A nice, warm, sunny escape from Northern Virginia to California seemed like just the ticket for late February/early March. The only part of that to come true, however, was the “escape” part as it was hardly warm and all too often not sunny during our whole trip. Especially in San Francisco, our first stop on the journey.
Still, we had fun visiting and hanging out with daughter M.E. and other friends, and seeing some of the sites. Since she’s lived there for a number of years, there is not much that we haven’t already visited at least once, but we found a few new diversions.
A visit to the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio was one of the first stops. Why is this museum in SF you ask? According to a helpful museum guide, it is because Walt’s daughter Diane lived in SF and wanted it close to home. No matter, it is interesting and more expansive than meets the eye at first (it just keeps going and going, chronicling Walt’s life from birth to death, and covering the evolution of the creative output we all know and most of us grew up with). Okay, so it may white-wash some of the not so great aspects of Walt’s personality and politics (see for instance this list of the not-so-nice). But, still, a good diversion for a couple of hours, and well done exhibitions, interactives and video clips that bring back memories.
Nearby, the new Tunnel Tops Parkoffers a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay and downtown SF. That view will never get old. We also caught a sunset at the ocean – at that point is was so cold and windy that we jumped out of the car only long enough to snap the sunset and ran back in – no lingering on the beach watching the few crazy surfers.
My birthday having been earlier in February, I had requested a mother-daughter birthday celebration at a Tiki Bar, of which there are many in SF including the original Trader Vic’s. We chose the Tonga Room in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel, downtown. (You could take a cable car part of the way there but we took the bus.) Totally over the top, and one tall $20 drink, which includes at least five types of liquor, will serve to set the mood.
The SF visit also included a performance of M.E.’s improv class, a visit to her high school friend Suchana (who impressively just defended her Ph.D. at Stanford), lots of good food including a dinner with friends/colleagues Elisa and Kyle, and a walk in the mostly gloomy, occasionally sunny, Golden Gate Park Botanical Garden. All in all, despite blooming flowers, palm trees and citrus fruit growing in backyards, chilly outside but warm and comforting inside with good company all around.
Here are some snaps of the highlights.
Steve was wearing a mask more to keep warm than to ward off COVID and other germs. This is what makes creating film a lot like doing the Festival. Behind Walt Disney there was a whole host of creative talent, many acknowledged here and many more remaining anonymous I’m sure. It always interests me afterwards what I decided to take photos of. I was smitten with the range of colors in this display about making color animations. I’ve never been to Disneyland (yes to Disney World though) but this scale model was fun, and also huge.Our chilly sunset.Behind the railing at the Tonga Room. Which is where you have to stand unless you want to eat something (not worth it) and actually get a table. But it is still fun and makes dancing to the cover band easier. My Mai Tai. Very potent! Stole the umbrella from someone else’s abandoned drink as you don’t get one with a Mai Tai but I really wanted one.Breakfast, bordering on lunch, at a Mexican place near our basic hotel the Geary Parkway Inn. M.E.s half of the Improv class takes a bow after the first part of their performance. So fun!Indian lunch with Suchana to celebrate her impending Ph.D. defense.
With the premise that we must see the current Matisse in the Thirties exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, even though none of us is a huge Matisse fan, I devised a mini-vacation to Philly for our little family. Christmas in Philadelphia, we were assured by tourism sites, is full of lights, vibrancy, and shopping opportunities.
We’d been to New York City at Christmastime in the past, and it was a big, crowded mess around Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Exciting, buzzing with activity, but a bit too frenetic for me. Downtown Philly had a lot of energy, but a much more relaxed and laid-back excitement. It seemed more full of locals than tourists.
It helped that everything we set out to see downtown was very compact, within an easy walking distance of the downtown hotel we picked. And, even though Philly has a sort of rough, gritty reputation for those of us from “more civilized” Washington, DC, even after dark we felt perfectly safe.
Here is our Philly travelogue in photos and captions. Thanks, Philly, for sharing your exuberant holiday spirit with our family. Here’s hoping everyone finds and keeps their own inspiration for a safe, happy and healthy holiday and carries that feeling into 2023!
