Fall 2015 - Day 1: Home/Church - Hill-Stead Museum, CT - Bushkill Falls, PA - Harrisonburg, VA

This is our Big CrossCountry Tour of 2015 - out to see Deede in California!

Of course I will drive out-and-back! Wendy will fly to LA, then we will work our way up the coast (including stops in Yosemite and Banff!!, plus a Counting Crows concert with Deede in Concord, CA), and then Wendy will fly home from Calgary, and I will drive back - WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

Sunday, Sept 6, 2015 - starting from Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Danvers, MA, down to the Hill-Stead Museum (Farmington, CT), continue down to Bushkill Falls (Bushkill, PA), then spend the night down at the Super 8 in Harrisonburg, VA:

612 miles; 9 hours 56 minutes.
it turns out that seeing the museum, and the waterfalls, only adds about 15 minutes drive-time to my trip today - Thank You God!

Um, that's "15 minutes drive-time", not "total time". Very rarely are you allowed unfettered access through an Historic Home (the Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, NC, and the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY are the only ones that comes to mind where I did not have to be part of a tour). Today's tour started at noon, and lasted one hour. It was actually worth it, because there is beautiful art throughout the house, and the tour is (nicely) focused on that.

I read about the Hill-Stead Museum in the SatSun issue of the Wall Street Journal article here
They have four Monets! but since no pictures are allowed inside, here is the image from the article:

as well as the other 3 Monets from the Museum's website

View of Cap d'Antibes, 1888


Grainstacks, White Frost Effect, 1889


Grainstacks, in Bright Sunlight, 1890


Additionally, there are 3 paintings by Degas, plus some lovely work by James McNeill Whistler:
The Blue Wave, Biarritz, 1862


There is also a collection of Japanese woodblock prints, including Katsushika Hokusai "The Great Wave at Kanagawa"


And then down the road to Bushkill Falls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, in the Poconos in northeastern Pennsylvania. WOW, there sure were a lot of people there on Sunday-of-Labor-Day-Weekend! My selfie of the falls:


The falls

are in an extremely lush canyon


And the path is very well designed



I finished the day driving 626 miles, arriving at the Super 8 in Harrisonburg, VA at 9:40 PM. Thank you, God, for a great day!

Music today was 127 songs from my purple nano, in alphabetical order.

Since I'm going through "The South", it was great starting off with:
Drag The Lake Charlie 2010 Drive-By Truckers The Big To-Do
and then ended the day in a relaxed fashion:
Four 1956 Miles Davis Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet


The list can be accessed here

Tons of great music, including Driving Songs:
Drive Back 1975 Neil Young- Crazy Horse Zuma
Drive In 2004 Jon Brion Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Drive In, Drive Out 1997 Dave Matthews Band Live At Red Rocks 8.15.95 (2 cds)
Drive My Car 1965 The Beatles Yesterday and Today
Driven To Tears 1980 The Police Zenyatta Mondatta
Driver 8 1985 R.E.M. Fables Of The Reconstruction
Driving Wheel Tom Rush Tom Rush

I really like my taste - rock, acoustic, jazz, classic rock, newer roots rock. Super Wonderful highlight was

Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall 2011 Coldplay Mylo Xyloto
(I hope I didn't break Wendy's speakers)