Sun, Moon, and Clouds

Sun, Moon, and Clouds

      Some favorite photo ops on travels involve simply looking up to see the sun rise or set, the moon, or just beautiful cloud formations. So I thought I would collect some of them together here. The one above is a particular favorite: sunset over Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks, in 1975.

Fall in Queens & Rhinebeck

A Surprising Fall Getaway to Queens and Rhinebeck

October 2018 

          One of my regular Red Cross runs delivering blood to regional hospitals takes me to Northern Duchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, then thru town toward hospitals in Poughkeepsie. That takes me past an old inn, the Beekman Arms, in the center of the pretty town, often thinking what a nice getaway that would make. I saw an opportunity this year when Marjorie was spending her mid-September birthday in Kansas City with her sister Mary. We couldn’t do anything for her birthday then, so I thought to combine birthday & our mid-November anniversary (#47, for those keeping score), making it a surprise  ̶  telling her only to keep the dates open. Our friend Marlene, who lives in Poughkeepsie, was a co-conspirator, advising on places to eat. Adding to the outing, we decided to visit the Queens family  ̶  son Matt, daughter-in-law Anthea, and grandsons William & Miles  ̶  to start things off.

Friday, October 19: “Special Deliveries to NYC”

We’re pretty much back to normal following a wonderful trip to the Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and even a bit of Bosnia!) October 4-14, so I guess we can handle this more limited outing. The car’s pretty full of things to take down for the family: t-shirts for William & Miles from our trip, framed photos Matt wanted for Manhattan School of Music, treats baked by Marjorie, and more. A bit of our first frost in early AM. A nice PM drive down, some Fall color tho not too spectacular yet. A lunch stop at our favorite Plaza Diner outside New Paltz. Festive Halloween decorations, and another surprise for Marjorie: my credit card has fallen apart, so we’ll have to use her card to pay for things on “her weekend;” she manages to keep grumbling to a minimum.

Touring Along the Adriatric Sea

Jewels of the Adriatic

October 2018

Croatia has been on our travel to-do list since an earlier European trip (Bavaria in 2006) when in the airport on the way home we chatted with other travelers who raved about Croatia. Marjorie’s cousin Jim and wife Susan also raved about their trip to Croatia last Fall, adding further impetus. Gate1, with whom we’ve happily traveled a number of times, has an “11 Day Affordable Croatia & Slovenia” tour that looks just right. One unhappy note: friend Kay, a companion on the Bavaria and some other trips, is unable to join us. But Una (who had traveled with us in Andalucia) and her friend Nancy will be joining us. Well, “joining us” turned out to be a bit uncertain when they booked a night in Venice at the end. Una tried to arrange “Bus Unity” for the 4 of us to be on the same tour bus, but discovered their Venice add-on put them into a different group (and bus). We’ll share some but not all of the hotels; don’t know how much we’ll be touring together. I’d vouched for Gate 1, so I hope things go well and that we’ll have plenty of time together. Una seems to have forgiven me for being picked to join the Doug Ward family on a Viking Ocean cruise “Into the Midnight Sun” this summer; she was the next choice, but “blood” won out. We learned another friend, Beth, will be on a tour to Croatia with a friend that begins the same day as ours, but with a different company. Will we cross paths?

This region has become a popular tourist destination, with spectacular scenery from seacoasts to mountains. It also has a complex and violent history. I’ll attempt a brief (and probably oversimplified) recent summary: After WWII Yugoslavia was an uneasy federation of 6 republics, including 4 we’ll visit (Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia). Tensions among the various ethnic groups were suppressed by Tito until his death in 1980, when calls for autonomy escalated. Croatia & Slovenia declared independence in 1991 and were attacked by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army. The Balkan Wars of the 1990s entailed allegations of “ethnic cleansing” and war crimes. NATO bombings (“Operation Deliberate Force”) were followed by a US-brokered peace agreement. Montenegro declared independence in 2006. Croatia and Slovenia are members of NATO and the European Union; Montenegro joined NATO most recently (2017) and is a candidate to join the EU. Bosnia (and Herzegovina) declared independence in 1992, and is also a candidate to join the EU. But the varying status of these countries creates different situations for crossing borders. It also means some juggling among different currencies: Croatian  kuna ($.16), euros ($1.16), Bosnian convertible marks ($.59).

Lake Tahoe

Classically Lake Tahoe

Summer 2018

          Exciting news: Matt was selected as a percussionist for “Classical Tahoe” at Lake Tahoe! In its 7^th season, the Classical Tahoe Orchestra has been expanded this year, mostly adding percussion & brass. The orchestra brings together “virtuoso musicians [that’s our boy!] from ensembles such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony and the LA Philharmonic” for a three-week festival and institute on the campus of Sierra Nevada College off the lake in Incline Village NV. Interestingly, clicking on “orchestra” at the CT website yields a large (and very handsome!) photo of Matt right at the top. My travel juices started flowing since we’ve never been there. Sitting on the California-Nevada border, Lake Tahoe is America’s largest “alpine lake” and the 3^rd deepest lake in North America: 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and 1,645’ at its deepest; 6,225’ above sea level; surrounded by Sierra Nevada Mountains including the Squaw Valley 1960 Olympics site. The 72-mile shoreline drive is billed as “The Most Beautiful Drive in America.” Plus Reno, Carson City, & Virginia City are nearby. We’ve been elsewhere in Northern California, including Yosemite and Sequoia Nat’l Parks (our “2^nd honeymoon” in 1972) and several times in the San Francisco area for vacations and conventions, but not this region. So we’ll stalk him, as we did when Matt was at the “Music Academy of the West” in Santa Barbara (1998). Why should he have all the fun?

