Oct. 8, 2010

The past two days I've been driving almost exclusively.  Yesterday I had no stops to speak of, but today I stopped in Lexington, KY, to see Mary Todd Lincoln's childhood home.  Lexington is a very nice city, and its historic area has been nicely renovated.  There are old buildings, and new, but they complement each other quite well.  It was interesting to see the map we were given at the Todd house because I now understand how close a connection the Todds and Clays could have had ... they lived just blocks from one another!  The home Mary grew up in contrasts sharply with Lincoln's little cabin; she really was from a very wealthy family.  I'm reading Catherine Clinton's biography of Mary L. and it is quite good ... inspired me to stop in Lexington.

For the past two weeks in Lexington, they've been hosting the World Equestrian Games.  I thought about trying to go to an event, but the venue for them was not downtown so I forgot about that.  But around the downtown were painted horses.  In D.C. we had elephants and donkeys, in Chicago they had cattle, and I bet other cities have picked up on this, too.  They were very creative: here are a couple of them.

Title: Bewitched

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Tonight is my last entry for this blog since tomorrow I will finish my trip.  I don't quite know how to end this, but here is my attempt.  One thing of enormous beauty in this country is its geographic diversity, and I am thankful for it.  We have regions that look like no other, and they are all amazing and they all have a culture that is somewhat distinct.

We can recognize a lot of the history of a region by place names and architecture.  When Jim and I were driving south through California we saw  few English named towns; most were Spanish.  Around St Louis, there were many French names, and those continue up and down the Mississippi and in the mountain states where French trappers spent time and lived.  I learned that "Ozark" is from the French explorers in 1682.  They called that area "le region aux arcs" since the Indians there had good, sturdy bows.  Indian names are pervasive everywhere, but Oklahoma may win the prize since they have so many Indian "nations."

I am really thankful for Abraham Lincoln.  Not only did he keep this nation unified, but he had remarkable vision for the future.  He got the intercontinental railroad finished, established agricultural colleges, encouraged homesteading, and pushed infrastructure.  One can't help but appreciate the hand he had in helping settle the west.  And when I heard (I really started hearing them in Springfield, IL) and saw trains pulling car after car of grain or coal or animals or whatever, I couldn't help but remember that Lincoln helped with that, with the commerce of the nation.

And of course I am thankful for Lewis and Clark.  What amazing leaders they were.  The west would have been settled regardless, but the knowledge they brought back, the way in which they documented their findings, the way they treated their Corps of Discovery, the things they endured are wondrous to me.  I feel blessed to have seen a little of what they saw.  Imagining it the way they saw it is pretty impossible, but I have tried.  And I've learned that all explorers have a little in common with them, even me.  Their story serves as a model for every traveler seeing places for the first time.

I am also thankful to Dwight D. Eisenhower for developing the wonderful highway system we have in our country!  I love having the beautiful scenic roads we have, also, but in order to get from one place to another with any speed, our interstates are tremendous; I love them!  I/we used both kinds of roads on this trip.  We used the scenic roads for the California redwoods and the Pacific coast, and through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico.  I wouldn't change that.  And I drove briefly on U.S. 66.  But when the time comes to "get someplace," the interstates can't be beat.

I am thankful, too, for the presidents and people and organizations that pushed for the creation of national parks.  They are restorative to each of us and extremely educational and humbling to experience.

Last, I am thankful for the commerce in this nation.  I wish some of our national discussions weren't so contentious about what some of us produce, and then share/sell, but we tend to be parochial people and forget the big picture.  But it is amazing to see the grains, fruits, vegetables, animals, wind, water, coal, etc. produced in one region and moved to other regions.

And I've come to appreciate that each place has its history, its story.  The little towns in Texas, Groom and Shamrock, taught me that.  It's when we know those stories that we can then appreciate a little of what's important for those people, and why. What an amazing country we live in!

And by the way, the Southwest has the most impressive overpasses; they paint them with mountains and birds in the colors we associate with the area.   :) :) :)

Oct. 7, 2010

Yesterday morning I left Sallisaw, OK, at about 9:00 a.m., heading for The Ozark Medieval Fortress in Lead Hill, Arkansas.  The drive was about three hours including a couple of stops ... it wasn't enough miles to make it three hours, but about half of the drive was through hills with many twists.

