King Tut-ing
There are so many exhibits and activities going on that I sometimes feel like I have to use “eenie-meanie-minee-moe” to decide what to see or do. When I saw the ad announcing the exhibit, Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures, I had to go. The exhibition consisted of reconstructed objects, film, and narration based on the discovery of King Tut’s burial grounds in Egypt in 1922. I found the exhibit fascinating, especially the scale and detail of the objects, from the Rosetta Stone to the artifacts in the tomb. Also, each of the attendees were given a device that allowed us to individually control the audio presentation based on the display. I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves: As usual, click on individual pictures to enlarge. The more than 200 pictures I took are available at https://singin1.pics/piwigo2/index.php?/category/seein-the-dmv-king-tut-ing-050824. Overall, I think I chose a good day to…
Seein’ the DMV: Touring the City
I was born and raised in North Carolina, spent a decade in the Florida panhandle, and just finished 18 winters in Iowa. Between those periods, however, I have lived in the District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia (known as the DMV to residents) area. And like most folks who live here, I tended to vacation somewhere else. So, I drive by the many sites housed in the region but I know next to nothing about them. I decided that I am going to address this. My plan is to make at least a monthly trip as a tourist visiting museums, galleries, and other sites. I decided to start with an extended tour of DC and decided on Old Town Trolley, selecting their Hop on Hop Off Washington DC and Monuments by Moonlight. I got off to a late start and didn’t allow myself enough time to transfer to their bus that goes to…
Call Me Crazy, But…
I am planning to attend the 2024 Association of Recorded Sound Collections conference to receive an award for my book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022. The conference is in St. Paul, Minnesota, so I want to take advantage of the opportunity to get some of the national parks–especially Glacier in Montana. The current proposal is mapped below: The route is available at https://bit.ly/3xSOaRK and includes a final stop at Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. I’ve previously visited those celebrating the administrations of Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton. Still keeping an eye out for the opening of Barack Obama’s. A few days later,… I completely rerouted my trip. I learned that there is a major balloon festival at Mesa Verde National Park in early October, so I cut out all of the southwestern stops and created a new map that adds a third visit to Yellowstone:…
Totally Eclipsed–Cuyahoga Valley National Park
I got up Sunday morning before the scheduled solar eclipse, feeling better than I had in several days, but I wasn’t convinced that I should make the approximately seven-hour drive to Cuyahoga National Park to observe the total eclipse. From my residence in Maryland, I could set up on the outside deck and get the 87% effect anticipated in that location. In fact, much of the United States would experience some level of eclipse, but the area of total eclipse would cover a specific line from Texas through Maine. But I wanted it all! The next total eclipse isn’t scheduled in the United States until 2044, and if the Lord keeps me here that long, there is no guarantee that I will be able to see it. So, I grabbed my new eclipse t-shirt, and a lunch box, my telescope, and cellphone and left Sunday evening, heading northwest. I try…
Cherry Blossoms Cruisin’
I invited my DC siblings (Debra, Chuck and Gerry) to join me on a lunch cruise to view the flowering cherry blossoms lining the Washington Channel and Potomac River in Washington, DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival connected to the blooming of these trees is a major event held during the Spring. Traffic to and from the area makes reaching activities then a major challenge that I’ve previously avoided. However, this year, I wanted to to experience the beautiful scenery and share it with the sibs. I checked the options and discovered that there were cruises available that were specifically organized to view the trees and was able to get a reservation for a lunch cruise on a Tuesday when I hoped would give us an excellent view without the congestion that would come with any effort to drive there. The day of the cruise was a little cool, but it…
Two National Parks
Since I retired, I am more inclined to indulge my impulses and hop onto the road with little or no advanced planning. This is what happened when I literally woke up one morning and decided to visit the closest national park to the area. I had just gotten a 35 mm digital camera and wanted to give it a test-run at a site where I could find distance and closeup scenery to photograph. Shenandoah National Park I entered Shenandoah National Park from the southern part of Virginia with the idea of working my way north so that drive home would be shorter. Although this was an impulse trip, I still took the time beforehand to check the web and get information about the park so I could be prepared for it. I exited I-64 and entered the southernmost point of Skyline Drive. I do wish that I’d gone by the…
US Maps
I purchased a cloth map of the United States in January 2024 that I have used to pin stops I made during journeys referenced on this site. A photo of the map is below: As I added pins for each trip I posted about, I took pictures of those additions to the map, beginning with my first entry in 2008: Goin’ West, June 2008 Niagara Falls-Canada-Newfoundland-Labrador, July 2011 Denver (REAP) to Dallas, June 2013 Goin’ West 2014, June 2014 Cincinnati (MLA)-Indiana U, March 2016 Great Smoky NP, A Family Wedding, NC Outer Banks, July 2017 Grand Teton & Yellowstone, Wyoming, October 2020 California (AAASA & Hollywood) and National Parks, November 2022 Dakotas and Minnesota National Parks, June 2023 As I worked on this post, I realized that I had to more completely note the places I visited in Iowa. So, I added rose colored pins for the many interesting…
Catching Up and Looking Ahead
In the months since I last posted, I made my move from Iowa to Maryland, or the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia). It was wonderful to spend my first Thanksgiving in years with my family. It was also nearly as wonderful to miss the 20 inches of snow that fell in Iowa and below zero temperatures they experienced in January of 2024. Here, we did get a couple of inches a few nights when the temps dropped to the upper teens. I was fortunate to find a two-bedroom apartment in an independent living senior residence. The rent is outrageous, but folks keep telling me that it’s quite reasonable for the DMV. I try to tell myself that each month as I pay the rent, but it isn’t working. Anyway,… As busy as I’ve been trying to organize things from the move–the office is still a mass of boxes, I have gotten some travel…
Back to Boone, And the Arboretum (Sort of), Too
Sorry, but my transitioning back to the East Coast has caused me to fall behind with my posting here. This is the first of three posts that will have to serve as placeholders until I can find time to catch up. Only this one will be published in the meantime with references to all three trips. First, I revisited Boone’s train station and visited the museum. The pictures are available at: http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/2nd-boone-iowa-arboretum-081923. The second trip was for what I currently believe my final full concert performance for the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque, Iowa. The photos are available at: http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/St-Francis-Sisters-Concert-Dubuque-IA-092923. And third, what turned into an absolutely horrible trip to Gateway National Park in St. Louis. It’s my hope that by the time I post my experience, I will have more positive thoughts about it. In the meantime, the pictures are available at: http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/77. …
A Fair (Almost) Day at the Iowa State Fair
I had agreed to volunteer a couple of hours at the state Democratic Party booth at the Iowa State Fair. I hadn’t attended the fair since my first visit with my host daughter in 2009, so this seemed a great excuse to make a final trip before I head back East. Considering that I was Des Moines on Sunday, August 13, at a site that has drawn more than one million visitors during the 11-day annual event, I was lucky my handicap decal got me so close to one of the gates. Still, it’s a big site with lots of walking, and I decided not to spend the $70 to rent a motorized scooter for the day so my progress was slow. Coincidentally, I was close to the building where the famous butter cow was on display with Iowa sports figures Jack Trice, Kurt Warner and Caitlin Clark. I walked…