What Now? -Part II
Getting a little bit of a late start today, since Jackie and I spent the day traveling to Hilton Head. It's one of those vacation packages where we have to sit through a presentation for 90 minutes, knowing we have no plans to buy a timeshare. Anyway, that leads me in to the first of three additional activities I would like to do now that I'm retired: travel.
First a little background. When I was little, around 5-years-old, my family took a trip to the Grand Canyon. I have very little recollection of this trip, other than vague memories triggered by pictures. When I was a little older, maybe around 7 or 8, we went to Connecticut for my cousin's wedding. Finally, when I was around 8 or 9, we went to Disney World, shortly after it had opened. The rest of my travel as a child was to the beach in Mexico Beach, Fla, with band trips to Six Flags Over Georgia, Fort Walton Beach, FSU, the University of South Carolina, and Pittsburgh, with a church youth group trip to Panama City Beach thrown in.
During college at UGA, I got to go to many of the away football games in exotic locales like Jacksonville, Fla, Nashville, TN, Clemson, SC, etc. As a member of the basketball band, I got to go to Syracuse, NY, Greensboro, NC, Birmingham, AL, and Albuquerque, NM, among others. The best trips, though were the bowl games to New Orleans, LA, Dallas, TX, Orlando, FL, and El Paso, TX! Finally, the UGA Symphony Orchestra got to perform at the national MENC (now NAfME) convention in Los Angeles, CA. As a band director, I organized several trips to Orlando, and one to Washington, DC.
Jackie, on the other hand, had only travelled from Georgia to New York with her family to visit relatives (she was born in New York), and occasional trips to Myrtle Beach, SC, with little time spent sight seeing. After we married, we mostly travelled to Florida and North Carolina to visit my family.
The travel bug was awakened in Jackie when we flew out to Nevada for a job interview for me in Ely, NV. We flew first to Phoenix, then caught a connecting flight to Salt Lake City, UT, where we rented a car and drove to Ely. Everything was so exotic and foreign looking! It was fascinating seeing the salt flats, the mountains, and the vast, open spaces. We even went to see the Great Salt Lake. This was only the second time Jackie had ever been on a plane.
Last summer, we decided to visit Jackie's aunt and uncle, who live just north of Dallas, TX. Amazingly, they had lived there for many years, but Jackie had never visited! Since it was just the two of us and our youngest child, we invited one of his school friends to join us. I made a loose itinerary (very loose!), and we packed our bags, loaded up the car, and hit the road. First stop: New Orleans!
As we entered Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, we stopped at the Welcome Center at each border, a practice we kept up the rest of our trip. After we arrived in New Orleans (we stayed in Metarie), we went to the French Quarter, which had changed quite a bit since I was last there in December/January 1982/1983 (for the Sugar Bowl). The next day, we drove across Louisiana, stopping to see a Live Tiger at a truck stop, and The World's Largest Gummy Bear in Rayne, LA! We drove through Houston to San Antonio, where we decided to stay the night (I wanted to see the Alamo, so we ended up staying 2 nights). As I had several friends following our trip on FaceBook giving us suggestions and ideas, we decided to spend the next night in Austin. However, at a steak house in San Antonio (the Little Red Barn Steakhouse), the waitress there told us about Fredericksburg, TX, a town originally settled by Germans. We decided to go there on our way to Austin, though it was literally out of our way.
When we got to Austin, we had a little bit of difficulty finding a hotel (the first place couldn't find our reservation), so we ended up downtown, about 2 blocks from the courthouse. This happened because we didn't make any reservations until the day of arrival, as we were basically "winging it". Someone had told us that we needed to see the bats at dusk in downtown Austin (from under the bridge), so we did that. Afterwards, we met Jackie's cousin for dinner.
The next day, we finally made it to Jackie's aunt and uncle's house, where we spent the next few days. While there, we visited downtown Dallas, drove by the Cowboys' and Rangers' stadiums, visited the Stockyards in Fort Worth, and had dinner with a former student of mine. The original plan after that was to go to Oklahoma City, turn East and return home via Arkansas and Memphis, where we planned to spend the night. However, when looking at the map, we decided to continue north to Kansas and Missouri. I had contacted another former student, and the plan was to have dinner in Kansas City that night. As things happened, we got a late start, so we pushed the get-together until lunch the following day.
Oklahoma was absolutely beautiful! The windmill farms were quite a sight, we took a little detour to see a waterfall and campground, drove through the campus of the University of Oklahoma, and we stopped at the entrance to the Chickasaw Nation. We only made it as far as Wichita that day. The next day, we met my former student and his wife for lunch in Kansas City, Kansas, and they suggested we stay the night in St. Louis, at a hotel with rooms that faced the Arch, with a rooftop bar where you could watch the Cardinals' game, so that's what we did!
After visiting the Arch early the next day, we drove into Illinois (just to say we did!), then immediately drove back into Missouri, then south through the corner of Arkansas to Memphis, where we visited Beale St. and spent the night. Finally, after 11 states in 9 days, we returned home. We had a wonderful time savoring different types of food- especially barbecue!- and seeing all kinds of fantastic sights. This is something we hope to do every year until we have visited all 50 states. Or at least the 48 contiguous ones. Unfortunately, we may not be able to travel this year as we need to pack and move, one more time.
