Loving Texas Hill Country

We had an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating, and HOT trip to Texas.  Below are my travel notes and highlights.  Plus some pictures. 

Day 1

• Flight--Jet Blue let me load first, with scooter and crutch; we eventually find Gommie, Pop, and the cousins at the airport; cousins have grown and are excited and chatty (my team is a bit tired since being up at 3:30 CST but happy to finally be there.)
• lunch at Hoover's--a great first Texas meal--chicken fried steak, pinto beans, cowboy beans (have ground beef), potato salad, mashed potatoes, greens, green beans, candied yams, these amazing cinnamon sweet potato biscuits, buttermilk pie, coconut custard, and an incredible blackberry cobbler!!!
• Buc-ee's, "the cleanest bathrooms in Texas" and one of my favorite tourist spots--great (and tacky) Texas souvenirs and snacks, great photo ops, and iced tea in huge cups.  Sis got a cowboy hat for the trip and some Buc-ee nuggets, of course.
• reunion in SA--we meet up with Aunt Banana and Uncle Soccer at our hotel--we're all together!  
• Emily Morgan hotel--she might have been the infamous/famous Yellow Rose who distracted Santa Anna, but the 1930s building is Gothic Revival and like the Flatiron building in NYC; we have a great room overlooking the Alamo complex.
• evening walk by Alamo, which was closed, and protected by a Texas Ranger; Mama and I got a tamarind snow cone like the one we enjoyed in SA the week of Banana's wedding; I had forgotten how gorgeous the trees are in the hill country
• Riverwalk--it hadn't changed much; there was even a marker for the old Kangaroo Court restaurant, where we used to get great cheesecake; the same boats cruise the river; I had forgotten some of the 19th-century architecture and, again, those trees.
• dinner at Schilo's, a German place off Alamo Plaza--German pretzels and beer cheese, schnitzel, German (think IKEA) meatballs and mashed potatoes, red cabbage, German potato salad
• Menger Hotel--Mama, Sis, Banana and I swazu through the hotel on the way back, admiring the elaborate 19th-century architecture and the famous bar visited by Generals Grant and Lee for the Mexican-American war and also by Teddy Roosevelt; barbed wire was first demonstrated outside in the square

Day 2

• Missions!  Well, we chose a hot day to see the missions, but then everyday was a hot day.  I remember visiting all 5 of the missions in college, perhaps once I had my car; I think I went with my roommates.  I know I'd also visited some of them with beloved Aunt Sis, but now they are a National Park (though, NOT the Alamo.)
• Mission San Jose:  the main mission, where the visitor center is, was our major mission stop; I had thought we'd see all 5, but with the heat, my ankle, and interest, we focused on this one.  It has great walls and living quarters for the indigenous Coathiltecans with a well and a few bakery ovens still around, ruins of the convento where priests lived, and of course the church, with its elaborately-carved door (for which there was a whole legend, about pomegranates, etc, all symbols of pilgrimage and salvation) and side chapel to the Virgin of Guadalupe.  We came across several images of Guadalupe, including paintings in several chapels, a cement yard ornament, some souvenirs, and projected on the cathedral in a light show.  I remember seeing her on candles and car ornaments when I was a kid and, after class last semester, I have a much better understanding of her role in Mexican culture.  I forgot to mention it, just like I forget to notice in--we missed the Rose Window on my first walk around the mission; it's not stained glass but an elaborately carved window frame.  Beautiful!  I'm glad I went back to see it.  
• lunch at the new Liberty Bar:  The classics department would take speakers to Liberty Bar after lectures of the SW chapter of the AIA.  It was in a leaning-over, wooden building on Josephine Street, complete with tilted floor.  I don't remember the entrees, but I loved the coconut custard!  Which is like flan, but denser and with no sauce.  And it was exactly the same!  The restaurant is in a new place, an old convent; still has lots of charm and character.  We had a great meal--Minguichi queso (with feta, goat cheese, cream cheese, parmesan, and bell peppers), ceviche, Ensalada Emiliano (a bean on arugula with feta salad, so tasty), a sauteed tenderloin and peppers Puntas Nortenos, grilled potato slices with garlic aioli, and a chicken alfredo with shaved brussel sprouts.  And of course, that custard, plus geranium cream with blackberry sauce and shortbread cookies, and rum and sour cherry ice cream!  There was also a tasty Karkade hibiscus and mint tea with ginger and white grape juice, and an amazing limeade.  
• Mission Espada--we were hot and tired but I wanted to see the bell tower.  So we split off, our four plus Gommie and Banana.  The locusts were singing their "it's hot" song.  It was so hot.  But the garden at Espada was beautiful and the inside of the chapel, so peaceful.  I'm glad we stopped.  
• Concepion--we waved at it as we drove by (well, I hopped out for a picture.)  
• San Antonio architecture--I forgot how much I like the various buildings of SA--the big Gothic revival buildings like our hotel, the Spanish-inspired architecture like the McNay, the Victorian gingerbread houses, all the 1920s-era craftsmen cottages, and the one-story stucco houses with porches and slanted roofs.  I took a great class in college about American architecture and went around photographing buildings, including the Scottish Rite temple, the red stoned Bexar County courthouse, the interior of the Majestic theater, and one with Islamic influences.  I saw some of those buildings again.
• Tejas Rodeo!  Yes, we went to a real Saturday night rodeo in Texas.  I'd been to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and swear I'd seen Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton singing from the back of a circling pick up truck.  I'd also been to see a rodeo my cousins competed in.  But the kids and Mama had never been.  It was very Texas--very kitschy Texas--with windmills and rough wooden buildings, neon, and even a mechanical bull!  We sat in bleachers around a covered sand arena, eating great festival snacks.  And my beloved wife brought me Frito Chili pie!!!  I love Frito chili pie. There was also sausage on a stick, nachos, chicken fingers, etc.  The rodeo itself was fun and very local.  There was precision drill team work (with flags!), bull riding, calf-roping, and cloverleaf barrel racing.  Such talent on horseback, even if we never saw anyone stay on a bull for 8 seconds.  When Sis rode the mechanical bull afterwards, she stayed on for more than a minute!!  (Boy cousin tried--on a slower speed--and was so cute!) There was dancing afterwards, with a local band.  Girl Cousin and Aunt Banana danced and then Banana danced with Pop.  Bud and I danced out in the yard, too shy to be observed.  
• The landscape as we went out to the rodeo was beautiful Texas hill country--barbed wire fences, scruffy fields, clumps of beautiful live oaks and cedars and pecans, lots of wildflowers (thought not THE famous ones.)  There was a stalky purple flower that almost looked like a bluebonnet; kinda looked like thistle, too.  I realized later it was horsemint.  There were also some small sunflowers, some primroses, and other plants I can't identify.  Plus tons of flowering crepe myrtles in whites and pinks and purples.  Beautiful.