We arrived in time to catch the four o’clock light and sound show at Macy’s, which is right across from City Hall. People get there early and camp out to get the best view from the first or second floor. (So go early and just wait!) It’s less than 15 minutes but they cram a lot of lights, projections and storyline (narrated by Julie Andrews no less), and of course the famous Wanamaker Organ, which is this time of year mostly behind the color-changing Christmas tree. Next stop, since by then we were really hungry, was Chinatown. We’d scoped out a no frills noodle house with good reviews, and it didn’t disappoint. We had to take the dumplings we ordered with us, since our big bowls of noodle soup filled us up and fortified us for the next leg of the adventure. Franklin Square, not far from Chinatown, has a brief light show and a family vibe. In addition to the lights, you can play mini-golf or sit around a fire pit enjoying hot beverages. (Note the “kite and key” theme.)Back to the heart of downtown where City Hall is abuzz with activity, from a ferris wheel to an ice rink (where we stood, transfixed, watching the Zamboni groom the ice – what is it about that?) and lots more. One side of City Hall has a light show with imaginative interpretations of holiday songs. (This part reminded me more of a birthday cake than the holidays, but it was festive anyhow.)Nearby Love Park hosts sales stalls in their “authentic German Market.” (Bratwurst and sauerkraut, anyone?) It was fun to roam around checking out the holiday wares, and I especially liked the display of glass ornaments on offer. Reading Terminal Market, still going strong after opening its doors in 1893, was also a short walk from our hotel and the perfect place to find breakfast options before our Museum visit that suited all of our tastes. I picked this crepe with egg, cheese and veggies, while Steve had a really messy but yummy and healthy-looking vegan sandwich and M.E. chose Tom Kha soup from a Thai stall. Something for everyone! Okay, finally on to visiting Matisse. I liked these two interpretations of the Nice waterfront. (I got kind of sick of all the nudes in various iterations, large, small, and in between.) As I sat on a bench contemplating the similarities and differences of these two works, a mom and daughter (around 7 or 8) sitting next to me discussed the paintings. The mom asked the daughter which one she preferred and she had some interesting reasons for liking the one to the right, including that the green of the trees reminded her of guacamole. After we had our fill of Matisse, we split up and headed to see other art in this vast and varied museum. You could (and should) spend hours and hours here exploring the three floors of mostly European, American and Asian art. I headed to the Impressionists, but then wandered around the American and Asian art, encountering period rooms, decorative arts such as this collection of American glass pieces, and other wonders. I encountered several of the museum’s installations of reproduced temples, a Japanese tea house, and parts of Medieval churches, all very atmospheric. This 500 year old Chinese temple ceiling is incredibly intricate. I somehow happened upon this contemporary installation of lights, which seemed very holiday-ish given the time of year. Apparently, several museums have iterations by this Dutch artistic group (called Drift), and no two are quite the same. (And they do a lot of other cool stuff too.) According to their web site, “DRIFT manifests the phenomena and hidden properties of nature with the use of technology in order to learn from the Earth’s underlying mechanisms and to re-establish our connection to it.” What’s not to like about that?
Sometimes, we forget that the Washington, DC area has so much to see and do. We get complacent in our own immediate home spaces, or think we need to get far away to “get away.” This late summer and early fall, I’ve been trying to prove that theory wrong by being a tourist in my own town (or city in this case). Here’s some of the places worth a visit.
Green spaces are particularly abundant in the DC area. The National Arboretum off New York Avenue has over 400 acres and “9 miles of winding roadways” to explore by foot or by car. There’s always something blooming throughout the growing season, and even in winter you can go “forest bathing” apparently. (That is not a bath in the woods, but some sort of guided nature walk.) You can walk all the way down to the Anacostia River and sit contemplating life. If you are into growing your own food, my husband and I discovered there is also an extensive vegetable garden with educational programs.
While the Arboretum is free, to enter Dumbarton Oaks garden in Georgetown you have to pay a reasonable fee. My visiting sister and I thought it was highly worth the admission. We took a guided tour with one of the docents, who imparted interesting information, like how the vegetation, walls and lawn furnishings create “garden rooms” all around the grounds. Then we wandered up and down the multi-level property admiring the late summer blooms and hidden spaces. If we’d had more time, we could have also visited the historic house/museum, which is free.
Speaking of Georgetown, the C&O canal runs through its downtown. Its pathway makes for a pleasant walk, although until recently a lot of it was choked with weeds and not particularly picturesque. Now, for the first time in years, a new semi-accurate historic canal boat is available for tours, with a costumed guide. My “Lunch O’Clock” work buddies and I took a ride on the revamped vessel on a lovely day in late September. I’m still not sure I understand how locks work, but that’s okay. It was fun to go through one.