My drive through the 60 some miles in Oklahoma were interesting.  The closer I got to the eastern border, the vegetation changed ... lots more trees, but the soil remained very red, as it had been all along the drive.  Driving on the highway, I passed in the opposing lanes, four trucks carrying four wind turbine blades.  I don't know if they were for a new turbine or if they might be replacement blades.  Wind energy is definitely a part of the western landscape!  The one thing that came to mind is that I hadn't seen a recognizable oil well in my drive across Oklahoma.  Today I saw a couple of the traditional wells in southern Illinois, but I didn't see any in OK ... surprise and wonder!  However, they may have changed the design of wells.  In Wyoming, where oil production may be taking over in the area of land wells, the wells were in sort of a large canister that looked like a small silo to me.  I did see similar structures in OK, but not a lot.  I crossed the Arkansas River and it was wide and blue ... it looked to be a great river for rowing!  Apparently the river is dammed up to make it navigable.

As I entered Arkansas and headed north, I started ascending into the Boston Mountains, which I'm pretty sure are part of the Ozark Mountain Range.  The soil in AK in the NW part of the state is also quite red, and the landscape reminds me of Maryland and West Virginia.

Farm land in the Ozarks

On my way north on I 540, I had passed a truck that was full of turkeys.  Thanksgiving is on the way!  These turkeys looked pretty scared; it was probably the wind, but they had another reason to be worried, I think.  Also, I saw a lot of poultry farms on the way to the Medieval Fortress and if you look near the horizon on the right side of the photo, you'll see a very large barn.  It's funny, whenever I saw a poultry farm, it seemed I would then pass a "Swift" truck.  That happened today, too.  I'd passed a free-range turkey farm in eastern Missouri, and then I saw a Swift truck on the road!   In the NW of Arkansas, the agriculture seemed to lean toward poultry, but I saw cattle, though the herds were much smaller than those in OK and TX.  I couldn't get a tell if they were beef or milk cattle.  For crop farming, hay and alfalfa seemed to be the plants.

Finally, at noon, I got to the Fortress, and it is cool! This project was started because of French citizens who retired in Branson, Missouri 20 years ago.  They had returned to France a few years ago and heard a man, Michel Guyot, talk about the castle he had restored.  He also stated that he wanted to build a castle, which he now has underway in France.  However, the U.S. retirees, Jean-Marc and Solange Mirat, offered him a piece of land in Arkansas where the Ozark castle/fortress is now under construction, using the building techniques of the 13th century.  They have several investors, and the rest is history ... for some reason that seems funny.  Anyway, I think I'll let my pictures tell this story.

A Motte (mound) and Bailey (yard) fortress ... used only for protection from enemies and surrounded by a moat.  The artisans built this as a model for comparison to the stone fortress.

All of the support artisans for the project are in residence.  They have carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, stonecutters, rope makers, potters, bakers, etc. The above picture is of the Goodwitch's farm ... she is responsible for the animals, making wool, and for gardening.  This is a great teaching center because every aspect of castle building is observable.

Branson students on a field trip, feeding the sheep.

Raised gardens with waddle borders.

This Belgium work horse pulls stones from the quarry to the castle site on a horse cart.  The woman feeding the horse grew up in Toledo, Ohio, she has a male relative from Ney, her husband is from Indiana, her daughter was in the Peace Corps in Romania and now teaches in a Montessori Charter School in Washington, D.C., and the woman and her husband live on a farm around Frederick, MD.  The world is so very small!

Bradley cuts each stone.  He was trained by a French stone-cutter who  comes and goes, but while I was there, Bradley was on his own.

Here Cody, the quarry cutter is teaching us how stone is cut along sedimentary lines. Stones are pulled to the site on a sled.

This water hole is inside the footprint of the castle.  The water is used to make mortar.

The sled used to pull stones. 

Look carefully to see the man inside the wheel.  He easily lifts stones this way.  The Romans developed this kind of wheel, and it allowed a single man to lift very heavy stones. 

An overall view of the progress that's been made in less than one year.

