April 8, 2014

April 8, 2014

We are served our Japanese breakfast in the public eating area of the ryokan. Aimee initially groans but we are both pleasantly surprised at the selection of foods. It is less fishy and more palatable for western stomachs. We are quite pleased. One dish was a local specialty, miso paste and onions cooked on a magnolia leaf. Tasty!

Takayama is a cute town in the Japanese Alps that still has more traditional wooden buildings than are normally found in today’s modern Japan. We start out at the morning market perusing the handmade goods, and local foods. We toured Yoshijima, the preserved house of a Sake brewer from the early 1900s. It is a large open house with many rooms, all empty and lined with tatami mats. A Japanese room is multi-functional changing with the furniture moved into it. The house is cold walking thru it without shoes.

We stroll the area stopping in many small stores including several Sake breweries, all distinguished by a large cedar ball hanging over the doorway. We taste the different varieties and then buy a larger portion of sake that is served in a traditional square wooden cup filled to the brim. Aimee doesn’t like the wooden cup as she finds the wood aroma interferes with the taste of the sake. She has become a sake connoisseur now. We buy a bottle of sake packaged in a miniature version of the brightly painted barrel.

Takayama used to be a regional government center. We toured the restored administrative buildings, but it was mostly uninteresting. In Shogun times, tax was paid in the form of rice. Apparently the amount of rice paid was so high that the local farmers starved and rioted on several occasions.

Aimee and I shared a tempura lunch and then went back to the ryokan to rest. We finish the day with another soak in the ryokan thermal bath.

For dinner we were served another kaiseki-style meal. Like the breakfast, we enjoyed this dinner much better. Besides a better variety, the ryokan also gave us a listing of what we were being served in English. That took a lot of the mystery out of the food. One of the items was Hida beef. Like its more famous Kobe cousin, this meat is intensely marbled, shaved thin, and very expensive. When cooked, it almost melts in your mouth.

After dinner we walked down the street to a pachinko parlor. Somehow my father acquired one of these Japanese pinball machines when I was a kid so I am familiar with it. What we didn’t expect on entering was the blast of loud music. It is too overwhelming and we quickly exit after only a few minutes.

April 7, 2014

April 7, 2014

We woke early today. Right away, Aimee tells me she wants take a soak again. And she was the one who was so against nude public bathing. I guess she is going native.

We had breakfast served to us in our room. I guess I was expecting something simple. Instead it was like last night, elaborate courses of many small items, most of which we would normally not eat, especially in the morning. I am beginning to realize why Japanese restaurants are not common in the US. Of course we had fish, raw and cooked, but also soft-boiled egg, miso soup, meat on a stick, fruit roll, pickled veggies, tofu, rice, and tea. Aimee ate the rice. Again there were items we couldn’t quite identify. I was eating some white dish that looked a little like wet rice. I made the comment to Aimee to try it because it had no taste. She took a long look at it and she said the rice had eyes. I told her that was probably pepper but upon closer examination, the rice turned out to be tiny infant sardines.

After checking out, we were happy to see no clouds in the sky. That is so important for today’s exploration of the nearby National Park. From Hakone we take a forty minute train ride to the mountain town of Gora less than five miles away. The train isn’t slow, we just gained elevation the hard way. Three times the train switch-backed uphill by reversing direction and heading up a different track. At Gora we loaded onto a funicular train to go higher yet again. We are still not at the top so we take a cable car up over the ridge of Mt Hakone. As we crested, we were blessed with a glorious view of snow-capped Mt Fuji. What a beautiful mountain, probably the most perfect on earth. We were in the cable car with a group of young Korean girls who screamed when they saw it.

If I needed reminding that Fuji not only looks like, but is an active volcano, all I had to do was turn around. I am standing on the edge of Owakudani, the smoking crater of Mt. Hakone. There are dozens of sulfur-smelling steam vents below me. I hope I can get out of Japan before one of them blows again.

Instead of returning the way we came, we take a cable car downhill to Lake Ashi. There we board a replica pirate ship for a cruise to the other end of this crater lake. After we disembark we walk to the Hakone Checkpoint. In feudal times, the ruling Shogun (military dictator) would ensure peace with the other Daimyos (Samurai lords) by making them reside part of the time with him in Edo (Tokyo). When they went home they had to leave their wife and eldest son in Edo as hostages. The Tokaido road connecting Edo with Kyoto climbed this narrow Hakone Pass. A checkpoint was setup here to make sure that no wives were smuggled home. The wooden structures of the Checkpoint were rebuilt to show what it looked like. Afterwards we walked a stretch of the Tokaido road thru a grove of massive old cedar trees.

