for about 100 years before selling it to the foundation that owns it today. Levy felt that the separation of church and state enshrined in the First Ammendment allowed him to rise to positions of power, which would not have otherwise been possible as a Jew.
You can't take pictures inside the house, because most of the furnishings in the building are on loan from museums or private owners, who came to own them after the Jefferson family sold them off to repay debts. But if you want to see inside, the Monticello website offers 360 views of many rooms in the house.
Jefferson is believed to have had six children with Sally Hemmings, a slave originally owned by his father-in-law and later owned by himself.
Slave Quarters, Monticello
Finally, some famous quotes from Thomas Jefferson. He may not have lived up to all the ideals he espoused, but he did give us all something to strive towards.
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
“The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.”
“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
“All should be laid open to you without reserve, for there is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.”
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Lego my eagle! North Carolina Arboretum
Bonsai! North Carolina Arboretum
Puma, aka mountain lion, aka cougar. NC Wildlife Center.
Well, hello! NC Wildlife Center
Snack time! (That's a bear not Rufus!) NC Wildlife Center
Great visit with friends; happily the wind from Hurricane Matthew didn't blow them off the mountain. (Craggy Pinnacle, Blue Ridge Parkway)
Sunset at Bad Fork Valley Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway
Sunrise, Blue Ridge Parkway
Sunrise, near Looking Glass Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway
Leaves at East Fork Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway
Downtown Asheville
Parking Garage. Downtown Asheville.
Dupont State Forest, Grassy Creek Falls
Mushrooms. Hen Wallow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
South Terrace - Biltmore Estate.
Mums in the Walled Garden - Biltmore Estate.
]]>In the 19th century, Cornelius Vanderbilt turned a $100 loan (not $1M!) into a fortune by investing heavily in railroads. This fortune would allow his grandson, George, to build the largest home in America, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
The Biltmore Estate, a 250-room home with expansive acreage, opened to friends and family on Christmas Eve in 1895, after six years of construction. In 1916, the family sold 86,000 acres of land on the Estate to the federal government; it is now the Pisgah National Forest.
The Estate became a business in 1930, (250 rooms are not cheap to keep up!) when it opened to the public for tours. These days, it is open 365 days a year (wish I was kidding) and costs $65-75/per person to get into the house, grounds and winery. Audio or guided tours are $10-20 extra. The experience is like a refined amusement park...be prepared for shuttles, lines, and, of course, a picture of your party available for purchase.
We swallowed hard, bought our tickets and took lots of pictures! Enjoy!
When guests stayed at the Biltmore starting in 1895, it took them about 1.5 hours to ride from the first gate to the entrance of the house. Frederick Olmstead, the landscape designer for the Estate (who also designed Central Park) was responsible for that. He purposely crafted the journey to increase the awe experienced by guests when they finally arrived at the house. We only took a short shuttle ride from the parking lot to the house, but still found it pretty awesome. Mission accomplished, Frederick!
The shuttle buses in all the pictures are annoying. But on the positive side, as Curt noted, they do provide a good sense of just how huge the place is.
Front of the home, with Italian gardens at left.
Detail at entrance.
Detail at entrance.
Detail at entrance.
At this point, we'd like to give a shout out to Curt's Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge phone (not the one that catches on fire). It makes low-light interior photos possible! We did our best to shoot over people's heads and around all the staff decorating for Christmas...please excuse the weird angles!
First Floor
Entrance/Winter Garden (that just means it's inside)
Banquet Hall - comes complete with organ!
Music Room
Breakfast Room
Salon
Loggia — basically, the nicest back porch we've ever seen.
Loggia - detail
View from the Loggia
Library
Second Floor — The Family's Living Space
The second floor was for the family, with bedrooms and living space for George, his wife, Edith and their daughter.
Living Hall for the family. The painting at left is by John Singer Sergeant and depicts the home's architect, Richard Morris Hunt.
George Vanderbilt's bedroom. They said the bed looks small, but isn't.
Sitting Room - the piece in the corner is ebony.
Edith Vanderbilt's bedroom
Third Floor — For Guests
The third floor was for guests, essentially functioning as a hotel.
Staircase
Where's the bathroom in this place? Actually there were 43 of them, which can be identified by looking for a marble trim piece visible from the hallway.
Living Hall...guests hung out here before meals. They reportedly served chips & salsa.
Living Hall
Guest Room
Chimney Room - Guest Room
Guest Room
Guest Room
Basement
The basement was for recreation and housed the servant's bedrooms, work areas, kitchen and laundry.
This hall reveals the foundation of the house, which took two years to build and is 29 feet deep.
POOL - There were no chemicals to treat the pool water, so it was filled with spring water, heated from the steamer, and drained immediately after use.
Gym
Servant's workspace
Laundry
Friends and family spent a few weeks painting the basement in 1924 for a New Year's Eve party.
Bowling Alley
Servant's Bedroom
Servant's Dining Room
Curt decided when we build our tiny house, it should have a terrace like this...only, you know, smaller and probably without the statues.
View from the Library Terrace. The entire back of the home provides views of Mt Pisgah and what is now Pisgah National Forest.
South Terrace
Looking back at the house from the South Terrace.
This might have been our favorite place. The Conservatory had lots of cactus and orchids, and many other flowers unlike anything we'd ever seen! We can't name them for you, because unfortunately, most of them were unmarked.
Inside the Walled Garden, with a view of the Conservatory.
These roses are award winning!
Entering the Walled Garden.
View from the Walled Garden to the house.
Mums, anyone?
]]>Many of the hikes along the parkway are pretty short, at around 1-3 miles. We generally aimed for something longer, as the drive from our place in the city of Asheville was usually 30-60 minutes. Here's a quick round up of what we did.
The most memorable part of this hike in the Middle Prong Wilderness was the insane elevation gain —we were just about on all fours scaling up the dirt trail...which was equally fun on the way down. We abandoned the effort after about .75 miles and found a more civilized trail in the area, which had tons of butterflies! It was also where we were introduced to the Mountains to Sea trail.
The Mountains to Sea trail runs over 1,000 miles from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains in the west to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks in the east. We aren't interested in hiking the Appalachian Trail, but our time on parts of the MTS this fall inspired us to put it on our list, along with the John Muir trail in California.
For Curt's birthday, we hiked in the Shining Rock Wilderness area, which is the largest wilderness area in North Carolina. We came through this area many times over our two months in Asheville, accessing the area via the Black Balsam trailhead, taking the Ivestor Gap Trail and parts of the 30+ mile Art Loeb trail for many lots of day hikes. You really can't visit too often — it has great views!
