ARSC, National Parks and More (Gettin’ There)–May 14-16
A head’s up from the very beginning: This trip was very different than I had mentioned in my April 20, 2025, post. But then, that’s not at all unusual in my journeys. I tend to have a basic plan with lots of variables that I can consider as the trip occurs. My departure on Wednesday, May 14, was much later than planned because I wanted to make a sausage delivery as I left town and used that as an excuse to get a few extra hours of recovery sleep and trip prep after my recent return from my class reunion just two days earlier. Anyway, on my first gas and food stop near the Maryland-Pennsylvania-West Virginia borders, I saw my first McDonald’s advertisement for their offering of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I had read an announcement about the arrangement a year ago, but I wasn’t ready to actually see the doughnuts…
Backtrack: Pilot Mountain State Park 050715
I found these pictures posted on my Facebook page in May 2015. As mentioned in the brief post below, I was driving to my 35th college class reunion when I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Pilot Mountain State Park in East Bend, North Carolina. I had to save the compressed photos from Facebook until I find the originals, so the quality is not so good. Still, I find them worth sharing. BTW, RB is my dearly departed Red Barron car. The post and pictures follow: RB and I heading to North Carolina for my 35th class reunion. Sunrise over the mountains is so beautiful, even looking past the dead bugs on RB’s windshield. Then, I realized that, with all my journeying through the great American west, I hadn’t visited the Pilot Mountain State Park in my own home state. So,… why not now? Before 8…
Seein’ the DMV: Ocean City and Assateague Island
Ocean City and Assateague Island I left home at 1:30 a.m. in order to give myself more than adequate time to reach my scheduled boat tour in Ocean City, Maryland. This was an impulse trip just because I hadn’t been to OC yet and had the opportunity for a relatively inexpensive trip that included about a 4.5-hour drive each way. The weather forecast a partly cloudy day with temps reaching the mid-60s. I dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and knee-length sweatpants, then opted for a hooded sweater instead of my jean jacket (BIG mistake). As I drove out, I wondered why Waze directed me on a circuitous route through Baltimore rather than the more direct route over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge until I remembered that it was using my normal–avoid toll roads–criteria. This was one of those occasions where paying $2.50 to cross the bridge would have been cheaper than…
Seein’ the DMV: A Day in Baltimore and Some More Old Business
First, the Old Business Found another set of pictures with no post to describe them. This time, I traveled to the Living History Farms in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines, with my new student host daughter for a rally during President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign for his second term in office. I wanted my host daughter to experience this great American event as part of her time studying in the United States. The young woman was from China, and I wanted her to observe a part of the election process and to see the president in person. One of the nice things about being in Iowa was that candidates for president, even incumbents, made it their business to visit the state regularly, so this was not the first time I had attended an Obama event. In fact, I was at his first visit to Grinnell College in 2008. Even…
Two Major Backtracks–New York and Porgy and Bess Plus Grotto of the Redemption in Iowa (2012)
While looking for the blog post describing my 2012 trip to New York City to see the musical adaptation of Porgy and Bess before it left Broadway, I discovered that I hadn’t actually written a post. Then, I realized that I was also missing a post for the visit my dearly departed Momma and I made to the Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. At this point–nearly thirteen years later–my recollection is incomplete, but I’ll try as best as I can to explain what led to the pictures I captured. Unfortunately, the camera I used for the photos did not record GPS locations, so I found general GPS locations and added that information so that maps could be generated on my Piwigo pages. The Grotto of the Redemption, June 30 My mother, Cora Jones, flew out to Iowa for her second visit in June of…
April and May Travel Update
I’m hoping for a very active travel summer in 2025. This has been made easier by an award I recently received. The Music Library Association (MLA) bestowed its 2025 Vincent H. Duckles Award–given for the best book-length bibliography or other research tool in music–for my second book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022. With their monetary award, I was able to fully prep the Silver Bullet for distance travel, pay for registration and hotel for the upcoming Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and have funds left to register for next year’s MLA conference. The fun is scheduled to begin with a full day in Baltimore consisting of a road tour of the city, my second visit to the National Aquarium, and a dinner cruise that evening. This is contingent on my full recovery from whatever bug I brought back (in addition to the Kong-sized shot glass and…
New York City: Boat Tour, Empire State and Chanticleer, Too
There are a variety of performers on my “gotta hear them live” bucket list. The men’s vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, is on that list. When I saw an ad on Facebook that they were giving a concert, I immediately purchased a ticket. Now, the only problem was I didn’t look to see where they were performing until after I bought the non-refundable ticket. See, the concert was set to take place in New York City. I had a choice: I could either write off the ticket, or I make my way to New York. It was actually a pretty short debate after I concluded that I could take a short Amtrak trip there and make a day of it. As the day approached, I checked the weather forecast and saw that, while that Thursday was set to only reach the 50s, there was no rain forecast. I tried to dress in…
Seein’ the DMV: Cherry Pie… Um, Blossoms and More
Last year, I did a boat tour with three of my siblings. This year, I tried a solo excursion of the famous Japanese cherry trees in the DMV by bus. The tour picked me up near the Archives Metro rail station. At the time, the Navy band was playing marches, including some of my favorite Sousa pieces, as an opening for a program. The buses used weren’t accessibility friendly–in fact, another passenger fell and sustained some injuries climbing up the bus’ steps–so I immediately decided that I would rely on whatever picture taking I could do from my seat. Still, it was a beautiful Tuesday, April 1st, day, and the previous weather damage to the trees’ blossoms wasn’t bad enough to affect their appearance much. While there were signs of construction at the Tidal Basin, I got the impression that efforts had been made to minimize its impact on the…
Seein’ the DMV: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center
I woke up unusually early Sunday morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. After watching the sun rise, I realized that I wanted to get out and enjoy what looked to be a sunny–if not particularly warm–day somewhere other than home. After searching on my cellphone for scenic drives in Maryland, I decided to connect with my return to researching spirituals by taking the Harriet Tubman Byway, what was described as “a self-guided driving tour that winds for more than 125 miles through the beautiful landscapes and Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” as well as into Delaware. Mistake number one was not making sure that the full route was downloaded to my phone. As it worked out, Wifi access in that part of the state is spotty at best. Secondly, I underestimated the scope of the trip, thinking I could do most, if not all, in a few hours. It clearly needed…
Seein’ the DMV: With Sadness, Bidding Black Lives Matter Plaza Farewell
Just because I suspected–and feared–the negative results of November 2024’s presidential elections, that has done nothing to alleviate my dismay as I watch the intentional systemic destruction that has already occurred. So much damage affecting so many in the United States and around the world. One visible (but completely expected) consequence, was the announcement by the mayor of DC that Black Lives Matter Plaza would be demolished due to pressure by the Trump administration. I have not previously used this forum to overtly express political views, but I am making an exception here. The two-block-long plaza’s mural was created in June, 2020, after non-violent protesters of the murder of George Floyd were attacked by Federal forces. The simple, but powerful, statement “Black Lives Matter” was emblazoned within easy view of the White House. I found this satellite view to get a full sense of the mural. (Click on the picture…