Archives December 2012

Between Grand Junction, CO and the beautiful Columbia River Highway in OR there is basically nothing but a litter box. That’s harsh. There is nothing but a litter box with a strip mall in it.

Believe it or not, our USA Lonely Planet boasts of Utah as being a well kept secret full of adventure, outdoor activities and wonton awesomeness. We’re wondering what Cool-Aid these writers were drinking. The long stretch of dull we drove through was like driving across a giant block or dirty butter. The guide book did mention some amazing rock structures to the south, but if you have to drive across more of the same dirty butter to get there, we weren’t interested. Perhaps that’s why it is such a well kept secret. Everyone turns around and gives up before getting to this mysterious awesome part.

Salt Lake City was a place I was interested in seeing. Having watched the Big Love series about the LDS church, polygamy and Bill Paxton, I felt I had invested a sizable chunk of time in seeing parts of a city I otherwise had no interest in. The Temples sounded unique and worthy of exploration. Sadly, our time in SLC was limited to a quick drive through town. We saw the temple, the streets paved with … pavement, and not a lot more. It was largely uninspired. More depressingly, the outskirts (which sprawled for hours!) were run down and beat up. I was reminded of the folks in the show who were outcast from the community. Thus, we pointed our hood away from the state and its mysterious, hard-to-locate awesomeness and headed North by Northwest.

Idaho can be quite beautiful in parts, and I spent a lot of time there as a youth with my lovely grandparents. But they lived in the hills and valleys—absolutely stunning. We drove through what seemed like one continuous potato field covered in a depressing layer of recession.

Our intention of driving from Colorado to Washington without stopping was foiled by exhaustion. We stopped in Idaho at a hotel that would have given us all hepatitis had we not slept on our own blankets. In the morning, we discovered a junk yard was the backyard of the lovely hotel. The front yard was the highway. What a charming spot for a center of hospitality. Onwards we went. And from here on out the geography began to get ever more beautiful.

Every time I drive through a chunk of land that looks like the bottom of a dirty work shoe I’m rubbed by a sense of curiosity I can’t shake. I wonder if the folks who settled there were part of the original pilgrims who headed west in search of land, gold or just adventure. I wonder if they know that they gave up in the desert when the oasis was just a mountain range away. IF their ancestors had kept trudging, they’d be in the grace of the forests, hills, rivers and lakes instead of a trailer on the edge of nothing. I thought about this a lot driving through Utah, Idaho and Oklahoma. If they had but continued on, they’d be on the coast! Instead they risked everything, left the comfort of the East Coast, and all to end up in a wasteland. Or, perhaps they find the wasteland beautiful and deplore the forests and the rivers. I’ll never know.

Merry Christmas one and all,

We’re thrilled to have you as a reader of our humble travel blog. Thank you for your readership over the years, and for making our adventure all the more enriching by allowing us to share it with you.

We hope you enjoy your holidays, wherever you are this season!

Love,

Mike, Lauren & Gwendolyn

Yes, that was a pun because pot was legalized in Colorado a week before we dropped by. Did we partake? No we didn’t. But it’s still a funny song for a legal state!

What we did do in Colorado was see Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder before cutting through the amazing, breath-taking Rockies to see Vail and then Grand Junction. Did we love Colorado? Does the Pope have a funny hat? Yes, he does. Yes, he does.

Colorado Springs was not spoken of highly by our Colorado friends. Perhaps that’s because the hills surrounding it look like just that, hills, when compared to the stunning peaks visible from Boulder. But we did enjoy the quaint downtown area and walked around until our buns froze before heading to Garden of the Gods.

This amazing set of natural rock formations is quite stunning in winter, but I imagine it would be all the more bizarre in summer, surrounded by green trees that offset the orange of the rocks. We walked around for over an hour before our buns, again, froze. On to Denver.

We were on a mission in Denver to see the location of the next Matador Restaurant. The chain, which started in Seattle, will be opening a location in Denver and we had the inside scoop on it’s future home. After seeing this top secret spot we drove around downtown and, of course, strolled the lovely pedestrian street that bisects the city. Denver is stunning, but you can’t see the mountains from the city. Time to go look for a view of the mountains.

Boulder has it all. True, there are a lot of questionable folk milling about (have you ever played bum or hippie? You’ll lose in Boulder!). But the university brings in fresh cash and personalities galore. It’s a vegan’s paradise and the most important thing about Boulder is that you can see, smell and feel the mountains from the city. We walked around, drove around and then like a giant magnet the mountains pulled us Westward.

Cutting through the Rockies is like driving a car through a tunnel of awesome. We started our dissection around 4:00pm and by 6:00pm it was pitch dark in the mountains. You’d think that would ruin the drive, but instead the full moon lit an eerie and beautiful landscape of trees covered in snow and looming peaks. Pulling into Vail was like pulling onto the set of an expensive Hollywood Christmas tale. The lights were crisp and shed beams of wonder on the slopes, lodges and walkways. We strolled around Vail and munched on salads overlooking the ski slopes. I wished I could stay forever. But alas, only a Murdoch or a Trump could afford a random drop-by stay at a Vail lodge.

