Our Great Adventure - Day 1

Our first morning we awoke to cheers in addition to the common sounds of traffic with sirens and horns honking.  Across from our hotel was the ABC Studios where Good Morning America broadcasts each morning live from Times Square.  There was the television crew and the crowd surrounding the hosts.  The traffic was blocked off so that the show could be telecast without anyone being hit by a taxi flying along at 60 mph.  Below are the daytime views from our room.

ABC Studio is directly beneath the green sign

One of the things that allowed me to look forward to the trip to NY was the fact that they had so many wonderful art museums.  Now I really love art but my brain can only process so much at once so my trusty Tour Director had us scheduled for a museum every-other-day.  This would give us time to reflect and digest all of this fabulous art!

Our first stop would be MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).  After waiting in a short line, we managed to get inside by 10:30.  There was a Magritte exhibit going on so we headed to the special exhibit gallery first thing.  

\\

Below are my favorites from the show.....

I love this self portrait

We decided to have an early lunch on the outdoor balcony (we had a delicious quinoa and chickpea salad, very healthy choice) and they served Randy this NY sized Coke (thanks Mayor Bloomberg for protecting us from ourselves). It must have held all of 8 ounces.

After lunch we hit the Impressionists hard.  First in the gallery was this little Gauguin lovely... 

We spent hours enjoying work by Cezanne, Seurat, Van Gogh, Picasso, Miro, oh my gosh, the list goes on and on.  As much good art as we saw, I've just got to share this.... 

Look at the two above pieces.  Biggify them so that you get a really good look.  How much time and effort do you think went in to the execution of each of them?  Let me just say that the one on the right insults and offends me, yet it is still art and hangs in a museum.  Go figure! 

We continued on to see Pollock, Picasso, Rothko, Matisse, Kandinsky, and finally a room of Monet's waterlilies (some of my personal favorites).  By this time we were feeling worn out.  The slow walking and sensory overload was taking its toll because we had been looking at art for about 4 hours. 

We were almost ready to leave when we saw that there was also an Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keefe exhibit (another couple of my favorites) so we headed for that. The exhibit was small and included some of Stieglitz's photos of O'Keefe.  We were also able to see some photography by Edward Weston.     

Edward Hopper

By now we were dead on our feet and I knew that we had a HUGE day of walking ahead of us the next day so we headed back to our hotel to rest before dinner.  

Dinner.... oh, my!  It was a wonderful treat!  We ate at  Carmine's!  We had been warned that it was "family style" so we only had Chicken Parmesan and linguini with bread.  It was out of this world and there was enough left over for 2 more people!  We couldn't even hold dessert!

What a great time so far and I couldn't wait until the next day!

Our Great Adventure - Arrival at the Big Apple!

Our arrival in NYC via a Puddle Jumper was uneventful.  We took a shuttle to our hotel and that was also uneventful.  Our hotel was directly on Times Square.

If you have seen the ball drop on New Year's Eve, you know that Times Square can hold a whole lot of people.  The only difference between the night of our arrival and New Year's Eve is that the crowd was mobile and on New Year's Eve they are standing still.  

                            

We were bumped, jostled, tripped, and nudged, but Randy didn't let go of my hand and I didn't get lost.  We arrived around 6:00 and I looked out of our hotel room window and saw "Virgil's BBQ" a couple of blocks away.  We had tried to find a BBQ place on the way to the Charlotte Airport before we left NC but couldn't find one on Google that would be convenient for us to stop.  I was craving BBQ and so we figured, what the heck, if it didn't look ok ww would find something else.  

Welcome to Virgil's BBQ

The sauce was a little sweeter than I'm used to and a little more tomatoey but I added some of Virgil's XXX Hot Sauce and I'm going to tell you, it was pretty doggone good.  (Biggify that picture and you'll see that it was good).

After dinner we walked around times square and sat on the bleachers just watching the crowd.  We marveled at the fact that we heard more foreign accents being spoken than American accents.  Other countries may not appreciate the US but they love to visit our decadence.   

My personal tour guide

The above photo is the view from our room.  Thank goodness for blackout draperies! That large building all covered with light panels was dead center of Times Square with the ball on the top that drops.... guess what is at it's base on street level..... Walgreens!  Ha!  Imagine that!  A little triangular drugstore surrounded by a churning sea of humanity!  Now we were off to get some rest because tomorrow our adventure would start in earnest!