Day 3

• The Alamo!  You can't imagine how small the Alamo is until you see it in person.  It's about the size of a McDonald's front, barely two stories.  And it's just right there, in front of a small plaza, across the street from stores and hotels.  Which is funny because the church used to be inside a mission like at San Jose.  You can still see the outlines and some of the walls of the old mission.  Inside, it's a plain white stucco church with flags and some labels, envisioned as a shrine to Texas liberty and the sacrifices at the Alamo, but not in quite the same TEXAS way it used to be (they've toned down the mythology--the line in the sand and Deaf Smith and the women survivors; it's not exactly states' right and anti-Mexico; I like that they've balanced the history of it responsibly, like in the movie, which really went through the whole Spain/Mexico timeline.)  We saw that one person from CT died at the Alamo--William Gordon Cummings Jr (I think.)  But less focus on bullet holes and where people died.  Outside of the small church, we walked around the yard with the gorgeous huge trees, so beautiful.  I liked the exhibit in the other building, with the Bowie knife and rifles and uniforms and the like.  And we met up with some of the Australians who were in the rodeo the night before!  So I got to tell them how great it was.  
• Whataburger, pronounced "water burger."  Yes, with the orange and white stripes.  I didn't go much as a kid--there weren't really any in suburban Houston.  But I've been since then.  Chicken bites, Texas toast, fries, sweet tea (now mixed with unsweet because I can't handle full sweet!), burgers.  And the GRAVY!  Yep, we had this for lunch.  With a Dr. Pepper float!!!!  So, so good.  Mama and I used to stop at Whataburger on the way to see Aunt Sis--they're tasty and everywhere and open 24 hours a day.  And you can't get Texas toast in Connecticut.  
• Natural Bridge Caverns:  I remember going a few times as a child and then once in college in my geology class (when part of the caves had flooded and then we hiked Enchanged rock afterwards.) But I didn't go into the cave this time--with my ankle it wasn't going to work.  So I sat with Pop.  Bud joined us because he wasn't feeling well.  But everyone else went and saw the Hall of the Mountain King, the "fried egg,"  the bat guano, and all the stalagtites and mites; they didn't turn off the lights in the cave though.  So Pop, Bud, and I enjoyed the breeze and the trees, and two little humingbirds flitting around, and a long stick bug right by us.  Bud practiced juggling Koosh balls.   The crew liked the sights but thought it was steep and hot and humid.
• THUNDERSTORM  I woke up to thunder a little after midnight.  And I immediately race to our wall of windows looking south over SA.  What a view!  Lightning flashes constantly, thunder too.  Hard rain.  For more than an hour or two.  I even saw the strikes a few times even though the main storm was out of my sight; and because it was dark, I couldn't see the dark sky.  It was just a regular summer storm, nothing major, but it was more lightning that I've ever even seen in CT.  And we saw some of it again the next day.  But watching it that night with Mama was extra special.  

Day 4

• I spent most of the day with Bud, who still wasn't feeling well; we think it was a small bug.  He was better after a day of rest.  
• Mama, Sis, Aunt Banana and girl cousin went horseback riding in Bandera along the Medina river.  The rain delayed their ride, so they had time to check out a bunch of the tack shops; yep, there was more than one.  Sis got a beaded rope halter for Patience; she also tried roping a calf model (Sis said the roping in a rodeo wouldn't be her thing, just the riding.)  They rode in the afternoon, having a great time along the river and the main road in town.  Mama's horse liked to eat; Sis had good control of her pony, Concho.  The leader rode a white mule.
• I stepped out for a bit with Gommie, when Bud was feeling better.  I grabbed a good sandwich at the local chain Jimmy John's--good bread!  Across the street was Rocket Fizz, a shop filled with regional sodas from all over the country.  There was Ranch soda, which I'd heard of but would not try.  I got a Jasmine ginger tea soda I get here in CT; I know not adventuresome.  Mom got a couple of coconut and lime ones.  And I got Mama the Sprecher's root beer which we liked in Chicago.  I got Bud some Dr Brown's cel-ray, which he likes.  A nice distraction.
• When Mama and Sis got back, I left Mama with Bud, and Sis and I went to the Riverwalk with everybody else.  We rode one of the touristy river boat cruises; I even got a touristy paper flower garland like we used to see at Fiesta, which I wore the rest of the night.  I actually enjoyed the cruise, which I must have taken as a little girl.  We heard about the Coathuitlecan peoples living there when Spaniards arrive, the old Mexican village at La Villita, the aqueduct system, the witness tree of Ben Milam's sniper during the Texas rebellion, the 19th-century warehouses and hotels and restaurants and institute for boys, the saving of the river in the early 20th century as well as the flood, and the World's Fair in the 1960s.  Beautiful.
• Boudro's: We ate on the Riverwalk at a old standard.  We had grilled vegetables, black beans, fresh bread, and Sis and I had rosemary chicken; we took home some gumbo for Mama.  For dessert, coconut flan and creme brulee.