Our northern-most hike on the Parkway, Rough Ridge and the 13-mile Tanawah trail are relatively near Boone NC...so we actually took the highway to get there, rather than the Parkway. Most people stop at Rough Ridge, which is only about a mile from the trailhead and offers lots of rocks to sit on, with good views. We continued for a few miles on the Tanawah trail, but can't say we'd recommend it. It's mainly rocks and roots, so you really have to pay attention to where you put your feet!
Views from Rough Ridge
The coolest tree roots we've ever seen.
Lots of flowers along the Tanawah Trail in September.
Passing through Shining Rock
For Paddy's birthday (Wendy's brother) we did our longest day hike yet at 17+ miles. We went from Black Balsam along Ivestor Gap Trail and eventually hit the Art Loeb trail which we took up to Cold Mountain. (See the route here). The first and last half were mainly flat, but the middle was all up-and-down! Wendy's favorite part of the hike was the field of quartz we passed through in the middle. We are happy to report that the next day we weren't even sore...guess all this hiking is starting to pay off.
Field of quartz.
View from the peak of Cold Mountain.
This 8-mile trail is in the Craggy Gardens area along the Parkway, which offers a variety of fairly, short accessible hikes. This one, however, is not very accessible or easy! It starts by taking the Mountains to Sea trail from the Craggy Gardens picnicground (which has about 50+ picnic tables...it's impressive!) Our opinion — the best part of this hike is the first few miles up to Hawkbill Rock, which you have to scale basically on all fours. Very graceful! If we did it again, we'd turn around at that point. After that, it's mainly a steep descent, followed by a brief ascent to Little Snowball Mountain. Then you get to turn around and climb back up for 4 miles. It's a lot of work for the payoff; there are no views at Little Snowball Mountain. That said, this was our first hike with a glimpse of full fall color, so all in all, not bad!
View from Hawkbill Rock
Snowball Mountain Trail
View from the parking lot.
In case you were wondering about the name.
We were warned that Graveyard Fields is one of those places that is loved to death. It's a pretty flat hike with two water falls = it's popular. A portion of the trail at the outset (if you enter via the stairs near the pit toilets) is paved and there are wooden boardwalks in many spots, aiming to keep people on the trail, but also making it pretty accessible to people of most ability levels.
We got there before 9am on a 40-degree morning...there were people there, but it wasn't bad. When we returned around 11am the parking lot was full and there was a line 8 people deep at the pit toilets...yikes!
The hike is an easy 4-mile loop, with a bit added on if you want to visit the Lower Falls. The trail is mainly through a flat valley, so it's a unique opportunity and welcome change to other hiking in the area, much of which is densely wooded.
Upper Falls
In the valley.
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The major source of color throughout September was wildflowers and butterflies!
By late October, the Mountain Ashe trees no longer had any leaves.
September 29 - View from Cold Mountain...things are just starting to change.
October 12th - View from Hawkbill Rock, Snowball Mountain trail.
October 12 - Snowball Mountain.
Oct 12 - Snowball Mountain
Oct 16th- We climbed up the fire tower at Fryingpan Mountain, but our plan to capture the scene at sunset was foiled by the fog!
Oct 16th - We had a bit more luck at lower elevations.
October 16th - Blue Ridge Parkway - Bad Fork Valley Overlook
Oct 19th - Foothills Parkway, Tennessee
Oct 19th - French Broad River, Hot Springs, NC
Oct 21st - We went back to the fire tower at Fryingpan Mountain. No fog this time, just gale force winds. We got our pictures and got out quick!
Oct 21st - Sunset and Looking Glass
Oct 22 - Sunrise - Blue Ridge Parkway.
Oct 22 - Catching just a bit of the low-lying morning clouds.
Oct 22 - About an hour after sunrise. Blue Ridge Parkway
Oct 22nd - East Fork Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway
Oct 22nd - View from atop the Upper Falls at Graveyard Fields...this is at about 5,000 feet and we saw more leaves on the ground than on the trees.
Oct 25th - Dupont State Forest, Grassy Creek Falls
Oct 25th - Bridal Veil Falls, Dupont State Forest
]]>Encompassing over half-million acres of land along the North Carolina/Tennessee border, the park has a lot to offer...including over 850 miles of trails! We opted to stay pretty close to Asheville, spending time in and around the Cosby Campground. This campground has seven hiking trails that lead right into it, some of which link to the Appalachian Trail, making it the most convenient campground we've ever stayed at! (It's reportedly also almost never crowded at the campground, which is odd, because is was really nice!)
There are many creek crossings around the campground, and actually throughout the park. (They offer a creek crossing listing on the trail map.) It's been pretty dry in the area, and hot too, it was 80 degrees when we visited in mid-October. So, water in the creeks and waterfalls was sparse.
The flow on the Hen Wallow Falls can spread to 20 ft at the base, but was pretty meager when we visited.
The trail to Hen Wallows was home to tons of mushrooms!
The trees were old, tall and dense, but we managed to peek out a bit.
Everyone was enjoying the 80 degree weather...except, maybe, Rufus.
Gunter Family Cemetery
Before it was a national park, the Gunter family lived on the land by the campground. Their family cemetery is still along the entrance road. Most of the gravestones are illegible, but we did make out a few with dates in the late 19th century.
We took the scenic route home, opting to drive along the Foothills Parkway for about 6 miles and then taking 25 back to Asheville, rather than 40. It was slower going, but provided a better view of the fall foliage and a glimpse of rural life.
View from the Foothills Parkway, which is a brief, six mile stretch connecting the campground area to 40.
In case you were wondering, the Vanagon is doing great!
View along 25.
French Broad River
Soda? Nope! Live Bait? Why, yes!
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Agarics
Boletes
Polypores
Polypores
Chicken of the Woods
Polypore - Maybe Hen of the Woods
Oyster
Agaricales
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Mississippi River -Memphis, TN.
Graceland, Trophy House.
Graceland TV Room. That monkey is just so weird!
Shining Rock Wilderness
Middle Prong Wilderness. We are not in the desert anymore!
Most hikes are at about 5,000ft...lots of wildflowers to be found!
We didn't realize Sept is butterfly season here! They have been everywhere!
Wendy's Brother. He took us on our first backcountry camping trip in 2010..and miraculously hasn't yet tired of being our guide to all things outdoors!