Our Great Adventure (prelude)

Several years ago I had the occasion of spending a night in New York.  I had never really had an interest in going there but on this occasion I had missed a connecting flight by 8 hours, was literally dead on my feet and just wanted to go home.  There wouldn't be another connecting flight until the next morning at 7:30 at a different airport, so I would have to spend what was left of the night in NYC.  

To make a long story short, there was a cab driver whose first language was NOT English, he didn't want to take my party to the hotel that the airline was willing to pay for, but he was being forced to by the NY transit representative.  He was told that he could either take us or get at the back of the long line of taxis.  He argued but finally relented.  He was mean and nasty, cursing at us in his native tongue during the entire trip and once we arrived at the designated hotel, he continued his miserable tirade to the bell captain who promptly reported him to the transit authority.  

Needless to say, this colored my impression of NY.  The next morning as we were stumbling around after a few hours of sleep, trying gather our belongings to leave for the airport I told my daughter, "Be sure you get all of your things because I don't plan to come back to NY for ANYTHING!"

That was in 1996 and that statement remained in force until October 15, 2013 when the only man on earth who could have convinced me to do something I didn't want to do wanted to take me to NY to all of the Art Museums as his birthday gift.  At first I was shocked and repulsed but then I remembered all of the art that I would see.... the food.... Broadway.... all of the positive things that New York has to offer.  

I agreed to go.  

We did so many things, saw so many places and ate so much good food... it's going to take several installments to tell you all about it so stay tuned!

Please...

Add this to my Christmas list.

October 2013 part 4 - Pilot Mtn.

We had been discussing going to Pilot Mountain State Park (not to be confused with Mt. Pilot made famous by Andy Griffith) to go hiking.  National Parks are closed due to the lunacy of our government representatives but State Parks are still open!  

The mountain itself was known by the Native Americans as Jomeokee or "the great guide" and is visible from the Blue Ridge Mountains where it rises alone from the seemingly flat earth. The view from Winston-Salem gives the appearance of a halfway mark between the city and the Blue Ridge.  The park itself covers over 3,703 acres that include hiking trails, horseback riding trails and campsites.  Click on this link for a Park Map.

Civil War era photo

Forsyth County Public Library Collection

Wednesday afternoon we finally decided to go.  The park is about 25 miles north of Winston-Salem... a nice short drive and is even more beautiful when the leaves begin to change. We got there and it was about 63 degrees, breezy and sunny. There were several other people there and many were from out of state.  If you'll notice the above photo, there are two summits, the smaller one to the left and the large on on the right.   There is an overlook built at the end of the parking lot with this view:

You can take a short hike to the small summit on the left and get the following view:

We then followed the Jomeokee Trail that leads to the large summit.  The hiking trails are rated easy, moderate and strenuous.  Don't overestimate your abilities.  You are on a mountain and you will be hiking up and down hills.  If the trail is only 1.5 miles and is strenuous, remember that you have to get there and back (3 miles total).  The Jomeokee, rated moderate, is a loop that encircles the "knob" or main summit of the mountain.  It is simply beautiful!  There are large stones, cave-like overhangs, wild flowers and beautiful vistas for viewing the surrounding countryside.  I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to take shelter under one of the outcroppings during a rain storm. Just last fall there was a controlled burn at the mountain that got out of control. Much of the mountain burned but there were only traces of fire damage.  It was as if the ash from the fire provided needed nutrients for the plants to come back to life (as a horticulturist I know that this is indeed true).

We decided to try one more hike before calling it a day.  We checked out the trail map and decided on the Sassafras Trail, a short little .5 mile moderate trail.  It was a quarter mile downhill then a quarter mile uphill trail.  Honey, my knees were whining and my lungs were collapsing by the time we got back up to the summit.  This old girl is out of shape but I felt rejuvenated, like my brain was getting some REAL oxygen!

My knees felt so wobbly that I didn't know for certain that I could work the brake on the car when we started down the mountain but I put the car in a lower gear and things worked fine until the car ahead came to a dead stop.  There on the side of the road was this pretty girl....

