TEXAS!

There are Texas stars everywhere at the Texas State Capital, even on the massive hinges on the doors. Here I am standing on the gates wondering why they didn’t keep the gates locked to keep the occupants of the Capital in a few years ago. I am sure the gates are to keep certain politicians in and not to keep the good citizens of Texas out. Only blocks from here they hold a “Keep Austin Weird Festival” every year. They really shouldn’t worry, as long as they have Texas governors in Austin, Austin will remain weird. In fact I’d love to return a former Texas governor to them, to help assure that Austin is sufficiently weird (one would do the job.)

Travel

Vanderbilt University

Here I am on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. It is faster to drive to Nashville from home than it is to fly, so we drove down. We stayed in a very nice hotel across the street from the Campus, DG taught workshops for a couple of days while I indulged in the day-spa at the Hotel. We found several very good restaurants nearby. DG found a small used book store that made note of a rare collectable he had been looking for and called him more then a year later to let him know they had found it. Only one more volume and that part of the collection will be complete.

TR

My Kind of Town, Chicago

Two years ago we went to Chicago for a few days in late May and hit the most delightful weather. It was bright and sunny and warm enough to move around without a sweater yet cool enough to not get all hot and bothered. We went to see my cousins at the Shed Aquarium down on the lake front and wandered back along the marina and through the park with the fountain that was featured in the opening scenes of “Married with Children.” We stayed out north of the city and rode the trains in and out and even figured out how to do a transfer from the train to the bus down to the museum center. I can’t wait to go back.

Travel

Madison-Austin

Here I am on a visit to the Illinois State Railway Museum. The museum is about 75 miles west of Chicago, very much out in the middle of nowhere, but barely far enough out for the city traffic to have thinned out. The collections are very extensive with everything from classic steam engines, to streamliners, street cars and classic freight handling equipment. It was a great day out.

Travel

Great News!

News reports say that the pilots union and Delta Airlines have reached an agreement that will avoid a looming strike. Three weeks from this coming Monday and we are scheduled to fly Delta to Greece. I can feel the tension melting away!

TR

Appalachian Spring

It is 73 degrees outside this morning; just before 10:00 AM local time. It reminds me of spring time in the Great Smokey Mountains. We live about a three hour drive from the mountains, and have passed through them several times when driving to Florida (more often we have flown over them, but that is another story.) I love the fresh soft greens of spring, makes me want to hit the road.

Travel

In Search of a Druid Priestess

Who built Stonehenge? How did they build it? Why did they build it? What does it mean? Who did what here? Why are we drawn to it?

There just must be something here, some long lost ancestral link. I couldn’t wait to get there, I can’t wait to return.

Travel

Back Home Again

I have just returned home, as chronicled in comments on “Woodchuck Wisdom” Northwest tried to turn me into roasted penguin in Memphis on Monday afternoon . . . nearly 40 minutes waiting on the taxiway without air-conditioning . . . they should be ashamed of themselves! Columbia was interesting and kind of fun. Here I am sunning myself at sunset on the balcony of our hotel room.

The “Wall Street Journal” has described the Columbia, South Carolina airport as the best one in America to take a nap in, no doubt because of the rocking chairs in the terminal.

And lastly here I am looking for the KING (Elvis) in the airport in Memphis. He must have taken an earlier flight, because we never did see him. I just love the south!

Travel

Philadelphia

I just flew home from a few days in Philadelphia. Though we had many important meetings to attend we did sneak in a few minutes to play tourist. We visited the new liberty bell pavilion, Independence Hall, City Hall and the US Mint. We rode planes, trains, subways and endured one “take your life in your hands Taxi ride.” Here are a couple of pictures, one is me with the back of Independence Hall in the background (Bert that is were my ancestors declared their independence from your King.) The other is of a fountain near city hall that someone filled with pink dye this morning. I have no explanation of why or how the water in the fountain was died pink, but it was. I could see this from our hotel room (on the 30th floor with a view of city hall) and we walked over for a closer work and a photo op. Monday we are back in the air, to Columbia, South Carolina this time.

TR