View from the peak of Cold Mountain.
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Graceland (front) I got lucky taking this picture...I paused while getting onto the bus...and got yelled at for it. VIP photo op only!
First, Graceland isn't really that big, by today's standards. It cost Elvis ~$100K in the 1950's and was pretty opulent for the time. The house is audacious in many ways, but size wise, not huge.
Graceland (back). At this point in the tour you can pretty much just wander around.
Meditation garden, with the graves of Elvis and his parents and grandmother. It is quite close to the pool. It was a minor miracle that there were not many people there...about 20 minutes later there was a huge line.
First glimpse! Waiting on the bus that takes you from the ticketing/shopping area to the house.
Second, it's currently an amusement park. You wait in line to get tickets, wait to get on a bus, wait to get off a bus, wait in line to get in the house and then move shoulder to should with a mass of other people through the house.
Your tour starts here.
Living Room
We get to see Graceland courtesy of this little lady. Lisa Marie owns Graceland and is featured on the IPAD tour!
Stairway
Living Room
Dining room.
Elvis' parents room.
The Kitchen...which we were told was always open!
Jungle Room...there is carpet on the ceiling.
TV Room in the finished basement — how about that monkey!
Pool room in the basement.
The office (building out back).
Third, Elvis didn't write any songs, but he produced all his records...and he had a ton of them.
Room of gold records in the "trophy house"
Elvis was never afraid of over exposure; he was a fan of merchandising.
There is a lot of memorabilia in the Trophy House.
The famous outfits are all in the Racket ball building. (Who knew?)
Four, a lot of people really, I mean, REALLY love Elvis. Still.
Meditation Garden
Elvis' Grave. It's free to come visit the Meditation Garden from 7-8:30am each day.
These are all over the place from fan clubs across the Globe.
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If you want a little bit of everything Big Bend National Park is the place for you. Mountains? Desert? Rivers? Bears? Border Crossing? It's got them all. You just have to get there! It was about 180 miles from where we stayed...and pretty much everything else. It is REMOTE. (There's a gas station in the park!) Sadly we only made it there once. But it's definitely worth a longer stay if you are able. Spring and Fall seem ideal — temperatures and flooding are a bit of a problem in August!
Buzzards on our way to the park.
Bears & Lions are afoot! Chisos Mountain area of the park.
We've never been to Great Britain....but wondered if the country-side there looks something like this.
The Window. Chisos Mountains area of the park.
Desert area of the park.
Desert area of the park.
There used to be a number of ranches in the area. The ruins of which are still accessible through a number of short hikes.
The Davis Mountains State Park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and was the first state park in Texas! It boasts a number of buildings, including the Indian Lodge hotel, built by the CCC and plenty of trails to keep us busy. It links to the Fort Davis National Historic Site – home of a calvary division in the 19th century – by a 3 mile trail (also built by the CCC).
The small white dots in the distance are part of the McDonald Observatory (Star Date!)
The Indian Lodge, a adobe-style hotel by the Civilian Conservation Corps...looked to us like a really nice place to stay!
Wildflowers
Cactus
There are several bird watching areas set up around the park.
Plenty of hiking with great views.
Officers Quarters. Fort Davis Historical Site. The site was originally built to protect wagon trains from Apache and Comanche raids. It was later used during the civil war.
The Officers Quarters were built to true north, the enlisted men's quarters, (you can see the outlines of the foundations) to magnetic north.
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The Courthouse. Marfa, TX
Terlingua "Ghost Town". (People still live there.)
Davis Mountains State Park, Texas
Chinati Foundation. 15 untitled works in concrete in background.
Rio Grande. (Mexico is on the left, USA on the right) Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Shafter "Ghost Town". (People also still lived here.) Catholic Church.
Davis Mountains State Park - wildflowers were really everywhere!
Downtown Marfa, Tx.
Chisos Mountains area of Big Bend National Park. This is the high elevation area of the park, which reaches nearly 8,000ft. (This picture reminds us of a miniature on a train set for some reason..it looks like a fake mountain.)
Desert area of Big Bend National Park. Monsoon season made for some interesting lighting!
La Cucaracha! Terlingua Ghost Town.
Prada, Marfa.
Next stop...Asheville, NC. We're also pleased to share we are re-upping for 2017...planned stops so far include the Florida Panhandle and Nashville, TN!
]]>Downtown Marfa, TX. The courthouse is town's center piece and a source of pride.
"Prada Marfa", an art installation about 30 miles outside of town. (The bags are fake, after they were stolen.)
We'll readily admit, when we pulled into Marfa, TX our first thought was: "Oh...what have we done." The road to our house disintegrated before our eyes...and the neighborhood seemed less than picturesque.
The roads are like this everywhere in Marfa. It's kind of incredible.
The little house we rented.
First contradiction, when we laid eyes on our little house for the month, it was lovely.
We found this is actually normal in Marfa. It's a mix of arty, fancy refurbished homes, arty, less than refurbished homes, and just homes of people who've lived here an awful long time. It also holds true if you replace the word "homes" in that last sentence with businesses.
Marfa style swings widely. This house....
...is right next door to this house.
Contradiction number two, the town seems to be both contracting and expanding at the same time.
The Marfa Museum holdings are wide-ranging from fossils, to the first piece of barbed wire used in the area, to an old store front. Most donated by current and former residents.
When we talked with a lifelong Marfa resident at the Marfa Musuem, she seemed reticent to accept the town's newest incarnation: "We are supposed to be come kind of 'artist' place".
She was more interested in talking about the families who have moved away because ranches could no longer be sustained (she blamed lack of rain), new found jobs in customs and border patrol, and...football. This is West Texas after all. It was a big blow to the town when the local High School no longer had enough students for an eleven-man team. They now field a six-man team.
True to reputation, this West Texas town loves it's football.
The local rancher's supply store is still in operation, but for sale.
A field near our house was stomping grounds for 3 -4 hours.
On the other hand, there are three, pretty fancy hotels in town and any number of restaurants with big city prices. (Something mentioned in nearly every Yelp review!) Some in chic buildings...others in (it seems) purposely rough looking food trucks.
Hotel Paisano, was featured in the film Giant.
Downtown Marfa.
Food Shark, local food truck.
There are gift shops with $175 pillows, next to abandoned store fronts. There is a lot of construction and real estate for sale. But if you are thinking you'll find bargains here, you'll be disappointed. Our experience of Marfa is that it's a pretty expensive place to live for a town with a population of 2,000.
