Boston to Houston Road Trip
Melanie communing with the left eyeball of Louise Bourgeois.
Why we were there: This was a 12 day road trip with my good friends, Chuck and Hank, when I left my home of 10 years in Boston, MA to relocation to Houston, TX - where I have lived for nearly 20 years. My, over 6’ tall, friends and I piled into my tiny car, also filled with a months worth of clothing and belongings to tide me over until the movers would arrive in Houston. Yes, I did have a cactus and a small jar of home grown kefir that I was nurturing. Things were just fine until a night out on the town in Nashville and the discovery failing a failing air conditioner in my 19 year old Mazda 323. Hangovers and heat were waiting for me in the South.
When we were there: We left Boston on July 4th 2006.
Where did we go: Here are the places that we visited, Note: there are stops I missed, pictures I can’t find, and stories untold, it was almost 20 years ago after all.
A specific memory: We left Boston on Independence Day 2006. That night we stayed in the Berkshires so we could spend time at MassMOCA and Williams College of Art, see below. To celebrate the 4th we found a small town fireworks set up. It was at a local high school on their football field. The sounds of the fireworks bounced back and forth on the mountains of the Berkshires. It sounded like cannon fire. I felt like these loud sounds, loud and persistent, could be mimicking the sounds of the American Revolution. Then the down pour started. Huge rain drops fell on everyone in the field. The light of the fireworks adsorbed in each drop, sparkling and dancing. It was raining down glitter. And it sounded like a war. I was being glitter bombed in the revolution and I’ll never forget it.
Massachusetts
MASS MoCA: Fantastic Art Museum in the Berkshires. It may change your life.
Misty view of Niagara Falls with rainbow, note taken with a film camera.
Porches: Funky luxury hotel, that made me realize that I don’t spend enough time in said hotel to justify the prices. At least in my 30s I didn’t.
Williams College of Art: An amazing Louise Bourgeois exterior sculpture of eyeballs. We spent hours there.
Herman Melville’s House - Arrowhead: Y’all remember that I have an obsession with touring other people’s historic houses? And my friend Hank is the spitting image of Herman Melville. And my other friend Chuck has this thing about Moby Dick.
New York
Women’s Right National Historic Park: I still have the Rosie the Riveter “we can do it” pot holder that I purchased there. I learned a lot this was a great visit.
Niagara Falls State Park of NY: This is the "#ugly side of Niagara Falls. I don’t believe we went over, or at least stopped, in the Canadian side because the parking was too expensive - we were on a budget.
Ohio
American Whistle Corporation: The last metal whistle factory in the USA. Unfortunately we timed this bad and got there on a Sunday and the factory was closed so we could not take the tour. We were upset.
Carousels and Carvings: They make wooden carousel carvings. Not sure if they were closed then due to the Sunday problem cited above. But their website says the do not offer tours. So either reason, we were upset.
Ohio State Reformatory: This is the prison from the movie Shawshank Redemption. It was built in 1891 as a home for boys and the building itself was meant to terrified the children into submission. It was deemed uninhabitable in 1990 and shut down. Eerie and horrible history.
My favorite part of Graceland - the Graceland Lions. Sometimes my cat gets this look on his face:-)
Kentucky
The First Lincoln Memorial and Boyhood Home: Weird place with a replica of Lincoln’s log cabin birthplace inside a Greek temple?
Maker’s Mark Distillery: This distillery is located in a dry county in Kentucky, so we did not drink any on site. But that night we had a lively night drinking Maker’s Mark in Nashville, TN. What happens in Nashville stays in Nashville.
Tennessee
Graceland: No explanation is needed for this, I hope. But I will say that Elvis reminds me of my father, who passed away when I was 7. There is no rationale reason for this beyond this photo of my dad as a 20 year old in the air force and a picture of Elvis in the army.
Metal Museum: I was leafing thorough the pile of “What to do in Memphis” magazines on the hotel dresser and I saw an ad for the “Nation Ornamental Metal Museum” as it was known then. I said aloud, I am a Metalsmith and we should go here. So the next morning we headed over and was astounded by what we found. A huge campus of old historic buildings devoted to Metalsmithing. We looked around, toured the exhibit, met some blacksmiths, found the shop. I told them I was a Metalsmith and the retail director ask to see my work. And that started my history with the Metal Museum.
Mississippi
Rowan Oak: The home of William Faulkner in Oxford, MS. Fun Fact there is a Dogs at Rowan Oak IG Page.
Louisiana
New Orleans: This was almost one year after Hurricane Katrina. We visited with friends, explored the town, saw devastation still being dealt with, and smelled a city wide garbage strike. (The link is to an interesting article about the state of Storm recovery that I found on the World Socialist Web Site. It was written at right about the same time as our visit to NOLA during this trip.)
Ironically grumpy at Graceland. We paid $29.95 for this photo.
It makes no sense why Elvis (right) reminds me of my father (left), but it is because of this picture, so there it is.
