We headed off on September 19, excited for 2 days in Santa Fe NM. On the ride from Amarillo we streamed "A Celtic Soujourn" - Brian O'Donovan's Saturday afternoon program on WGBH radio. It reminded us of the stark contrast between the lush green countryside of Ireland and the brown, dry plains of New Mexico. A bit further along the topography shifted dramatically, with mesas rising in all directions. We imagined the harsh and challenging existence of the early settlers here - and we're griping about spotty cell service.
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We crossed the Mississippi River from Memphis into Arkansas and we quickly discovered that tractor-trailers ruled the road on Interstate 40 - Nancy remarked that the trucks looked like a traffic "fjord" as we cautiously weaved between them. We were on our way to one of the lesser-known National Parks - Hot Springs: the second smallest National Park and the oldest one maintained by the National Park Service, which earned it the honor of being the first to be featured on a US Quarter for the "America the Beautiful Quarters" coin series. Our journey west took us through two Tennessee cities renowned for their live music scenes - Nashville and Memphis. Sadly, with the onset of COVID-19, both of these towns are temporarily "on mute" - their live music venues shuttered. Still we had memorable visits that encouraged us to return in better times. On September 6 we settled into our Richmond AirBnB, located on the controversial Monument Ave - recently in the national news for protests that brought down a number of Confederate monuments. We were walking distance to some of our favorite Richmond haunts - the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and "Carytown" - a funky street filled with great restaurants, cafes, and shops. We stayed 10 days in our daughter Laura's adopted home town and enjoyed many visits with her and her husband Mark.
Mid-pandemic we spent a quiet summer in Cambridge MA, enjoying long talks with friends and family in our courtyard Adirondack chairs, hosting a few socially-distant tapas parties, and day-tripping to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Marion MA. We biked and walked our Cambridge neighborhood just a few blocks from Richard's undergraduate dorm from more than 40 years ago, passed by Senator Elizabeth Warren's home, and had an occasional sighting of local celeb, John Malkovitch.
Our visit to Vienna was cut short by our decision to quickly move to Portugal for what we thought would be a short “hunker down” period before resuming our European adventures. (Read about our brief taste of Vienna in an earlier post). As it turned out, this would be our last stop - for now - before we sadly had to head back to the US. Our short stay in the lovely coastal town of Cascais, Portugal, only served to whet our appetite for more - we’ll surely be back!
On our first visit to Barcelona we missed the chance to visit the Picasso Museum and a few other sites. The advance time-slot tickets were all gone by the time we realized we needed them. Because the next leg of our adventure involved a flight from Barcelona to Vienna, we planned a one night stop-over - this time with museum tickets pre-arranged. What we encountered was a very quiet city just coming to grips with COVID-19. In fact, our visit was on the very last day the museums would be open.
Our Valencian friends Dan, Hop, and Douglas encouraged us to pay a visit to the neighboring sea-side city of Alicante, a short train ride south of Valencia. On a particularly beautiful Saturday in March the train wove through an interesting countryside with tall mountains in the distance. Orchards of olive and fruit trees alternated with copper-tinted fields waiting for spring plantings. As we neared Alicante, the terrain turned sandy with vineyards and ancient stone farmhouses next to sprawling solar panel farms. Stone mesas emerged with contrasting colors: bright white, deep terra-cotta, copper, gold, and grey - reminiscent of the American southwest. The tradition continues...virtually A spring-time tradition for Richard is performing his unique arrangement of "When the Saints Go Marching In" for a church service and a fund-raising concert. Now that we are only 3 miles from the church, instead of 3,000, it's "COVID-Crazy" that we'd have to opt for a "virtual" rendition rather than a live one. The upside is we get to share it with you! |
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