Category Archives: Ramblings

Out with the old trip, in with the new.

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It’s that time of year again. Late May when school is winding down, deadlines are looming, and our summer trip is so close that I can almost smell the freedom in the breeze. At this point I can see plans in our future, the events that will happen after our trip and they don’t seem that far off….I sigh knowing that this trip will soon be a memory, photos on our computer to log and organize, stories to tell of our adventures or mishaps.  The endless cycle of life, moving so fast I just want to grab it and hold it, make it stay put for a moment so that I can realize it. The quickness of time is also obvious in the rapidness of Henna’s growth, as the closure of second grade rests upon me and with the inevitable push to third grade and beyond. 

Henna, whom is my best describer of feelings which most of us cannot put into words, last week, floored me with her take on a simple feeling. Let me further explain.  It had been a long day, and sometimes Henna in her tired state, but with some residual energy left in her, will describe herself as feeling she is “inside” a box, literally.  She then will run around the room, throwing her arms at the invisible constraints that she is feeling.  During these moments the best I can do for her is to distract her, bring down the walls for her by putting her in another place.   And what better way to replace your self but to turn on the TV?  Henna, who is normally not a big fan of TV, enjoys America’s Got Talent.  Whew.  So we sat on our big green chair in search of a distraction.  All was calm and it seemed to work.  Her need to run and push against the walls seemed to have faded away, and I was glad.  During the commercial break, we turned the TV off to avoid being given an urge to buy something we didn’t need and talk. Henna then began to tell me, in a calm and overly wise voice how the walls were gone…..or at least the walls did not bother her anymore.  Of course you gotta question your kid when they say something so profound, or at least to me in that moment it was profound.  “Were the walls still there”, I asked.  “Why don’t they bother you now”, I further questioned.  To which Henna stated, “I found the door.  It’s a big door so I know I can get out.”  Plain and simple mom, just like that.  I ventured on in my questioning about his door.  How come the door was not apparent a few minutes ago?  And can she go out this door to another place that doesn’t hold her in?  And why hasn’t she left the box?  I was fascinated by the clearness she was seeing all of this, and I wanted to know more, as it sounded so thoughtful and inspiring to me.  Henna then replied, again with indignation at my questions, “Mom, I slowed down long enough to find the door.  Everyone is in a box; they just need to find the door.” 

And that’s where it ended, this beautiful moment in which Henna showed me the truth so clearly and lovely. We are all in a box.  The door is there, but we need to stop and find it.  I love it.  I have tried to learn from this lesson she taught me.  How you might wonder?  I am no longer trying to stop time.  No longer am I lamenting as I did at the beginning of this story, about wanting to hold precious events…blah…blah. I am resting within the planning of the trip, enjoying the anticipation of it all and slowing down, inside my “box”.  As I say farewell to last years trip, I am realizing each moment, not looking to the next happening in time, but instead enjoying the one I’m in.  I know where my door is now. 

And just knowing it’s there makes me feel good; thank you Henna.   

Why I Like the Cowboy Junkies

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Neither cowboy nor junkie (I hope), the Cowboy Junkies have been making and delivering music for almost three decades.  I never really knew the band until last night, but I have always loved their name.  Cowboy Junkies.  Are they junkies for cowboys?  I think instead they are junkies for being a cowboy.  Many years ago Corey and I were driving our 1998 2 door Jeep Cherokee north into Nova Scotia with the sky darkening ahead and a sunset out the driver’s side window and I thought of us as cowboys (on a steel horse we ride- apologies to Bon Jovi).   To cowboy, for us, is to put a little art in the wander. After seeing them last night (and writing it up for Splash), I now like them for their music.  They’re good.  Not great, but better than many.  And they are more than capable of haunting every inch of venue with their delightfully gloomy sound.

Before seeing them last night I stumbled unto their website.  A prominent part of their site is their “tour diary” and it felt a lot like this blog in that you could never be quiet sure who was writing what, not everything was flattery, and it talked a lot about being on the road.  They talked up watching hockey in bars and on their tour bus, complained about dressing rooms and a lack of respect given, and were appreciative of being allowed to use washing machines and dryers in Omaha.  In concert last night they sighed at the thought of doing back to back shows (I saw their first gig at 7 and they were on again at 10) and applauded not only the audience, but the good parking at the venue.  The miles beneath their feet were evident in Margo Timmins deliberate pacing on stage as well in the stories she hinted at (which I knew more about after reading their blog but still much less than the whole story).  She also apologized for playing the new stuff first before going deeper into the catalog (“well, we hope to sell more music” is what I think she said).  The band played well, but they looked less than fresh.

