Keeping track of time…

The older I get the harder it has been for me to keep track of what happens when, so a few years ago I began this habit of looking back on my year in pictures as the year ends.  So bear with me please as I go back through the first six months of 2014.

In January, Greg, Olive the pug and I decided to leave the winter weather behind and travel south to Texas.  The Polar Vortex followed us into Alabama but after that we had comfortable weather and truly enjoyed spending two weeks in the great state of Texas.

These photos will tell all there is to tell about our February.  It was cold and snowy.  But isn’t that the way February is supposed to be here in the northeast?

March was a study of contrasts for us, starting the month in the snow of New England and ending up the month in sunny, warm St. John USVI with our good friends Dona and Bob.

Spring came to us in fits and starts in April.  But come it did.

And here's one of Olive the Pug just for good measure.

In May, our son Evan moved out of the house to start a new phase of his life in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Transitions like this are inevitable but it doesn’t make them easier.  We have gotten used to just seeing Evan now and then just as we have with our daughter Carrie.  Greg and I went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox near the end of the month and received our very own World Series rings.  We watch practically every game, so we felt we deserved them.  But as history has now recorded, we know that the Sox went from Worst (2012) to First (2013) back to Worst in 2014.  Such are the joys and sufferings of the true baseball fan.

In June, daughter Carrie and I took a road trip from Massachusetts to Ohio to visit my family and to see my mother whose health is beginning to fail rather precipitously.  It was good seeing everyone.  I also finished my Flickr 365 Project.  I took and published a photo every day for a year.  Some days it was easy.  Some days it was hard.  But I didn’t miss a day from June 25, 2013 to June 24, 2014.

To be continued...

Lingering thoughts on Terlingua…

The other day something I read (don’t ask me what) made me think of Terlingua, Texas.  Generally, thoughts bounce around in my head like tennis balls and now and then I manage to catch one.  When I started thinking about Terlingua, eventually I simply had to go back to the photos I took when Greg and I were down there in January.  We didn’t spend a lot of time there.  In truth, we just passed through.  But the time we spent there made me curious about it.

Terlingua was once a thriving mining town with a population of around 2,000.  These days the population is more like 60 and it has the real feel of a ghost town.  But, in spite of that, it is now the home of the original chili cook-off and every year around 10,000 people stop by for that.  This year it is scheduled for October 30 through November 1.  I wish I could be there, but where visitors to this grand tradition will stay is somewhat of a mystery to me.  And I’m not one who would be comfortable sleeping in a car…or even a tent.  Even so, I imagine it will be a fun and tasty time.

Here are a few photos of Terlingua and environs.  Now, maybe I can get another thought in edgewise and get on with my life.

These photos were taken in the Terlingua Cemetery, which is listed on the National Registry for Historic Sites and is still in use today.

On further inspection, it looks like there are places to stay around there.  I think it would be best to get the reservations in early, especially if you want to stay in a nice, “quite” campground with free water and a tent with a shower.

You know, I can't help it.  I absolutely love places like Terlingua!

The Difference between Capital and Capitol…

Ahhh, which to use where?  What exactly is the difference between capital and capitol anyway?  Well, I have to say I never gave it too much thought in recent years because in Massachusetts we call it the Statehouse.   But on our recent trip to Texas, our route took us through six different state capitals. And when I decided to write something about it, I decided the best thing to do was to make sure I knew the difference.

Here’s what About.com has to say on the subject:  The word capitol is used to refer to the building where a legislature (such as the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives) meets while the word capital refers to the city which serves as the seat of government.

You can remember the difference by thinking of the "o" in the word capitol as a dome, like the dome of the U.S. Capitol in the capital Washington D.C.

That’s good advice unless you think of the capitol building of Tennessee that really doesn’t really have a dome.  It has more of a big, round column that sticks up.  But it’s still the capitol.

Capital, on the other hand, has many meanings.  As a noun, it means:

1a. a town or city that is the official seat of government; 

b. a city that is the center of a specific activity or industry, e.g. the financial capital of the world.

2a. wealth in the form of money or property; 

b. material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth; 

c. human resources considered in terms of their contributions to an economy

3. an asset or advantage

4. a capital letter, meaning C but not c.

As an adjective it means:

1. first and foremost; principal, which means main or key (as opposed to principle, which means rule, belief, tenet and theory)

2. first-rate; excellent

3. relating to or being a seat of government.

4. involving death or calling for the death penalty, e.g. a capital offense

5. of or relating to financial assets.

Phew!  Capital really runs the gamut from a pile of bricks to a pile of money, from being the most important and the greatest to being the absolute. Capital is one capital word.

So now that I’ve got it straightened out, here are the capitols of the capitals we passed through on our trip to and from Texas.

