YA and I are on what we are calling my retirement trip. This travel is made possible by my old company (her current company) using “award credits” that we’ve been amassing the last year and a half. Wonder where we are?
It was a year ago that we lost our Steve. I’m re-running one of his posts (from February 2020) for the day. You can answer his intial question or share a Steve memory!
Today’s post comes from Steve Grooms.
I have been marveling at what my daughter accomplished this past year. Last winter she, her family and I were living in Port Huron, Michigan. She couldn’t find a job, for the local economy is depressed. My son-in-law had a job he detested, with no possibility of finding a better job. I lived in a senior citizen complex near their rental home, staying alone in my room unless my daughter was visiting me. Nobody was very happy.
It became painfully clear that my daughter and s-i-l had to move and set up new lives. Since I cast my lot with my daughter’s family when I sold my home in 2014, I would have to move too. The experiment of living in Michigan was mostly a botch.
Because my daughter was not working, she was the obvious person to do the research and planning necessary to make the move possible. But, oh my, what a fiendishly complicated task that would be.
Breaking this challenge down into smaller pieces, my daughter needed to:
I wonder if that list adequately reflects how complicated this was. The sixth item alone is daunting. Everything on the list was inextricably connected to all the other issues, which made the overall project extremely tricky. Each choice depended on several other decisions, and there seemed to be no obvious place to start.
My daughter was amused by how her research turned out. The Minnesota metro region emerged as the clear favorite for many reasons but especially its strong economy. St. Paul seemed the most attractive city in Minnesota. The most desirable place to live in St. Paul, her research said, turned out to be Highland Park. So my daughter’s search for the ideal place to move led her to exactly the neighborhood where she had grown up.
We made the move last June. I believe this is the most difficult my daughter has ever faced. As of the middle of January, 2020, every single item on the list has been met successfully. My daughter now lives in an apartment a few blocks from her childhood home (although serious house-hunting begins this spring). And everybody, even the old dog, is delighted to be here.
What is the hardest thing you have ever done? Have you ever discovered that you needed to make a brand new start?
Yesterday Bill mentioned the disappointment that Botticelli’s Venus isn’t shown to it’s best advantage in its home in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I know someone who was disappointed at seeing the David by Michelangelo in that same city; she thought that many fewer people should be allowed into the gallery at any given time so that it is quiet while you are observing the statue. I also know several folks who were underwhelmed by Stonehenge; they feel it is too close to the highway (technically the highway is too close to Stonehenge) and there is a chain link fence along the road that runs up to it. And of course I did have a client once who just didn’t love Paris the way he thought he should. He couldn’t explain it at all and felt a little sheepish about it.
One of the days I was visiting Pat in Nashville, we drove down to Chattanooga for a day. After we’d gone all through the huge aquarium there, I told Pat I wanted to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo. After all – why not. I’m guessing if it took me 66 years to get to Chattanooga the first time, I probably won’t get another chance!
We turned on the GPS… we were only about 3 miles away but it was downtown traffic so we wanted to be sure. A left turn took us to the back of a hotel where there were some older trains but there wasn’t an entrance so we turned back. A right turn after the hotel was the same… train cars but no entrance. The front of the hotel has mostly pay parking and there was no signage whatsoever for the CCC. We finally parked in a questionable spot and I called the hotel itself. The gal who answered the phone said you had to go through the hotel lobby to get there. Hmmmm. We left the car in our questionable space and traipsed into the hotel. It became clear immediately that this hotel had been the train station at one point but these days it is in sad shape and most of the retail spots in the big open atrium are dark.
If you walk all the way through, you do indeed come out to the train yard and the CCC is right there but that’s about all there is to say. Not clean, not spiffed up, no signage, no speakers playing the famous song. No little café serving coffee with cute names and no gift shop with magnet and postcards. All the other train cars in the yard are in very sad shape; a few look like there might be some refurbishing going on, but I wouldn’t bet any money on when it will actually be finished. As long as we were there, Pat snapped a photo of me in front of the engine, proof that we had actually found it! Truly, the model of the CCC in the hotel lobby was more impressive than the actual train itself.
Luckily since we hadn’t thought about looking for the CCC until that morning, neither of us had any great expectations so it wasn’t nearly as disappointing as it could have been. I think it’s the big build up in our expectations that causes most of our disappointments – at least it is for me.