And isn’t that what travel is?  The best of the best in travel writing, Paul Theroux, gives us long waits in third world government offices, battles with gout, and the bumps in a long bus ride to a desolate border crossing where he will wait some more.  All of it makes the sunrise over water or the honest conversation with a rickshaw driver more special for being real.  Travel is often nothing more than tedium interrupted by moments of illumination.  I love the Cowboy Junkies (and like their music) because they are honest travelers not above a complaint or two.  Driving across a foreign country (even one as lovely as ours) is tiring.  At the end of a long tour it would suck to do back to back concerts (they played last night, by the way, for almost 2 hours without break leaving them just an hour before the next concert).  I feel the miles on our trips and we do it for fun; them they do it for….   I don’t know.  But they did it (and did it well).  God bless the Cowboy Junkies.

If you want to check out the related article click here:  http://www.chicago-splash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_chicago_entertainment/the-cowboy-junkies.php  Here also is their website complete with Tour Diary:  http://latentrecordings.com/cowboyjunkies/

Happy Easter and Passover to everybody!

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Just wanted everyone to know about the prestigious award nominated to us here at Hennacornoelidays by our friends at http://thisamaceinglife.com/.  http://thisamaceinglife.com/ is a cool blog we follow that details life on the road for a young family who happen to be part of the Wicked  tour (right now they are in Portland, OR, tomorrow who knows).  The star of their traveling circus is Mace, an adorable child who’s not yet one.  The award given to us is the (drum roll please…..)

The Liebster Award is part trophy, part chain letter and is given to blogs with less than two hundred followers with the stipulation that they in turn list their five favorite blogs.  Liebster, by the way, is German for “dearest.”  After almost one full year of blogging, our efforts have finally paid off.  Thank you very much thisaMACEing life for your kind words.

Here are our nominees for the Liebster award:  

http://walkingpapers.wordpress.com/ I (Corey) am always SO excited when I see a new post from walking papers! This blog eloquently chronicles a family living in the L.A. area with stories that touch the heart and always make me feel something with each post. 

http://keitherphoto.wordpress.com/   Where’s Keith?  is a cool blog about Keith’s many interests including photography and rock and roll.  We love the photos and are interested in anyone living on our favorite island (Vancouver Island). 

http://www.munchinwithmunchkin.com/ This blog is both humorous and yummy.  Very doable recipes and photos to boot, make this blog a must follow. 

http://nicfreeman.com/  NicFreeman is whom we want to be; a freelance writer who  travels to exotic places, probably on someone elses dime.  She is also a great photographer and offers great insight into the places she visits.

I (Noel) also wanted to give a shout out to some of my favorite travel books/ writers.  They are: 

Blue Highways and River-Horse by William Least-Heat Moon.  PrairyErth is good, but a little dense for my tastes.  And while I think that Quoz is better than most travel books out there, it was Blue Highways and River-Horse that most inspire me.  For both books, Moon does an incredible job of matching landscape with people.  He also has an amazing ear and talent for bringing stories out of strangers.  Much of his writing is over the same terrain that we travel which makes it fun to compare notes.

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.  Really, I recommend any book or collection of essays written by Mr. Theroux.  Although at times he goes a little to heavy with the literary allusions, his frankness and willingness to travel to places others are not makes him the rock star of travel writing. 

Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.  This Bill, unlike William Least-Heat Moon, is a little hit and miss for me.  I find him to be sometimes too dismissive of regions based on one bad, limited experience (for example, he does not have kind words for Southern Illinois but I am not sure he ever even got out of the car).  But in A Walk in the Woods he is at his most funny, most charming, and most endearing self.  I also recommend his book about traveling around Australia.

Then and Now: Rustic Hideaway, Southern Illinois

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We just completed maybe our 9th visit to the Southern Illinois area and we think 7 of those visits have been at the cabin Rustic Hideaway.  We at Hennacornoelidays travel often, but return seldom.  The places we do return to have special places in our hearts and serve as reference points along the way.  The Burnham Hotel in Chicago is our model of luxury.  Waterton Lake National Park is the standard to judge all National Parks and Rustic Hideaway is our relaxation point.  Below are some pictures taken there both yesterday and over the past week:

I also wrote a review of the cabin and the area for Splash Magazine.  http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Domestic_150/rustic-hideaway-review.php

 

Living the Rock and Roll Dream

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One truth of the road is that the nicer the hotel, the more they nickel and dime you.  Find yourself, say, at the Holiday Inn Express in Ripley, West Virginia (I have found myself there and I have to say there is not much to do in Ripley, West Virginia) and expect free Wifi and a nice continental breakfast in the morning.  Go to the Burnham Hotel in Chicago, as we often do, and you now get Starbucks in the lobby.  But just until 10:30 and no rolls, bagels, or crackers.  The good WiFi will cost you extra and do not expect a mint on your pillow.  This time though they gave us $10 toward the mini bar.  With that voucher, we could have gotten no less than two M and M bags.  Instead we used it toward cocktails ($6 for each mini plastic Beam bottle- we drank it over ice because we did not want to spend $3 for a can of Coke).

