An Iowa Quickie
I had new tires placed on the Silver Bullet this past Friday morning and, on impulse, decided I needed a short test drive before putting her on the road for a more extended trip. So I decided to do a quickie trip to Le Claire, Iowa, a 130-mile trip that is almost a straight drive down I-80 East. My destination was for my third trip on the Riverboat Twilight, a 1 1/2-hour excursion up the Mississippi River. I admit that, as my anticipated departure nears, I am looking for last opportunities to see parts of the state that has been home for the last eighteen years. From the Le Claire exit, there’s a good view of the bridge that crosses the Mississippi River connecting Iowa to Illinois. The river isn’t quite so mighty this far north, but there still seems to be something special one can sense about it even…
A Final Crack at Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is at the top of my NP Bucket List. It suddenly occurred to me that I might have an opportunity this month to make a quick trip there along with at least one other park before I leave Iowa. While Juneteenth is a federal holiday now, it’s not a national holiday. I’m hoping that means the park–one of the most popular ones in the system–will not be at overflow levels that weekend. I have two routes to consider. The first and most likely to be feasible would be to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota then across to Montana and Glacier. Under the category of wishful thinking is to add another stop to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. This would add another day to the trip because the route from Voyageurs is all state roads rather than almost all interstate driving if I don’t go there.…
The DMV and Indiana Dunes NP
As I mentioned in earlier posts, I am in the process of relocating to the DC Metro area, otherwise known as the DMV, so I’m closer to family and away from the winters of Iowa. I had two primary goals for this trip: one, to find a place to stay and two, celebrate the publication of Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals with my family. I think I found an apartment in the area that would be available when I need it, but I won’t know for sure until September. By Friday, I was able to take time to get my hair professionally done (I could almost hear the strands singing “thank you” afterwards) and visit my cousins on my mother’s side of the family. Then, on Saturday, I met colleague and former vocal coach Millicent Scarlett-Smith for lunch to catch up. Somehow, although I hadn’t planned on it, she left lunch…
Pittsburgh–Conference and a Tour
I had packed a lot of activity into the trip that would take me from my current home base in Iowa to Pittsburgh, PA, via Illinois and Ohio. My plans changed from the very beginning when I decided to delay my departure from Sunday morning, May 14th, to Tuesday. This change meant that I had to miss the Renée Fleming/Evgeny Kissin recital in Chicago on Sunday, very much to my disappointment. When I finally did get started on Tuesday morning, I loaded the Silver Bullet with a larger-than-usual suitcase to handle the clothes I thought I’d need for the ARSC conference and my time visiting family in the DC Metro area. I also had eight of the ten copies of my newly published book that its publisher had sent to me. I had already mailed books one and two to my eldest sister, to whom I had dedicated the book,…
May Flowers… and Transitions
I haven’t posted recently because, other than visiting family over the Christmas holidays, I’ve relied on virtual interactions. This has also been due to living at my home computer writing my second book. It’s taken over a decade to research and compile contents for the project–actually, I took four years away from that project to write and get So You Want to Sing Spirituals published. However, I finally got the final edits and indexing to the publisher in March. As I write this post, I’m approximately six weeks away from getting the hot-off-the-presses book in my hands. If all goes as I hope, this hovering around the homestead should change in May. In addition to the book release on the 18th, I’m scheduled to present at the annual conference of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections in Pittsburgh that very weekend (perfect timing, IMO–which never humble). In fact, if all…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Afterthoughts)
It’s hard to believe that it has been a month since I finally made this trip that has been on my wish list for a decade. And what a difference a decade makes! I still don’t feel like I’ve fully recovered from the trip. Yet, I’m already contemplating one more venture while I’m still in Iowa. This time, I want to visit Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. I was close to visiting it in the summer of 2018, but from Missoula I had to decide to go 250 miles due north to Glacier or continue on my originally planned route towards Seattle. Time and budget–and just finishing an incredible visit to Yellowstone NP–were the deciding factors. Now, though, I’ve got the option of taking Amtrak there or driving the Silver Bullet. It will be hard to leave the car and the freedom to change plans, but I admit that…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Days 6 and 7)