Grand Junction didn’t have much to offer and was a depressing port-a-potty of a town. Actually, we’ll never know if it was cool or not because after Vail anything would look like a cheap, swirling crap. Thus, we left Colorado on a Rocky Mountain high with a bit of nostalgia and, of course, some altitude sickness.

One of our last days in Beijing was spent seeing Oklahoma! A good friend of ours was playing the role of Jud Fry. He was a masterful actor/singer, and took the role to a new extreme (think: the Joker in the latest Batman series meets Syler from Heroes). We got a wonderful idea about the landscape and musical people of Oklahoma from the musical. So, when we found ourselves in Little Rock looking at a map and scratching our heads we decided to head to Tulsa to check out the panhandle state and see a few cowboys and cowgirls singing and line dancing together in the streets.

Funny story. Tulsa (at least the part we visited) looked almost nothing like the backdrops in the musical. Gone were the Western store fronts, the horses ties to hitching posts, the smoke houses and the creepy barns. In their place were Olive Gardens, A plethora of fast food options, and a sleazy nightclub called Blush whose pink flashing lights penetrated the windows of our hotel across the street. All is not well in Oklahoma, and it appears Jud Fry took over the place in a sinister scheme to modernize it and strip it of personality. Well done, musical villain!

Driving around Oklahoma one gets a sense of what it would be like to be on Mars. There is litter variation in geography and it becomes a battle of mind over reality. I imagine this is the exact feeling insane people have when locked in a padded, seamless room. On an more positive note, the world’s largest McDonald’s cuts over the highway in Oklahoma. I was worried about the structural integrity of the overpass with all the obese people waddling in and out of the restaurant. I hate to reference another movie, but Oklahoma isn’t far off from the characters in Wallie.

All of this being said, some of the most interesting, creative and intelligent people we know hail from Oklahoma. We didn’t meet them there. No, they were smart enough to get the hell out. But perhaps a barren geography and lack of entertainment means the people turn inwards and work on their own beauty and skill. Musicians, artists, thinkers and politicians are among the traits our Oklahoma friends have. Maybe there is something positive in the water.

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Regardless of your political views, the presidential libraries are an amazing asset to our country, and they offer a very biased view of each president’s life. Naturally you don’t get a lot of republican curators at democrat’s libraries and vise-versa. So the exhibits are very pro party, pro president.

Established in 1955, the Presidential Libraries Act provides government employees to maintain privately erected libraries. The act encourages presidents to donate their gifts, papers and records. The National Archives and Records Administration run each library and maintain the president’s artifacts and papers.

In 2009 we visited the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library in Texas. That was an amazing treat. Located on campus, we’re told the former president and first lady have an apartment nearby and often stop by to chat with visitors. The library had a war plane, replicas of various White House rooms, and loads of interactive exhibits. It took us several hours to peruse the documents, artifacts and interactive exhibits.

This year, we visited the William Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. In contrast, the library didn’t offer the range of interactive exhibits. The majority of the artifacts on display were documents, letters and the like. There was a row of gifts from visiting dignitaries and the like, but they were a small section of the overall library. The Clinton library holds the largest bulk of records and documents, we were told.

There is a replica of the Oval Office that is stunning. We were informed that each president redecorates to his or her (yeah right!) preference. You can see a certain upper-crust elegance in the Clinton Oval Office.

In 2006 I visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. This is not one of the official 13 libraries under the Presidential Libraries Act, but it was quite astonishing. The appeal here was its universality. The Clinton library was for serious research and a quick browse of the documents on display, the Bush library was about creating the image of a legacy, while the Lincoln library was a Hollywood-style production of a man that became larger than life. The tour opens with a multi-sense film called “Behind Lincoln’s Eyes” where we delve into the emotional/psychological study of the man. Cannon smoke fills the room during the Civil War section. The seats shake. I’d say it wasn’t an effective learning tool, but six years later I still vividly recall the visit.

Outside of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library sits charming Little Rock. It was a smaller town than expected, and quaint. The downtown area could be any small town in America, and the bars, shops and restaurants offered a certain southern elite charm. Situated right on the river, the library looks out over the river, the countryside and the town itself.

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By Al Green we do in fact mean the amazing, talented and smooth creator of “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love and Happiness.” He is one of gospel and soul’s biggest names and he recently went on tour. Sadly, we missed it. But we did hear that he was the reverend at the Tabernacle Church in Memphis, so we got up at the crack of dawn on Sunday and headed for Memphis, leaving lovely Nashville in our rearview mirror.