One thing I do not get about the Kimpton hotels is the gold fish you can request.  One of our favorite retreats, Rustic Hideaway, used to have a resident gold fish.  Quaint.  And stressful.  “Did we feed it enough?”  Yes we did.  “Did we overfeed it?”  Maybe.  The comment book was filled with fish related fears and concerns.  Every once in awhile a fish died and the guests felt horrible.  By the way, that is exactly what we are looking for in our family vacations.  “Daddy, where do fish go when they die?”  Red Lobster.

At the Kimpton hotels, the fish is at least voluntary.  Which leads me to wonder, are business men   really so lonely that they need a surrogate pet.  I always thought that that is what hookers are for.  Maybe the pet care should not be voluntary?  Maybe part of the Kimpton experience should be that you, the visitor, are responsible for a pet of management’s choosing.  I see dogs, cats, boa constrictors, kangaroos (for their Australian properties) and Moose (Canadian properties) all in storage waiting for the lucky guest to arrive. 

The reason for my stay in downtown Chicago (I live on the northwest side of the same city) was to help me better cover the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival (CBB).  Another good reason is that hotels in Chicago are pretty reasonable in January.   One quick note about the festival; I have seen my share of bluegrass and I have to tell you that bluegrass festival in Kentucky (or anywhere else where the music is played) means something different than it does in Chicago.  For example, in Wyoming, where we once stumbled onto such a festival, it meant homemade quilts sold on the side and large, homeschooled families who do not care much for that Darwin fellow.  The only bluegrass I saw at the festival was being smoked in the bathroom. 

I have only been writing articles for Splash for a short time.  However, I can already tell how organized a place is by the press kit.  My favorite so far was what the Black Ensemble Theater put together.  It was on a flash drive.  They let me keep it.  I was happy.  At the CBB, I was emailed two photos prior to the date.  At the concert, there was a crudely put together sheet listing who was playing and when.  They would not let me have there only copy.  After some negotiating, they gave me an envelope and a pen so that I could scribble down some notes (I’m not always so organized myself; I forget a pen and the little notebook that I carry).  Later my wife had the idea to photograph the list and that is what we used the rest of the night as we texted each other notes. 

The music by the way was very cool.  And loud.  Very loud.  It also went on altogether too late and we left before the headline act got on stage.  And if that is not living like a rock star I do not know what is.

Note:  The link below will take you to my review of the CBB festival: http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Music_107/chicago-bluegrass-and-blues-festival-review.php

Where exactly is the Sir line?

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Recently while crossing the Mason Dixon line en route to D.C. a thought occurred to me; where exactly do the Sirs start?  No one called me Sir in Ohio and I did not get any Sirs in D.C. or the Baltimore area either.  But D.C. is a strange place, one where the man working the cashier may have been a former lobbyist from Cleveland.  No one there is ever from there.  Tourists too come from all over the world just to marvel at the beautiful landmarks housing dysfunctional politicians.  It seems that in our capital there is no general agreement for anything, let alone speech patterns.

I did not hear any Sirs either in Williamsburg, but again Williamsburg is a home for the displaced (retirees, wine makers, colonial reenactors, and brainy college students).  Heading a little north and west I began to hear plenty of Sirs.  The thing about hearing Sir is you begin to think you should Sir too.  There is an art to this.  You do not want to over Sir anyone (“Yes Sir, Sir, we might want to go there, Sir”).  But you do not want to under Sir someone either.  I mean, if the elder person next to you calls you Sir, you should definitely Sir him back.  I tried my best to Sir accordingly, but right when I started to get the hang of it we went to West Virginia and the Sirs stopped as quickly as they had begun.