There are a fair number of vacant storefronts downtown Marfa.
But there are also many art galleries.
And a bike rental program...with two locations (about 3 blocks from one another.)
And, of course, there's art. Galleries large and small, and the big kahuna, Chinati Foundation, founded by Donald Judd, the artist that started it all in the 1980s. (If you don't count Giant, which was filmed here...as was No Country for Old Men.) All in a town that just announced it's discontinuing the school band program, due to budget cuts.
15 untitled works in concrete by Donal Judd at the Chinati Foundation.
We leave Marfa making no judgments, (except about the train, we pretty much hate the train), but intrigued by this experiment. We hope it works out well for everyone.
The train runs straight through the middle of town...and directly behind the house we rented...about 10 times a day (and night).
]]>Donald Judd's 15 untitled works in concrete.
The main site of the Chinati Foundation. It's a lot of buildings...think military base.
Donald Judd passed through the Marfa, TX area when he was in the military in the 1950s. Fast forward to 1979, he was an established artist in New York, who convinced the Dia Art Foundation to fund the purchase of a former calvary installation in Marfa. The 340 acres and its many buildings was to be used to exhibit permanent large-scale installations by three artists. Himself, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin. He moved from New York City to Marfa and in 1986 the "museum" opened.
As we understand it, that started the whole "art thing" in Marfa.
We hadn't heard of any of these artists, or the others whose works are now housed in the variety of sites and buildings the Chinati foundation owns, (the non-profit that now manages the art, land and buildings.) So, the tour we took was quite helpful. (We opted for the 2.5 hour tour...the 8 hour tour seemed a bit beyond us.)
We grew in understanding, if not outright appreciation, of the efforts of the artists to create art that used and fit in its surroundings, whether landscape, buildings or both.
115 pieces in mill aluminum, viewed from the outside. They are housed in a building that once held German prisoner's of war during WWII. There is still German writing on the walls inside.
On one hand, Judd's 115 pieces in mill aluminum kind of look like a lot of metal boxes in a big building....but the light that streams through the windows hits them all at different angles, making the experience of viewing them ever changing. And the fact that Chinati can dedicate two huge buildings to one work makes it something you probably won't see in big city museum, which might just have one or two of the pieces.
15 untitled works in concrete. This photo does a nice job showing the role light plays in the artwork.
The same can be said for the 15 untitled works in concrete, which are housed outside.
On one hand, the art can look like big concrete boxes sitting in a field.
On the other, it can look quite beautiful.
15 untitled works in concrete.
No photographs are allowed on the tours. They used to, but apparently people weren't paying as much attention to the artwork as they were to taking picture of it. However, they do allow photographs on a self-guided tour of Judd's 15 untitled works in concrete, which is outside on part of the 340 acres that make up the main location of the Chinati Foundation. (Our self-guided tour came complete with Pronghorn antelope!)
Pronghorn antelope were grazing in the field during our visit.
15 untitled works in concrete.
15 untitled works in concrete.
]]>
The prettiest thing in Presidio.
Fort Davis State Park has lots of bird seed and viewing areas...we could have watched the them for hours!
Are buzzards the Texas State bird? They are everywhere!
We are not good at identifying birds while flying...we think this is a buzzard...but could be a raven.
We like mud puddles, too!
Chinati Foundation. (Background is part of 15 works in Concrete by Donald Judd).
Pronghorn Antelope at Chinati Foundation. (Background is the building that houses 100 works in mill aluminum by Donald Judd. It was home to German prisoners of war in WWII.)
Fort Davis State Park
Monsoon season was in full swing during our stay. Sometimes, we got both sunshine and rain. (Big Bend National Park).
Yucca - no longer in bloom, but still beautiful.
Not exactly wildlife...but bear in mind, this horse is in the middle of a residential neighborhood! Ah...Marfa, TX.
]]>Temperatures along the Rio Grande were just 80F when we visited —thank goodness!
We got a tip about taking "River Road" also known as Farm to Market Road 170, which runs in a loop from Marfa, TX along the Rio Grande through to Terlingua and Big Bend National Park.
We had been putting off the trip because temperatures along the Rio Grande were hitting 105F+. But, about two weeks into our stay in Texas, monsoon season started in earnest, which brings flash floods but also dropped temperatures by 20 degrees — we took advantage and it was an incredible drive.
Terlingua
The goods news is weather does not sneak up on you in West Texas. This is what we saw on our 18 mile drive to the Terlingua Ranch where we were staying for the night.
As you can see, we really wanted to reach our destination prior to deluge. We were driving a Honda Civic...so, it was interesting.
Terlingua Ranch Lodge was founded in the 60's by race car driver Carroll Shelby and friends.
The ranch is in the middle of nowhere — it abuts Big Bend National Park. You can reach it via a 30+ mile dirt road directly from the park. We took the long way round, on mostly "paved" roads. There's a reason everyone in Texas seems to own a truck.
This is the first place we've stayed that had "deer storage". It's most popular in hunting season.
Terlingua Ghost Town
In it's hey day this was a silver mining town. It's not truly a Ghost Town as folks still live here. But it's a tough and pretty desolate place. The vibe was "Slab City" with small houses. We didn't stay long.
The cemetery is still used, although most graves looked to be from the 1930s -1950s.
There are a lot of small private residences...additionally we saw quite a few airstream/building combos in the area.
This car was just there.
Can't explain this...but it was interesting!
Rio Grande & Big Bend Ranch State Park
The majority of the road by the Rio Grande runs through Big Bend Ranch State Park (the largest state park in Texas), and has plenty of places with river-access & camping. We only saw one group on the river...and no one camping. It's not surprising given August is usually the hotttest month in Texas.
This was building was constructed for a movie — a comedy with Burl Ives. It's been used in 8 movies.
By far the nicest pit toilet we've ever used. It had windows in it where you could look out onto the river (see right). We think the movie industry was also responsible for it.
A loo with a view.
There was a fair amount of mining (silver) in the area prior to WWII. The hills in spots are quite colorful.
Rio Grande.
There is about at 15% grade on this hill...it's no joke, but the view is nothing to scoff at.
Texas has a lot of weird rest stops. It's not uncommon to see picnic tables with grills along side of remote roads. We can't figure out who would want to bbq on the side of the road in the blazing sun. And then there are...teepees.
This was interesting. There was a "hand trolley" on top a hill on the other side of the road, which apparently could be used travel across the border on this cable - like a zip line - to a ladder and cave on the other side. Ideas, anyone?