Day 5 

• Bud felt better!
• We were headed to the SA Zoo in Brackenridge Park and randomly stopped for breakfast, at two places side by side, doughnuts and breakfast tacos. Mama and Gommie got some award-winning breakfast tacos which were very good.  The rest of us hit the doughnuts--citrus lavender, chocolate brownie, unicorn, orange cake, maple bacon (Sis's favorite!), blackberry, blueberry--and this great strong Mexican coffee with tons of cinnamon. Serendipitous.
• Oh, my dear old San Antonio Zoo!  I went as a child and so often with Aunt Sis, sometimes after watching cousin John juggle in the park.  There were koalas then and those melt-a-molds that made blue koalas!  It's built in the same quarry as Trinity, now on the other side of the highway.  It looked good--the trees were bigger and the zoo had been updated (you could spot some of the old habitats.)  It was hell on my scooter, though, and oh so hot.  But we stayed a long time.  I got henna--I can't pass that up.  We did the butterflies--and they had so many blue morpho butterflies!!  And at least one landed on my hat!  As Mama noted, it was the very first time we went in a butterfly exhibit that wasn't really hotter than the outside; it was the same temperature!  (That's not what happens in NY or CT or MA.)  I loved watching them flit around and brush past me; I wish the kiddos didn't get competitive or disappointed that the butterflies didn't land on them.  I even loaned girl cousin my flower garland, which I'd brought for fun.  Maybe I just sweat better. And we rode the carousel--I rode a panda (because the kid in front of us beat me to the manatee!)  I love carousels.  We finally made it to the KOALA BEARS!!!  And they moved, both of them.  One considered its lunch; the other scratched its ear.  So cute.  Mama had seen them once before in San Diego.  But it was a first for the kids.  I used to watch them a long time, when they were always at the zoo (they're in a special exhibit for the summer.)  It's why we went to the zoo.  Because otherwise, it was too hot and humid.  So hot.  Too hot.  But henna, carousel ride, butterflies, and koalas made it pretty awesome nonetheless.
• Alamo Heights--after the zoo, our four went to wander my old area, stopping first at beloved Aunt Sis's old house at 826 Cambridge Oval.  The yard was totally different--a little cactus garden that she would have loved--and the house was so well cared for.  I recognized it, of course, but it didn't look like hers anymore.  No windchimes or little statues on the porch.  No gravel driveway.  No overgrown plants.  A new garage.  But I could picture Otto the dachsund on the porch and cousin John outside and Aunt and Uncle on the porch.  And all the cats.  Good memories, not many tears.  Then we drove around to see the pizza place EZs which was next to a Bookstop back then and was our Friday night hangout, the McNay villa and now museum where I took a museum studies class and often visited with Aunt, the Witte (where those AIA meetings were), SAMA in the old brewery where I had my first museum internship, the so incorrectly named ghetto and gucci HEBs.  We didn't see Earl Abel's; I think it had moved.  But we did drive through the Olmos Dam area to get to the other side of 281N.
• Taco Cabana--the very first!  With its brick patio and vinyl walls and tiny order counter.  We got bean and cheeses, steak and peppers, iced tea, chicken quesadillas.  Oh the bean and cheeses. Oh, good old TCs.  Bud really liked his steak tacos.
• Trinity--my, how I was so happy those four years at Trinity.  A perfect fit.  I enjoyed my classes, liked my friends, enjoyed my service fraternity APO; it was just great.  And it was fun to be back, even if it was a bit different and really too hot to walk around.  The fountain has moved and a few of the buildings redone.  But there was the tower, the Magic Stones, the "Mom" sculpture, the fabulous collage in the library about the world's civilizations (and the columns were yarn-bombed and there was a Starbucks in there!), the (relocated) fountain, the Esplanade, the red brick, the beautiful trees (not bigger!), the various buildings I'd taken classes in, the Coates student center, and the relocated bookstore where we bought some souvenirs.  Okay, it was their least favorite part, but only because it was so hot.
• Mi Tierra's in El Mercado--is it the best Mexican food or the best restaurant in SA?  Nope.  But it holds lots of memories.  Aunt Sis and I went to El Mercado, where there are little shops selling Mexican crafts and Texas souvenirs; and so we went and picked up some things, including cascarones, those Fiesta-time confetti eggs.  The restaurant itself is crazy decorated--lights and colors and decorations everywhere, like nothing you've ever seen, with a long bakery counter filled with buns and topped with grainy sugar pralines that I remember.  There are roaming mariachi bands, which we paid to play a song for us, in the room with the mural of famous Mexicans, including Frida, Selena, Henry Cisneros and sons, Roy Benavides (purple heart recipient from El Campo), the restaurant founders, and many many more.  The food is average Tex-Mex, which is to say a lot of cheese, but way better than what we get up north.  The cheese enchiladas even had the right meat sauce (yes, I got the combo with the taco, tamale, enchilada, beans, and rice.)  We had nachos with everything and then soapapillas and tres leches cake for dessert.  It was a lovely, memorable night, just like I'd hoped.  Because you just can't forget Mi Tierra's.  
• Walking out through El Mercado, with the colorful paper flags flying, we cracked some cascarones on each other.  The I got the kids, the kids got Pop and then got me.  Loved it.
• We went home in separate cars, so that my crew plus Gommie could stop by the projection and light show on the facade of San Fernando Cathedral.  We couldn't find parking and only Bud and I got out to see the little show about SA history.  If it had been less hot and we had been less tired, it would have been fun to take everyone.  There was mariachi music, polkas, and "Ashokan Farewell" during the Civil War part.  And so ended our time in SA.