What would you call a coffee drink at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Coffee Shop?
One of the days I was in Nashville, Pat and I drove out to Arrington Vineyard – a lovely place about 45 minutes from the city. It was so beautiful that day and the winery is definitely set up and marketed to folks who want to come out and enjoy it. Various dining venues including outdoor tables and umbrellas as well as picnic tables on the hill overlooking the vineyard.
Bringing your own picnic is definitely encouraged but if you need to add a little spice to your meal, there are pre-packaged olives, cheese/salami slices, crackers galore, pickled vegetables, and lots more. Even desserts. The stars of the show are, of course, the wines and you can purchase bottles or you can get flights of wine to go with your meal. I’ve never actually purchased a flight of wine before so was a little surprised at first that you can’t just pick your own four wines (or six depending on what size flight you want). I guess the winery figures they know better than you about which wines go together and which don’t.
The little gal who was working the register looked to be about 15. Obviously she had to be old enough to sell liquor, but the older get, the younger they all seem! I ordered the flight we wanted and the young gal asked me for identification. The shock must have shown on my face; after all it’s been 40+ years since I have been underage. She quickly told me that they are required by law to card everyone. Seems like a lot of wasted breath to asked clearly geriatric folks for their ID. But I did consider slipping her a big tip!
Do you remember the last time you got carded?
I know you’re thinking it’s not possible for me to talk about Nashville any more than I have. Wrong. With the exception of three trips to St. Louis to see Nonny (two of them medical issues), I haven’t traveled anywhere since before pandemic. For someone who worked in the travel industry for 30+ years, 3 years is a long time between trips so Nashville was actually pretty special. And have I mentioned that I had a great time with my friend Pat?
On my first morning in the city, we went downtown to see the Frist Museum; there was a display for Japanese textiles that we wanted to see. It’s not a large museum and all they do is special shows – no permanent galleries. The day we were there just happened to be the very last day of a special display of armor from the middle ages – so lucky!
I’m not a fan of military strategy or warfare in general but the lengths that we humans will go to is just amazing. Having never seen any kind of armor up close, I was amazed that so much of it was covered in remarkable artistry, carvings in silver and gold adorning a lot of pieces. Trying to figure out how a knight would be able to see took quite a bit of doing and I don’t even want to think about what happens when you’re all suited up and nature comes a’ calling!
Despite having seen Camelot several times as well as Ivanhoe and Robin Hood, I hadn’t really paid much attention to the armor that horses wore. A full suit of armor for a horse is called a bard or barding but the piece that amazes me the most is the chanfron – the face mask. I’m thinking that there was probably an industry for training horses to wear face masks. I doubt you could just stroll into the stall and have a horse accept this easily.
The other amazing thing to me is the naming of armor pieces. Every single little piece has a name, even the part that covers the armpit – the besagew. Many of the names come from the French – guessing that armor trends started in that part of Europe and spread? Here’s another suit that I found interesting – not sure why we needed to be reminded of the anatomical features of the wearer.
Another friend of mind who lives in St. Paul knows an enormous amount about medieval warfare and I can’t wait to see her next and show her my pictures. I’m guessing she already knows all the names of the pieces. Maybe I’ll quiz her.
Did you ever want to be a knight in shining armor when you were a kid?
When I was in Nashville, my friend Pat and I had a list a mile long of things we wanted to see and do. Pat is not a Tennessee native, so she was as eager to explore as I was. Last year I saw some cooking show that featured a bakery in Nashville that looked splendid. Unfortunately I didn’t write down the name so we ended up googling wildly to try to find something that rang a bell. Nothing.
We did find Five Daughters Bakery which came up over and over again in searches for the best bakeries; they have three stores in Nashville so we decided they would be our bakery of choice.
Turns out that they make a version of cronut which they call the “100-Layer Donut”. I’ve never had a cronut before, although I have heard of them. They were “invented” in 2013 by a French baker, Dominique Ansel at his bakery in New York; made with croissant dough and pastry cream, cronuts LOOK like doughnuts but are similar to croissants in texture. They are bigger than most doughnuts and considerably more expensive; we cut them in half and saved the second half for the next morning. I remember these pastries making a big splash at the time with people standing around the block for ages to get a crack at them and now I know why!
I haven’t done a thorough search but so far I haven’t found anyone making a cross between a doughnut and a croissants!
Do you have any favorite mash-ups?