Finished we take a bus back to Hakone. We stroll the town and then have Tempura and Sake (rice wine) for lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant. Our next destination is the Japanese Alps. To get there we take two local trains, then a bullet train (past another view of Fuji) to Nagoya, and then a long express train north, arriving in Takayama just before dark. This last leg up the granite gorge of the Hida River was beautiful. I would think I was in the American West except for the cherry trees and bamboo forest lining the tracks. And of course the many houses. We arrived 40 minutes late. Shocking! So far the trains in Japan have been extraordinary. Normally you can set your watch by their departure and arrival times.

We are staying at another ryokan tonight. Since Aimee is the big soaker now, we take a bath before retiring. The onsen at this ryokan is tinier and doesn’t have the scenic view of the previous one.

April 6, 2014

April 6, 2014

We checked out of our Tokyo Hotel and had our bags sent ahead to another hotel. This is a nice service in Japan. It doesn’t cost much and lets us navigate the trains and sites carrying only a small backpack.

We take the train 35 miles south to Kamakura. This coastal valley was the seat of the first Shogun after he seized power from the Emperor in 1185. It contains lots of historic and cultural sites. Because of this it was spared from bombing during WWII. Our first stop is at Kotoku-in Buddhist temple. This place is renowned for its Great Buddha. This 40-foot tall bronze statue is almost 1000 years old and big enough to climb inside. The hall that used to house it was washed away by tsunami several times, so now it sits outside.

Down the street is the Hase-dera Buddhist temple. Built on a hillside overlooking the ocean, it has beautiful gardens. It is famous for its thirty-foot wooden statue of Kannon, a Buddhist goddess.

From the Kamakura train station we walked up the main street to the Tsurugaoki Hachiman-gu shrine. Dedicated to a legendary emperor and guardian spirit of the Samurai, the shrine sits on a hillside at the end of a long promenade.

Shinto is the ancient religion of Japan where people venerate “kami”, the divine spirits of nature and ancestors. Fifteen hundred years ago, Buddhism and Chinese culture was introduced to Japan. The two religions became melded. Today the Japanese typically think of Shinto as governing everyday life and Buddhism, the afterworld. Thus, they get married at a shrine and buried at a temple.

And we saw several weddings today. They were held in a large gazebo-like structure on the promenade. Just as we have elaborate wedding dresses and tuxedos, the Japanese bridal party was decked out in fancy kimonos and sandals. The music was a traditional drum, three-stringed banjo, and wooden flute.

After a little window-shopping down the main street, we had a pizza lunch with a bottle of Kamakura dark beer.

After lunch we took the train thirty miles down the coast to Odawara. Around the corner from the station high on a hill is a Castle. Odawara was a typical castle town during Japan’s feudal era when local Daimyos (like an English lord) ruled the countryside and warfare was common. The castle looks and functions like a European one except the top of the central keep is wooden with distinctive Oriental architecture. The castle is reconstructed because all castles were torn down with the Meiji Restoration and the overturning of feudalism. Inside is now a museum of artifacts, including Samurai armor and swords.

From Odawara we took a train up into the hills to the nearby resort town of Hakone. It sits in a steep river valley. We are spending the night at a ryokan. This is a type of traditional Japanese inn that used to serve travelers. After checking in, we are escorted to our room by a kimono-clad lady to a nearly empty tatami-matted room with sliding doors. After removing our shoes, she serves us green tea on a very short table.

Since Japan sits on volcanic land, hot springs abound and public bathing is a tradition. So we partake before dinner. Aimee and I put on our Yukatas and head to the “onsen”. There I find several Japanese sitting on little overturned tubs scrubbing themselves down. Only then do they enter the hot tub. It is a nice relaxing soak in very hot water with a great view of the river below. It would be awesome if only there were a few naked geishas with me. Alas separation of the sexes was a Western practice the Japanese adopted after WWII.

At six our room hostess returns with our Kaiseki dinner. It consists of many small beautifully displayed courses. I thought it was great. Aimee didn’t appreciate it. To her everything tastes like fish, raw fish. Duh, it is raw fish, mostly. We had sushi, cooked fish, a pot of boiled fish, and tempura fish. Along with it were tofu, rice, soba noodles (again), pickles, and lots of things we couldn’t identify. Aimee for the most part only ate the rice. For desert we had a small pastry filled with sweetened bean paste.

There is no bed in the room. After dinner a man comes in and sets up a futon on the floor. It is comfortable but the big comforter is way too hot. In the middle of the night, I find and turn down the thermostat.