Day 6

• We made a morning HEB run, the big, amazing Texas grocery chain where Uncle Soccer works.  It's about the size of a Target, probably bigger, and has everything--we even got water shirts and those sunscreen shirts.  Plus premade lunch and tons of snacks, like kimchi pork rinds!  (Talk about mixing cultures.)  I didn't know it would be such a production to go to . . . .
• SCHLITTERBAHN all day!  Yep, the huge Texas waterpark that started as a few slides next to Landa resort and has now taken over New Braunfels.  I'd been a few times as a kid--even split a swim suit on the water slide and later had heat exhaustion--and liked it (balanced with being scared of the dark water and the snake I saw hanging from the tree above the river.) I liked eating at Oma's Haus (gone, but home to my first Boston Cream Pie!) and also breakfast at New Braunfels Smokehaus (with slanted floor.)  And Nagelin's bakery!  Which I saw in a movie some years back and it looks the same.  We stayed at the park way longer than I expected and so didn't get to see anything else, but it was worth it.  The kids did some of the rides and shutes while I rode the lazy Kristal River in an innertube all day.  All day.  I bet I went around, straw hat and long-sleeved sun shirt and all, about 100+ times.  I think I even fell asleep more than once.  I liked the rapids and the slow parts, watching the sun on the water, watching the trees nearby, just the feeling of floating and having nothing to do.  Best parenting day ever.  I got out a few times to eat and drink and go to the restroom.  But that's it.  Me and the lazy river, with or without someone (and I pretty much traveled around with everybody at least once), all day.  I had the most fun with Mama, who liked the water more than she expected.
• We ate more Whataburger on the way to our new hotel, a tiny room in a suites near Aunt Sis's house, where we crashed. 

Day 7

• It was a slow morning and we didn't get to Aunt Banana's house til almost 11, which made it too late to really do anything before our boat rental.  Probably just what we needed, truthfully.  So we watched soccer, played games, admired the house, and just generally hung out.
• That night, we headed to Just for Fun boat rentals on Lake Travis, where we had a pontoon boat waiting, for four hours.  We had drinks and snacks, and all the swim gear from the day before.  The lake is human-made, a thin, deep ravine with very expensive houses high on the sides (with little trams from house to dock.)  The breeze was lovely and I always love a boat ride.  And we got out to swim twice, at the shore of an island.  Though it was clear, the bushes (which grew during the drought) under the water freaked me out.  I managed to enjoy floating as long as everyone helped me avoid the bushes.  I like it better than salt water for sure.  A nice refreshing evening.
• Rudy's barbecue take out for dinner--brisket, ribs, beans, potato salad, white bread.  Great!
• And then, the kids had a sleepover and  . . . Mama and I went back to the room and packed before falling asleep (this is when I first noticed that I had a cold, when my throat began to be so sore.)

Day 8 

• Last full day in Texas.
• Bullock Museum and the La Belle:  I hadn't been to the Bullock before but had been hearing about it and the La Belle from Gommie for years.  The museum was new and huge and spacious, with good balance--straightforward acknowledgement about slavery and the Native Americans who were devastated by the Europeans--and clear labels (though the path through was not clear nor linear; you already needed to have a pretty good grasp on TX history.)  The La Belle, excavated from my mom's bay, is impressive, with wooden timbers and rope and 1.5 million surviving artifacts (mostly military, but also supplies for settlement; and some skeletons.)  Reminded me of some of the Viking ships we've seen.  Mom asked if it was the oldest shipwreck on view in the US and I think it is. We took a break in the cafe--good Texas chili (no beans, lots of spice, though a little tomato) and good salsa (though it was pureed and possibly from roasted or sun dried tomatoes.)  The shop was great, too.  But by the end of it, I was done, between my ankle and my cold and the knowledge that the trip was ending.
• We hung out at Banana's house some more, with Bud introducing everyone to BTS choreography and videos.  We had pizza, which Banana and I fetched while having a good chat.  We also got a giant cookie and some treats to celebrate everyone's birthday.
• And then we all said goodbye.  The trip was everything we could have hoped--family time and a lot of Texan culture.

Day 9: Departure

Washington Weekend

As promised, here is a description of our 36-hour trip to DC.  We always go to DC for a quick trip, rarely stay longer than 36 hours or 2 nights.  This time it was for the Vermeer (last time, for the Pre-Raphaelites; then twice for the pandas.) We really should go down for an extended visit; we leave so much that we don't see.  This time, we wanted to see the Spy Museum across the street from our hotel but didn't have time.  No doubt we'll go again.

Saturday evening
Mitsuwa:  This huge Japanese grocery store in Edgewater, NJ is now one of our favorite stops when we head south.  Not only does it have some of our favorite ramen, sesame ginger dressing, Calpico and Yakult drinks, and jasmine iced teas, it has an amazing food court.  Sis had "hamburg steak" with dumplings; I had pork katsu don; Bud had a big sushi bowl; and Mama had tempura and sushi.  She also got a delicious black sesame shake while Sis got macaroons.  We didn't go to the Japanese bookstore this time, with all its manga, Pokemon, and Studio Ghibli items, but I did get a nice photo of NYC across the river.

Sunday
Lincoln's Waffles:  This diner is located across from Ford's theater, where Lincoln was, of course, shot.  They were out of their famous chicken wings, but we liked their waffles, corned beef hash, grits, blueberry pancakes, salmon cakes, scrapple, and such.  A good way to start of the very, very cold day.