Take that Yahoo Page

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Recently my Yahoo page offered one of their endless fluff photo essays (which I always waste a few minutes on) on the prettiest colleges in the U.S.  In what I was sure was an oversight, my alma mater, Ohio University, was not listed.  It just so happened that I took a recent road trip through beautiful Athens, Ohio and was pleasantly surprised at how well it aesthetically stood out even when compared to the University of VA (which I had just visited a few days prior and did make that stupid Yahoo list) as well as William and Mary (which I also had just visited).  Thomas Jefferson did not design OU (like he did with UVA), but OU is old in American terms (early 1800s) and is the tenth oldest US public university as well as the oldest college in the Northwest territories.  Although I attended OU for four great years, I had never approach the campus from W. Va which added to the charm.  Route 33, heading north-west from Ripley W. Va, snakes beautifully through the low hills and wide valleys of Ohio and W. Va.  Unfortunately the road loses some charm after Athens on its way to Columbus.  Take a gander at these photos and tell me if Yahoo missed the boat.

Our New Mini Trip

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Greetings from Somerset, PA.  What am I doing in Somerset?  Just passing through on my way to Baltimore to marry off two young kids.  Really.  My cousin Chad and soon to be cousin Amy flattered me a few months ago by asking me if I would officiate at their wedding.  Very very excited to do just that in two days in Baltimore. 

Our last summer trip also began with a wedding.  Five weeks after that wedding  we returned home from Cincinatti.  We took the long way home to Chicago (all the way past Toffino, BC).  Now we have to balance school and plan on being home in just a few days.  Hopefully we will get a chance to see some of the museums we missed last time we were in D.C.  And tomorrow we hope to take a small detour to the 9-11 memorial that is nearby(Somerset is the county where the heroes on 9-11 made a stand against the terrorists).

Quick thoughts on the Ohio and PA Turnpike:  They sure like to pay tolls on the East Coast.  My I-Pass sort of worked meaning that each time I approached a gate I had to cross my fingers that it would work.  Twice I had to hit the help button in order to tell the attendant the pay code on my pass so that they could remotely open the gate.  There is a national park just south of Cleveland near Akron (Cuyahoga Valley N.P.)   Is this new?  I visited Cleveland several time in my years of being a Bobcat (O.U.) and do not remember such a park.  Are there campgrounds there?  The views from the PA turnpike were really stunning- lots of hills and trees.  But unfortuantly Somerset smells.  Really bad.  Like a steel plant and a dump got together and made a stinker.

We will post some more from this mini trip and will hopefully have some pictures to share.

Start of Something Big

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We made it back to Chicago in time to catch the last few hours of July.  After thirty eight days of driving in straight, zig-zag, curvy, and circular lines, it was finally time to rest.  We did not feel as tired as you might expect.  Henna was homesick toward the end and I was feeling the monotony of traveling every day (I always prefer to spend multiple days in one spot, but how many days could we really spend in Albert Lea, MN).  Corey’s mantra the last few days, which I am sure has been influenced by the high humidity, has been “why do we live in Chicago?”  But home is home and is made much nicer by the people we live near.  This summer those neighbors have been especially awesome.  The Pederson’s took over cat sitting duty when needed and also were a true friend to the felines.  The Longos’ as well as neighbors Alex and Chad also assisted with the cats and kept a good eye on our house.  And the Davis’ were able to keep one of two hermit crabs alive.  Janice, of course, made us feel at home when we were so far from our actual home.   Sam, Henna’s babysitter, expanded her job description and came to our house every day in order to feed and play with the cats.  It is important to have good people in your life.  It makes coming home worth it.

We also looked for changes in our neighborhood and found a few worth mentioning.  The tree stump remained (the rest of the tree had crashed on my neighbors van as well as my fence), but my neighbors van had been repaired.  I am also very excited to report that there is a new hot dog stand a short walk from my house.  Other changes are more subtle.  I feel great and have lost about seven pounds.  I also feel fit (walking several miles a day will do that) and very confident.  So confident, in fact, that I have worn my cowboy hat around town.  Corey reports that her legs are strong and Henna is just happy to be home.

Most travel articles or travel books have a “if you go” section, usually placed at the end of the text.  We have done the same, but decided to focus a little on cost.  It is impossible for us to determine exactly how much our trip cost us for the simple reason that in any given five weeks we go out to restaurants, buy groceries, see movies, maybe go to a museum, etc.  There are of course some specific purchases that we probably would not have made if we had stayed at home the past five weeks (whale tours are few and far between in Chicago, although the Shed would have been a lot cheaper).  But here are some the costs specific to our trip:

Gas:  We drove about 7500 miles and averaged close to 25 MPG (our car, a 2010 6 cylinder records this information).  At $4/ gallon (I think we actually averaged less than that but it is hard to figure, especially when trying to convert liters to gallons) we spent approximately $1,260 on gas. 