I took a tour with a very knowledgeable man, a retired university history teacher.  One of the most fascinating things he explained was the medieval measurement rope.  I had to buy one because it will remind me how they measured angles, lengths, widths, heights, even curves with the rope that was based on the "span" of the stone cutter's hand ... really amazing.  He also explained that the Middle Ages was different in different countries; that makes so much sense, but I'd never thought about it before ... it helps me to think of when the Renaissance began in different countries.  What an eye opener!  

This would be a great place to take children of all ages, and it's wonderful because it won't be finished for about 15 years.  So visits could happen every five years just to see the progress!

After leaving the fortress, I drove to Branson, Missouri, which is about 30 miles away.  Branson is an interesting place, but not really all that interesting to me.  I tried to find a show, but finally settled for watching the Dick Clark Show on a TV at the Dick Clark American Bandstand Grill where I ate the best New England Pot Roast dinner in the world.  Really, it was memorable!  Another memorable aspect of Branson is the hills.  They don't build switchbacks on their mountains, they just lay pavement on the steepest hill you can imagine.  Going into the parking lot of the motel where I stayed was almost frightening!  Fortunately, I found another entrance which was less intimidating.  In the early evening I went to the Old Town area of the city where they have built a huge shopping mall along the waterfront.  At dusk, and I imagine they do this every evening, they have a water/light/huge propane torch show set to music.  While I was there, they played the Star Spangled Banner and asked everyone to stand.  Then a recording of someone singing the anthem came on.  Soon the water geysers were shooting into the sky, and the large propane torches propelled fire into the air to mimic cannons; I thought it was kind of humorous, but people applauded at the end, and many had come to sit around the plaza for the express purpose of seeing this.

Tonight I am in Indiana, not far from where I spent the night of August 26th.  I feel again a bit like Lewis and Clark.  They returned to St. Louis ecstatically.  I went through the city today as well, and now I am once again in Lincoln country.  Emotionally, I am glad to touch base with these places again before I return home.  I hope my re-entry into normal life will progress more like Clark's did ... with a purpose ... and not like Lewis's, which ended terribly.  I think I will be fine, but boy has this been an exceptional journey!
 

Oct. 5, 2010

I left Amarillo this morning around 9:00 for my drive across the panhandle of Texas and through Oklahoma.  The sky was cloudless and the spaces vast ... the fields were quite large and the landscape flat.  From Amarillo to around Groom, TX, land use was mostly agricultural.  I saw fields of corn, sorghum, and hay, and there were very tall silos ... placed near rail lines, I would assume.  The soil looked incredibly rich ... very dark ... black.  You could tell water was an issue, however, as there were many windmills for pumping water on individual properties and many fields were irrigated.

West Texas Field with Windmill

Groom, TX (about 60 miles east of Amarillo) seems to have several landmarks.  The first I came to was the largest cross in the U.S.!  Steve Thomas, owner of the engineering firm that built the cross, and the "man with the conceptual plan," built it to thank God for His Blessings.  The cross is supposed to be visible for 20 miles and, since it's right on I-40, seen by about 10 million travelers.  It is big ... like everything in Texas!

Largest U.S. Cross

Also, near Groom, I noticed a leaning water tower.  Every town needs a leaning something or other, and why not a leaning water tower.  Piza has a leaning tower so why shouldn't Groom, TX?  I don't know if it's in use, but it's fun ... if they aren't marketing it, they should.

Leaning Tower of Groom

Very near the water tower were the following roadsigns.  Actually, Rte. 66 runs right next to the interstate, and later I drove on it for about a mile or so.  Notice the water tower on top of the sign behind the road markers ... I guess they are marketing their Leaning Tower of Groom!

All signs lead to Groom!

After Groom, the land started to change.  It became rolling with canyons interspersed, and because of the change in the geography, the industry changed too.  Here cattle ranching took over once again; cattle are able to graze anywhere!  Also, a few more trees were growing in this part of the state.

I'd seen so many signs for Rte. 66 that I finally had to take a break and see what this was all about.  Fortunately, I chose a perfect town in which to take the break.  Shamrock is a small town with a lot of Irish history near the eastern border of Texas.  I decided to stop there for gas, lunch, and perhaps a little info. on Rte. 66.  I stopped first at an historical landmark, the U Drop Inn.  This little gas station/cafe was built in 1936, six years after U.S. 66 (Chicago to LA) and U.S. 83 (Canada to Mexico) were completed there.  At that time, the U Drop Inn was the hottest spot on 66 between Oklahoma City and Amarillo.   In Shamrock there was another renovated gas station and there are many 1930's style stations around town.