Before I went to sleep Friday night, I noticed that my edema was pretty bad. Despite my hope, when I awakened, it was much worse. I had no choice but to decide to cut out visiting any of the three Colorado national parks and making a direct route home. Unfortunately, the WiFi access for my GPS was extremely spotty, nor could I get a Mapquest map routing using my smartphone. Below are two maps. The first shows two routes. Route one (the darker blue line) indicates a 24-minute shorter route than number two (lighter blue). However, if I had been able to see both options at the time, I would have taken the second route because it would have placed me on Interstate 25, which would have allowed me to set the Silver Bullet’s cruise control and saved my right leg a lot of painful wear and tear. Instead, I…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Day 5)
Another beautiful day! This map displays all four national parks I visited during the trip: Bryce Canyon (I), Capitol Reef (J), Canyonlands (K), and Arches (L). I entered the Canyonlands National Park on Friday morning. It seemed like every time I pulled out of one turnoff after taking pictures, I would pull off the road yet again at the next one to take more pictures of the different scenes. I was also very fortunate that I could take advantage of the accessible parking that regularly placed me close enough to sites to either get great pictures or to get out and have a fairly short walk to those views. I’m not going to try to describe what I saw with words. Rather, I’m going to let the pictures express their thousand words. Oh, one more thing, as usual, clicking on any of the pictures in the galleries should give you…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Day 4)
Utah has five national parks. I’ve previously visited Zion National Park, so my game plan was to try to visit the remaining four parks during this trip. However, one thing had to be taken into account. Utah is a big state in area, and the roads between the parks were not exactly direct or were they going to be interstate highways. My best hope was to reach two per day with the goal of heading to Four Corners Monument by late Friday. My luck with weather continued to hold. That’s an understatement. Even the days that started chilly enough to need a jacket warmed enough as the day progressed to allow me to shed the jacket.That morning, though, I needed to start the day wearing both my scarf and wool cap for additional protection. As I often do, I chose a scenic route through Bryce Canyon National Park so I…
The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Day 3)
I was finally in the position to strike the Grand Canyon Skywalk off my list. My mother and I had visited the : //singin1.wordpress.com/tag/grand-canyon/">Grand Canyon in 2012. Although the Grand Canyon is a national park, the Skywalk is not part of the park system. Therefore, my senior pass doesn't cover the fee to visit the site.
I arrived very early, nearly an hour before the entry opened. Once I got in, the gentleman at the checkout told me that I was eligible for a senior discount, which was great, then that my walker and other personal items would have to be stored before I was permitted onto the Skywalk. They would provide a walker for my use, but this also meant that I would not have my phone and its camera. As you can imagine, I objected to turning over my camera since I use it to take pictures of the sites I visit. I have not idea why this policy was in place, but I decided not to continue on. With great reluctance and disappointment, I turned back and left.I did get a few pictures of the surrounding area to share:
[gallery size="full" ids="2064,2065,2066,2067,2068,2069,2070,2071,2072"]: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/map3a.gif" alt="" width="338" height="333" />The eco-tourist in me tried not to think about all of the driving--or, more specifically, the gas I burned--and the physical wear-and-tear to reach this area without completing my goal. This is the chance I take, however, with a trip like this. At least it's all beautiful scenery, and the weather continued to be glorious.
My next destination was the first of four national parks in Utah. I based the order on the shortest route between each according to Mapquest. Based on that, my first stop would be Bryce Canyon National Park. The route, as would often happen between one park and the next, was not direct. I actually crossed back into Nevada and drove through Las Vegas a second time--this time giving me a daytime view of the city. Again, I was not tempted to stop and avail myself of its gambling facilities. As you can see from the map, I re-entered Arizona very briefly before actually entering Utah. Fortunately, about half of the route was on the interstate, so it took far less time than I expected. Yet I arrived late enough that I decided to get a few shots outside the park and settle for the night, saving my visit until the next morning. [gallery size="full" type="slideshow" ids="2078,2079,2080,2081,2082,2083,2084"]: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/loudmusic.webp" alt="" width="331" height="314" />Gas prices continue to run in the $6.00 per gallon range, making me yearn for the lower prices I've been used to paying.
From a music standpoint, I was giving myself a steady dose of D'lair's Replays. I really like the songs on the list, and the music kept me in a pretty good mood despite the way the morning had gone.