Hotels:  We spent 7 nights at hotels.  Every province and state, regardless of whether they have a sales tax or not (Oregon, Minnesota, and Montana do not) have a pretty hefty hotel tax.  After that tax we spent approximately $125 a night at various hotels.  This comes to $875 spent at hotels.  By the way, I am much pickier and more likely to complain at hotels and this once led to a $25 discount due to a loud AC issue.

Camping:  A blackjack worth of camping (21 nights).  Money spent ranged from $12 to $40 (that included a reservation fee).  KOAs, not surprisingly, were more expensive but also offered a lot more services; pools, showers, hot tubs (once), etc.  Canadian parks were also more expensive.  Total approximate cost for tent camping:  $470.  Of course there are also a lot of start up costs for tenting (the tent, sleeping bags, etc).

KOA Cabins:  My favorite hotel alternative.  You get a roof, but no linens and you have to share a bathroom with RVers, tenters, and fellow cabiners.  The four nights spent at a cabin ranged from $90 (outside Victoria) to $40 (Corvalis, OR).  Assume that local hotels are always twice the price of a KOA cabin.  Total cost was about $270.

This is the end of our lucky 13th 2011 trip, but not an end to this blog.  Over the next few days we will post some of our favorite photos from the trip.  We also plan on describing some of our favorite two to three day adventures leaving from Chicago (this is meant to serve as an idea section for you at home).  Next to planning our own trips, our next favorite activity is helping others do the same.  On a hike this past fall we designed and envisioned a future online business in which we would do just that.  Plan mini or long vacations for folks; supply them with information about traveling to places we’ve been etc.  This blog was started as the beginning of that far off future endeavor.   We may never get there, but it’s good to dream big.  Therefore please, if you are looking for ideas or want a little guidance, ask us via the comments.  You never know, this may be the start of something big.

To all the roads I have loved before

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The tilt is in full swing and I am writing you from Albert Lea, MN which is about 120 miles west of Lacrosse, WI.  I should be home tomorrow late afternoon/ early evening.  The heat and humidity plus our desire to get home by tomorrow contributed to us passing on such gems as the tractor museum and the South Dakota Hall of Fame.  We did spend about an hour or so today at Wall Drug.  Wall Drug is a place famous for being famous, but we like it plenty.  In case you have never been there, it has dinosaurs, robot cowboy singers, and shooting arcades.  It also boasts 5 cent coffee and free ice water.  The founder of Wall Drug strung signs along highway 16 advertising free ice water in the 1930s and this snowballed into a large mall with a cowboy bent.  A couple of years ago Corey purchased cowboy boots there that she has yet to wear.  This time we had breakfast and bought some souvenirs.  About an hour later we crossed the Missouri and decided not to stop at the rest stop/ small museum there.  It was 13 years ago that Corey and I did stop to make time by the Missouri River.  It was the beginning of one of our first true adventures and we met our first of many road friends.  David and Ethel were in their late 70s/ early 80s and agreed to take our picture overlooking the river (this picture is now framed in our bedroom).  We talked awhile and they told us that if we were still talking to each other at the end of the trip then we were meant to be.  We haven’t shut up since. 

A couple of hours past the river we crossed I29.  Corey was driving, Henna was listening to a story, and I was entertaining myself with our road atlas.  I was intrigued by the perpendicular interstate and saw that it journeyed south from Sioux Falls, SD to Sioux City, IA then down to Omaha and later Kansas City.  Travelling north one would go past Grand Forks, ND and then, by route, Winnipeg.  I was transported at that moment to earlier in our trip when we did just that.  If you remember, we took route 2 to Grand Forks and then, due to flooding in North Dakota, drove past lumbering cattle trucks into ranch land and gas stations that you could neither pay at the pump or pay before you pumped.  For a fleeting moment I felt that same freedom I experienced four weeks past.  I thought then of all the routes and highways I have been on.  There was one time when, just outside of Bend, Oregon my three-year old atlas did not anticipate a route (97) becoming a divided highway.  The sudden and unexpected terror of being on something that should not exist cannot be overstated.  Most times though the routes did not disappoint in what they offered; sights, interesting people, and a chance for adventure at every turn.  We made time on the interstates and had fun on the routes. 

Over the next week or so we will edit photos (my camera’s memory card is stuffed at a little over 1,500 photos) and try to digest this trip.  I look forward to the process as it keeps the trip alive for just a little longer.  Over the next year we will stare at maps trying to see the grand pattern, the route that speaks most to our heart.  We have several ideas for next year, but for now are leaning toward Newfoundland.  I hope you check in with us often as we will continue to post for as long as we feel the pull of the road.

Note:  Both photos taken Summer, 2009