Historic houses also abound in the Washington, DC Metro area. My husband and friend Janette stumbled upon the Clara Barton House near Glen Echo Park one day after attending a festival at the park. Run by the National Park Service, this spacious house was built for Civil War nurse-hero and founder of the American Red Cross by the guys who built the park – sort of a long story, but anyhow, she designed it and used it for a home and headquarters. It is kind of sparsely furnished right now due to some renovations, but very atmospheric, and interesting to learn about this phase of her life.
Being a tourist in your own town/city is fun, economical, and can cause you to look at things from different angles. As we ease into the late fall and winter, we will no doubt be cocooning at home more, but I look forward to exploring more DC sites in the future. It’s a good time to start making a list!
View from a bench along the Anacostia River at the base of the Asian Garden, National Arboretum. A tour of Dumbarton Oaks begins in the Orangerie not far from the entrance. The greenery running along the top of the walls and over the beams, we learned, is all part of one indoor tree which is over 100 years old. Crazy!Every corner of Dumbarton Oaks has structures, walls and walkways accentuating the gardens. The fall colors were gorgeous. This non-historically-dressed helper kept the Georgetown canal boat from hitting the sides of the canal during our ride, which was quite breezy. (Gave us the illusion of being on a very large and unwieldy gondola.)Opening the lock gate to let in the water! Or was it let out the water? To me, this whole process still defies physics and logic. But it has worked for hundreds of years, so no matter. Inside the Clara Barton house, looking up the levels. You couldn’t go above the first floor, so just had to sort of imagine the rooms up there.All along the hallway on the first floor, Barton designed ingenious hidden closets. They just look like panelling from the outside, but from the inside reveal storage space for medical supplies, training materials, and office items. I got out on the water kayaking, seeing familiar sites from new perspectives, as well. The DC boat houses sell season passes, and there are five of them along the Potomac and Anacostia. The Potomac can be a challenging paddle sometimes due to currents, and you have to watch for everyone else in (usually bigger) boats plying the waters!
Conferences can take you to places you never had any ambition to visit otherwise. I have to admit, Tulsa, Oklahoma was not one of my top destinations around the U.S., but since the annual American Folklore Society meetings were held there last week (and as a steadfast folklorist I try never to miss AFS), It was the place to be.
Besides the 1921 tragedy of the Greenwood neighborhood, which I learned a lot more about, and as the home of the Woody Guthrie Center, which I visited, I didn’t really know what to expect of Tulsa. I was pleasantly surprised by its very walkable downtown, Art Deco flourishes, and very nice eating establishments.
Of course, one has to steal moments away from the conference paper sessions, forums, meetings and presentations to explore the city at all. It’s all too tempting to stay inside the hotel and not see anything past the meeting rooms and hallways, with occasional forays to forage for sustenance. But, having traveled all that way, I was determined to get out and about.
A highlight of the “out and about” was a visit to the Philbrook Museum, thanks to a friend of a friend who is a Tulsa native and drove us there, since it is a ways from downtown. This stately mansion formerly the home of the Phillips family (as in, Phillips Petroleum) houses three stories of a very eclectic art collection inside, and beautiful gardens outside. On the way there and back we saw many lovely neighborhoods, parks, and the riverside, all of which I wished I had time to explore.
In conclusion, I might need to visit Tulsa again someday to see the things I missed. Meanwhile, here are some photos of what I did see and do!
Downtown Tulsa boasts a number of snappy Art Deco buildings, which are lit up at night.Tulsa is also chock full of murals, many of them more colorful than this one on the side of the Woody Guthrie Center. But this one is quite striking. Folklorists always have to document what they are eating. My friend Lucy and I had a Caribbean feast for late lunch/early dinner at Sisserou’s.For some reason I did not fully understand even after I read the explanation, the Bob Dylan Center is also in Tulsa, right next to the Woody Guthrie Center. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind…? I liked their use of archival boxes in one display.Autumn splendor in the Philbrook garden. Lots of butterflies and bees in the almost too warm weather.Least the spendor of the house, museum and gardens prove too much, a humble log cabin has been reconstructed on the grounds of the Philbrook as well. With an artistic twist, of course. If you look closely, you’ll see this “fireplace” is totally constructed from books! And the ceiling is festooned with recycled glass lighting fixtures. “Chinking” is fabric treated with some sort of glue/acrylic. Super cool use of repurposed materials!The final night of the conference, we were invited to a Native American stomp dance which took place in the cavernous space which is the ballroom. You are not allowed to dance unless invited by a community member, so we just observed, but it was interesting to watch the community using the ballroom for this event, which is traditionally, we were told, done out of doors.