Presidio
Although it has about twice the population of Marfa (where we are staying), this border town didn't seem to have too much going on...from what we could tell from our brief drive through town.
Presidio
Lovely flowers at the gas station.
The main drag in Presidio.
Shafter to Marfa
The remainder of the drive was a lot of brush country and ranches, with some Ghost Towns mixed in. Shafter was a former ranching and mining town; it was a speck of a place. There were still a few folks living there from what we could see.
The remains of the former mining town.
A former store refurbished into a house. It was quite a nice spot.
The Catholic Church in Shafter, everything was in Spanish.
Finally, about 60 miles from the Mexican border, right outside Marfa, there was the secondary border and customs check. We have run into these in California, Arizona and Texas, but never can get used to them.
]]>First, we decided to go in search of the "Pipe People", a folk art installation our neighbor Michael told us about. He said, "Got to Road P, turn right....you can't miss it." We had just about decided we must have missed it, when there it was. You really can't miss it — it is EXTENSIVE. It's a bit of an old West town, populated by people made of pipes and painted white...in the middle of a field with a pond.
Then, we stopped off down the road to take some pictures of sheep. We lucked out by parking right in front of Art from Arizona's mailbox while he was coming out to get his mail. He invited us back to meet his pets....cows, calves, sheep, turkeys, geese...all penned together next to a lovely pond. It was a TREAT...we just had to watch our step!
With our further ado...please meet our Cortez neighbors.
According to a sign at the site, the artist is not a welder. He just started playing with art in 1993, and hasn't stopped. You are free to walk all over the property, you just need to close the gate behind you — goats.
Art and his wife have lived in Cortez for over 20 years, but don't farm for a living. Art just keeps the animals as pets. We were invited to come back again to fish in the fishing hole, but sadly we are on our way out of town tomorrow.
"Go on in! They wont' bother you," Art assured me. Ah....ok. In case you haven't been close to a cow lately, let me tell you. They are BIG animals!
Art and his pets.
It was a little like the Fischer Price farm set.
One of the new calves at the farm. They were a little rambunctious...I had sandals on...it was a little bit of a challenge to take pictures!
Sheep! Art counseled to not get too close to them..."They're mean."
Grandma...so named because she has an old face. She's going to have a calf soon. She spent a lot of time scratching her face on the screws at left.
]]>We also feel compelled to share how impressed we were with the town of Cortez. They have big public parks, a pool & rec center, high speed internet, biking trails, a great public radio station, a local theater...not bad for a town of 8,500 people. (We also discovered Osprey - the makers of great backpacks - has their operations facility in Cortez!)
Anyway, here's a bit of what we saw while driving the backroads around Cortez.
Agriculture makes up a big part of the economy — half of which is related to cattle and cattle feed.
There are LOTS of horses in the area. Sadly, this one looks a little worse for wear.
Wild sunflowers were along the roadside all over the area.
Ravens.
Deer are also everywhere.
Can you spot the deer? (He went deep trying to get away from my camera!)
It appears they got ahead of themselves with this development..they even built the guard house! (Trust us there's nothing but empty fields on this estate.)
Lots and lots of cows...happily, it doesn't smell like it!
Lots of these...in our yard.
Road 25...they don't go for fancy creative street names around here. Numbers and letters are about it, except for downtown, where they go for names like "Mildred" and "Main".
Road G - on the way to Hovenweep.
Road G - changes from irrigated agricultural land...to something close to the Painted Desert..in only a matter of miles.
]]>This was the case with the behind the scenes tour at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Delores, CO. The volunteer told us about the free, public tour of the research facility and stored artifacts given each Thursday at 2pm. Where do we sign up?
Our tour guide, Marty points out the coil and finger print process used to create this pot, dating to AD 930 - 1100.
The center is run by the Bureau of Land Management and was created when the state of Colorado decided to create a reservoir in the area, flooding over 1,000 archeological sites, including both ancient Pueblos and old mining towns. They excavated 120 some sites and the resulting 1 million+ artifacts found their home in the Anasazi Heritage Center. Thanks to the towns folk in Delores who advocated for access, the center is open to both researchers and the public alike.
We didn't know what to expect from the tour, but ended up seeing a lot of amazing artifacts, learning a bit about how archeologists do their job, and being quite impressed with the volunteers and government employees who make it all possible. Here is some of what we saw.
It's amazing how much this mug looks like something I'd create in pottery class! Red and Black & White pottery dated to about 1200 AD.
Pottery from 1200. Bowl with "field and rain" markings.
Rock type collection. The facility has type collections of pottery, rocks, animal bones, shells and blankets to help researchers who visit the facility.
Rare canteen in the shape of an animal (debate as to whether it's a fox, badger or dog). Most pottery had animals painted on it, rather than being shaped in animal form.
Rear view, you can see the opening in the canteen, and a hook for hanging or holding.
They have a whole type collection of shells, which are not native to the area, but were excavated here. This is a bracelet made of clam shells that were thought to have been brought and traded here from the Gulf Coast of Texas!
The pottery is stored on open metal shelves that date back to the 1980s - yikes! They are in the process of getting new ones.
The 1906 Antiquities Act made it illegal to take any artifacts off a public land. The center receives a lot drop-offs from people who think they have things that maybe they shouldn't. The center tests and catalogs it all...there's a lot of fakes and a lot of black paint that turns out to be...Sharpie Marker. Can you spot what's really ancient and what's fake? (A: Back right (red pot) and front left Black and White pots are fake. Back left black and white is real.)
]]>We didn't really take a pilgrimage to this Catholic church and shrine we just visited. However, it is an official pilgrimage site and receives 300,000 visitors a year, some who walk up to 300 miles to get there.
The Church.
The church was originally built by the family who owned the land in the early 19th century. It is known for an unending well of dirt, where a crucifix was found in 1810. The dirt is felt to have healing powers and in visiting the area it's clear that many people come there to find solace. There are Native, Spanish, American and even Vietnamese shrines on the property.
Three culture statue: Spanish, Native and American Rancher
Our Lady of Lavang. Lavang is a forest in Vietnam where Catholics took refuge in the early 19th century.
On the way home, we visited the Nambe Pueblo to see the Nambe Falls. It's tucked away around a corner, so you can't see from far away, but it's worth the hike up. It's powerful due to the damn above it. You can also hike in the creek below to swim...it's chilly!