We drove by Elvis Presley’s Graceland, and were surprised at how rundown the area was, and how kitschy the place looked. I know it’s Graceland and it’s meant to be kitschy but wow! Not far from where tours leave for Graceland you’ll find the Reverend Al Green’s church.

We pulled into the parking lot and saw several people heading inside. We followed them in and opened the doors to the sanctuary to reveal that we were one of about eight white folks in the room. They were already well into the service (which started at 11am) when we arrived at 30 minutes after the hour. We took seats near the back in case our infant started to howl.

The music was amazing! Al Green wasn’t there yet, but his choir and choir leaders were stellar. They sang almost on improve and the live band was equally astonishing. You could tell they loved what they were doing. They sang their prayers.

At noon Al Green came out in white gloves and a black reverend smock. He swayed with the music and received applause and turned all the applause upward. He was very humble and deflecting of attention. His mother led the announcements, and his nephew gave the sermon. Al Green was the greeter, occasional singer and commentator. As we gave tithe he asked us where we were from. Mike said “Chicago” and he started singing “hello Chicago!” as we walked by. Nice guy, and a very friendly congregation. He even made a “Love and Happiness” reference. Nice.

We left Memphis after church. Driving around downtown proved that the city itself has a lot to be desired, especially after the beauty of downtown Nashville.

Arriving in Nashville is like driving into a time warp. The downtown area is crowded with hole-in-the-wall bars where musicians are playing live music starting early in the morning. We were there on a Friday with Lauren’s uncle. He took us to Tootsie’s, the most famous of the local bars, where a cowboy and his cowgirl crooned into rusty microphones over a rowdy crowd. It was 2pm and the beers were flowing and the crowd was hopping. We sat with a couple from New York who were fleeing Hurricane Sandy in search of fairer weather and cheerier sights. They couldn’t get over the $5 PBR cans.

Down the street at Layla’s we got PBR cans for $1 and watched an authentic hill cowboy and a lovely lady on bass really bring country music to life. They were no joke, and at 3pm in the afternoon they had a lively audience of diehards, cowboys and tourists.

You can buy cowboy boots and outfits for cheap downtown. Some boots sell three pair for the price of one. We looked but didn’t buy, and continued on down the way for the mid-afternoon bar crawl with our infant baby. Don’t worry, they still can’t smoke inside and Gwen loved the music. She stood on my lap and cooed along with the best of them. And she wasn’t the only toothless lady in the bar.

Nashville has a great dining scene. We were introduced to more southern BBQ at several restaurants and adored every delectable bite. It’s hard not to overeat when the food tastes like ambrosia.

Out on the streets you’ll find wildly talented people playing handmade instruments, dancing or playing guitar. There is so much talent in the city that it overflows into the streets. Record labels sign big named there, like Taylor Swift, and music celebrities mingle with regular folk without putting on airs.

We were lucky enough to have family in Nashville to stay with, and enjoyed a lovely birthday party for my cousin while we were in town. A great visit, an amazing family and a lovely city. I’d live in Nashville if I could. I’ve never been anywhere else where music was loved so much.

Winston-Salem isn’t a hotbed of tourism, and that’s great because it’s a well kept secret. It’s only a few hours to the mountains and only a few more to the beach, so it’s location is perfect for the weekend warrior vacationer. You’ll find a decent amount of trees in the area, in fact it’s the largest selection of diverse trees in the USA. For that reason, it’s also the hub for furniture in the country, and you’ll notice all kinds of furniture stores and outlets along the highways. Golfing is a big activity in the area, and loads of snowbirds flock south from the frigid tundra up north to enjoy mild winters in NC.

Of all the attractions in NC, our favorite was visiting with family. We were able to see a whole lot of family all at once. A fun, crazy, wild ride that included a trip to the mountains with one uncle and a trip to the beech with my mother. We also went to see Carmen in downtown W-S with one aunt, and were lucky to be able to stay with another aunt in her lovely downtown apartment. We visited friends in Wilmington, and had a party at another uncle’s place. We even got to see my aunt’s new restaurant outside of town. And of course visiting with my amazing grandparents was a joy. We got to enjoy so much family; it was a treat for us and for Gwen, who was, as always, the belle of the ball.

If you happen to find yourself in ol’ W-S don’t skip the historic old Salem area. This was pretty neat and included old structures from the original town that have been converted into nice shops. Downtown (the new part) was also thriving, and we enjoyed an amazing dinner at District, dancing at 6th and Vine and deep fried pickles at Finnegan’s Wake. W-S is great for food, and the finer things in life.

In terms of food, we ate so much southern cooking we put on several pounds in the month we were in North Carolina. We discovered Dickies southern style BBQ, the best BBQ on the planet perhaps. We also fell in love with Darel’s, more BBQ. And of course we loved Bo Jangles and all the chicken. I don’t know how anyone with constant access to this food remains slim.

We were very sad to eventually leave North Carolina and the fifty or so family members who live there. But the road is long, and we have miles to put on the car.