Fall 2018, Day 2 - Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Butler Institute of American Art, Canton Museum of Art, Counting Crows!

Sunday, August 26, 2018 - Church, 3 Art Museums, and Counting Crows - 431 miles today:



Up and at 'em early, to get to the 8 AM Service at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church in Tonawanda (just north of Buffalo):


Fr. Arthur Ward remembered me - Wendy and I were there Nov. 13, 2016, and I had a solo visit on Oct. 19, 2014.

It was a few minutes to get to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo:
pretty cool sculpture made out of steel canoes:

I visited only once before - Nov. 11, 2014. My favorites include:
Albert Bierstadt - "The Marina Piccola, Capri", 1859:

Claude Monet - "Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter)", 1875-76

Jackson Pollock - "Convergence", 1952

(I think the red checked shirt goes especially well with early-1950's Pollock.)

By 2 PM I was down at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio - a Beautiful building!



I have only been here once, on my 1st cross-country trip in September 2013. I'm Very Glad to be back! Um, I took pictures of 38 works of art - my 6 favorite are:
Frederic Edwin Church - "In The Andes", 1878:

Winslow Homer - "Snap The Whip", 1872:

Thomas Moran - "An Arizona Sunset Near The Grand Canyon", 1898:

Albert Bierstadt - "The Oregon Trail", 1869

Thomas Hill - "Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite"

William Trost Richards - "Lands End, Cornwall", 1888

and it was great seeing Thomas Hart Benton's watercolor - "Chilmark"


Driving through Ohio, I reached the Canton Museum of Art by 4:30

although I knew of only one piece I wanted to see - Winslow Homer - "Girl Picking Clover (Houghton Farm)", c. 1878 watercolor:

I did get to take some "costume pictures" for Ellie:



Then it was an hour drive back up to the Blossom Music Center (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) to see The Crows again - this is the last time our paths will cross in 2018; they are playing in Pittsburgh on August 30, but I'll be 1000 miles west of there by then.


I listened to the first band - Boom Forest - from the lawn:

and after his impassioned plea to get enough gas for his Prius to "drive all the way to Montana", I bought their 2 cds:

The crowd was GREAT, my seat was Excellent, Live was very good, and The Crows were WONDERFUL:



I wound up (encore) up in the 3rd row! Long drive afterward down to Mansfield, Ohio, where I checked in at 12:30:


Drive all day - Rock 'n Roll all night! WOW - Thank you God for this wonderful adventure day!

Music for today was albums from my big iPod:

because it sounded so good last night - Steely Dan - Royal Scam, 1976


and then I moved up the "R" albums:

Roy Haynes Trio - Roy Haynes Trio, 2000


Miles Davis - 'Round About Midnight, 1957


various - Rough Guide - The Music of Brazil, 1998


John Mayer - Room For Squares, 2001 first album


Rod Stewart - The Rod Stewart Album, 1969 first solo album


Bill Conti - Rocky, 1976 soundtrack


Barenaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle (Live), 1996


after the concert:
Boom Forest - Boom Forest, 2014 first cd


nice, but a little too quite for this time of night.

The Band - Rock of Ages, 1972 live double-album

Fall 2018 - Day 1 (leaving Massachusetts)

Saturday, August 25, 2018 - Leaving Massachusetts - 424 miles altogether:



um, since I did not leave home until after lunch, today's road trip is barely nothing more that "driving on the road". Having said that, I was stunned by the heavy traffic on the Mass Pike head west to 84 (down to Connecticut/New York/New Jersey) - travelers beware.

The afternoon drive through New York State, alongside the Mohawk River was quite beautiful:


And it was great getting to the New York State Fair:


Why go to the New York State Fair? Well, aside from Great Barbeque, your $6 admission ticket allows you to see the Concert this evening at the Chevy Court:


It was good barbeque:


and it is right near the stage:


The show started at 8, and was EXCELLENT:




They did a great set, including "Washington Square" and "Recovering the Satellites"!!

Bus back to the parking area, up to the highway, and Super 8 Henrietta/Rochester by 11:30. WOW - Thank you God for this wonderful adventure day!