U Drop Inn on T
Rtes. 66 and 83 

Gas Station at 2nd and Madden Streets, off of U.S. 83

When I stopped at the U Drop Inn, I found a little park behind the building dedicated to a famous Shamrock country/western DJ.  I'd never heard of him, but he seems to have made an impression on a lot of famous folks.  Check out the pictures on the sign I photographed.

Now you might think this is enough fame for one small town, but no!  They have the largest water tower in the state of Texas!  It was designed and built in 1915 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company for $6,500.  It's all steel and holds 75,000 gallons of water.

Largest Water Tower in Texas!

 After all of this fun, I just had to drive on Rte. 66 for a short distance.  Yesterday I'd had enough of 55 mph driving so I only drove it for a couple of miles.  It resembles county roads ... rather narrow and no shoulder at all.  In LA we met a Canadian couple who'd driven the entire length of the road ... it took them 12 days, but they had a wonderful time ... met great people, they said.  In my photo, I tried to show how it runs along the interstate, which is to the left.

U.S. 66

Once I got back on the interstate, I didn't really stop again.  I drove and drove and drove across Oklahoma.  What I can tell you is that Oklahoma starts on the west side as rather flat, vast farm land.  In some ways it reminded me of NW Ohio and NE Indiana, but you would want to spread everything out a bit in OH and IN in order to get a sense of OK ... widen the medians in the highways, widen the berms, make the fields a little bigger, take away some trees, etc.  The middle of the state has more texture; it rolls and undulates.  The eastern part of the state is quite wooded and has lakes and the Canadian and Arkansas Rivers.  The soil in Oklahoma is red, much like Virginia soil.  There are Cheyenne/Arapaho, Citizen Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Seminole Indian Nations.  I don't quite understand how that works, but I think they have a good bit of independence from the state.  I am staying in Sallisaw, a small town on the east side of OK, because I noticed a sign about the Trail of Tears, which I would like to explore in the morning.  

Red Soil in the Distance

Wide Expanse of Oklahoma

Oct. 3 & 4, 2010

After a morning chat and cutting out supplies for Nancy's math class in a Tucson school, we went for a walk around the neighborhood.  We did this while waiting for a AAA truck to come unlock my car!  When Nancy had suggested a walk, I'd gone out to get my tennis shoes from the car and, also, put my bag into the back of the car.  On the way, I'd thought to myself, "Put the keys in your pocket, not in the car!"  I'm sure you have the picture; I slammed the back gate and looked right at my keys on top of my suitcase!  I was so mad at myself, but at least I had joined AAA for this trip ... and it came in handy.  I can't even compare this to anything I remember about Lewis and Clark so I had nothing to do but be mad!  But I called AAA, they said it would be about an hour, and Nancy and I went for a walk.

Marc and Nancy's neighborhood is very pretty, and she taught me a few of the plants: paddle cactus (regular and purple), saguaro cactus, mesquite, creosote.

Paddle Cactus in Bloom

Purple Paddle Cactus

A cool thing Nancy taught me is the way to identify creosote.  You hold a leafy branch gently in your hands and blow on it; then you breath in where you blew and it should smell like rain.  Lo and behold, it does; I'd smelled desert rain on Saturday as I was driving to Vail.

Nancy told me about some of the critters that frequent their area.  One day a scorpion crawled into the house when Marc opened the door to go outside to sweep the patio.  Also, neighbors are sometimes bothered by pack rats which eat through just about anything.  I've always thought pack rats were only people!  Friday night Nancy had heard coyotes fighting not far from their house, and I remember her writing once that a snake was outside her kitchen window.  During our walk she saw a roadrunner, but it was too quick for me.  In their neighborhood they've also seen desert pigs, Javelinas.

After our walk. the retrieval of my keys, some great political conversation, and a bit of lunch, I set out for Las Cruces, NM.  I had a four hour trip ahead of me, but it was okay because the scenery was interesting and the road straight.  Marc had warned me about some fascinating rocks on the way to NM, which I stopped to take pictures of.  It appeared as if someone had placed them very intentionally, and with a very, very substantial crane.  It's hard to get any perspective, but just imagine ENORMOUS!