April 5, 2014

April 5, 2014

Today we are traveling ninety miles north of Tokyo to explore the World Heritage sites of Nikko. We meet a local guide, Ogi, at our hotel and catch the Shinkansen bullet train for the first leg. At 120 mph the scenery whips by. What a great way to travel. The second leg is a local train that lasts as long but travels a fraction of the distance. This second train climbs into snow-capped mountains. Uh-oh, I am pretty sure we are not dressed properly with just a shirt and raincoat. It is cold, especially in the shadows.

Our first stop in Nikko is a dive restaurant for an early lunch. Noodles, again. Good but just like yesterday. We have had our fill of Japanese noodles. We had a giant slice of tofu for appetizer. Dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, it was tasty.

After lunch we cross the Daiya River and hike up the hill toward the shrine complex. We pass by the Rinno-ji Temple that is completely covered in a tarp for renovation. Past the temple is the Tosho-gu Shrine dedicated to Shogun Tokugawa. Up a hill is his actual gravesite. All the buildings are of medieval Japanese architecture; they are very ornate and covered in gold leaf. The shrine complex is built into a beautiful mountainside filled with huge cedar trees. A side building has a series of eight carved reliefs with monkeys meant to teach certain morals to children. One is of the famous three monkeys depicting “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

We finish our tour of Nikko at Taiyuinbyo, the mausoleum of Tokugawa’s grandson, who built the shrine to his grandfather. Our female guide today was delightful. She drew us pictures, and gave us little gifts and treats. She kept calling me a Ninja because I walked so fast!

Unfortunately I woke this morning with a slight sore throat. Back in Tokyo we stop in a 7-11 and buy some salt. Sometimes gargling with salt water can prevent the onset of a real illness. I am sure being underdressed today for the cold isn’t going to help!

April 4, 2014

April 4, 2014

Our internal clocks are still off, so we are up before dawn, and the first ones at breakfast. Afterwards we take a commuter train clockwise around Tokyo getting off at Yoyogi park. It is all pretty easy as Japanese trains are very modern with electronic signboards that alternate between Japanese and English.

We are here to visit the Meiji Shrine. We enter the park under an enormous wooden torii. The shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji. He was the one in Tom Cruise’s movie “The Last Samurai” who wrested power from the ruling Shogun and samurais overturning the feudal order and restoring imperial rule in 1868. This change was precipitated when American Commodore Perry and his “black ships” sailed into Japanese waters forcing the country to open up. Humiliated and made painfully aware of their backwardness, Japan embarked on rapid reform and modernization under Meiji.

We are starting to see the sun peek out so we head to Ueno Park to enjoy the cherry blossoms. This is festival time or “hanami” for the Japanese. Many of the cherry trees have tarps under them with locals feasting and drinking their favorite beverage. We are in awe as we walk through the park along cherry blossom-lined paths. I could take wonderful photos but all of Tokyo seems to be doing likewise.

Aimee is getting hungry so on the way to our next destination, we stop in the Akihabara ward for lunch. Our guide yesterday recommended soba (buckwheat) noodles. We easily found a diner that served a bowl of these noodles topped with tempura. We have seen many people enjoying this meal, but both of us are left bewildered. We are eating a bowl of wet spaghetti noodles with chopsticks! And flavor; there wasn’t any!

On to Tokyo Station in the heart of downtown, we walk west toward the Imperial Palace. The grounds are immense, more than a square mile. It is surrounded by a wide moat and walls made of large stone blocks. We pass through a gate to find yet another moat and yet another wall. In feudal times this fortress must have been impregnable. We can see part of the present palace atop a hill in the distance. Since the current emperor lives here it is not open to the public. Only the east garden is open. In the middle of the garden is the hill and foundation of the original Edo castle. A few watchtowers are all that remain.

Edo is the original name for this city. It was established by Shogun Tokugawa (of James Clavell's Shogun fame) who reunited all of Japan. After the Meiji Restoration, the emperor moved the capital here from Kyoto and built a new palace atop Edo Castle. Edo was renamed To-Kyo (Eastern Capital).

After wearing out our feet today, we leave the palace grounds by the northern gate and visit the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to those who died fighting for Japan before heading back to our hotel exhausted.

April 3, 2014

April 3, 2014

Despite our best efforts at getting some rest on the plane, we wake in the middle of the night. Oh well, it gives us a chance to check up on our email.

We head for the restaurant buffet as soon as it opens. We fill ourselves up with American food and then give the Japanese breakfast a try. The Japanese usually have Miso soup and a piece of dried fish. It is very good, especially the soup, but I am not sure I would want to eat it every morning.