You could tell by her calmness that she was untroubled by the traffic on the mountain road.  She seemed almost as curious about us as we were about her.  It was as if she had come out on purpose for a scheduled photo op.

We had such a wonderful day out in the fresh air enjoying the outdoors.  I know that as the winter approaches and colder weather keeps us indoors, we will remember the autumn and all the time we were able to spend enjoying nature.

October 2013 - part 3 The Fair!

The Dixie Classic Fair is in town! According to their website, "Celebrating its 131st year in 2013, the Dixie Classic Fair is the second largest agricultural Fair in North Carolina.  It is attended by and average of 325,000 visitors each year. "  

As a child I loved going to the fair!  I loved the noises - the squeals of joy, fear, and laughter of the people, the music from the various rides, the "barkers" touting their sideshows, the wheels clacking against the tracks, the "SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"  sound of air brakes when some of the rides came to a stop!  I loved the smells of the sawdust, the rain, the cotton candy, the candy apples, the ripening fruit, the barnyard smells (well, maybe love is the wrong word for some of the smells).  I loved the garish colors, stuffed animals, balloon games, ring toss games.  The carnies seemed intriguing, exotic and frightening to me at the same time.  I couldn't imagine living on the road like they did.  The rides were thrilling and there wasn't a one of them that was too scary or rough to keep me from getting on it. The final thing was the fireworks at the end of the night.  When I was really small, this wasn't my favorite part and mama or daddy would hold me close against them and I would try to put my hands over my ears to keep the noise away.  If I looked it seemed as if the world was blowing up and that was really scary.  The percussion of the explosion made my core shake... I just couldn't take it. But aside from that,  I loved every magical thing about the fair.

Since we moved back to Winston-Salem and the fair is advertised everywhere you look, we decided to go.  We got there just after it opened the first day.  As an adult, my favorite thing besides the food would have to be the animals. We decided to eat first and then see the animals.  We strolled around the main food areas and decided on the Moravian Church's booth.  They were offering chicken pan pie, pinto beans, slaw and roll or cornbread.  It was hard to choose between their booth and the group offering the collard green sandwich.

We went on to the exhibition hall and looked at all of the art, photography, food, quilting, sewing, collectibles and hand carved items.  It is amazing the amount of talent that exists in this world. 

By now we were ready for some dessert and after walking around the midway once, we settled on hand dipped ice cream.  We found a bench outside the poultry house and listened to the farmers talk and visit with one another while we ate our ice cream.  I love to listen to them and I chuckle to myself when I hear some of their unique expressions.  

Finally we went into the poultry house and the roosters were taking their turns welcoming the day (even though it was now well past 1:00 pm).  I loved the selection of birds and was just disappointed that I couldn't take pictures of all of the various head adornments, but here are a few...

After leaving the poultry we went in search of the livestock but there was none to be found.  Apparently the livestock comes the next week.  There was, however, a petting zoo and there were plenty of little goats trying to get fed there.  

There were 2 young camels and 2 young calves there as well but all of the animals were behind a fence so you couldn't really pet them at all.  I guess the past years with people becoming sick at the fair has caused the zoo owners to be extra cautions.  You simply can't rely on people to wash up at the sink station when they're through handling the animals.  

We walked through Yesterday Village and watched a couple of men "handing" and "tying" tobacco on a stick.  Hubby and I both worked in tobacco when we were growing up so it brought back memories for both of us.  I still think I could tie tobacco.  Some things just become so ingrained in you that you could simply do them without thinking about what you're doing.  

We walked back past the livestock area and they still hadn't arrived so we decided to come back again the next week.  We went back today and THE COWS WERE THERE!!!

We went through the agricultural exhibit hall and found that the theme for this year was about the sea. Children used apples, potatoes, and pumpkins decorated according to this theme.  What fun it was to see them!:

We had a seat and people watched while we ate our cinnamon Elephant Ear and marveled at all of the people there.  It was Senior Citizen Day and many were wrapped in blankets and being pushed along in their wheelchairs.  Others where going along slowly with their walker or their cane.  Children were being pulled or pushed in wagons or strollers but no matter what their means of travel, their faces were happy because it seems that everyone loves the Fair.