Tomorrow, I'll finish up this discussion of how to spend my retirement, so until then, may your days and loved ones be blessed!
First a little background. When I was little, around 5-years-old, my family took a trip to the Grand Canyon. I have very little recollection of this trip, other than vague memories triggered by pictures. When I was a little older, maybe around 7 or 8, we went to Connecticut for my cousin's wedding. Finally, when I was around 8 or 9, we went to Disney World, shortly after it had opened. The rest of my travel as a child was to the beach in Mexico Beach, Fla, with band trips to Six Flags Over Georgia, Fort Walton Beach, FSU, the University of South Carolina, and Pittsburgh, with a church youth group trip to Panama City Beach thrown in.
During college at UGA, I got to go to many of the away football games in exotic locales like Jacksonville, Fla, Nashville, TN, Clemson, SC, etc. As a member of the basketball band, I got to go to Syracuse, NY, Greensboro, NC, Birmingham, AL, and Albuquerque, NM, among others. The best trips, though were the bowl games to New Orleans, LA, Dallas, TX, Orlando, FL, and El Paso, TX! Finally, the UGA Symphony Orchestra got to perform at the national MENC (now NAfME) convention in Los Angeles, CA. As a band director, I organized several trips to Orlando, and one to Washington, DC.
Jackie, on the other hand, had only travelled from Georgia to New York with her family to visit relatives (she was born in New York), and occasional trips to Myrtle Beach, SC, with little time spent sight seeing. After we married, we mostly travelled to Florida and North Carolina to visit my family.
The travel bug was awakened in Jackie when we flew out to Nevada for a job interview for me in Ely, NV. We flew first to Phoenix, then caught a connecting flight to Salt Lake City, UT, where we rented a car and drove to Ely. Everything was so exotic and foreign looking! It was fascinating seeing the salt flats, the mountains, and the vast, open spaces. We even went to see the Great Salt Lake. This was only the second time Jackie had ever been on a plane.
Last summer, we decided to visit Jackie's aunt and uncle, who live just north of Dallas, TX. Amazingly, they had lived there for many years, but Jackie had never visited! Since it was just the two of us and our youngest child, we invited one of his school friends to join us. I made a loose itinerary (very loose!), and we packed our bags, loaded up the car, and hit the road. First stop: New Orleans!
As we entered Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, we stopped at the Welcome Center at each border, a practice we kept up the rest of our trip. After we arrived in New Orleans (we stayed in Metarie), we went to the French Quarter, which had changed quite a bit since I was last there in December/January 1982/1983 (for the Sugar Bowl). The next day, we drove across Louisiana, stopping to see a Live Tiger at a truck stop, and The World's Largest Gummy Bear in Rayne, LA! We drove through Houston to San Antonio, where we decided to stay the night (I wanted to see the Alamo, so we ended up staying 2 nights). As I had several friends following our trip on FaceBook giving us suggestions and ideas, we decided to spend the next night in Austin. However, at a steak house in San Antonio (the Little Red Barn Steakhouse), the waitress there told us about Fredericksburg, TX, a town originally settled by Germans. We decided to go there on our way to Austin, though it was literally out of our way.
When we got to Austin, we had a little bit of difficulty finding a hotel (the first place couldn't find our reservation), so we ended up downtown, about 2 blocks from the courthouse. This happened because we didn't make any reservations until the day of arrival, as we were basically "winging it". Someone had told us that we needed to see the bats at dusk in downtown Austin (from under the bridge), so we did that. Afterwards, we met Jackie's cousin for dinner.
The next day, we finally made it to Jackie's aunt and uncle's house, where we spent the next few days. While there, we visited downtown Dallas, drove by the Cowboys' and Rangers' stadiums, visited the Stockyards in Fort Worth, and had dinner with a former student of mine. The original plan after that was to go to Oklahoma City, turn East and return home via Arkansas and Memphis, where we planned to spend the night. However, when looking at the map, we decided to continue north to Kansas and Missouri. I had contacted another former student, and the plan was to have dinner in Kansas City that night. As things happened, we got a late start, so we pushed the get-together until lunch the following day.
Oklahoma was absolutely beautiful! The windmill farms were quite a sight, we took a little detour to see a waterfall and campground, drove through the campus of the University of Oklahoma, and we stopped at the entrance to the Chickasaw Nation. We only made it as far as Wichita that day. The next day, we met my former student and his wife for lunch in Kansas City, Kansas, and they suggested we stay the night in St. Louis, at a hotel with rooms that faced the Arch, with a rooftop bar where you could watch the Cardinals' game, so that's what we did!
After visiting the Arch early the next day, we drove into Illinois (just to say we did!), then immediately drove back into Missouri, then south through the corner of Arkansas to Memphis, where we visited Beale St. and spent the night. Finally, after 11 states in 9 days, we returned home. We had a wonderful time savoring different types of food- especially barbecue!- and seeing all kinds of fantastic sights. This is something we hope to do every year until we have visited all 50 states. Or at least the 48 contiguous ones. Unfortunately, we may not be able to travel this year as we need to pack and move, one more time.
Tomorrow, I'll finish up this discussion of how to spend my retirement, so until then, may your days and loved ones be blessed!
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