Since it is still early we walk to a small park hidden between some nearby high-rise buildings. The park is loaded with cherry trees and is simply gorgeous. The trees look like they are full of fresh pinkish snow. Japanese gardens are pretty but with the cherry trees abloom they are spectacular. If only the skies would clear and drive away this spitting rain.

Since this is our first day in a foreign land, we have a local guide to help us get acclimated to Japanese travel. Tokyo transportation is superb with lots of English but the rush hour throngs would have made our lone efforts much harder.

Our first stop is the Tsukiji Wholesale market. The Japanese are voracious fish eaters consuming four times what the rest of the world does. And Tsukiji is where much of it is sold. To see the famous auctioning of huge tuna, we would have had to get here before dawn. Instead we come later, when the sold fish are being sawn into smaller sizes. We dodge dozens of forklifts while working our way past hundreds of stalls selling every imaginable type of seafood. Much of it still alive…. and trying to crawl away!

Our next stop is Roppongi hills, an upscale area, where we ride to the 52nd floor observation deck of Mori tower for an eagle's view of Tokyo. Unfortunately it is very overcast and we can't see far. Most of the buildings are not skyscrapers, surprising for one of the largest cities on the planet. I guess with all the earthquakes Japan gets, I would be leery of tall buildings too.

Our next stop is the Ginza district where we stop at Tokyo's main Kabuki theater. It is Oriental ornate with a stack of colorful Sake barrels in front. For lunch we have a traditional meal of Kushiage; deep-fried skewers of meat and vegetables. It is served with cabbage, pickled vegetables, and Miso soup. At the fish market I learned Miso soup is made with fish powder. Somehow it doesn't taste as good now. After lunch we walk thru the food section of a Ginza department store. It is all expensive, and elaborately displayed.

Unfortunately as the day progress, the rain gets heavier. It must rain here a lot as everyone has a large umbrella and many stores have plastic covers for the rain gear.

Our feet are getting tired so we taxi to the Sumida River for a cruise. It is unexciting and hard to see with the rain-spotted windows. At least we are out of the rain for a while. Aimee and I grimace as we watch Japanese families snacking on dried fish.

We disembark in Asakusa. This old entertainment district has Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple (Senso-ji). To see it we first have to make our way down a gauntlet of food vendors and umbrella-wielding tourists. Others tempt us with a ride in a modern rickshaw.

At the temple our guide gives us a little intro to the Buddhist and Shinto religions. The Buddhists have monks and temples with tower gates, bells, and pagodas. Shinto has priests and shrines with Torii gates. He shows us how the faithful first purify themselves with a ritual washing of hands and mouth. They then light an incense stick for healing part of the body, get their fortune told and buy a good-luck charm. When it is time to say a prayer, they bow, clap twice to get the gods attention, and then bow again. It all seems very commercial and pagan, but I bet Christianity must seem that way to outsiders.

We finally take leave of our guide and head back to our hotel, comfortable that we can make our way around Tokyo by ourselves. We have a dinner of Chinese pot stickers at a dive around the corner. Tasty!

April 2, 2014

April 2, 2014

As we fly west we cross over the International Date Line and lose a day. Aimee and I keep ourselves amused watching three movies and trying to readjust our body clocks.

One of the reasons we picked this time of year to come to Japan is for the Cherry Blossoms. Our original plan was to go see our Capitol’s blossoms, but with the severe winter they are having, who knows when spring will arrive. It turns out those Washington DC cherry trees were gifts from Japan in 1910 and 1965. As we land in Japan, I can already see cherry blooms lining the airport runway. I think our timing is good.

After going through customs, we are met by a greeting service representative, who provides us miscellaneous travel tickets, and gets us on the right bus to our accommodation. I am happy to find our Tokyo hotel room has a great view of Tokyo Tower, a modern twin of the Eiffel Tower of Paris. Every night it is lit up differently. To immerse myself in this new culture, I try on the hotel-provided Yukata summer kimono and drink a Japanese beer purchased in the hallway vending machine. I feel like a modern Shogun (military dictator of Medieval Japan).

April 1, 2014

April 1, 2014

We are up way before dawn to catch our 5am flight to Los Angeles. After a long layover at LAX, we board the ten-hour flight to Japan. Japan is on my bucket list but I know very few people who have traveled there for pleasure. Mostly because I think Americans know so little about the country. Japan had a long period of isolation from the outside world and that attitude still seems to pervade the country. Japan does little to promote tourism to Americans. Add in the inscrutable Oriental writing system and we are in the dark. Our goal is to shine some light on the country. I have some lingering trepidation because we signed up for an independent tour. A travel agent provided the itinerary and made our hotel accommodations. But after that we are on our own in making our way around the country.