I have to admit that the fair wasn't quite the way I remembered it from my childhood.  The rides didn't seem to go quite as fast, they weren't quite as big and scary as I remember them being, and I know that the big humpy slide was much, much taller when I was a child and climbed to the top with my burlap sack.  But it was still fun and I can't wait to go back!

October 2013 part 2

It's hard to believe that you can live near a place most of your life, go there every day for 4 years, live within 5 blocks of it but still , you've never taken the tour.  This was true for me and my much beloved Old Salem.  I grew up in Winston-Salem and as a child my daddy would drive through Old Salem on our way to visit family when there weren't interstates and freeways.  What I remember most about Old Salem at that time was that instead of stop signs, there were these rubber signs fastened to the road that so that they would stand up about 12 to 18 inches.  They had the word "STOP" painted on them with white letters. The rubber would flex as the car drove over them.  There was also this really beautiful building there that said "Salem College" across the top and I just felt this real connection with it...but I digress.

Well, last Saturday was finally the day... I had no excuses. Being a double Scots Irish, I'm known as Kathy "Frugal" Blanchard, and even though as a Salem student, I could have taken the tour at half price, I was still too parsimonious (that sounds much better than "cheap" doesn't it) to go.  But last Saturday the Smithsonian was behind a program encouraging various museums across the United States to allow free admission for one person and their guest.  How on earth could I turn that down?

We ate an early lunch and picked up our tickets at the Welcome Center and made an appointment for a guided tour of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art (MESDA).  We started our self guided tour with the Timothy Vogler Gunsmith Shop (1831) and were learned there that the average income for a Salem resident was equal to about $25 a month.   The next stop was the 1784 Salem Tavern (George Washington slept here), then went to the tavern barn.  Next was the Blum house and print shop.  This particular print shop printed the Blum's Almanac, the same one that Daddy always insisted that we use.  The front of the almanac is almost an exact replica of the one printed there from 1815 - 1854.  Within the print shop was a collection of embroidery from young ladies who attended Salem Academy during the early years.  The work was just lovely and so delicate!

Next on the list was the Single Brother's House (1769).  We learned that wthin the Moravian Church, everyone was divided up into "choirs" - not to be confused with singing choirs (although they did sing, in fact music was and is very important to them), but small living and study groups called choirs.  The choirs were set up according to age, gender and marital status. During the week they lived, worked and studied with their choir and on Sunday they all worshiped together. If you visit a Moravian cemetery you'll find it arranged in blocks/choirs.  Husbands and wives are not buried side by side but with their gender and marital status.  

The Single Sister's house sat across the square from the Single Brothers house.  It has been refurbished and is partially used by the college.  

Next stop was the Miksch Gardens and House (1771).  It was a 2 room house - one room was the kitchen and the other room was the everything else room.  The guide in there was sewing.  She said that they have various chores that they do each day and at different times of the day (cooking, washing, sewing, etc,) just like the folks living in the 1700s.  

Since we have shopped in Old Salem, there was no need to go to the stores and bakery so we went along to the Doctor's residence.  It contained the family living space as well as the apothecary.  We were lucky that the Home Moravian Church was still open with a man giving a talk about the church and how it had changed over the years.  The church is really beautiful with its curved pews and balcony.  

Our time was nearing for our MESDA tour.  It was hard to believe that we had already spent hours looking around.  On our way back to the museum we stopped in at the log church and St. Phillips Moravian Church, built by the Moravians for the African American congregation who until the mid 19th century had  worshipped alongside the Moravians.     

We finished up with our tour of MESDA.  This was only a partial tour, about 10 rooms but it was fabulous.  Frank L. Horton, who the museum is named in honor of, and his mother enjoyed collecting early Southern furniture and actually collected entire rooms from homes that were about to be demolished.  These rooms have been reassembled or recreated within the museum using the paints and original furnishings (when available).  It is a gorgeous treat and I do plan to bite the bullet one day soon and take the rest of the tour.

There is always something going on in Old Salem.  During the summer they have the Cobblestone Market, which is a farmer's market of certified organic goods, Ghost Tours, Christmas Events including the Candle Tea and Love Feast and they are known far and wide for their Easter Sunrise Service.  If you'd like to find out more about these wonderful sites and maybe arrange to take the tours yourself, you'll find the link below.  

http://www.oldsalem.org/

http://www.salem.edu/

http://www.mesda.org/