Montgomery, Alabama

Austin, Texas

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Little Rock, Arkansas

Nashville, Tennessee

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Random Five Friday: Thoughts on Travel…

1)  Greg and I love the desert so we found the landscapes in West Texas fascinating and dramatic.  I will post a couple photos.  What do you think?   I know people who believe that if there isn’t water (preferably the ocean) within driving distance, it’s not a place worth going to.  I agree that the ocean is beautiful, but I think the desert has its own grandeur and grace.

2)  Being away from home for nearly a month is kind of weird. Coming home, it’s almost like coming back to a place that has been frozen in time.  Here’s what I mean.  I set the alarm clock on the phone last night because I had to get up this morning at eight and the phone is reliable whereas my actual alarm clock is not.  The phone asks for the date first, then the time, and then what catchy tune you want to wake up to.  I entered in the relevant information.  This morning, I woke up (thankfully!) and looked at the clock.  I had set the phone alarm for 8 am, but it was 8:06 am according to my clock that is precisely 6 minutes slow.  So I’m lying there at 8:12am trying to figure out why the darn phone didn’t sing.  What the heck??  Who needs a problem like that before they’ve had their coffee??  Well, long story short, when I checked to see why the phone alarm didn’t go off, it was because I set it for January 7 not February 7.   For me, it was like January hadn’t happened yet since we spent it on the road.  I have to get over that…and soon!

3)  Sometimes while traveling, you happen to have conversations with random strangers.  My favorite of this trip was when I ran into a young man at an overlook on the Rio Grande.  The view was spectacular and he was taking pictures.  He turned to me with a big smile on his face and I said, “It sure is beautiful!”  He grinned and told me that he was 28 years old and it was his first time there.  Up to then, he had spent his whole life in  Odessa, Texas, where it is very flat and he had never seen anything as beautiful as what we were looking at.  His enthusiasm for the natural beauty around us simply made my day.  This is what we were looking at:

4)  We did pass through Odessa on our way home and now I understand where he was coming from.  The Odessa area is not the most beautiful area of Texas.  But it does have its charms.  Like, did you know that there is a scaled-down version of Stonehenge on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa?  No?  Well, there is.  Odessa is also the home of the World’s Largest Jack Rabbit.  No lie.  I just love coming across that kind of stuff when we travel.

Stonehenge, Texas style.

The World's Largest Jack Rabbit lookin' pretty smug.

5)  Here’s a packing tip if you are going on a long trip:  Always take a couple of fashionable, colorful scarves along.  I didn’t and found myself wishing I had on numerous occasions.  They take up no space in a duffle bag and they can really spark up a t-shirt and jeans if you find that you want to go to a “business casual” as opposed to a plain old “casual” restaurant.  Doesn’t that sound like something you might read in Vogue or Elle?  I'm not sure since I don't read either.

Hooking up with A Rural Journal's

RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY!

Scratching the Marfa itch...

I read the Travel Section in the Boston Sunday Globe religiously.  That’s how I found out about Marfa, Texas.  The article I read about Marfa was published in 2009.  And Marfa has been in the back of my mind since.  So when Greg and I were talking about a warm weather vacation for this winter, I said that I wanted to go there.  It was like giving a dog a bone.  Greg should have a PhD in Travel Planning and once he got started, he mapped out the whole trip that culminated in six nights in the itch I wanted to scratch.

I will say this with undeniable certainty.  Marfa is darn cool.  While it’s stuck pretty much out there on its own, about three hours from El Paso and about six hours from San Antonio, it is a little jewel of a town in the Chihuahuan Desert with a thriving art scene and great places to eat.  It’s also a great base for exploring the surrounding desert, but more about that later.

Without further ado, here’s a short photo tour of Marfa, Texas.

This is the courtyard of El Paisano Hotel.  If you are familiar with the 1956 movie Giant with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, some of it was filmed in Marfa and in the hotel there are nice displays about the movie and t-shirts for sale with James Dean emblazoned on them.

Here’s an interior shot:

If you look closely, you might recognize James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor in the window behind the chairs.

Marfa is also known for its vibrant food scene, particularly the food trucks.  We got to try Fat Lyle’s and I have to say OMG!  I had the best lunch there.  I had the Crispy Fried Brussels Sprout Haystack. It might look like a heck of a mess but here's what it is: Crispy fried Brussels sprouts, caramelized onions, blue cheese and spicy mayo and a hot sauce over a bed of hand cut fries. I am seriously thinking of trying to duplicate this for Christmas dinner next year.  It was just that good.

All around town, you see old cars with FOOD SHARK on them.  They are advertising another food truck that is very popular there.  We didn’t get a chance to try it.  They were closed on the day we wanted to go because it was cold.  Damn!  But here’s one of the cool cars we saw roaming around.

This is a 1977 AMC Matador (Barcelona Edition).  Not a car you see every day outside of Marfa.