Even though the plane ride is the part of travel I don't look forward to, I am happy to find we are boarding one of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. This is the new graphite composite plane. Besides being much more fuel-efficient, it has larger passenger windows (oddly blue tinted) and more comfortable cabin pressure. My summer intern job with McDonnell Douglas 35 years ago was involved with gluing carbon components together for fighter jets. I can’t believe it took this long for the technology to make it to commercial aviation.

March 10, 2014

March 10, 2014

After running into Stephen Douglas’ tomb in Chicago, I was thinking that it has been too long since our last visit to Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. So on our way back to Chicago we made a quick stop.

We first catch most of the park film. It is very good at laying the groundwork for Lincoln’s presidential run. In 1854, Stephen Douglas sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed new states to self-determine slavery. Fearing this would allow slavery to expand into the North, the new Republican Party was formed and Lincoln made a run at Douglas’ Senate seat. During the campaign Lincoln and Douglas held a series of seven famous debates, the last in my birth town of Alton. Interestingly, at that time, US Senators were not elected by the people, but by the state legislature. The Republican Party won the popular vote, but the Democrats won more seats. Douglas retained his seat but Lincoln gained nationwide attention.

The ranger tour was interesting even the second time. The house is filled with period furniture but only a few of Lincoln’s. Mary Lincoln lived in Chicago after his assassination and lost much of their furniture in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

March 6, 2014

March 6, 2014

Aimee and I are getting tired of the cold, so we pack the car up and head towards my parents’ home in Southern Illinois. We make a brief stop at the Limestone rest area where I read a blurb about the vast coal deposits in Illinois. That is prophetic, because just south of Springfield we make a detour to the little town of Virden. In the main square is a monument to the Battle of Virden. On a large granite wall is a beautifully detailed relief sculpture of the once-famous event. Somebody spent a lot of time creating it. Disappointingly there is almost no verbage explaining what happened. Fortunately I read up on the story before I came. In 1898, mine owners brought a group of southern blacks here to replace striking coal miners. When the Chicago & Alton train arrived, armed union miners surrounded the train and got in a gun battle with the security force. Seven were killed and many wounded. The train was driven off, the mine owner was forced to unionize, and the town of Virden became “sundown” (off-limits to blacks after sunset).

The dead miners were buried forty miles south in Mt. Olive’s Union Miner cemetery. Buried with them under a memorial is “Mother Jones”. Mary Harris Jones lost her entire family to yellow fever and her sewing business in the Great Chicago Fire. Somehow she resurrected herself as “the miner's angel” leading the unionization of mineworkers nationwide. When she died she requested to be buried here “with her boys”. Apparently she was enough of a liberal hell-raiser that a socialist magazine was named after her.

March 4, 2014

March 4, 2014

We are in the Chicago area and it is not snowing today. Yeah! With the winter they are having, that is cause for smiles. Throw in that it is also Chicago’s birthday (177th) and we have to celebrate. Instead of toasting next to the furnace, we go out to explore. I thought learning about Chicago’s left-leaning history would be enlightening.

Three of our stops today concern the May 1886 Haymarket Affair. Alternatively called a Riot or Massacre depending on your viewpoint, it started as a labor rally for the eight-hour working day. When police moved in to disperse the crowd, one of the protesters threw a dynamite bomb at the police line killing seven and wounding scores. Police fired in response. In subsequent trials eight radical protesters were convicted of conspiracy; four were hanged. Haymarket would be forever remembered every year on May Day, now International Worker’s Day.

We stop first at a snowy German cemetery where a memorial was built above the graves of the four hanged. Many other activists are buried nearby. Our second stop is a memorial to the police killed. It currently sits inside the grounds of the police academy. It was moved there because of repeated damage by labor radicals. Once it was run over by a streetcar operator who said he was sick of seeing that cop with his arm raised. The last memorial we visit is a 2004 creation designating the original Haymarket location.

What I found most troubling about American Labor history is the level of violence, on both sides. The number of shootings and bombings is more reminiscent of the Middle East than my own country. The labor movement during this time included a radical faction of socialists, communists and anarchists (mostly German immigrants) who believed the capitalist system should be dismantled because it exploited workers.

Much of this strife was caused by industrialization, amplified by massive immigration. Labor rapidly became low-priced, low skilled, and easily replaced. This produced unprecedented social unrest. Our next stop was a about a more peaceful response to the crisis.

