From Richmond to Charlotte (Sorta) to the NC Outer Banks-March 2026
Spirituals in Richmond I had been invited to be a panelist for a discussion of spirituals for the 2026 Society for American Music (SAM) annual conference in Richmond, Virginia, so I decided to add a side trip to the Outer Banks of my home state, North Carolina. It would be only my second visit to the area, when my mother and I made it as far as Buxton, NC, in 2017. Shortly before the trip was scheduled to begin, I saw a Facebook notice that the American Spiritual Ensemble (ASE) was scheduled to perform in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Sunday after the conference. As the departure date neared, however, two events caused me to debate whether I would complete the trip as planned. First, I got an email notification that a different conference had just experienced numerous confirmed cases of COVID. While I had gotten my annual COVID vaccine a…
California (and Oregon), Here I Come?!?
As I contemplated driving to the Southwest national parks this fall, I considered adding the parks I missed in California. However, the extra mileage and physical wear and tear to me and my car, the Silver Bullet (SB), didn’t seem feasible, even to me. Then, Uncle Sam’el came to the rescue. I received a notice on my Amtrak app that the train service was offering a 50% discount on its USA Rail Pass. The pass restrictions that come with the standard $500 price usually turn me off, but the timing of the half-price offer was perfect because it gave me the option to travel from Washington to Los Angeles using only two of the ten segments that come with the pass. Even the restrictions–starting the first segment within four months of purchase–would be workable. Plus, if I don’t use all ten segments within 30 days of beginning the first segment–another…
Seein’ the DMV: Celebrating the Holidays 2025
As I have mentioned in previous posts, this has been a difficult year for my family. I’ve kept my travels close enough to the DMV that I could get back fairly quickly if needed. With the passing of my eldest sister’s husband in October, I’ve intentionally stayed close to home. Sometimes, though, we are blessed through difficult moments. My sister asked me to sing for the memorial service. I’d stepped away from public performing, but I couldn’t refuse her. The blessing I received was both spiritual — rediscovering that I still have the gift to sing, but I have to change the way I do it — and practical — a limited return to public performance. I am even considering giving a concert in late Spring 2026. More about this if it actually gets past the wishful thinking stage. Holiday Concerts in the DMV Most of November and December was…
Side Trip to Music City Tennessee-National Museum of African American Music-102925
Wednesday morning started beautifully but cloudy. The weather forecast called for a 100% chance of rain by noon. Most definitely not a day for me to enjoy scenic driving through the Smoky Mountain National Park. I sat in the parking lot of its Oconaluftee Visitors Center debating whether I should chance the scenic drive or get on the nearby entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway and head for home. Then, a third option came to mind. I had just seen a Facebook post about the National Museum of African American Music‘s (NMAAM) exhibit on the Fisk Jubilee Singers. I had actually thought about going there in the early planning of this trip, but decided against it when I discovered that my trip to the Southwestern national parks, currently planned for 2026, would take me directly through Nashville. The problem was that the Singers exhibit is scheduled to close in December…
“Romeo and Juliet” Comes to Staunton, Virginia, and Musical Moments
From living in Iowa, I’d become quite familiar with driving distances (Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, etc.) to attend events. So, it was not at all unusual for me to use the planned drive to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to divert somewhat and attend a performance of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. My original plan was to attend the Music Library Association (MLA) chapter conference jointly organized by the Atlantic and the Southeastern chapters and use the opportunity to visit my aunt in Greensboro, then drive back to DC via the Blue Ridge Parkway. This post will cover through the conference, with other posts addressing the rest of the trip. As it worked out, I had added the conference to my calendar a week too early. Fortunately, I learned of the error before I made the drive. However, I did need to adjust my trip so that I would instead make the…
Seein’ the DMV: Three Shorts – August-September 2025
There’s a lot going on in my family, so I’ve stayed pretty close to home base lately. However, I did make three short excursions that I’m sharing here. Western Maryland Mountain View – August 28 2025 has been filled with astrological sights, or at least more have come to my attention. One of my efforts has been to find a dark sky site–one where the effects of ground lighting offer no/limited interference to viewing the night sky–within a two-hour drive of home (plus a quickie-trip would give me an excuse to test drive my new prescription shades). My latest effort was a drive to western Maryland, initially to Catoctin Mountain Park. I found numerous hiking trails and cabins for housing, even a swimming pool and various other event sites. I also passed a road with cautionary signage that might have led to Camp David, which I read was in close…
More Tennis and a Really Big Drive-In-August 2025
I’ve stayed pretty close to home this August due a family situation and a need to be readily available. There have been two little trips, though. The first was an impulse drive to Baltimore County, Maryland. I’d seen something about drive-in movie theaters, and my research yielded information about one there. Popcorn and a Drive-in Movie Bengie’s Drive-In, which advertises itself as “the home of the BIGGEST Movie Theatre Screen in the USA,” is located in Middle River, approximately a half hour’s drive from Baltimore. If I was going to make the drive there, I would need to leave early enough in the day to avoid both DMV and Baltimore rush hour traffic. So, I decided to see if there was a state park nearby and found that Gunpowder Falls State Park-Hammerman Area was close enough to the theater to make it a layover destination for that afternoon. The park…
Seein’ the DMV: Concerts and National Aquarium
Two Concerts I don’t normally post about musical concerts I attend because I don’t like to write reviews. However, I’m going to spend a little time touching on three concerts I attended in July, but the bulk of the post will cover my second visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Since my return to the DMV, I have taken as much advantage as I can of the stage events offered here. This summer, this has included concerts from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Summerfest schedule–an all-George Gershwin program and movie music by John Williams, plus the performance of Carl Orff”s Carmina Burana, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, soloists, Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. The Gershwin concert started what was a very busy week on Sunday, July 20. The program included his Cuban Overture, excerpts from the opera Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue,…
Unplanned Mini-Trip: Rock And Roll HoF, Cuyahoga Valley NP, Western Maryland Scenic RR
Some trips just happen. This was one of them. I was watching a news story on Monday, June 9th, about the extremely rare Strawberry Moon scheduled to occur on Wednesday and decided I would find an different place where I would see it. Next morning, with minimal preparation, I jumped into the Silver Bullet (SB), texted a family member I was headed out of town, and drove towards Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Now, those of you following this blog know I have been there before. Twice, in fact, in 2024, first to witness the total solar eclipse, then traveling on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. On neither visit, however, did I actually see much of the park itself. The downside of unplanned trips is that I WILL forget something. In this case, I forgot that my usual ability to get satisfying photos from the camera on my very dependable…
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…