Along the Hudson River, there are myriad historic and cultural sites to lure visitors. These date in some cases back to the 1700s, when the Dutch settled the area. There are grand estates of the rich and famous, artist and writer’s homes, gardens (built by other rich people) and contemporary sculpture gardens. And lots of natural sites, parks, and wildlife areas. Something for virtually everyone.
There is so much to do, in fact, that it’s hard to choose. Since we were attending a wedding that was on the southern end of things, we stayed within an easy drive of the Tappan Zee (now Mario Cuomo) Bridge, and found plenty to keep us occupied for a couple of days.
Arriving on Friday evening, we drove straight to Tarrytown (in the shadow of the bridge) and took a stroll along the RiverWalk. As the sun set behind the Catskills (fairly low hills at this point), we debated dinner, settling on a cute family-run pan-Asian cafe in nearby downtown Dobbs Ferry.
A cautionary tale for beautiful late summer weekends in the area – make reservations for any tours of popular historic homes well in advance. We missed out on the house tour of Lyndhurst, a majestic and sort of spooky looking Gothic mansion which a lot of rich people like Jay Gould built, expanded upon, and lived in (sometimes, though they had other properties too of course). With the admission to a huge craft fair happening that weekend, we were able to not only check out many local artisans, but also walk freely around the substantial grounds. Especially enjoyable was the skeleton of the greenhouse, once the largest and grandest of its kind.
After lunch in downtown Tarrytown (keeping in the Asian theme with a Korean slant this time), we got the last two tickets for the last tour of the day at Philipsburg Manor. While we waited for the tour to start, we wandered to the nearby Old Dutch Church and cemetery, across the infamous site of the bridge where the legendary Headless Horseman chased the hapless Ichabod Crane. (If you are a bit rusty on your Washington Irving, you might want to download an audio version of the story for fun, like we did!)
The tour of Philipsburg Manor was well worth the wait. The grounds include a grist mill, the manor house, a barn, garden and outdoor bake oven, all flawlessly interpreted by costumed staff (though thankfully not in first person, which always creeps me out). It is the year 1750, and enslaved laborers run the mill, the dairy, the household, the fields, and the baking, since the rich owners really live in Manhattan and hardly ever occupy the premises. It is story that is seldom told in the northern states, and the details of the estate were preserved through an inventory which was meticulously completed down to the last piece of pewterware, due to the last heir dying without a will. (And he was a lawyer, so go figure, but we can all be glad he failed on this account.)
That evening, we caught another beautiful sunset on the Hudson. The next day, we had just enough time to explore a good chunk of the amazing Untermyer Gardens, near our hotel in Yonkers. A Persian-inspired walled garden, a grand staircase sweeping down to an overlook of the Hudson, and a Temple of Love with waterfalls… what more could you ask for?
Some day we will make it to the Upper Hudson Valley (and even to the Middle?), but the southern portion was more than sufficient for one weekend! Here are some snaps of the sites:
Steve documents the Tarrytown Lighthouse, swaddled in some protective scaffolding during a restoration but still cool, and the distant Tappan Zee Bridge. Local students have decorated a temporary wall (a new waterfront park is being built behind it) with their hopes and dreams. Sunset over the Catskills, along the RiverWalk in Tarrytown.
View of the Lyndhurst mansion from the Bowling Alley on the lower portion of the grounds. The path along the river connects with the RiverWalk in nearby Tarrytown.