Art is important there.  The Ayn Foundation is now exhibiting Andy Warhol's "The Last Supper" and Maria Zerres' "September Eleven" in Marfa.  Olive the pug was even allowed to go in to view these works, but I was not allowed to photograph them.  Oh, well…  But we did make it out of town (about 40 miles northwest of Marfa near Valentine, Texas) to view an art installation called “Prada Marfa.”  Here it is.  What do you think?

Here’s a friend we made while staying in Marfa.  He is a Curved-bill Thrasher.  He was very curious about us and let me sit on the couch in the sitting room of the house we rented and snap away.  Seems Texans are friendly…even the feathered ones.

Getting out of town…

Galveston, Austin, San Antonio…it was time for us to leave town literally and get ourselves out into the country.  Our next goal in Texas was Big Bend National Park.  According to park literature:  “The region was named Big Bend for the drastic change in course of the river from a southeastern to a northeastern flow. As the Rio Grande flows through the Chihuahuan Desert, it carves not only majestic canyons, but also a political boundary. Big Bend’s location on the United States/Mexico border has always provided a mystique to the park.”

On the way, we over-nighted in Fort Stockton, Texas, home of the World’s Largest Road Runner.

His name is Paisano Pete.

Here's the real thing that we encountered later that day.

In the morning, we picked up some sandwiches in Marathon where we met this handsome pooch.

Then we proceeded to take the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive through the park.  Here is some of what we saw.

I was fairly awestruck by the beautiful scenery and am still wondering why the Rio Grande is so green.  My attempts to look to Google for the answer to that question have failed so far. I imagine that it has something to do with the mineral makeup of the area.  But, even if I never find out, I will never regret the time we spent in that beautiful place.

We got home yesterday evening around 5:30p.m.  Round trip from Central Massachusetts to Marfa, Texas and back:  6,716.1 miles in 25 days with over 5,000 photos stored on my laptop...most of which will be dumped into my virtual garbage can.  But I have to say, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

The Hales Do San Antonio....

After Austin, we spent three nights in San Antonio. Our hotel was on the Riverwalk and in a nice location for strolling along there. When we checked in, we were upgraded to a room with a balcony overlooking part of the Riverwalk so that was a nice perk. The weather was nice enough that we could sit out there in the evening and watch people stroll by.

Olive enjoyed it in her regular doggie way.

Of course, we had to visit the Alamo. When we got there, we discovered that dogs are not allowed on the side of the street where the Alamo sits, so we took turns sitting with Olive while the other went in and checked it out. I managed to strike up a conversation with a very nice man from San Jose, California. He told me that he has four daughters and he asked me what that made him. I told him I didn't know. He said it made him King! If that's the case, my father was King, too.

The wonderful grounds at the Alamo.

We had lunch on the Riverwalk that day. Can you tell how much Greg loves oysters?

 I say he can have them.

We took the obligatory boat ride, of course.

The next day, we left the hustle and bustle of the Riverwalk and took in the Mission Tour. Our first stop was at the Mission Concepción. Built in 1755, it is the oldest unrestored church in the country . The original walls still stand.

 There, I met this beautiful young lady who asked very politely if she could pet my dog.  Of course, Olive said yes!

Mission San José is the most complete and restored of the missions on the tour. We truly enjoyed walking around the grounds and seeing how life was lived there in the mid 1700s.

 

We also visited the Mission Espada, which is still in use today.

And the Mission San Juan before running out of gas and going back to the hotel.

Austin and beyond...

From Galveston, we traveled west past Houston to Austin, capital of Texas and home to the main campus of the University of Texas. We indulged ourselves there by staying in the dog-friendly and completely unique, Hotel St. Cecilia.

Olive in the courtyard of the Hotel St. Cecilia

Each room in the hotel is unique but they all sport old-fashioned turntables and in the lobby is a fine collection of old record albums that can be checked out. But the best part is the location, the Hotel St. Cecilia is on a quiet street that is just a short walk from Congress Street, the main drag that has a great variety of restaurants and shopping, much of which is dog-friendly. We walked down each morning and had breakfast at Jo's. We enjoyed great coffee and pastries and Olive enjoyed the company of other canines like this beautiful pooch...

While in town, we toured the state capitol building. It has a beautiful understated elegance.

The dome of the Texas Capitol Building.

The Senate Chamber.

When we were on the grounds of the capitol, I experienced a little lens envy. But, you know, I would never be able to hold that thing still.

Austin is also a great base for exploring the Texas Hill Country and we took a day to check it out. We stopped at Perdernales Falls State Park and took a gander at the river that has made the area what it is today.

We checked out the boyhood home of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his adult ranch.

LBJ's boyhood home.

We stopped by Luckenbach, which Greg informed me is the subject of a country song by Waylon Jennings.

But, in spite of all the natural beauty we took in and all the cool things to see in Austin, the coolest thing we saw has to be this!