Vermeer:  We were in line for the show in the 5F degree weather about half an hour before the museum opened; thankfully, they let us in early because of the extreme cold.  And the Vermeer show was beautiful.  We'd seen some Vermeers a few years ago at a Dutch genre painting exhibition in Boston.  But there were more this time.  To prep for the exhibition, we had watched the documentary Tim's Vermeer, about a Texas digital systems mogul and inventor who theorized about the kind of optics Vermeer used to create his painting.  The documentary was intriguing--with Tim building a replica of one of Vermeer's scenes and then minutely painting what he saw using a mirror and a lens (which he ground himself!)  Interspersed were conversations with Penn (of P and Teller), artist David Hockney, and an art historian.  I don't believe anyone now argues against the idea that Vermeer used some kind of lens to create his paintings--and they were teaching that in my art history classes long before Hockney's book.  We just don't know which and to what extent.  Tim Levinson seems to suggest that the majority of the effects in Vermeer's painting are due to a lens-mirror combo.  And while the documentary was persuasive, I didn't find it compelling as I stood in front of the paintings.  Vermeer was not a fijnschilder, painting everything the eye or lens could see (as Tim did with the seahorse swirls on the virginal), but created a mood using color and light--keeping some details in (some of the stitches on the Persian rugs), but eliding others, especialy in the foreground.  There is just much more artistry, and a lot less replication, than the documentary argues.  And the paintings are beautiful--the muted tones, the quiet stillness, the symbolism overlaid on the scenes of daily life.  We all loved looking for Vermeer's re-use of objects such as the pearl earrings, yellow ermine jacket, lion chair, globe, etc.  And we liked the other paintings in the show, particularly the Ter Borchs (including the one compared so unfavorably to Vermeer in the documentary--and I think that is owing to the unfortunate yellow wallpaper negatively casting its pallor throughout the painting), de Hoochs, van Meirises, and a few Jan Steens.  I love Dutch 17th-century art--and, even Tulip Fever, which was a pretty mediocre moving, was fun to see for the recreation of clothes and interiors.  After the exhibition, we perused the other 17th-century Dutch galleries--with the Lady with the Red Hat and several Rembrandts.  We ran through the Italian galleries, just to see the one Leonardo in the US, but weren't up for staying long.

Freer/Sackler:  We saw two exhibitions at the Freer-Sackler, the first being a show on Egyptian representations of cats that Mama wanted to see; it was small but delightful.  I liked the permanent exhibition on depictions of Buddha throughout Asia, with Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian versions present. It even had a recreated Tibetan shrine, complete with chanting audio.  We also wandered through the exhibition of Chinese bells and even got to play a replica.

Museum of the American Indian:  By now, we were cold, tried, and hungry, so we cabbed it over to the MAI, where we love the food.  Biscuits with salmon gravy, curried butternut soup, white bean soup with chorizo, lomo saltado, Jack Daniels-brined turkey, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, cranberry sauce, passion fruit aqua fresco, cranberry aqua fresco.  So good.  Just what we needed.

"Nutshells of Unexplained Deaths":  Lunch gave us the energy to see another exhibition, one that Mama had just read about.  Entitled "Murder was Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshells of Unexplained Death," the exhibition included several of the dollhouses Lee had made depicting unexplained deaths in minute detail. (She knitted table runners on straight pins and wore the fabrics for clothes until they looked worn; one was made from the 200-year-old timbers of her barn so it looked weathered.)  See, though an heiress (her house is an architectural gem and museum in Chicago! Mama and I had been 20 years ago), Lee was interested in legal medicine and founded a department at Harvard; she was even the first female police captain and is called the godmother of forensics. In fact, even now, the dollhouses are used to train investigators in observation, so that the answers aren't given as to whether a given scene was homicide, suicide, accidental, or natural death.  We were fascinated not just by the craftsmanship, but by the mysteries.  And so we stood debating them and trying to figure out the narratives.  Some of our favorites, with clues gathered from observation, discussion with the guards, and articles we found online.  We don't know if we're right, of course, but we're satisfied (well, mostly.)

• Barn:  the broken crate was our clue.
• Three-Room Dwelling:  this was the hard one, which Bud discussed with a young man at length.  We came to a conclusion based on all the blood.
• Burned Cabin:  the murder weapon is still in the house! (A guard pointed it out.)
• Pink Bathroom:  our clue was the location of the fire escape and some fibers we only later spotted in photos.
• Two-story porch:  apparently, the guard said, this is the only one without the clue to the answer in the picture (it's supposedly based on a true story of two boys who discharged a rifle in a field, killing the woman on the porch) and it's not used in training anymore.
• Woodman's shack: the temperature was our clue, as was the covering of her face.
• Unpapered bedroom: there was a didactic label allowing us to turn the pillow over.
• Attic:  the position of the chair and the mess were our clues.
• Parsonage Parlor:  the reported daily temperature was our clue.
• Sitting Room and Woodshed:  we believed the doctor.
• Red Bedroom: we don't believe the "boyfriend."

We were stumped by (either what--murder/suicide/accident--who, how, or why)--

• Saloon and Jail:  Where's the lunchbox? Where's his hat? How did he die?
• Garage:  We can't see why it's not suicide except Bud wondered where the broken window was.  And the wife does have a motive.
• Living Room:  why were there so many cigarette stubs?  
• Log Cabin: we read that the hard-to-find bullet in the rafters set someone free.  HOW?
• Dark Bathroom: such an odd angle of the body of the woman in the tub and why was there alcohol here?  
• Striped Bedroom:  what is going on in that basin?

The Kitchen--we all seemed to skip this one!  No one saw it, but we're pretty sure it was there.  And that it was murder.

I admit that when the victim was a woman, especially as these mostly happened in a domestic space, I suspected the man involved, even if I couldn't prove it or find conclusive evidence.  Statistics bear me out; women are usually killed by husbands or lovers.   