The Lyndhurst greenhouse, which is atmospheric in its bare bones condition. Interpretive signs tell about the plantings in each room, which included an extensive orchid collection and an indoor vineyard. The cemetery next to the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow is proportedly haunted. FYI, Washington Irving is NOT buried here, though many of his relatives are. You’ll have to visit his “charming cottage” Sunnyside, down the road from Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, to visit his home and his final resting place. A shed in the cemetery near the church (which you can see a corner of in the background) sports wooden shoes, an homage to the Dutch settlers of the area. The approach to Philipsburg Manor grounds, with grist mill on the left, manor house in center and barn to the right.While all the interpreters at Philipsburg Manor were exceptional, this gentleman who interprets the farm work was especially good. His fondness of the lovingly preserved barn (not original to Philipsburg but an authentic barn of the period moved from another property) and his excellent explanation of the growing and early processing of wheat (including flailing) really “separated the wheat from the chaff” of historic interpretation! Persian walled garden at Untermyer Gardens Conservatory. Based on concepts of Paradise, and truly magical.An edible garden with the Hudson peeking out in the distance is another feature of Untermyer. And, finally, the Temple of Love, or the Untermyer version at least. Again with the Hudson in the background.
Quebec City is the next best thing to going to Europe. Considering the fact that I was SUPPOSED to go to Europe this week, in this case to Switzerland, but instead am laid up with a bum hip, I am glad my daughter M.E. and I experienced this trip to almost-Europe. It will have to suffice for this summer.
This was the third time I’d been to Quebec City. The first time was right after my dad passed away, my mom’s first venture at planning a mother and daughter trip instead of a family vacation. We splurged and flew from Burlington, VT – first time on a plan for either of us. I was 13 years old. So don’t remember much except the imposing Chateaux Frontenac, the historic edifice that dominates the landscape of the old city.
The second time was with my hubby for a few days, and we drove, so we had a wider adventure along the way to and from. This time, we flew to Montreal and took the bus to and from Quebec. Except for a major hassle with cancelled and delayed flights home, that worked out pretty well. (The bus is a lot cheaper than the train, and goes straight to the airport after a brief stop downtown. And has wifi – well is supposed to have wifi at least.)
We walked a lot (which probably in the long run did not help my current hip problem, but what the heck), and explored not only the old parts of the city and the Citidel on the hill, but a few parts of the more modern city as well. We also booked a few organized tours: a boat ride on the St. Lawrence (almost required on a trip with me), a tour of the countryside (with a very amusing bus driver/guide) and a glimpse into the inner workings and history of the Chateaux. (Next best thing to staying there, which is not really affordable and probably not totally worth it.)
Here are some highlights in photos. If you can’t make it to Europe, and live on the East Coast, try a visit to Quebec is my advice. Just don’t fly Air Canada.
The Chateaux, from the rooftop plaza of our much more modest but still strategically located hotel. From this vantage point we could also hear the music festival which was raging on each evening in the nearby Plains of Abraham.At the Citidel (military fort) on another hill above the city you can tour the military history (not my thing) but we also discovered you could (for free) tour the Governor General’s residence. Which is chock full of art and really nice furniture. Plus you learn something about Canadian government. And the patio view is not too shabby!One of the cool things at the Governor General’s house with this giant blow up of Samuel de Champlain (or someone in his party’s?) field note book/journal. He documented the flora and fauna, and of course said a lot of rather condescending things about the local cultures. Another view of Quebec’s history, though the mural in the lower part of the old city, which you either get to by a lot of stairs (ouch, on the hip) or the Funicular. This mural blends old and new history in a charming way.On our tour of the countryside, we stopped at Saint Anne de Beaupre Shrine, which boasts these impressive copper doors. We also stopped at the workshop of the copper artist who made them. He has passed on to the great workshop in the sky and left his knowledge and business to his female descendants. Really worth a visit to both!I really could have used some of these abandoned assisted walking devises of those cured by visiting Saint Anne’s Shrine. It obviously didn’t work for me but probably because I shorted the recommended candle lighting fee. One of the most interesting things about the tour of the Chateaux was the glimpse into the secret herb garden and bee keeping area. Keeping things Earth Optimistic in the heart of the old city!Speaking of plants and gardens, I liked the concept of this work of living art outside the Museum of Fine Arts. (The inside was pretty impressive too.) Worth venturing outside the city walls to visit, but give yourself a couple/three hours to take it all in. There are several buildings and a lot to see.Around the lower old and newer city area, there is also a sort of art walk with really cool installations. This one is near the boat tour dock and involved a lot of discarded life jackets used by Syrian refugees. (And is by Ai Weiwei no less.) Water features in and around Quebec include the majestic Montmorency Falls. We got views from our boat ride and stopped here on our countryside tour as well. Locals were using the area to cool down in, though signs indicated they were not supposed to be doing so! Ending at the beginning, the first night we arrived, the sunset was spectacular over the Laurentian mountains and illuminating the St. Lawrence, and a brief rain gifted us with this site. My mom loved rainbows, so it surely was her grinning down on us and approving the mother-daughter experience.