Just west of the Chicago Loop is Hull House. Jane Addams, seeing the urban poverty and suffering, founded a settlement house here in 1889. The initial purpose was to teach middle class values to the poor, with art and literature classes. It evolved to providing social services, like child nurseries, that would help immigrants assimilate into US society. Hull House championed child labor laws and workplace safety. Jane Addams became a pacificist earning her both a Nobel Peace prize and the moniker “the most dangerous woman in America”. The Hull House complex was razed in the 1960’s to make room for the University of Illinois-Chicago. Two Hull buildings were preserved for a museum.

Our last stop was accidental but made me think about all the monuments that dot the city.  On the near south side just off Lake Shore Drive sits a huge monument, the Stephen Douglas State Historic Site.  Douglas was an Illinois senator and presidential candidate.  He is now known only for debating Abraham Lincoln.  When he died during the Civil War, his supporters built an impressive tomb on his Chicago property.  Unfortunately it now sits in a depressed neighborhood with few people aware of its existence.  This costly memorial makes me think of the innumerous monuments that have been built over time, the vast majority of which are forgotten to history or hidden away in cemeteries.  Does that mean we should stop building them or do we need to do a better job remembering our history?

February 28, 2014

February 28, 2014

I read about several Indian ruins in Phoenix so we thought we would explore them today. Our first stop was Mesa Grande Cultural Park. Here in the middle of a residential neighborhood sits a football-sized raised platform of the ancient Hohokam Indians.

We walked around the heavily eroded platform mound reading the many storyboards. Archeologists don’t know whether the platform was the site of a temple or the residence of the local chieftain. Although they lived here for a millennia, the Hohokam suddenly abandoned their homes around the year 1500.

From Mesa Grande we drove a few miles away to Park of the Canals. There we had a picnic lunch Aimee made. Afterwards we walked to see an old canal that the Hohokam used to irrigate the land. In their day, the Salt River used to flow year round and they built a thousand miles of canals to water this Valley of the Sun. And they were all hand dug with stone tools! After trying to dig a few holes in my very rocky Tucson yard, I am impressed. I am not the only one. The American Society of Civil Engineers awarded the Hohokam an award for excellence in prehistoric engineering (obviously posthumously).

The Hohokam thrived by turning the desert into an oasis. When settlers arrived after the Civil War, they cleaned the canals out and reused them to grow cotton. They knew they were building atop an old civilization so they named their town Phoenix, after the mythological bird that arose from ashes of its predecessor.

From Mesa we drove to Pueblo Grande near the Phoenix airport. It is similar to Mesa Grande except with a Movie, a nice museum and nicer walking path. Seeing all the pottery, basket, and loom artifacts on display, Aimee thinks she would have enjoyed living as a Hohokam squaw. She loves crafts. I have to remind her that she wouldn’t be able to buy supplies at the local Indian craft store, she would have to gather and make them.

Since it is still early we drive through the nearby Papago Park. In this large desert park (formerly Papago Saguaro National Monument) sits the municipal zoo and botanical garden. Also is a geological oddity, a rock window atop a small rock hill. We climb up to the top of Hole-in-the-Rock that was used for astronomical observations by the Hohokam.

Having enjoyed the awesome weather one last time, we park at the airport, change into long pants, retrieve our parkas and walk to our flight back to the chilly Midwest. Aimee and I look at each other and wonder why we are leaving.

February 23, 2014

February 23, 2014

I bought a Groupon coupon for half price tickets to the Amerind Foundation Museum three months ago. It expires in the next few days so we make the hour plus trek east of Tucson to Dragoon, AZ. I am not really into American Indian history so this place was never high on my list of must-sees, though it often gets rave reviews. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the museum is in the beautiful setting of Texas Canyon, a geologic oddity in the desert. The area looks like a giant emptied his bag of massive granite boulders here.

The Amerind Museum was established by a Connecticut resident who visited the area, fell in love with the Southwest and bought a ranch here. He became an amateur archeologist and the museum holds the artifacts from digs he did in the area. Many Indian museums focus on crafts made in the modern era, mostly silver products and intricate beadwork. I like the fact that the artifacts displayed are from the pre-European time. A true Stone Age period of clay pots, woven baskets and tools of bone and wood. No metal tools of any kind.

Besides the abundance of ancient artifacts, the museum has a little on the history and lifestyle of the various Indian groups in the West. Because the horse wasn’t introduced until the arrival of the Spanish, most Indians lived a sedentary life in small groups, with little contact with others. (Your world becomes very small if you have to walk everywhere carrying everything you own) As a result their languages diverged so much that they were mutually unintelligible. The introduction of the horse revolutionized their culture. Many suddenly became nomadic hunters and raiders, greatly extending their range, and bringing them into conflict and war with their neighbors. For some reason this new short-lived lifestyle became our movie stereotype of the American Indian.