Music for today was albums from my big iPod:

Counting Crows - 07/08/18 Five Point Amphitheater, Irvine, CA, LIVE FROM THIS TOUR!!


The Monkees - The Monkees, 1966 first album


the Beatles - A Hard Day's Night, 1964


Joe Jackson - Live 1980/86, 1988


Counting Crows - Hard Candy, 2002


the Beatles - Rubber Soul, 1965 (twice)


Steely Dan - Royal Scam, 1976

Fall 2018 - 6 weeks On The Road

Wednesday, August 22, 2018 - It is "Another Year", and it is "That Time Of Year":

First half:


Second half:


It is time to see Mountains and Grasslands, Waterfalls and Deserts, Art Museums and National Parks, Churches and ... no, I won't be going to bars (but I will be going to Rock Concerts!). I will be as far North as Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota), and as far South as Big Bend National Park (Texas). Leaving Home in the East, I hope to get as far West as Zion National Park in southwest Utah.

I expect to drive thousands of miles on Interstates, and hike dozens of miles in the Beartooth Mountains (Montana) and the Wind River Range (Wyoming). I hope to eat Gumbo in New Orleans, Barbecue in Memphis, PowerBars in Montana and Wyoming, and a lot of pizza and Super 8 waffles in between (don't forget fruit and vegetables!).

The first day on the road is Saturday, Aug. 25, getting home either Friday, Oct. 5 or Saturday, Oct. 6. Wendy will be flying out to join me in Salt Lake City, and we will spend 2 weeks seeing the National Parks in Utah (plus Lower Antelope Canyon), visiting relatives in southwest Colorado, and visiting friends (who were in my wedding party 39 years ago!) in Jackson, Wyoming. Wendy will fly back out of Jackson, and I'll continue south (more hiking in Colorado, then the Texas Mountains), then heading east, then northeast.

Should be quite an adventure - come along with me!

39th Anniversary at the Wadsworth Atheneum

Saturday, June 9, 2018 - Wendy and I got married 39 years ago, on Saturday June 9, 1979. Its been a GREAT RIDE!!!

I want to visit the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT) to see a wonderful Frederic Church exhibit:

This Saturday, admission is free, and the docent tour starts at 2:30 - perfect timing!

We left the house at 11:15 AM and got to Hartford by 1:30


I had been here twice before, but they have a WONDERFUL collection, rotate often, and have enough space to show lots of stuff. Aside from a great collection of Hudson River School artists (Bierstadt, Church, Cole, Cropsey, Gifford, Heade,Kensett), they also have Childe Hassam, Jackson Pollock, Andrew Wyeth, van Gogh, Monet, Winslow Homer, Canaletto, Degas, Guardi, ...

Wonderful highlights in the Collection include:

Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait, c. 1887, 1875:


Francesco Guardi - View of the Piazzetta Looking toward San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, c. 1770-80:


Childe Hassam - The Flag Outside Her Window, April 1918, (The Boys Marching By), 1918:


Albert Bierstadt - The Hetch-Hetchy Valley, California, c. 1874-1880:

To quote the final line of the Display Info Card: "The valley was flooded and is presently known as the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir."

I m very sad that, in order to provide drinking water for San Francisco, we had to flood this beautiful valley.

Frederic Edwin Church - Mountains of Ecuador, 1855:


Thomas Cole - View in the White Mountains, 1827:


And, of course, from the Frederic Church exhibition:

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, 1870 (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO):


The Parthenon, 1871 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY):


Syria by the Sea, 1873 (Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI):


additionally, there were a number of pieces from PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:

Ruins at Baalbek, 1868:


Study for Jerusalem, 1870:


Evening on the Sea, 1877-78


Headed out of there at 4, a little traffic on 128, home by 7. Excellent Adventure-Time with my Beautiful Bride! Thank You God for these Great Days!

Music today from my big iPod:

David Gilmour - Live in Gdańsk, 2008


Jackson Browne - Lives in the Balance, 1986


Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, 1975


Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking in New England (the 4,000 footers; the 100 Highest; WATERFALLS)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/