The Natural Art Culture

  

 

Travels with Winston-2023 Edition

 

 

 

Yes, winter in the Ottawa Valley reveals eye-pleasing scenes. After a few weeks of bone-numbing cold, the south beckons, so off we go in early February 2023. First visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Kingston, ON, and then daughter Ilana and son-in-law Pete in North York (Toronto), we then head down to Niagara, and cross into the USA at Fort Erie-Buffalo. Winston easily answered the US border officer’s questions. We shuffled off from Buffalo. NY, to Cleveland, OH, where Jan visited something called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while I visited the Cleveland Aquarium, which impressed me. The tunnel portion of the main aquarium afforded this oh-so-white view of a Sandtiger Shark. This is also the species of shark that Jan and I encountered in Florida Bay, off of the Everglades National Park. It is much more peaceful to see one in an aquarium, instead of from a 15-foot canoe.

 

 

Winston has an approving look as he sees Churchill Downs for the first time.

If you are a celebrity with big $, you may get to watch the Kentucky Derby in early May from one of these boxes, or grandstand seats strategically located at the finish line.

 

From the home stretch, this is a view of the final corner on the track.

The drive from Louisville, KY, to Nashville, TN, is easy. The lovely Centennial Park (below) features a full-size replica of the ancient Greek Parthenon sans cracks and holes.  The building houses the Nashville art museum. Exhibits and shows are featured regularly.

 Across the lake in Centennial Park are the buildings of Vanderbilt University.

From Nashville, we drove west across the other Mississippi River into Arkansas, to Little Rock, which houses the Clinton Presidential Library. All the papers from the 8-year Clinton presidency are housed here.

 

In addition, there are very well curated displays and exhibitions, including a full-sized replica of the White House Cabinet Room. Here I am sitting in Bill Clinton’s seat wondering what I said to cause the US Cabinet to leave me alone!

Jan took over, displacing me in a non-violent manner, and gave them the evil eye. We were at the Library at the same time Bill Clinton was giving a speech. I told the staff that I was disappointed that Bill did not greet us at the door.

We were fortunate to visit during a special exhibition: Women’s Voices, put together by Hillary Clinton and library staff. A series of quilts was crafted for this exhibition, which honoured so many women who have bettered our world. Here is one featuring Shirley Chisolm (below).

Leaving Little Rock, proceeding into Texas via Texarkana and Austin, we enjoyed some time in the lovely downtown San Antonio, TX, where we were able to easily access and tour The Alamo. Named by the Spanish for the Cottonwood trees that lined the banks of the San Antonio River, many may know the little fort and mission from the Winter 1836 battle during the Texas (Tejas) revolution. Most people know the central facts: General Santa Anna (Mexico President) laid siege for 13 days. The battle at the end of the siege resulted in the death of the 200 men defending the fort, church, and other buildings. The young commander of The Alamo, 26-year-oldWilliam Travis, was amongst the dead, as was Senator David Crockett and James Bowie, who had joined the defenders from the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. Pictured below is Jan standing in front of the Alamo Memorial which has inscribed the names of the men who died, with statues of David Crockett, holding his raccoon hat, on Jan’s left, and Col. Travis to Jan’s right. Bowie’s statue is on the opposite side of the memorial. There were women and children in the church at the centre of the compound who were relatively unharmed.

Of course, Winston wanted his photo taken at the Memorial too.

 

San Antonio River Walk--above and below. Winston very much appreciated the lack of snow and ice. Note that there was little or no snow in the landscape after we left Toronto. Winston also appreciatively snorted and snuffled through the newly emerged spring posies.

With San Antonio in the rear-view mirror, we left the lush greenery of Texas hill country, proceeding south into the dry scrublands dominated by mesquites, sages, short grasses and…

 

Winston encounters his first LARGE Prickly Pear Cactus at Lake Corpus Christi State Park,

as well as a blooming Yucca, another indicator plant of the dry plains in south- and west-Texas. These blooms are over 30 cms. high. We were fortunate to be in Texas in season for the state flower, Bluebonnets, which pop up in large masses.

 

These early Bluebonnets were in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas.

 

A Texas specialty, this lovely raptor is a Crested Caracara.

Note: We spent over a month in Texas during this journey. This is a preliminary account of the trip. Aside from Texas, we also had many stops in New Mexico and Arizona. If you follow my blog:

https://artnatureculture.blogspot.com/

 the full story of the journey will be posted over time.