October 26, 2013

October 26, 2013

One of my nieces moved here for a job and has been living with us until her new apartment is finished. My sister and her husband came out to visit to make sure we are treating her well and to see why Tucson lured her here. Since they are only here for a long weekend, we took them to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This popular attraction has everything the desert has to offer in one spot. It is a combination zoo, botanical garden and natural history museum.

We start off showing her the exhibits of the things most people associate with the desert, (rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas) and then walk the Desert Loop Trail to see the mountain lion, coyotes, and javelinas. All were hiding except for a group of the javelinas. Most people are amazed to think large bands of these New World pigs roam our neighborhoods.

The trail ends at the site of the twice-daily Raptor Free Flight show, one of the highlights of the park. For this demo, the museum releases a Barn owl and a band of Harris’ Hawks who fly around eating food set out for them. I got a great photo of the owl in flight just before he glided inches above my head.

Despite all the terrific wonders of this very popular Tucson attraction, my sister was enamored with one exhibit in the newly revamped aquarium. One tank held a dozen garden eels native not to the desert but the Gulf of California. I have to admit I thought they were delightful too. They stick their heads out from the sand but retreat quickly whenever a fish swims close.

October 3, 2013

October 3, 2013

Besides having a goal of seeing all 400 National Parks, we also want to see all the Presidential Museums.  The last thirteen presidents have their own library association.  We have seen all those but the two Bush ones in Texas.  Knowing that this Library group gets some funding from the Feds, Aimee calls ahead to make sure they are open.  She gets a recording but no mention of a shutdown.  From Huntsville it is an hour west to College Station, home of Texas A&M University and George H Bush Library.  We arrive early to beat the traffic.  On the door we see this sign.  Aimee calls the Library line again to see if there was a late addition.  Only when she dialed “0” in an attempt to reach a human did she get the closed message.  I am a little peeved because we drove a couple hours out of the way in a gas guzzling motorhome to stop here.

We spend the day traveling west through Texas only stopping in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg for a short break. We stroll the shops lining the towns main street.

The next day we drive non-stop arriving in Tucson after dark.

October 2, 2013

October 2, 2013

Today we continue our long drive home.  We stopped at the travel center on the Texas border.  The Texas versions are usually very nice.  This one not only has free Internet but a boardwalk over the swamp with lots of storyboards.

In Beaumont, we stop for a visit to the Texas Energy Museum. It is well done. It has a little bit on how oil-bearing formations are made from decaying algae, a bit on the technology of drilling, and lots on the refinery process. Surprisingly it has a rather lengthy but interesting summary of US history, especially as it relates to our energy usage. For far longer than I realized, wood was a major power source. The Beaumont area became famous when the gusher well called Spindletop was drilled here in 1901.

From Beaumont, we head northwest to Huntsville, TX. This is the former home of Texas’ most famous President and governor, Sam Houston. Interestingly he also had been a governor of Tennessee and accompanied Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. He was the general who defeated Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto. We are too late to do his museum justice, so we instead do a quick look around his homes, which were all brought to this memorial park. He died in the last one in 1863.

Outside town, off the highway is an enormous 67-foot white plaster statue of this famous resident. Before we can walk out to see it, we have to dodge a very friendly and talkative volunteer. The statue is pretty cool. Aimee notices a couple sayings of his that she really likes. “Govern wisely, and as little as possible”. She is turning into quite the Tea Partier.

We spend the night at the nearby Huntsville State Park.

October 1, 2013

October 1, 2013

I planned this trip to see the National Parks in the Southeast US. We saw twenty, with many more to go. Sadly, we learned this morning that because of our inept government, they are shuttering every National Park. And just to make sure it stings and they get maximum attention, they are also barricading outdoor memorials and monuments. With no end in sight, we have no choice but to head home. I look at Aimee and she can’t help but have a big smile on her face. She wants to go home.

We drive toward the coast, past the swamps that line this region. In Baton Rouge, LA, the sky opens and we are in a deluge of rain. We pull off and take a nap. That is one of the many benefits of traveling with your bed in the trunk. We can stay as long as necessary, even overnight.

September 30, 2013

September 30, 2013 

We are in the town of Warm Springs, GA. It has that name because of the mildly heated hot springs here. Our first stop is Roosevelt’s Little White House State Historic Site. When FDR contracted polio, he came here in 1924 in the belief the waters had healing properties. He bought the local spa and turned it into a polio treatment center. He kept coming back for over twenty years. We spend an hour going through the museum about his life with a focus on his polio and his time here. It is interesting but way over priced. We take a quick tour of his home that became the second White House during his presidency. He died of a stroke here in 1945 while posing for a portrait. The unfinished painting hangs in the museum.