The show has definitely stayed with us; we've talked about it off and on for days.  I wish we could go back and look again. 

Hen Quarter:  We celebrated New Year's early with dinner at a Southern food restaurant, where we actually spent most of the time discussing the nutshells!  And the meal was delicious--pimento cheese fondue, fried chicken skins, deviled eggs, fried pickles, biscuits with honey butter and fig jam, brussels with balsamic glaze and parmesan, crab cakes, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, succotash, roast chicken, grits, and sweet tea and Peach Fizzy!!  So good.  We didn't manage to stay up to watch the ball, really, though we had it on--we kinda opened our eyes, said "Happy 2018," and then turned off the tv to go back to sleep.

Monday
Pandas at the National Zoo:  This was our fourth time to see the pandas.  We'd seen baby Tae Shan, when both he and the twins were a year old.  Then we went back in 2010 and 2013.  It was so very cold at the zoo, which was practically empty.  The pandas were inside, trying to get treats out of their enrichment toys, eating their bamboo, and then napping.  So cute!  I stayed watching the pandas when the rest went to see cheetahs, ponies, betongs, and other critters; I just wanted to stay in the warmer enclosed panda viewing area.

Chap's Pit Beef:  We headed back home around noon, stopping in Baltimore at this dive for beef sandwiches.  Kinda like the real version of Arby's or perhaps the Maryland version of barbecue.  But I think I liked the french fries with gravy the best.

It was a long drive home, with lots of traffic congestion, but well worth the trip.

Since I've Been Gone

Since I've been off the blog, we

• had a multi-day heat wave with temps in the mid 90Fs and heat index well into 100F;
• had a cold snap with lows right at 60F and highs not getting to 70F;
• spent a week in NJ--but not on the delightful shore--touring the midlands around Morristown, where Sis had speedskating camp (which she loved--and I think she improved) with not one but two Olympians and a multiple-Olympics national coach!  She made friends with a girl in CA and another in the area and one in NYC.

  

  What Sis did all week.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Speedwell--building on left is where telegraph demonstrated

  
  
• toured the area, finding the kinds of things we like to do, including 



The "temple"



• Fosterfields:  a lovely 200+ acre farm started at the turn-of-the-20th-century by Clara Foster, who loved the colonial revival and built a lovely "Temple of Abiding Peace" cabin with an adjoining historically-inspired garden, which they've restored;
• historic Speedwell, an early 19th-century factory and iron works, where Samuel F.B. Morse introduced the first telegraph;



Gorgeous meadows at Duke Farms

• Duke Farms, the lavish estate of the late Doris Duke (whose father was behind the modern cigarette industry and then went into electric power!), which is now dedicated to environmental and sustainability issues.  I especially liked the remains of the basement of the grand house that was never built and the ruins of a burned barn that then housed a sculpture garden.







Just one view of one part of one room



Sculpture garden in barn ruins

• Northlandz train museum:  this is a wacky tourist trap with the largest model railroad in the world, but the craftsmanship and creativity is amazing--you actually wind around a whole mile looking at the detailed models.  



Navesink

• Navesink Twin Lights--yay, we got to see this very famous light, with its dual towers separated by an stone, armory-type building.  The lights are relatively short but are on a cliff, making it one of the highest lighthouses on the east coast.  Wonderful. 
• Sandy Hook Light (est. 1764) and Fort Hancock--out on the peninsula that is Gateway National Recreation Area (the other half of which is over by Mama's parents, across the harbor in NY).  The light is from 1764!!!!  And apparently the British held onto it despite an attack by Patriots during the Revolutionary War, the canon marks of which you could apparently see well into the 19th century.  Around the lighthouse is the remainder of a fort that was inhabited by 10,000 soldiers during WWII.  There is a 9-gun battery and also a proving ground for new weapons.  Most of that is in shambles, while some of the buildings have been converted to modern uses for the Coast Guard.  It was a very hazy day, but on a clear one you could have had a great view of the city.

  

  Sandy Hook light est 1764!!  

• Putt Putt!  Bud even made this great shot backwards between his legs!



Malaysian "ice cream"

• ate out at seafood (soft shell crab sandwich and crab cakes and corn and lobster bisque!), Vietnamese (spring rolls!), Malayasian (stand out food:  kachang "ice cream" with sweet corn, kidney beans, grass jelly, palm hearts, and red rose syrup on crushed ice!), and Korean (bimibop!) restaurants--mmm, mmm, good!
• spent some down-time in the hotel pools and watching "Ancient Aliens" and the new Clash of the Titans, with me crocheting on my first amigurumi critter (an owl-penguin thing that doesn't have eyes yet)
• came home exhausted and resumed kung fu, piano, and horses.

"These are a Few of My Favorite Things" from our Weekend in VT

So much to say, don't want this to be too long.  So, free association:

Heat wave:  It was unseasonably hot the whole time, without much AC anywhere.  In mid- to high-80sF.  I. HATE. Being. HOT.

Vermont Country Store:  Sis loves the today's cut cheese; Bud always goes for the chocolates; I like the summer sausage and crackers; Mama always finds the oddest stuff, like the little glasses cleaning doo-dad that works really well.  Got some purpley Zentangle-like earrings and a new robe.  Love wandering around the store.  Saw the Rogers statue group display, including the one we got for Christmas.

Stowe:  We met Gommie and Pop at a lovely restaurant in Stowe named Harrison's, where thankfully we had reservations.  We caught up on their travels almost to Canada and relayed our last days of school.  Mussels, smoked chicken, root vegetable pot pie, fish and chips, poached pears/walnuts/goat cheese spinach salad, calamari--mercy, we always eat well when we're together!  Afterwards, Gommie and I wandered the local cemetery a bit--mainly because the rest of the whole town--general store, yarn shop, tourist info--was closed already.  Some colonial headstones but mostly 19th century. And lots of mosquitoes whose bites I didn't notice until later (bugs bit me all weekend--I bet I have about 30 bites.)

