Travel – Page 3

Greetings from Denali

Vancouver, blocks from the proposal (before the question was popped)

My seat from the Denali Lodge offers views of sun-drenched mountaintops brushed with fall colors and raw sedimentary rock. You can tell by the layers of millions of years of earth-work. The Grizzlies and Moose, Caribou and Dall Sheep have chosen a beautiful home here.

Since this vacation began almost two weeks ago in Vancouver, many glorious moments have transpired. The intertubes, at a cost of $30 an hour on the ship, have prohibited my use of this blog as a means of travelogue-ing, and I can’t say that I would have been able to squeeze a post in now and again, anyhow.

But now, just beyond this window, sits six-million acres of Denali National Park, in all of her rugged and natural beauty. Upon my return, I will look out my home’s window and daydream of these mountains and this land and form romantic notions of scrapping it all for a Dodge Sprinter that runs on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO). And maybe a year from now, that will be precisely what I do, with my now fiancee, David. In the midst of the bear and cubs, beluga and humpback whales, moose and bald eagles, dall porposie and dall sheep, caribou, lunar eclipses, and UFO’s, me man popped the question. We are engaged to be married. And even though I already felt married and couldn’t be more committed, it seems he wants to make this love official, and for that, I will celebrate. I am a lucky woman, for he is a great man.

I have found, weaved between my natural tendencies as a rebel and knee-jerk reaction to the conventional, a sweet spot. Placing herself ever so delicately within the idea declaring a life-long love, this sweet spot is overwhelmed with the beautiful emotion of knowing that the one I love and admire does so back; enough to marry me up and make an honest woman outa me.

Passport to the Universe

Haines, Alaska

After 14 long weeks of anxiously awaiting my passport (imagining, of course, that I must be on a list, of sorts, with an accompanying black file, for some dissenting blog posts and certain past experiences long ago that may, or may not, deem me unfit to, uh, travel?) it finally arrived yesterday. And if you think, perhaps, that when you scroll down you will be treated to my terrible passport photo, you are mistaken.

Coincidentally, yesterday was also Jerry’s birthday. I’m not quite sure why this is a coincidence, except that Jerry helped to open up an entire universe to me, which I had explored a bit pre-Jerry, but not quite to the depths as I did a la “The Dead scene.” And over the many years, I have distanced myself from that very scene for various reasons, but have come back around to looking upon my memories of those experiences as good life lessons. And mostly fun, with many adventures along the way. I am hoping that my new passport will help to facilitate the opening of more new and profound universes of which I have yet to discover.

Speaking of, my sweets and I leave for Vancouver in a couple of weeks. Then, on to Alaska and into Denali. I am salivating right now just thinking about it. Seriously. While I have spent almost two months living in a tent in the sweet town of Haines, Alaska 16 years ago, it seems like that was another lifetime. (oh, my Alaska comrades, where are you now? How I wish I knew…) And I never did make it into the interior of this magnificent land.

But I did meet some very interesting Haines folk. At this very moment, while creating this post, I found one of them. Tony Tengs is a bit like Willy Wonka, and has owned the Chilkat Chocolate Blanket Company (of which I was one of the singers for their local radio spot) since 1990. I have just learned that the shop moved from Haines to Juneau, but that his sister still runs the family restaurant started by his parents called The Pioneer Bar and Bamboo Room Restaurant. I was a proud dishwasher there for a short spell; a young lass in need of some quick cash.

Moot, Meisha, Tony, and a sweet boy from the Netherlands whose name I can’t remember, in front of the Haines Chocolate Blanket shop

How I long to see those kindred souls again, along with the Northern Lights. I also remember Gordon, a man who plays the stand-up bass and built his own home and ran the radio station in Haines and made me one of the best mixed tapes ever which included Mose Allison, whom I hadn’t heard of until he gave me that gift of a tape.

Nostalgia is an amazing, beautiful, tricky, prickly phenomonon, and I am stricken with it. Godspeed to all, until we meet again.

And in the spirit of sharing at least one semi-embarassing photo of myself…

Meisha, Moot, and a very young Me (what alliteration!)

Nashtucky

The “lobby” at Union Station Hotel, Nashville, TN

As I sit in our hotel room on a hot Saturday afternoon in what was once the Union Station railroad terminal that opened in 1900, I have images of Jim McGuire’s Nashville Portraits series running through my mind, fresh from viewing them an hour ago. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, where the Nashville Portraits are on display, is just next door, making it a rather convenient situation. Housed inside an historic 1930’s art deco building built originally as Nashville’s main post office, our love of this periods architecture was also quenched.

Below is one of the images from the exhibit, taken in 1975, of a young Guy and Susanna Clark. To get an even better feel for these two classic characters, indulge yourself with the amazing film about Townes Van Zandt, entitled Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt.

Friday night in Nashville brought me a bit of Dinosaur Jr. and The Black Keys (from Akron, Oh…Go Zips!) at City Hall, which accentuated the same show seen Thursday night in Atlanta. The Black Keys ripped it, ever fine-tuning the possibility of damn good two-person bands.

In between sets, David and I wandered over to The Station Inn across the street, sometimes touted as the worlds most popular bluegrass club. We caught a couple of short sets by Blind Corn Liquor Pickers from Kentucky. While their picking was wonderful, I am sad to report that they might opt for an alternate lead singer, in lieu of their newest member, Beth Walker. I don’t want to be mean here, but it was literally painful to listen to her at times. I applaud people following their dreams, and it takes courage to even get on stage, so props to Ms. Walker for that. Still, the vocals were ill-suited to the incredible sounding music behind them.

Saturday evening brought us to Opryland, which is exactly what you think it to be if your image includes families of church-goin’ Americans, sandals with socks, and cheese fries. It was Jim Lauderdale, one of our favorites, that brought us there, though. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some mixed information as to when he was going to play, so he only played one song. We decided against waiting over two more hours in the oppressive heat to catch his next set, but am sure we’ll see Jim again.

Which creates a perfect segueway to our Saturday night show at the Douglas Corner Cafe. The night started with the kindness of a stranger, Shannon Cain, who offered us a seat at his AWESOME table (all the seats were taken, with not much room to stand anywhere, so this was, indeed, an appreciated gesture, and we gladly accepted.) Unbeknownst to us, Chris Masterson (of Son Volt fame) opened, accompanied by the incredibly talented and beautiful Eleanor Whitmore on violin, mandolin, and vocals. Truly amazing and mesmorizing. Next up was Bruce Robison, another incredible singer/songwriter, also accompanied by Ms. Whitmore.

Interestingly, I just learned that Jim Lauderdale “discovered” Bruce, connecting Bruce to his publisher, helping to kick-start Robsion’s ability to sell his songs to Nashville. It seems this is a path many take, including Lauderdale himself. While Bruce’s sister-in-law, Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks, helped to make his song “Travelin’ Soldier” a hit, many other Nashville artists are eating up his writing, helping to provide a lucrative career for the talented Robison. And I love it when great musicians get paid.

All three of the nights performers hail from the incredibly musical state of Texas, and I am sure make routine rounds in the cojointly musical state of Tennesee. Although Nashville is better known for its cheese covered popular country, it is fully oozing with amazing music of all types, sans the cheese, and offered us an incredibly musical weekend.

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