Category: Culture

SKAGWAY, ALASKA: GATEWAY TO THE KLONDIKE

7/29/2016

Okay, let’s just put it out there.

There was very little that was charming or quaint about Skagway, Alaska.

Violet was a most unusual and beguiling hood ornament for her Skagway Streetcar.

Well, there was Violet. I’ll get back to her in a minute.

Vast rugged wilderness and natural beauty is what Alaska is all about, although for a brief period, just before the turn of the 20th century, Alaska was all about GOLD!

Tens of thousands of dreamers and schemers passed through the virtually uninhabited Glacial Valley the native Tlingit called Skgagwei; all contributed to the raw and raucous two-year period from 1898 to 1900 at the core of much of Skagway’s history; at least the bulk of history Violet shared during our one hour tour of Alaska’s first incorporated city.

HUNGRY FOR MORE ALASKA

7/7/2016

Johns Hopkins Glacier emerges from the misty waters of Alaska's Glacier Bay.

Mile after mile after magnificent mile (6,600 miles of coastline) was unimaginably beautiful; and serene; and remote. Only 20% of Alaska can be reached by road; which is why we chose to come by boat. Most visitors do.

HISTORY & HANNIBAL OFFER A UNIQUE VIEW OF AN AMERICAN TREASURE

6/23/2016

Mark Twain and 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' (she survived the Titanic) both hail from Hannibal, Missouri.

It was all interstate driving from Chicago to Springfield, three hours of nondescript farmland laid bare by winter’s chilly disposition. A right turn just south of Springfield put Hannibal, Missouri, America’s self-proclaimed Hometown, within easy reach. Jimmy and I had the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens (yes that would be none other than Mark Twain) in our sights.

The dusty, quiet riverboat town of Hannibal, settled in the early 1800s on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, had an uncanny resemblance to Twain’s fictitious hometown of St. Petersburg, right down to protagonist Tom Sawyer’s infamous white-washed picket fence;

AMERICA'S BEST IDEA CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

4/21/2016

Hit the road and head to your nearest NPS site.

HURRY! The celebration has begun; admission is FREE for the rest of the week, through Sunday, April 24th!

Turn off all electronics! Grab the kids, the pets, the passport, the camera, and the car keys and get out of Dodge. America awaits, in all her beauty, glory and history; it’s National Parks Week!

Pick a site, any one of over 400 National Park sites covering a plethora of possibilities and make some memories for FREE.

Yes, a plethora of possibilities, including . . .

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S OAK PARK HOME: AN INVESTMENT IN BEAUTY AND TRUTH

3/31/2016

The original FLW home is now part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust established in 1974.

Let’s just put it right out there.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Prairie Style of architecture; conforming to one design aesthetic, from structure to style, from rooftop to windows to walls, carpet to furniture to dinnerware feels more socialistic than democratic. In fact, for years I wasn’t really a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright.

It has always been a challenge separating the brash, outspoken, self-serving man from the architectural genius. By his own admission Wright professed, "Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change."

Okay, so I didn’t hold back; but there is still more Wright than wrong when it comes to the 20th century’s most influential architect. And what do you know; I’m willing to share my thoughts (the good, the bad, and the ugly) on the matter. Right here, right now.

Happens every time I tour one of FLW’s homes, in this case his own home in Oak Park, Illinois; I come away with a deeper appreciation for the man’s genius despite the man's personal shortcomings. I promise to try to stick to the genius qualities.

WHERE MODERN MEETS THE MASTER: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S OAK PARK HOME & OFFICE

3/24/2016

I was 25 when my husband and I bought into the American dream. The open floor plan of the 3-bedroom ranch centered round a great room flanked by modest kitchen and equally modest dining room imbued our little starter home with the grandiosity befitting our growing family and dreams.

At 25, this east coast momma knew very little of America’s greatest architect (wait for it!), or of the prairie covering America’s heartland that proved such an inspiration for the organically inspired Frank Lloyd Wright (tah-dah!).

Then again, what do any of us really know at 25?

Well, actually, at 22, Frank Lloyd Wright knew considerably more than most, particularly this flunky. Well, okay, I graduated college by the time I was 22, which is more than I can say for the master (FLW took a few courses in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin in 1886, but never received a degree; it’s questionable the self-made man even graduated high school). I delivered my first child just weeks shy of my 23rd birthday. Then again, so did FLW. Well, actually Wright's wife Catherine did the delivering; but I digress.

My point is (yes, there is one buried beneath all the reminiscing), . . .

TACKLING THE #1 MUSEUM IN THE WORLD

3/10/2016

TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Award deemed Chicago's Art Institute the #1 museum in the world in 2014.

Have you ever noticed just how exhilarating and exhausting a museum visit? Try tackling the #1 museum in the world!

It was like three hours of therapy with a psychiatrist (or so I’ve heard). I emerged from Chicago’s imposing neoclassical Art Institute at the end of a long afternoon feeling spent and hungry; my head and heart were spinning like a load of laundry going through a second rinse cycle before being hung out to dry.

ALCATRAZ & A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

2/18/2016

Eight prisoners either drowned or were killed during attempted escapes from the Rock.

The Rock. Uncle Sam’s Devil’s Island. Hell on Earth.

Call it what you will, the infamous 22 acres of bay front property called Alcatraz was once home to the most incorrigible of U.S. criminals; and home to a parallel universe even Mulder and Scully would have found very intriguing.

LE CHOCOLAT DU BOUCHARD & A SINFULLY DELICIOUS GUILT TRIP

2/10/2016

Chiquita would have you believe their banana is quite possibly the world’s perfect food.

In some camps the health benefits of avocados put the “alligator pear” at the top of the list.

And of course, what would we do without the latest super food, king kale?
Somehow I’ve managed without.

Each 100 gram portion of this vegetable contains 200% of the RDA for Vitamin C, 300% of the RDA for Vitamin A, 1000% of the RDA for Vitamin K1, not to mention large amounts of 2 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein, Vitamin B6, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper and manganese.

Holy hubris! With only limited quantities of food consumption humanly possible on a daily basis, what’s a hungry, health-conscious diner to do?

CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER OFFERS THE STUFF OF DREAMS

1/28/2016

Love the little people wandering through all the faint layers.

The faint layers that create the inside of the inside of the inside.

Whoa! Are we now talking the flip side or have we gone over to the dark side?

Obviously I’d wandered into the deep end of the pool again; happens every time I visit Chicago’s Cultural Center.

Last time it was Shawn Decker’s surreal crickets chirping, insects buzzing, and rain falling urban forest experience; very peaceful New Age on the top floor of the Cultural Center.

This time it was . . .

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