A few blocks away we stop to see the Historic Pools that Roosevelt and other polio victims used to exercise in.

From Warm Springs, we drove west into Alabama stopping at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. In 1814 Andrew Jackson led an army here from Tennessee and surrounded 1000 Creek Indians who had built a fortress here on a large bend in the local river. Urged on by the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, this band of Creeks went on the warpath, during the War of 1812, slaughtering settlers. Accompanying Jackson was a list of future stars including Sam Houston and Davy Crockett. The Creeks lost the battle opening Alabama to American settlement.

We drove around the small battlefield. After 200 years there is not much to see. Aimee and I both think the Alabama countryside is very scenic. Too bad it is so hot and humid in the summer.

September 29, 2013

September 29, 2013 

Last night we took a shuttle bus to the base of Stone Mountain. Here Georgians have carved, ala Mt Rushmore, the likenesses of their three Civil War heroes, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis. The carving was started before Rushmore but because of financial problems not completed until 1972.

We went to see the laser show projected on the sculpture side of the mountain. It was excellent and included fireworks and music to add impact. The lawn seating was packed with thousands of families enjoying the show. It was a very festive atmosphere.

This morning we hiked to the top of Stone Mountain. While most of the mountainside is almost vertical, the west side is a gentler upward slope. The one-mile path is very pleasant. We make it up and down in an hour. We were surprised to see how much company we had. Compared to other cities, Atlantans are definitely active outdoorsy people.

After completing our morning exercise, we head south to Macon and the site of Ocmulgee National Monument. Ocmulgee is another Indian archeology site. This location has had evidence of habitation here for 10,000 years. The most impressive artifacts are from the Mississippian Culture of 1000 years ago, the same time period of Cahokia. The Mississippians built large flat-topped dirt mounds and had a hierarchical society. The museum implied this culture moved in and dominated the previous residents. They must have. How else could you convince people to move millions of basket loads of dirt. This site also has several large earthen lodges. One was reconstructed during the Depression years. It has clay-molded seats for the leaders.

On the way out of town, we stop briefly to see Fort Hawkins. This fort was built in 1806 when the Ocmulgee River became the new frontier with the Creek Indians.

From Macon we drove west to spend the night in Warm Springs, GA. While watching the news Aimee heard the government was going to run out of money and close all the National Parks. She is giddy in the hope we will have to head home.

September 28, 2013

September 28, 2013

We got up early to beat the Atlanta traffic headed downtown. Despite it being early and dark and Saturday, the highway was still crowded. Our first stop was Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site. We had breakfast waiting for the sun to show up. When it finally made an appearance, we walked around the historic district of Auburn Ave. where King was born and spent his developmental years. 

Since the Visitor Center doesn’t open till 9am, we decide to walk the 1.5-mile Freedom Trail to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. This is Library number eleven on our list. We only have the two Bush Presidential Libraries in Texas to go. The cashier decided not to show up for work, so the guard let us in for free. The Carter Library was interesting but is not as good as most of the others. Nor is it as good as his Carter National Historic Site in Plains, GA.  Carter was pretty conservative as Democrats go. He would have no chance of getting elected today. Unfortunately for him, a lot of bad luck occurred during his presidency, much of it out of his control. The Iranian Crisis probably sealed his fate.

After speeding through the museum, we take a break and walk back to the King Site. We look at some of the exhibits in the museum but both of us feel we have seen this material several times now at other sites. Instead we take a guided tour of his birth home. Aimee and I are both surprised to learn that his birth name was Michael. He and his father both changed it to Martin when he was five. King grew up in an affluent black middle class neighborhood where he had many strong role models that steered his development. It wouldn’t happen today. With today’s misguided social welfare programs, we incent mothers to raise their children in single households devoid of male role models.

Down the block we walk inside the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King and his father preached. Next door is the King Center that displays some of King’s personal items.

The King Site is very busy today because it is National Public Lands Day. Lots of volunteers are on hand painting and doing cleanup of the trail. The new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, is also here. Her former company, REI, is handing out free t-shirts.

It is still early so we head east of Atlanta to Stone Mountain Park where we get a campsite and relax the rest of the afternoon at a site facing the mountain.  When we went to Australia last summer to see Ayers Rock, I didn’t know I didn’t need to leave the US.  Stone Mountain looks exactly like a white version of that Australian monolith.  This barren hunk of smooth granite rises over 800 feet above the flat surroundings.