I feel as though I deserved a trip to Florida (even if it was partially a work trip) this past week. It’s been a rough few months. So, taking off for Sarasota seemed like a really excellent idea.
I’d been to Sarasota a couple of times briefly before, but this time really got a chance to explore the city and its environs. The food (yay grouper!), the sunsets, the balmy winter temperature, the interesting flora, the many variations of blue-green-gray on the bay and gulf… what’s not to like?
A couple of highlights and then the rest in photos… Kayaking with buddies Arlene, Pete and Carol on Longboat Key. Visiting the Marie Selby Botanical Garden’s historic Spanish Point location (though we hear the downtown location is even better). Free Monday admission to the amazing Ringling Art Museum and grounds. And sunsets on Siesta Key and the downtown Bayfront Park. Not to mention soaking in hotel hot tubs and eating delicious fresh fish and ethnic delights. Oh, and visiting my grad school buddy Eleanor, who cooked us dinner.
It was worth risking COVID amid the now mostly unmasked masses in Florida. It was worth risking sunburn on our winter-white bodies. It was worth the several more pounds I came home with (and I’m not talking about in my suitcase)!
The trip will get me through to the Spring that is sure to come here soon (despite the groundhog’s silly predictions).
Courtyard of the Ringling Art Museum. A classic “Steve eats food” shot, at a small Salvadoran pupuseria one evening. The downtown eating scene was just too hectic and crowded for us (though it was fun to walk around there). Thank goodness for smartphone searches.Our kayak group on a beach break. And yes, I cannot kayak without getting totally soaked.Boat building workshop at the Marie Selby museum. Volunteers build small boats like this one, which had a very impressive array of laminated woods. Steve “interacts” (sort of) with augmented reality art at the Marie Selby garden. In other words, those things were not really there in real life. It’s new fangled art, you know. Under the banyans on the grounds of the Ringling. Eagles and their 40-year old nest, encountered by my friend Lisa and I on a break from our meeting at the University of South Florida. Apparently (according to an informative passerby) this nest saved the land around it from development, and has been passed between eagles and ospreys for all those years.One of fifty juried art works reproduced large and displayed at the Bayfront Park for the exhibition, Embracing our Differences. (The lower portions of my new friends Roy and Margaret can be seen viewing another panel at left!)Sunet on Siesta Key beach. My friend Kim told me the sand there is like sugar. She wasn’t making that up.Sunset at Bayfront Park. And so ends our Sarasota adventure!
For the past almost month, I’ve been in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina staying with my sister due to family health issues. We are not originally from coastal South Carolina, it’s just where she, her husband, and my mom all retired to after spending vacations there. So, we’ve been visiting for years.
I have mixed feelings about Hilton Head. I like the water – beautiful beaches and a series of scenic sounds, lagoons, and other waterways great for kayaking. I like the temperature, lots warmer than the Frozen Northern Mid-Atlantic this time of year. Not so crazy about the politics, the use of the word “Plantation” in the name of the developments, and a few other things. (Oh, and I have to say that having had my mom in the hospital here twice in the last month, the health care leaves a lot to be desired as well but that’s another story.)
Last year when we rented our own “villa” here for the month of January, I found out you could join the “kayak club” here at Palmetto Dunes Plantation’s Hilton Head Outfitters for a reasonable calendar year price. Palmetto Dunes has 11 miles of kayakable lagoons, and their kayak launch makes it really easy for a “senior kayaker” like me to get in and out quickly and relatively painlessly.
Throughout January, and during visits in April and October, and in the last month, I have more than paid for my kayak club membership in paddles around the lagoons. Eleven miles sounds like a lot, but I have been around the whole of them at least twice or three times now. Different seasons bring different colors and birds and just things you didn’t see the first time, though, so it’s all good.
Being on the water, under your own power, is definitely therapeutic for me. Quiet, just your paddle dipping in and out of the water, watching the sometimes obscenely opulent homes arranged along the lagoon slide by, looking for alligators (I’ve only ever seen one this whole time) and trying to sneak up on the herons to take photos… all good. I can forget everything else for an hour or two. How sad it is that my brother in law passed away a week after Thanksgiving. How hard it is to see my mom so frail and mostly confined to bed. How much I miss my own home and friends back in the DC area.