Rocks Carefully Stacked

Stacked Rock

The closer I got to New Mexico, the greener it became, and shortly after I entered the state,  I crossed the Continental Divide at 4,845'.  I arrived in Las Cruces around 6:00 p.m. and got ready to head toward White Sands National Monument ( a second recommendation of Nancy and Marc's) in the morning.

Starting out today, I got onto US Rte. 70 heading northeast from Las Cruces.  The drive to the White Sands Monument was relatively short, but first I arrived at White Sands Missile Range (Birthplace of Missile Activity in the US) which covers most of a huge basin surrounded by mountains.  From looking at a map, it looks as if the Range is about 150 miles long and maybe 60 miles wide; the monument is part of the range.  I have a couple of shots that show the range land ... vast desert basin, but quite beautiful.

As I continued on, the road was a ribbon of concrete.  I felt as if the only things present were my car, the road, the electric lines ... there were very few cars when I was there.  Along with those few present, however, I was stopped at a checkpoint where a very large and official military man asked only if I was a US citizen ... no document needed, just the question.  I wondered if I was profiled!

Electric Lines and Road

Arrival at the monument was relatively quiet.  There were several visitors, but  no rangers present.  So there were no maps, no chances to ask questions, but the signs along the drive and through the Dune Life Nature Trail were terrific.  Some facts of note: the dunes only get 10" of rain a year so animals and plants have had to adapt (many animals have also evolved to be white in color), Rio Grande Poplar Trees survive because 3' below the sand surface there is water, and the poplar's roots grow to that water, there are no rivers in the Tularosa Basin.

White Sands National Monument Visitor's Center

Here are a few pictures of the biggest sand pile you will ever see ... 275 sq. miles of dunes, all created eons ago by water washing gypsum from the San Andres and Sacramento Mountains into the Tularosa Basin when this area was covered by sea water.  The action continues today, but more slowly. Small amounts of water now collect in playas, temporary lakes that are created by run-off from the mountains.  When the water evaporates, the gypsum carried in the water is left and eventually becomes part of the the dunes.

The brown spot in the center is a playa ... there's a little reflection of the dune behind.

Sand!  Large bushes are sumac ... they provide good shelter for small animals during the day.

Deep in the dunes ... dark on horizon is a mountain range.

Interdune desert floor ... desert floor is encroached upon by dunes.

I left the dunes around 1:00 p.m. and continued north to Alamogordo, where I  picked up US Rte 54, a two-lane road that took me through some interesting countryside.  I passed, while still paralleling White Sands Missile Range, the Oscuro Bombing Range.  And as soon as I got north of White Sands I noticed some signs of agriculture, not a lot, but some.  The soil is a pink color through this region and there were pecan and pistachio groves, alfalfa and hay fields, and a few vineyards.  The further northeast I drove, the more cattle ranching I saw.  The stretches of land continued and a vast cloud overhead filled the space with visible rain.  There were fewer mountains, some grand mesas with that wonderful pink and red rock, dotted with green vegetation.  I passed two wind-fields, one right on top of a mesa, but neither as large as the Palm Springs field.

Approaching Rain

Mesas in the Distance

I got to I40 around 4:30 and determined I'd continue to Amarillo, TX, even though I would get there later than I wanted.  But I felt good and it was a goal, so I went for it.  Once in TX, the land changed; no longer were there mountains or mesas.  It was totally flat grassland and there were lots of cattle grazing.  In contrast to the cattle in fields, I passed, too, a feeding lot which was huge.  I hope those cattle were there temporarily and not for their entire lives.  In Texas the architecture changed, too.  Once again it was brick and board; the style was ranch, the houses were like what I see anyplace in the Midwest ... no more the adobe of the true southwest.  But the drive was quick and I got to Amarillo just as the sun was setting ... a great time to stop!

Oct. 2, 2010

Saturday brought amazing changes in weather and landscape, both worthy of remark.  But first, it was tough leaving the Wagner Family (Matt, Emily, and Isaac)early Saturday morning.  Knowing that when I next see Isaac, he will have changed dramatically, and becoming familiar with his little stretches, smiles, and vocalizings, I will miss him, and his parents.