Nambe Falls
Whiles it's not the insta-freeze in creeks of the Santa Fe National Forest...the water here is CHILLY.
So....we just walked up the creek.
Camel Rock rest area on Rt 284 outside Santa Fe.
]]>The Petroglyph National Monument, in Albuquerque, was established in 1990 and we are glad they did! It helps to protect one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America (over 20,000 of them.) We visited two out of the three areas of the monument and these rock carvings, dating back 400-700, were surrounded by houses!
Bird.
The light spot, front right, was used to sharpen tools.
The petroglyphs were "carved" out of a volcanic rock escarpment by ancient pueblo people, by removing the desert varnish, or patina, that had come to cover the boulders after years of heat, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles. The darker the carving, the older it is. (Fun fact: A pictograph is painted on the rock, rather than carved.)
Petroglyphs in this area can be animals, people, or symbols, such as the cross. The cross created by ancient pueblo peoples can signify the four directions. Some crosses were also created by Spanish shepherds who came to the area later, and are Christian religious symbols.
The meaning of symbols is not know, or if known is often not shared due to its sacred nature. It's thought that some symbols serve ceremonial purposes, while others were more practical, signaling trade routes or used to communicate with people traveling from pueblo to pueblo in the Rio Grande Valley.
Sadly the area has also been defaced....we are not sure but figure the smiley faces to the right aren't 400-700 years old.
We didn't see many like this man.
Or this guy...
Most of the trails in the monument are quite short (.25-.5 miles) This was a longer one and was about two miles.
On the way home...horses!
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Officially, Meow Wolf is: "... an arts production company that creates immersive, multimedia experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of storytelling. " The exhibit we saw in Santa Fe, The House of Eternal Return, is their first permanent installation, which fills an old bowling alley.
Hey what's in here...
Oh, my!
In the farmhouse.
You start off in an old farmhouse, which looks mostly normal, but is a little odd, and is really odd when you discover you can walk through the fridge or the fireplace, into other "worlds". We can't say what this all means, because we didn't do what we were supposed to do.
We were meant to explore the space to solve the mystery of what happened to a family in a farm house..but, due to the large numbers of people, many elementary school aged, that was hard to do. We found the video clue "Part IV" prior to finding "Part I" and only figured out the task at hand after an hour of wandering around.
Even just wandering around the place is impressive for its scale, variety and attention to detail, as is illustrated (we hope!) below.
Playing the ribs!
The kitchen...where nothing moves.
Color was not in short supply.
Yes, that's a deer head in the corner.
There was a tree house beneath this.
Don't forget the big white rabbit...there was also a giant talking raven!
]]>Officially, Meow Wolf is: "... an arts production company that creates immersive, multimedia experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of storytelling. " The exhibit we saw in Santa Fe, The House of Eternal Return, is their first permanent installation, which fills an old bowling alley.
Hey what's in here...
Oh, my!
In the farmhouse.
You start off in an old farmhouse, which looks mostly normal, but is a little odd, and is really odd when you discover you can walk through the fridge or the fireplace, into other "worlds". We can't say what this all means, because we didn't do what we were supposed to do.
We were meant to explore the space to solve the mystery of what happened to a family in a farm house..but, due to the large numbers of people, many elementary school aged, that was hard to do. We found the video clue "Part IV" prior to finding "Part I" and only figured out the task at hand after an hour of wandering around.
Even just wandering around the place is impressive for its scale, variety and attention to detail, as is illustrated (we hope!) below.
Playing the ribs!
The kitchen...where nothing moves.
Color was not in short supply.
Yes, that's a deer head in the corner.
There was a tree house beneath this.
Don't forget the big white rabbit...there was also a giant talking raven!
]]>Curt & Rufus in Joshua Tree National Park.
It was probably early February that we instituted a no-complaint policy related to our lives. (Donald Trump is another matter.) What we are doing is so much fun and such an opportunity that to complain about anything we just be plain annoying.
Living out of bins has the benefit of making you really aware of what you unpack and use…or even what you are willing to unpack and use. We did (and do) have lots of things that we just weren’t using and so we gave them away….books, wireless router (?), etc.
The things that probably get the most use are our computers, our day packs, hiking poles and camel backs. (We were late coverts to the latter two, but now can't live without them.)
But we still have too much in the way of clothes... Although we gave scads away prior to leaving, and to be fair we are carrying 4 seasons worth with us, there is still too much. Mostly because when you are working from home, and spend most of your off-hours hiking, you really don’t need much. (A fact Curtis has known for a long time, but Wendy is just recognizing…she’s been eating a bit of crow.)
We aren't trying to be like these Japanese minimalists, but they certainly do make us pause for thought.
Every place we’ve rented reportedly had “all the essentials”, but that’s a relative term. Mop and bucket? Coffee maker? Iron & ironing Board? Vacuum? It’s been hit or miss. So we’ve added to our haul in each place things we’ve deemed essential...we now own a Dyson (doh!)
Santa Fe National Forest.. 10,000ft+...with one of our 4 cameras!
We had some random things we brought along, about which more than a few people said, “Really?” But they’ve come in handy…our goal is to live simply, but not to create misery. So a few things that we don’t need but use all the time:
We (just Wendy?) were completely oblivious to the elevation of many places we stayed prior to arrival. Who knew both Flagstaff and Santa Fe were at 7,000 ft? It was an adjustment and we still sometimes have to stop to catch our breath...but the good news is during the massive heat wave of June '16, hiking at 10,000 ft is still bearable.
Ditto on the above for pollen. We somehow managed to follow pollen season throughout the Southwest!
At the office..in Munds Park, AZ
We are still far from our goal of working 3 days a week (or 24 hours.) Curt’s business is in growth mode so he easily works 50-60 hrs a week. Wendy is closer to 30, as building a business from nothing is no small effort. So we spend more time at the desk (aka kitchen table) than we had originally planned. But we are having a blast, so what does it matter!?
The good news is, we are making the most of the flexibility of working for ourselves. So we often work on a Saturday, but take Wednesday off, etc. It’s makes a world of difference.
Ironically, we never use an alarm except when we want to hit the trails early. We still wake up between 5:30-6:30am every day, and the leeway to wake naturally is something we are truly grateful for.
Bandelier National Monument, NM
I think we’ve only felt bored twice, for a couple of hours. Both times have been in cities, when we were waiting for something to start.
There is so much to do and it’s an ever changing menu of choices, we can never do it all. So boredom has not yet been a problem.
