Travels of author, soprano, researcher, and road diva Randye Jones
Busy day started with a stop at the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. It seems that I missed much of the gardens, but the trees, shrubs and various decorations were enjoyable to view along the way. Back uptown, I found the Shot Tower a little bit off the beaten path. The building’s original purpose was …
Even though I hadn’t asked for a wake-up call, I was highly motivated to check out of the room early. Got some breakfast and did a little shopping before heading to my primary objective for this trip: the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. It was just after noon, but the museum was already full …
On Thursday morning, it suddenly hit me that the Labor Day weekend was approaching, and I REALLY didn’t want to spend it in Grinnell. The answer: a one-tank trip. Relatively inexpensive and not too far away. I decided on Dubuque because my previous visits there had all been for conferences with no time to play …
I got the early start I’d hoped for that Sunday morning. There were only two stops in Little Rock: the historic Central High School, site of the first effort by nine African American students to attend the all-white school 59 years ago, and the President William Clinton Library. I still had a ten-hour drive home …
During my short drive through Vacherie, Louisiana, on Saturday morning, I wasn’t paying much attention to the green stalks rising from the roadside fields at first because I see so much corn growing in Iowa, I’d assumed this was more of the same. Then I noticed that their appearance was all wrong and guessed that …
(Really, the trip’s only 45 minutes each way, but you get the point of the title–I hope–and if you don’t, you should watch more 60’s television.) Friday was thankfully another glorious day, this one in Gulfport, Mississippi. And I appreciated this because I’m traveling in an area that can get some very fierce storms at …
One thing I learned from my past visits to national parks is that some are not entirely civilized–or more accurately, near civilization’s accoutrements, such as gas stations, stores or restaurants. One should not enter these parks or even go near them without a full tank and refreshments on hand. So, when I saw what I …
For unintended reasons, I continued to rise early and was on the road pretty early. I left Islamarada and headed west down the Overseas Highway. Fortunately, rush hour traffic wasn’t bad, so I made very good time, reaching Key West around 9 a.m. I didn’t have a specific destination in mind, only knew that I wanted …
Like every other day in Miami Beach, the 4th of July started as a warm and sunny morning. I began gathering my things so that I could vacate the room I’d been using the four days while in town. Wimbledon men’s tennis was playing in the background, of course. Since I didn’t plan to go …
I thought I had more time to get to the convention hall than I did, so I watched Serena kick butt on the tennis court at Wimbledon. Then, I wanted to kick myself when I discovered that I’d missed Chase Masterson’s Q&A because she is reputed to good for an interesting tidbit or two of …