But I had to move east, and so I climbed into my wagon and set off for Arizona and Nancy and Marc Pearlman's near Tuscon.  For the first hour things didn't change much from the LA scene ... yes, it is desert, but there are buildings and houses, and it's deceptive in appearance ... just one mega-city rambling on and on with a palm tree and cactus here and there.  But once beyond the city and its environs, the landscape opened up.  There were many more mountains than I'd anticipated, and they would become clear through the fog and overcast sky as I would approach them.  Luckily, rain had been predicted and the sky looked somewhat threatening ... this was good from my perspective because it was cooler and I had no sun in my eyes.  But when I got near Palm Springs, CA (I would have looked for it on a map near the ocean, but no ... it's inland), I stopped for gas and coffee because I desperately wanted to take a picture of the largest wind-farm I have ever seen, bar none.  I would bet there were at least 1,000 turbines. Obviously, my picture doesn't begin to show this, but the density of what you see may give you an idea of the awe I felt.

Only some of the 1000's of wind turbines in Palm Spring, CA

I think the reason for the location of these turbines is that Palm Springs is in a pass between two mountain ranges forming a natural wind tunnel.  This farm is truly amazing to see.

Shortly after leaving the Palm Springs area, signs were posted that I was entering desert.  The first mentioned was the Palm Desert.  And yes, once I got into what truly was the Palm Desert, there were more palm trees.  The Palm Desert is at sea level and shortly after passing through Palm City I started to climb to higher elevations ... I wish I could have gotten a picture of the view from my rear-view window.  The climb was probably 2000 feet and the mountains surrounding the area were barren basically, but dotted with sage.  It was through this desert region that I first encountered rain.  A sign suggested turning off the a.c. in cars to prevent overheating.  I did, even though it wasn't that hot (thankfully), and so every so often I opened the car window just to get a little air.  The fragrance of the wet desert was really something ... fresh and clean smelling.  At the end of the desert is a town called Blythe where a huge orchard was being farmed ... I couldn't believe it, and I don't know what kind of orchard it was, but because of later, Arizona orchards I saw, it may have been a pecan orchard.  Also in Blythe were huge palm trees with ladders hanging from them and bags covering what I assume were coconuts ... very interesting!

Passing into Arizona brought an immediate change in vegetation and landscape.  I started seeing cacti, and though the mountains were still rocky, I was seeing mesas.  A road sign warned "Blowing Dust Area" and it certainly looked possible as there was a lot of land that had nothing growing in it.  I stopped at a very windy crossroads, Vicksburg, AR, for lunch.  I'd wanted to take a picture so this was a good spot.  I ate at a little Mexican restaurant that looked as if it had seen better days: all display counters (at the cash register and two near the front windows) were empty of the usual knick-knacks patrons expect to see in them and there was one waitress for the entire dining room.  She took orders, delivered food, cleaned up, etc., so lunch took a little longer than expected.  But the good news is that the food was fine and filling: I had a cheese quesadilla!

Vicksburg view of mountains and sky

After lunch, I continued my drive and soon passed over a couple of canals that are part of the Central Arizona Project, a huge water system for bringing Colorado River water to the central and southern parts of Arizona.  Shortly after that, I stopped along the highway to take a picture of a mountain formation that is hard to see in my photo, but if you look at the left end of the mountain, you may be able to see what looked like three people in conversation.  Right as I pulled off the road, a police officer pulled off behind me.  I was a little stunned, but he was just checking to see if I was okay, and we had a good conversation about the mountains, the central project, nuclear energy (there's a plant close to where I was) and a military base.  What do you know ... he was sort of like a welcoming committee!

If enlarged, you might get a better view.  If not, just enjoy the spaciousness!

As I drove on, I started to see limited signs of agriculture and wondered where Arizonans get their food.  Not a whole lot can be grown in this desert without irrigation.  One interesting thing I saw, after passing Phoenix, was a huge pecan orchard.  It was immense!  I'd been observing a mountain formation that looked like a jujubi candy atop a mountain when all of a sudden, there were green, lush looking trees in front of me.