Sis and the Icelandi Ponies, taken by Mama on her first horseback ride

Trapp Family Lodge:  "The hills are alive . . . "  Yep, those Trapps.  And it's a slice of Austria in VT, a lot like the movie--perfect and clean and wholesome.  Chocolates at turn-down.  Pilsner glasses, schnitzel, wurst, pretzels with mustard (dinner in the Lounge.)  Sacher torte, black forest cake, strudel, almond bear claw (that was breakfast at the Austrian Tea Room.)  Beautiful hotel room with views of the surrounding mountains, in gradations of blue and green.  We heard sheep all night, singing lullabies to Mama. Just like being in the Alps.  Gorgeous flowers--lilac, sage, a wild rose of some kind, so many that I can't name--and so many butterflies (especially black and yellow swallowtails), which we enjoyed from the patio.  We hiked to the stone chapel on the mountain, steep in parts but lovely (and humid!), while Sis and Mama rode Icelandic ponies, with the extra gait called tolting.  Mama had never riden before but did it for Sis.  They had a great time riding through the meadows.  Sis loved the horses and helped out in the stable, fitting right in. They are planning to go back to ride in the snow!!  Bud and Pop saw a snake on our hike, a friendly garter.  After the hike (and some time watching the dog agility contest being hosted on the grounds), we sat on the patio, drinking and juggling with Gommie, Pop, and Bud in the afternoon sun.  The scent of lilacs wafter over us with every breeze.  There was a wedding at the Lodge that evening, complete with about $100K of fireworks, a brilliant display lighting up the whole valley for half an hour.  It was a more elaborate display than our town does for July 4th!   Beautiful view with the explosions lighting up the hillsides.  And because they were being shot from a bit below us (in a field below the lodge), the fireworks seemed very close.

view from our Trapp Lodge suite

love the gradations!

These might actually be Shelburne sheep, but you get the idea.

The Trapp Lodge, with sage

Stone Chapel

Oh, the scent of lilac

Took me a long time to get this photo.

Mt. Mansfield:  The toll road opened the weekend we showed up and we went up 3,600' to the top of Vermont's highest peak.  Sis spotted the ski trails she wanted to come back and try.  Once we got to the top, we took a hike across the ridge to see Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks.  Breathtaking!!  And kinda scary, right on worn rock faces without a really level path.)  Pop, the kids, and Mama even scampered further up.  Amazing.  Sitting on a rock lower down, I loved the view of the spruce "repoussoir trees" framing the Adirondacks in the distance and the Alpine tundra above the tree line.  Pretty amazing.  I was so proud of us for making the hike (especially proud of me for doing it and also not freaking out that the kids went higher), though we were tired and hungry afterwards.  (And waits were long at the Blue Donkey burger place we went to first, so we grabbed some really good pizzas at Piecasso.)

On the road to the top of Mansfield

Breathtaking

Moss Glenn Falls:  Oh, the falls.  It was easy to get to the stream, a beautiful, very cold stream with big and small rocks.  There was probably some kind of mill at the shore--no right angles in nature, especially of piled rocks.  We hung out there for awhile, gathering courage to attack the rock-and-root scramble to see the falls.  Trying and tiring.  And very scary.  More scary than actually hard.  Especially because it reminded me of the rocky, wooded mount where Boromir was killed in The Lord of the Rings movie.  I even dropped my skirt to wear just my athletic shorts to crawl on my hands and knees. But oh so beautiful.   I'm so proud of myself!   And Pop and the kids went even higher!!  We hike well together, each taking care of the other.  Everyone hiking their own hike.  Mama takes pictures.  Pop presses ahead and then falls behind to help. I stop to listen to birds or look at butterflies.  Sis built a dam in the water.  Both kids made a cairn in the rocks.  All we needed was a picnic lunch (though, it was almost too warm to eat.)

For comparison, that's my dad in orange waving.

Glacially cold stream

Remains of a building

Ben and Jerry's:  On our first attempt to visit (right after the waterfall), we missed the last tour and then didn't want to wait in a 50-person line for ice cream.  Our second attempt was moderately more successful, in that we made the tour but still didn't want to wait in a really long line for ice cream.  The tour was great--short and quite literally sweet, with a sample of Americone Dream at the end (pretty tasty and so obviously freshly made and not in a store freezer.)  And I loved the shop, especially the rainbow cow shirt about love!

------At this point, we separated, with the kids spending two nights with Gommie and Pop alone (not too many details, but they ate a lot, watched several shows on Food Network, played ping pong, loved the exhibits at the Shelburne museum while also missing the rain, but were perhaps not as enamored of Fort Ticonderoga), and Mama and I taking a quick night to ourselves at the Inn at Shelburne Farms.------

Shelburne Farms:  I've been aware of Shelburne Farms for awhile but not even entirely sure what it was.  Dairy? Resort? Museum? Restaurant? I knew it was in upper VT and that they'd had a terrible fire a few years back that wiped out one of their barns and their old-growth wood collection.  Well, now I know better.  It is a dairy, an educational institution, an inn, restaurant, and an historic site.  And we got a bit of a taste of it all as we toottled around the Farm Barn learning about cheese and visiting the animals, having delicious sandwiches for lunch (ham/apple panini for me, avocado/sprouts for Mama, with cold carrot ginger soup), learning about the historic home and model farm built by Dr. Webb and his wife Lila Vanderbilt, and eating a "farm supper" (stuffed trout, stuffed tofu, parsnips, wild rice, 3-year aged cheddar, vanilla ice cream on a ganache-covered tuile), and then an amazing breakfast (buttermilk pancakes with maple mascarpone cream and rhubarb compote, a savory steel oat risotto with ham, spinach, and an egg on top) in the restaurant, plus tea and sweets in the afternoon.  Truthfully, I was so enamored with the ceiling of the dining room (or "Marble Room" which was once the ballroom) that I barely noticed dinner (which was just as well because I'm not that fond of a heavy hand with herbs.)