It’s been quite a while since I last set my alarm clock but yesterday was my annual trek to Aldis. This is the third year that I’ve headed out in the wee hours to get to the closest Aldis that sells their wine advent calendars – in River Falls! No wine sold in grocery stores in Minnesota!
I arrived at 6:15 a.m. and was happy to be #5 in line. If all you want is wine/beer/seltzer calendars, you probably don’t need to be quite this early, but the other advent calendars (cheese, Legos, cat, dog, Star Wars, etc.) go like hotcakes and they don’t stock all that many. Two women who were #1 and #2 in line took seven cheese calendars between them.
As I was sitting and reading (and chatting, who are we kidding), I was thinking about our psychology discussion on Tuesday. I have never even hinted to YA that I would like her to come along on this trip. It’s hard to imagine she would be interested, but I realized this morning that I like to do this by myself. There aren’t too many things that I really like to do on my own – the biggest is opening day at State Fair. That is absolutely my day to be on my own. (A couple of years ago YA talked about going on the first day and I emphatically told her that we could drive over together but at the entrance we would be going our own ways. She decided not to go.) I also like to do the arboretum a couple of times a year all on my own and I usually head to the zoo once a summer by myself. These are days where I go wherever I want and completely at my own pace.
Of course, sitting in a stadium chair for 3 hours doesn’t involved any going or pacing myself, but it is my own little adventure every year.
Do you have anything that you really prefer to do all on your own?
Photo credit: Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation
On one of the afternoons I spent in Nashville with my friend, Pat, we went in search of a bakery that was listed online as “one of the best bakeries in Nashville”. We used her car’s GPS to find it; the area was quite busy as it was Sunday but we managed to find a free parking spot and Pat maneuvered into it. It was a beautiful day so we were looking forward to walking a couple of blocks to the bakery.
It was a really interesting neighborhood and Pat told me it was called 12 South – about a half mile stretch on 12th Avenue South – filled with restaurants, clothing stores, vintage clothing stores, an outdoor market, jewelry store, donut bakery, art gallery and a cookie shop. Lots and lots of folks were walking about, shopping and sitting in outdoor areas of the restaurants. Lots of dogs too.
The only problem was that the median age of everybody in the neighborhood appeared to be 30-25. Tops. I’m not kidding; Pat and I were the oldest people walking around. It certainly didn’t feel unsafe (and I did enjoy petting a lot of dogs) but I did feel a little out of place. I commented to Pat that maybe we needed passports to be in 12 South.
Have you ever felt out of place anywhere?
As you read this today, I am, I hope, winging my way back to North Dakota from a conference. I am slated to arrive back home in time to start handing out treats.
The organization putting on the workshop I attended always has a big party the Friday we meet. It is surprising how wild middle-aged lawyers, government appointees, and State regulators can get. This time it was described as a Halloween party, and everyone was encouraged to bring costumes. We come from all over the US and Canada for this meeting, and it was amazing how many brought costumes. I considered bringing a Venetian carnival mask, but I was worried it would be damaged during the trip, and I couldn’t really wear a mask over my glasses, so I demurred. There were lots of witches, a monk, doctors in scrubs, the Phantom of the Opera, and Brittany Spears, to name a few. I wore a skirt outfit, and told people it was my expert witness costume, as I often wear the same outfit to court.
During the days before the party, some of my female colleagues and I were amused by the antics of a younger male attendee whose demeanor and presentation left no doubt that he thought very well of himself, and who knew he was a very handsome fellow. To our delight, he came to the costume party dressed as Jesus. It was perfect!
What was your best Halloween costume? Dressing up tonight?
I was very sad and alarmed to learn the other day that a billion snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around Alaska, and there will be no snow crab harvest this year. I can’t imagine the price of snow crab going forward. I really like snow crab, and I will miss having it.
I am currently in a Maryland resort on the Potomac River, and I had the best lobster roll last night that I have ever eaten. I never liked sea food growing up in rural Minnesota, but I have learned to love fish and shell fish as an adult. Our son likes sea food. Our daughter still doesn’t, but I hope she will develop a liking for it given she lives on Puget Sound.
Where did a billion snow crabs go? When will they return? What are we doing to our oceans? I hope that I can still enjoy a good lobster roll in years to come.
What is your favorite fish dish? What foods did you not like as a child that you like now?
Trail Baboon 