Here are some snaps of my watery adventures. I hope you all have a peaceful and happy holiday and get to indulge in visiting some of your own personal favorite places and activities. May 2022 bring all good (or at least better) things for us all.
Shifting colors, moving water, amusing boat names. Even though this is a highly populated area, with homes lining the lagoons, in some parts of the system you can get the illusion of being “in the wild.”The wildlife is pretty tame. It’s easy to get close to a great blue heron until it catches on to you.Look carefully as Mr. (or Ms.) alligator is pretty well camouflaged here. And really, very small as alligators go. The lagoons are brackish so not so conducive to these shy critters. Lots of “happy places” that your mind can return to (even if they are in someone else’s backyard, but you can image sitting out there on a nice day yourself.Strange (and timely?) dock art.
On a recent trip to West Virginia, my friend Arlene and I spent a whole day sampling the small town pleasures of Point Pleasant. Situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, the town has many (well, several at least) historic and folkloric sites to explore.
Upon arriving, we checked into the Lowe Hotel. We had noted that the hotel is rated #1 of 1 hotel(s) in the town by tourism sites, which did not at first inspire confidence. But we were delighted to find a well preserved/restored property with lots of charming decor, and a chatty and helpful proprietor.
Next, we checked out the murals depicting historic events and people, which are painted on the wall that runs between the town and the river. They started out peaceful enough, with Native Americans going about their (historic) everyday lives, but in just a few mural panels morphed into the bloody Battle of Point Pleasant fought in 1774 between the Shawnee and Mingo tribes led by Shawnee Chief Hokoleskwa (or Cornstalk as he was called in English) and the Virginia militia (West Virginia did not exist at this point). Some guy named Lord Dunmore had a role in this mess too.
Unfortunately, the murals have minimal text interpretation, so some of the historical doings are left up to one’s imagination. As you traverse down the row of murals, you also encounter several historical personages fashioned out of tin. Daniel Boone (who lived near Point Pleasant in the late 1700s) gets this treatment, as does a feisty woman dubbed “Mad Anne Bailey” who gets her own set of murals depicting her interesting life.
At the end of the mural trail you enter Tu-Endie-Wei State Park. (The name means “point between two waters” in Wyandotte, apparently.) This is where Daniel Boone and American Ginseng tie in – though not commemorated on any murals or historic markers as yet. The confluence of the Ohio and Kanawhajust might be the place that a quantity of ginseng Boone was transporting to market got dumped into the Ohio in 1788. Though every version of the story has this ill-fated ginseng being dumped in a different location…
All of that walking around town made us pretty hungry, so we headed for one of the only two real sit-down restaurants in town within walking distance we located which were not pizza purveyors. This happened to be a very respectable Japanese restaurant, Ichiban II. (The other restaurant, located on Main Street, is Mexican, Rio Bravo 2 – we went there for dinner.)
We were saving a visit to the most famous Point Pleasant “native” for the afternoon. Mothman is one of several cryptids (mythological creepy humanoid beings) haunting the West Virginia landscape, and his most famous siting took place just outside Point Pleasant. The World’s Only Mothman Museum is located right across from the Lowe Hotel (and was visible from our room even), and the twelve foot tall tin Mothman Statue is a photo magnet for the masses.
After thoroughly overdosing on Mothman information at the museum, we strolled leisurely down Main Street and read the markers about the historic homes lining the street. We also paused to reflect upon the Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967 (marked by another mural and several historic plaques) which took the lives of 43 people. We ducked into the local art gallery and an expansive antique/doo-dad mall on Main Street as well.
By the time we settled in for the night at the Lowe, we had done pretty much all of Point Pleasant that you could do easily by foot. We downloaded the 2002 movie, Mothman Prophesies, starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, for our evening entertainment/research. Having done our homework, we recognized the huge “poetic license” they had taken with the film – including how different the river town they actually filmed the movie in (Kittanning, PA) was from our Point Pleasant.