This will entail some family reunions: Marjorie’s cousin Jim, wife Susan, and Susan’s sister Ann will join us (reprising their participation in our 2015 Andalucia trip); Jim & Susan’s  daughter Katherine, husband Mike, and children Cooper & Kexel live in Walnut Creek CA, not too far away, so we’ll see them; plus daughter-in-law Anthea and grandsons William & Miles are flying out toward the end of our stay. This evolved into a longer stay than originally anticipated, but Marjorie pointed out that some people actually “relax” on vacation  ̶  imagine that!

"Midnight Sun" Ocean Cruise

“Into the Midnight Sun”

June/July 2018

          My brother Doug & sister-in-law Ann declined our invite to join us on a Fall trip to Croatia. But then made a counter-offer for me to join them and daughter Katie on a Viking Ocean Cruise. Doug had booked 2 cabins but there was no option for a single fare, so I would be the “fill-in” (actually the 2^nd choice, but their grandson Aiden was too young), Doug & I sharing one cabin, Ann & Katie the other. [They knew Marjorie would be busy then with the Colonie Art League summer Art Camp for 4^th-6^th graders she organizes (and is one of the instructors)  ̶  I suppose now she’ll want an equivalent trip with her sister.] Doug & I have enjoyed trips together, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity for more time together . . . with Ann & Katie as a bonus! Marjorie & I have enjoyed several Viking river cruises, so it will be interesting to sample their ocean cruises. And the itinerary is very attractive: Shetland Islands and Edinburgh in Scotland, along the Norwegian coast including 3 ports above the Arctic Circle! (Marjorie thinks maybe I’ll see Santa!), finishing in Bergen, one of our favorite places from a Scandinavian tour in 2008. (Sadly, I will be unable to connect with one of our regular Albany Symphony guests, bassist Tristan, now with the Bergen Philharmonic. He did e-mail to say, as I suspected, that with the season over he is not in the city.) Norway is “home” to Viking for obvious reasons, including the Norwegian founder (in 1997) & Chairman Torstein Hagen. 

Bucks & Lancaster Counties PA

Pennsylvania Reprises

Bucks & Lancaster Counties & Longwood Gardens

May-June 2018 

          We’re returning to areas of Eastern Pennsylvania visited on previous trips: Pennsylvania Dutch country around Lancaster with Marjorie’s Mom Win and our then-little Matt in 1983, Bucks County (after stays in Cape May & Philadelphia) with M’s Uncle Bill in 1996, plus Longwood Gardens both times. And another reprise: friend Marlene, a fine trip companion to the Smokies in Fall 2016, is joining us again. We schedule after Marlene and my Spring choral schedules are completed. Looking for lodging on Airbnb we’re enticed by “River Retreat: a Piece of Heaven.” On the Delaware River near Stockton NJ (across from Bucks County), we’ll have the entire ground floor (hosts Patricia & hubbie live on the 2^nd floor) with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, and porch looking onto the river. Sounds like a lovely base of operations. This will be the 1^st of a busy schedule of Summer & Fall trips, plenty of journal & photo ops for my blog.

          Some busy time before we head out. Marjorie has a couple of days in NYC highlighted by a fascinating show by illusionist Derek DelGaudio, “In and of Itself,” with Matt playing an unexpected role, and “Boys in the Band” with M fav Jim Parsons. Then the weekend before our trip Marlene comes up for my Mendelssohn Club concert. She’s an accomplished singer, and I’m honored she pronounces the concert “excellent,” with special kudos for my basses in “Down in the Valley.” Marlene also gives me some tips on learning Britten’s “War Requiem,” a beastly challenging work I’ve been rehearsing as a “guest” singer with Albany ProMusica for a Fall concert with the Albany Symphony. She stays until Sunday for a Mass celebrating the 50^th anniversary of our Fr. Farano’s ordination; lots more music with the choir.

          But I digress. After a typical Memorial Day (5/28) of lawnmowing and other yard and garden work (we learn Marlene was doing the same), an early dinner and a lovely evening drive down to stay overnight with Marlene in Poughkeepsie.

Golf Venues in the Capital Region and Elsewhere

Golf Venues in the Capital Region

      This is another post that's not exactly "travel," but I thought I'd share some views of golf courses in the Albany "Capital Region" area, and a few beyond. I came back to golf when I retired after 30-some years away from the game and discovered that there are some beautiful public courses that offer diverse scenery, wildlife, and golfing challenges. Here's a selection.