For now, as a teaser, here is Winston wondering just how DEEP is this freakin’ ditch? 

Winston refuses to look over the ledge at the Grand Canyon. Yes, that IS snow and ice. 

Look, more Yuccas! To the right of the Yucca, the smaller “many-stemmed” cacti are two species of Cholla.

One of the larger California deserts, Mojave, features these rounded rocks on a trail that requires hikers to climb said rocks, as below. Winston’s paws were too short for the rings embedded into the rocks, so we had to carry him up the 30-foot rock face.

You want me to do what?

 

 

 Jan went first, then I followed, passing along my camera, binoculars, and Winston!

Here is a petroglyph left by the Mojave predecessors thousands of years ago. The climate does wonders for preservation of the petroglyphs.

 

Jan, Winston and I wondered at the large boulders and caves, which were also Mojave campsites, and, therefore, the spots where one will find petroglyphs.

 

 

 

Although Mom told us the photo above was taken in 1955 in Needles, AZ, it is more likely that this was at the Super Chief stop in Albuquerque, NM. Route 66 was built along the Santa Fe Railroad route from Chicago to Los Angeles.  With the highway came “Indian” trading posts, especially in Albuquerque. The Highway route did veer from the rail route up to Albuquerque. From Albuquerque to Los Angeles, the routes and stops were almost identical.

To honour Mom, and our epic trip in August 1955, Jan took this photo of me in front of the train station in Needles, CA. To be fair to Mom, Needles is right next to the California-Arizona boundary.

Below the Super Chief’s route. The route is still in operation by Amtrack.

 

The rail yard in Needles incudes some of the old Santa Fe rolling stock. The rail line is heavily used today by freight traffic. The rail company is now called the BNSF Railway (Burlington Northern-Santa Fe) and is 100% owned by Warren Buffett’s Hathaway Corporation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Needles, we ventured further into California to Joshua Tree National Park, headquartered in the appropriately named Twenty-Nine Palms (above). The town grew outwards form a Mojave-Colorado Desert oasis.

There are a few standard sights for the thousands of visitors to Joshua Tree N.P. We were there on Sunday, which resulted in crowds of people blocking our views! Above, a nice Joshua Tree (a multi-stemmed tall Yucca). We observed busloads of people taking one photo, usually a selfie, of a close by Joshua Tree, and this wind/sand sculpted rock, Skull Rock.

Most visitors scamper back to their vehicles after getting the required photo. Art walked down the trail to the next campground.  Within a few hundred meters of the parking area, there were very few people. I passed a small group coming towards me, as I observed another sculpted rock (below). The young (now anyone under the age of 60!) man in the group and I chatted, as we remarked on how the crowds were only interested in Skull Rock, while the rock below, he observed, looks like fingers clutching the boulder below. The “index finger” looks to have a nail! We christened this rock “Fingers Rock” and discussed how we might profit from our “discovery”. I told him that he was brilliant and observant. 

We left Joshua Tree NP and proceeded to Toluca Lake. It being the weekend, we immediately became stuck in one of LA’s famous traffic jams. Jan and I wondered why so many were out and about during the television presentation of the Oscars. We thought they should all be home watching. Sigh…. they weren’t. We got to Brian and Kate’s home well after the supper hour. We were warmly greeted by them and their delightful canine family: Boo and Louie.

The next morning, Brian took us for the world-famous Brian Hollywood Tour. We started at his place of business, Hollywood Offices on Sunset Blvd. Brian and Art are pictured above in the parking garage in front of his dad’s 1970’s era Cadillac.

 

Brian, of course, enjoyed meeting Winston, pictured here with Brian in his office with a reproduction Balloon Dog (at the bottom of the photo in front of Brian. One of the original Balloon Dogs sold in recent years for almost $60 Million (!).

Winston was very excited to show us his TWO “Walk of Fame” stars, one for music and one for film. There are other world-famous celebrities, like Winston, who have multiple stars.

Kate arranged for Jan to get a special tour of the Warner Brothers Studios (while I slept!). Here she is holding a real Oscar given to Warner Brothers for a 1957 animation movie. Jan tells me that the 8.5-pound gold plated bronze statue is quite heavy.

Much more to come. Be sure to regularly log into my Blog to see much more about our epic road trip, including more national parks, presidential libraries, birds, roadside attractions, and, of course, special appearances by Winston.

https://artnatureculture.blogspot.com/