We went full throttle into our adventure in Jan & Feb and spent a lot of time feeling weary. So we pace ourselves more now…and still find we are able to do a lot. We have yet to have a day where we just don’t do anything…I mean, c'mon!
The closer we are, the more we do. It was pretty cool to just pop into to Joshua Tree for a morning stroll...we were only 15 minutes away, so why not? Alternatively, Flagstaff was about 45 min - 1 hour from lots of stuff...which meant we spent a lot of time in the car.
Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks, AZ
Packing and moving takes time. We’ve gotten packing/unpacking down to a combined 8 hours, but that's still a lot of time. Doing it twice month is too much and it’s a bit too much change for Rufus. So, we are aiming for 60 day stays from now on.
Also with more time, we can truly explore. Sometimes visiting the same place 2-3 times…or in the case of Joshua Tree National Park… 15-20 times! It makes a difference in our understanding of place, but it’s also helpful psychologically. It’s a bit hard to feel constantly disoriented, so staying long enough for a place to feel familiar can be comforting.
It's completely possible to find nice places within our budget around lots of stuff to do. However, we've found those places get taken quickly, so it's necessary to book 6 months out.
Our VRBO and AirBNB experience so far has been great. All our landlords have been different, but all fine. We are living RIGHT next to our landlord at the moment, but others we haven't seen at all. Our next stop is a cabin on a sheep farm in Cortez, CO...so, stay tuned!
Moon rise in Joshua Tree National Park.
]]>
That’s when it was founded and built. The brainchild of Paolo Soleri an architect, creator of bells and ecologist, Arcosanti was meant to be an experiment in a more sustainable and fruitful way to build cities and live in them. (Known as Arcology = Architecture and Ecology.) He was an intern of Frank Lloyd Wright, and perhaps more than Wright's architecture, he was inspired by the close community that developed among the interns working on Wright's projects.
It was also purportedly the inspiration for the look of Tatooine in Star Wars. That's 70's!
The amphitheater.
You also get the sense, that this is a place that's past its prime…or perhaps never achieved it? We only saw a couple of other visitors during the few hours we were there (to be fair, it was mid-day on a Tuesday). The video that kicked-off our tour looked like it had been shot in the 80’s, most of the buildings and furnishing while interesting at a distance…looked a little worse for wear close up. Perhaps most telling was the candor and discontent of our tour guide.
He was among an interesting mix of people living and working there. Some looked the part of aging hippies who had lived there for decades…. a lot more appeared to be in their 20’s. Our guide was in the latter group.
Where the metal bells are made. Note the living quarters in the windows above.
Living Quarters.
Living space. There are small pods, shared kitchens and bathrooms, as well as private apartments spaces.
He was a (reformed) automation engineer turned futurist interested in alternate, sustainable communities. He, and the handful of other young people we saw around, had done a five-week workshop where they learn about the place, help out with construction and learn how to make the bells… the sale of which largely sustain the place. He had stayed on for a few more months…living in a pod-like space with a bed, and spending most of his time in shared spaces. He volunteered as a tour guide.
He vacillated between admiration for Soleri and what he had tried to accomplish and deep frustration with the way the place was currently being run.
Meeting space.
Meeting space
The Cafe
The orchards that one produced food for Arcosanti are gone and all food is now purchased. There was, reportedly, a strong emphasis on revenue generating activities, that mostly profited from exclusivity. (A photoshoot was underway while we were there and a private concert — tickets were thousands of dollars —was planned for the weekend.)
Photo shoot in progress.
He had particular distaste for the current cook ("He's awful and we don't understand why we can't rid of him"...????) and a board member that used an apartment in the facility as an (a-hem) storage space. When you live in a pod, the notion of wasted space probably does get under your skin a bit.
Bridge to the bell shop.
Needless to say, it was an interesting tour!!
We all bought bells… (alas, our guide told us the nicer bells are sold at their store in Phoenix) which can cost thousands of dollars, but start at $30. That’s only $10 more than the T-shirts… the bells certainly are the better, and more sustainable, buy.
Bells.
]]>We took turns hiking down the canyon (no dogs below the rim!) and were glad we did. Wendy did a day hike (in lovely sunny weather) and went 5 miles down to Indian Gardens. Curt scored a night at Phantom Ranch (!) and went all the way to the Colorado River (and hiked back up in rain & sleet!).
Curt got his space due to someone's cancellation. He met lots of people who did the same, some putting their names on a waiting list just the day before their descent. Worth trying! If you do happen to stay at Phantom Ranch, you don't need to pack much. They provide sheets, blankets, towels, soap, and food, if you order in advance. They even have a pay phone and take credit cards!
If you haven't yet been to the Canyon or would like to relive the experience, here's the view, shot mile by mile on the Bright Angel Trail. We try to note the different rock formations along the way...but don't quote us on it. We've only had 90 minutes of geology training at a Ranger talk!
Click on the photos to see a larger image!
]]>
Second, was surprise at the fact that we were actually allowed to walk in and on some (not all!) of these ruins. If you want to try for yourself, you can find a virtual tour of pueblo ruin here.
Third, which is also something we experienced at Kitt Peak, is the complicated reality that we have national parks, with thousands of vacationers visiting them, on land that is sacred to the native cultures that have lived in these areas for centuries. We know this because there are signs all over telling us this and asking us to act accordingly. We haven't yet decided what we should do with this information, but ponder it. And try our best to act accordingly.
Fourth, is how seemingly little we know about the people who lived in these dwellings. The narrative at most of the monuments if full of the phrase: "We don't really know".
Montezuma's Castle
The Aztec's had nothing to do with Montezuma's Castle, it was built and used by the Sinagua people. Unfortunately, it was named by early European-Americans who didn't know any better, and I guess no one has thought to change the name since.
In any case, it's a cliff dwelling, built 100 ft up, between 1100 and 1300. It was five stories with 45 rooms - that's impressive! As is the case with many of the places we visited, we don't know why people left the dwelling, just that they did.
The cliff dwelling was declared a national monument in 1908 by Teddy Roosevelt. They stopped allowing people to climb up to the dwelling in 1951, due to deterioration of the structure (no kidding!) One thing that hasn't deteriorated, however, is the diorama they built in 1950 to show visitors the internal structure of the pueblo. They are still using it!
Rufus visits a stream near Montezuma's well.
Montezuma's Well is about 10 miles from Montezuma's Castle. It's a "sink" (big hole in the ground) fed by natural springs. It's a verdant area in the midst of semi-arid landscape - quite beautiful.