Irrigated pecan grove

The temperature on my car thermometer was rising to about 104 in this central part of the state, very near Phoenix.  But it didn't last long because I was driving toward a huge dust and rain storm.  Look at these photos of the sky and storm front.  The beige color in the picture is dust and it was an intense, short storm with little rain, lots of lightning and wind.

I arrived at Nancy and Marc's in Vail around 5:30.  It was great to see them and to renew this friendship!

Oct. 1, 2010

Well, this trip is winding down.  I took Andrew to the airport very early this morning, and Jim yesterday.  But there are a few things to come on the way home, like my visit with a former teaching colleague in Tucson, AZ and a stop at the construction of a medieval castle not too far from Branson, Missouri.

This morning I almost added one more exciting event.  At the Comfort Inn where I/we've been staying, I've been hearing since Wednesday (in the breakfast room) a bit of ... Norwegian!  I didn't know it was Norwegian until a woman turned to me at the cereal counter and asked me a question.  I apologized and explained I didn't understand her language and asked if she was speaking German.  She switched to very fine English, explained proudly that she was speaking Norwegian, and tried to ask the same question in English.  We eventually figured out she was looking for a bowl.  Andrew, Jim, and I put our skills of observation together: Andrew said they'd come in late Tuesday night in a huge bus; Jim noticed that the bus was pulling a huge trailer; I heard accordion music being played while Jim and I were sitting outside at the motel.  Bingo!  We speculated that this was a musical tour of some sort ... perhaps like in the movie "Forever Young."  Well, this morning at breakfast, I asked the woman with whom I'd had the "bowl" conversation about the purpose of their trip.  Guess what?  The group is an amateur accordion group (Lindesnes
Trekkspillkklubb), and they are touring in the southwest and midwest, their last performance being in Chicago.  I think most of their performances are in Lutheran churches.  I hoped I might be able to catch them on my way home, but they are going to be a bit behind me.  Anyway, it was fun doing the research to see if it might work, and it was fun to chat with some of the people.

But yesterday!  Yesterday Jim returned to Alexandria on an early afternoon flight.  In the morning, I dropped him at Emily and Matt's so he could visit with Emily and Isaac while I took Andrew to the beach.  When I got back, I got a good picture of Isaac and Jim.  I've had trouble getting good photos of Isaac because he moves a lot and in the house my camera is too slow.

Isaac and Jim ... I think Isaac had just wakened.

After I dropped Jim at the airport at about 11:30, I went to pick Andrew up from the beach.  We then bought some sandwiches, which Andrew, Em, and I ate at the apartment before packing up the boy and all of his necessary equipment and heading to the Getty Museum.  Everything went smoothly; parking was easy, the tram pulled up just as we walked into the loading zone, volunteers were gracious in pointing out elevators.  The Getty Museum is so beautiful; visitors wouldn't even need to go into any exhibit in order to be satisfied.  The architecture is exquisite ... you feel as if you are on an Italian piattza (sp).  The views of the city are magnificent, sometimes framed through a wall opening so that it looks like a painting itself.

Such a soft sculpting of the roofline

The Plaza 

I got some great shots of Emily, Andrew, and Isaac, too, while we were there.

Andrew and Emily in Sunglasses!

Emily, Isaac, and Uncle Andrew with diaper bag!

Emily and Isaac (mittens are to prevent scratching the spot on his chin)

We went separate directions though Em and Andrew started off together.  I saw illuminations and a terrific explanation of how bronze castings are made.  Em and Matt went to see impressionists and then views of the city.  We didn't stay long actually, but it was a nice afternoon.  While I waited at our meeting location, I saw evidence of the arrival of fall even with the high heat and the penetrating sun.

A maple of some sort

A potted planting that looks autumnal

On our way out of the museum we learned that the stones that compose the exterior walls are from 1 to 5 inches thick and are held in place with brackets.  They use this technique, rather than grout, because of earthquakes and repairs.  If an earthquake occurred, grout would crack and need to be replaced, and if one stone were damaged in some way, brackets would make it easier to replace it.  The difference in depth of individual stones gives a wonderful texture to the walls.  And what's really amazing is that the stones can be "played" like a xylophone; Andrew tried it out and it's true, they do have a tone, not loud, but audible.  Someday, someone will program a concert on the walls of the Getty, I am just sure of it!