At the beginning of the mural trail, a depiction of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash). Very literal indeed. Daniel Boone as The Tin Man in Buckskins. Mad Ann(e) Bailey, who was apparently not “crazy” but just had a temper. She’s buried in Point Pleasant.View of Mothman Museum and statue from our hotel room. The infamous Mothman Statue. Another depiction of Mothman. My daughter said he looked “very cheerful” when I shared this photo with her.Though the Mothman Prophesies was not actually filmed in Point Pleasant, the museum ended up with several props from the movie. Such as this blanket which “came into contact” with fame. The makers of the Mothman Prophesies also managed to weave the Silver Bridge Collapse into the movie plot. While visiting this spot, we encountered a local who told us his Dad was almost headed across the bridge that fateful day, with Christmas presents in tow, but due to a change of plans, he was saved from a possible watery demise. There used to be a River Museum in town too but a fire put it out of commission. They are building a new one, so we may need to visit town again!Lobby of the Lowe Hotel, showing balcony, faux marble columns and other features. One of the common rooms of the hotel, this one dubbed “the peacock room” because of the collection of peacock art collected by the proprietor’s mother. This was the site of our watching of Mothman Prophesies because the wifi was coming in better than in our room. Very atmospheric and fitting especially when we turned off most of the lamps.
During a recent visit to the farthest north portion of New York State, our old high school buddy Elaine, her friend Gordy, and my trusty travel companion Debi and I took a scenic boat tour of the “American channel” of the St. Lawrence Seaway. One achieves such a tour from the small tourist town of Alexandria Bay, on an Uncle Sam excursion vessel.
First off, getting reliable information about these boat tours is not an easy task. Both Gordy and I called them and got no or very misleading information. (Maybe it is “due to COVID” but customer service is not what it used to be, it seems.) We decided to just show up and get the story from the horse’s mouth, and ended up on a two-hour narrated tour, well worth the mild anxiety of not being able to really plan ahead. Hey, we had nowhere else to be and it was a superb day, so whatever.
This excursion ends up with a trip to Boldt Castle, a humongous stone estate which takes up its own small island. (One could also take a different trip to Singer Castle, but that is a whole other story and maybe trip in the future.) The story of the “castle” is a sad and terribly romantic one.
Mr. Boldt, an enormously wealthy sort of guy, was building the summer getaway for his wife when she suddenly (and we would guess unexpectedly) died. Though apparently she had tuberculosis, so how unexpected could death from that disease have been in the early 1900s? Nevertheless, there is was. Dream vacation home tragically scuttled.
Over three hundred workmen, including many a skilled stone and woodworker who had hoped for a long and fruitful employment completing this project, were immediately commanded to put down their tools and cease their labors.
The unfinished castle was left to the elements, and the vandals, within swimming distance of Alexandria Bay. (Well if you are a strong swimmer; at least within tantalizing view from shore, and a short row, paddle or motoring in any kind of water craft, or even a walk on the ice back in the day when the river froze over in the harsh winters.)
In the mid-1970s, after over 70 years of neglect and ruination, it was decided that the castle should be completed and opened for tourists. The Thousand Island Bridge Commission accomplished this feat, and today for a reasonable fee of about $12 you can take a self-guided tour.
The signage is all couched in “would haves” since this reconstruction is based on what the property would have been like had the ill-fated Louisa lived and held forth as mistress and hostess of the grand home, garden, and “children’s playhouse” (a separate big old stone edifice with a bowling alley, etc.).
The whole effect created very mixed emotions on my part, and I am sure on the part of many others who tour the house and property. Sad that Louisa and her family and friends never got to enjoy the sumptuous estate. Glad that the Bridge Commission did such a good job of reconstruction and interpretation. Mad that vandals had defaced and disrespected the property (which is still evident on the unfinished third floor).
It was a worthy adventure, if unsettling in many ways. Here are some photos that tell some more of the story.
Approach to the Castle. The Island is called Heart (formerly Hart) Island; Boldt apparently wanted to restructure the whole island in the shape of a heart but didn’t quite accomplish this. The Children’s Playhouse. Not totally restored but you can see where the bowling alleys were and get a sense that these kids had quite a playhouse indeed!Louisa’s bedroom and sitting room on the second floor opened up to a balcony overlooking the gardens and water. It “would have” been a lovely retreat for one very rich lady, but not to be…Unfinished and very ghostly third floor where generations of curious visitors left their marks. I suppose they felt it was not hurting anyone in this abandoned shell, and it is a sort of historic record maybe. But just sad anyhow.