Montezuma's Well - note there are structures built in the side walls, at top left.
Wukoki Pueblo.
Wupatki
You can take a lovely driving tour through this monument, which was declared such in 1924, visiting a variety of pueblos along the way. Unlike the cliff dwelling at Montezuma's castle these ruins sit in a large expanse of grass lands with the painted desert in the distance. They are amazing to come upon. Driving through this national monument is one of the coolest things we've done to date...happily it's only about 20 miles from us, so we return often.
Box Canyon Dwellings
The dwellings at the monument remain important to several modern day tribes, including the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo people. Some Navajo lived on monument lands through much of the last century but were moved off, or left as, they were no longer permitted to graze sheep on the lands.
"Sink" behind the Citadel pueblo.
The entire area is environmentally and archeologically sensitive and there are limited hiking opportunities. However, the park offers a lottery for guided, overnight camping excursions into the backcountry. We were not able to take advantage, but can certainly see why one would want to!
Other ruins in the area, which we haven't yet visited, include Tuzigoot pueblo and Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings.
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This struck us as something to be aware of, but not something we could prepare for. We were right. We have noticed that when we get a new destination, there is always an initial wariness as we try to figure out 'the deal' with the place. Familiar things feel safe, and unfamiliar things unsafe, even though we really have no idea if either sentiment is accurate.
Near our "house" in Yucca Valley, CA
Near our "house" in Yucca Valley, CA.
For instance, when we first landed in Yucca Valley, we spent a few weeks trying to figure out if we lived in a good neighborhood, a bad neighborhood, or just somewhere in between. The landscape in the desert was, and is still, unfamiliar. It's not lush or manicured; it's dirty and wild. In Yucca, everyone around us had a chainlink fence around their entire yard and dogs...lots of dogs. We lived nearby an independent coffee shop, antique stores and trendy shops...but we were equidistant to several liquor stores and abandoned homes. Which do you pay more attention to? Why? What do you miss out on by being too cautious and sticking with the familiar? What do you risk by going too far into the strange?
Last Sunday there was a terrific article in The New York Times Magazine about wave pilots in the Marshal Islands, who navigate at sea with no instruments. It's a great read — so well written! — and also a fascinating subject. Reading it made got us thinking again about this notion of disorientation. Particularly the discussion of how we navigate, how it impacts our the brains, our relationships and our outlook on the world. From the article:
"Disorientation is always stressful, and before modern civilization, it was often a death sentence. Sometimes it still is...[However}, being lost — assuming, of course, that you are eventually found — has one obvious benefit: the chance to learn about the wider world and reframe your perspective. From that standpoint, the greatest threat posed by GPS might be that we never do not know exactly where we are."
"Tolman [who found that rats develop cognitive maps of mazes when they navigate through them] hypothesized that humans have cognitive maps, too, and that they are not just spatial but social. ‘‘Broad cognitive maps,’’ he posited, lead to empathy, while narrow ones lead to ‘‘dangerous hates of outsiders,’’ ranging from ‘‘discrimination against minorities to world conflagrations.’’
We figured out in both Yucca and Tucson that we are staying in normal neighborhoods. They aren't fancy, there is a little roughness, but they are fine. In both cases, it took some time, a willingness to wander around (we get lost a lot), and a bit of discomfort to figure that out. We've decided it's worth it.
]]>In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
John O'Donohue
To Bless the Space Between Blessings
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I took some time to reflect on how I got to this bad day. In my experience, spectacularly bad days are not a fluke, but the culmination of many, small missteps, that individually can be ignored, but when combined during a single, 24-hour period cannot. Without fail, these small missteps are my own - not someone else's, not the universe playing tricks. At the root of my bad days is none other than me.
So how did I get to Monday? A few things jump out:
For the rest of the week, I tried to put this learning into practice. I did well on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, I proved I cannot be trusted to act in my own best interest! Lacking the patience to just stand there doing nothing while the coffee brewed, I made the wildly, ill-informed choice to watch this - because it was the first thing I saw when I turned on my Ipad. Musical sketch comedy has its place, but, at least for me, that place is not in my head at 5:30am.
I've gotten better following my advice each day. Demonstrating that, thankfully (!), being a "work in progress" does include some progress.
As we prepared to launch our life on the road, muted alarm became an all too familiar emotion. Gaps in our thinking were (are?!) everywhere. On reflection, I feel like we could be a case study in cognitive biases. There was the endowment effect (garage sale), and Hofstadter's Law (how did this take ALL DAY?); and focusing effect, which I think has been our most common and egregious.
An example:
We were visiting with some friends from Portland after Thanksgiving, when they casually said, “So, tell us about your tires.” Enter muted alarm. We were eating soup - and this may be confabulation - but I am pretty sure spoons were suspended somewhere between bowl and mouth. Both of our friends enjoy snowboarding and at least one goes snow camping (voluntarily!) So, they are well acquainted with driving in the mountain passes in winter. Therefore, it should not have been surprising that they followed up their first question with: ‘Yeah, what kind of chains do you have?” Chains?!?!
Naturally, we hadn’t thought about tires or chains. We were so focused on our future state – Desert! Sunshine! Warmth! – that we neglected to give any thought to the realities of the route that would take us from Seattle, WA to Joshua Tree, CA. This route involves mountain passes with unpredictable and often snowy weather. Most interestingly, I KNEW about these roads. My Aunt in northern California no longer visits my cousin in southern Oregon for the holidays, because the drive over the pass is so bad. My Mom mentions this to us every year at Christmas. This is information THAT I HAD, but somehow left unused in a remote corner of my mind.
After some head nodding at our friends, we were able to muster something like, “Say more. Say more about the chains.” They told us what to get (self-tensioning), to practice in advance (Don’t be the guy on the side of the road in the snow reading the directions!), and to bring along a plastic lid from a Rubbermaid bin to kneel on (super-pro tip to avoid getting wet, dirty knees!)
As it turns out, the actual impact of this hole in our plan was minor and mainly financial. We got new tires for the Vanagon (special order, of course), and chains for both cars (also, special order.) But, in the end, we took the coastal route instead of I-5. There was a winter storm advisory on the day we were to go over the Siskiyou pass and although we had the chains…we really had no desire to use them. Thankfully, in this particular instance, we did not have to worry about the overconfidence effect.
Regardless, the moral of this story is the same. Talk to your friends. They can see things more clearly than you can. (Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.)
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