That's the barn!

Oh, the house.  It was like getting to stay at a famous house museum, like spending the night as a guest at the Breakers (Vanderbilts, Newport, RI) or  The Mount (Edith Wharton, Lenox, MA) or something.  Aesthetically, it reminded me of H.H. Richardson's "shingle style" houses but also something of the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris (especially the niche in the stairs and the library; the tea room and dining room were much more formal neo-classicism or Georgian, if memory serves, with elaborate white moldings and huge formal portraits.)  I was happy sitting in the library with 6,000 books, the scent of which reminded me of Aunt Sis.  Mama and I made a pile--Victorian American foodways, a history of Lake Champlain, New England Gardens, the diary of a Victorian gardener--which we perused on the porch in matching rocking chairs.  Thank heavens for a stiff breeze or we would have been pretty uncomfortable.

Tea Room

Captivating dining room ("Marble Room") ceiling

Room past the tea room

Doesn't it feel like Arts and Crafts?

The library.

Our room, the "White Room" (actually on the third floor, once probably the valet's room with buttons to call the sewing room! and stairs leading to Dr. Webb's room), was in a turret overlooking the lake, a huge space with a seating area and desks.  I reclined on a chaise lounge while Mama sat in one of the overstuffed chairs, feet on a "poof."  We just watched the clouds move, the water flow.  It was all very decadent.  So relaxing.  The best part was the lightning storm that rolled in that evening--rain poured down the house and trampled the garden, flashes lit the lake and silhouetted the trees, but the thunder only rumbled and didn't crack like we expected.  Still, I love a good storm and we watched it until at least midnight.

Our sitting area

And views . . . 

Dr. Webb's trunk and our borrowed books

Gardens:  My first introduction to the Shelburne gardens was actually in the back of the house, in the parking lot, where I got a whiff of what I thought was jasmine.  I found out later from the gardener, who let me have some of the blossoms felled by the storm, that it was mock orange.  Ooooh, still, it reminded me of summer nights in Tunisia and Mama of temple offerings in Thailand.  The garden borders the lake, with a rocky beach and cliffs to one side and an "enchanted forest" to the other.  It was designed in terraces, rooms even (a la Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst and Gertrude Jekyll), with a whole space devoted to roses, another to peonies, a section with herbs, another with various flowers that I can't name (lilac and gardenia perhaps, and so much else), several little statues including a cement fruit-and-flower basket like my paternal grandparents had, a portico with seats and a table (and waxed leaf ligustrum aka Ligustrum japonicum "Texanum" which I recall from my childhood in Houston--love that scent!), ornamental balustrades, and a lily pond complete with fish.  It was two owl statues which led our way into the "ramble" so to speak, with several benches throughout the maze-like forest (the "enchanged forest"), including a ring of yew trees framing the bench overlooking the lake.  We were quite hidden as we watched the sun begin to set.  We visited this garden several times--in the heat of Sunday afternoon, in the shade of the setting sun with the thunderstorm approaching, and again the next morning as the gardener tried to revive the peonies and let me have a few of the cuttings.  The dampness of the garden just heightened the power of the scent of the roses and peonies.  Oh, it makes me wish I was a better, more dedicated and persistent gardener (I get lazy with the watering and the weeding, which means many things don't make it.)

Sunset over Lake Champlain and Adirondacks, with approaching storm

All peonies!

View from the enchanted forest

Porch views . . . .

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and Philadelphia:  Before we headed home on Monday, we decided to take in the Maritime museum (instead of the Shelburne which was bigger and had so much more walking.)  It's definitely a local affair but has many interesting artifacts and experimental archaeology projects, most notably a reconstruction of Benedict Arnold's Philadelphia, one of his slapdash gun boats built quickly of green wood (and so prone to leaks) to keep the British from taking the lake and thus separating New England from the rest of the colonies.  The original was sunk at the Battle of Val Coeur in 1776, but the copy sits in a small harbor on Lake Champlain.  I don't know much colonial maritime history and so was fascinated by all our docent had to say, including how 40 conscripted men slept upright in shifts against the wall of the boat while officers got benches!  The boat had no keel and was 5 times broader than it was deep so it could only sort-of sail, which meant there were oar locks all over.  It carried numerous large and small cannon for very close combat.  All in all, I would not have wanted to be on that boat in a naval battle.  Those poor men; though, they did their jobs and kept the British from taking the lake.

The Philadelphia

Long drive home:  After the museum, we ate a very tasty sandwich lunch at the nearby Red Mill restaurant, where it began to pour rain as we sat.  And the rain didn't let up for hours.  It was an awful drive home and more than once we contemplated spending the night somewhere to wait out the storm (but $371 for a night at the Equinox in Manchester was just too much.)  Losing all network connectivity didn't help because we couldn't 1.) navigate or 2.) keep an eye on the radar.  I actually read the map as we passed Tarbellville and Wallingford, neither of which had good places to pull over.  So we ended up in Weston at, you guessed it, the Vermont Country Store!  Yep, the store bookended our trip and really was a lifesaver.  We picked up snacks for dinner and a few more souvenirs.  And made it home a few hours later than we'd hoped.  Still, we were safe and the cats were happy (enough) to see us.

What a glorious weekend, indeed what a wonderful two weeks with my folks!  So many great experiences, so many lovely memories.  And really, we're not done . . . because we'll be heading to Texas later this summer.