Breaking Clam Cakes on the Shore in Galilee

This recounts a trip I took to Rhode Island and Connecticut in August 2008.
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I took another trip this past weekend. I needed some time away from the office. But more importantly, I needed another haircut. The state this time…Rhode Island! I’ve tried to see a new state every year, trying to collect all 50. It was my first time in RI, my 36th overall. I had a good time, capped off by the dozen clam cakes I ate Sunday. I found a seafood place called George’s of Galilee (yes, it’s in Galilee, RI) on the beach, I managed to eat eight of them while sitting at the bar on the porch, while gazing out at the Block Island ferry boats coming in and out. I took the other four back for dinner. My official Tourist Attraction is the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, a former textile and machinery mill complex. Oddest of all, I was accused of having an accent by the good RI and MA folks I met. Only because I was there.

As you know, I keep lists. In the words of the late Phil Rizzuto, “for those of you scoring along at home” here are some other things I did (and the # of states in which I’ve done them):

1) State Visits – Rhode Island (36)
2) Barber Shop – I got my haircut at Vinnie’s Barber Shop in Cranston. In hindsight I could have found a more photogenic “barber salon.” Overall a fairly average experience. (27)
3) State Capitol – Rhode Island (18) and Connecticut (19). I could have stood in the dais of the RI Senate Chamber as no one was around to care. The CT tour was guided, the only way I could get in on Saturday.
4) Barbecue – LJ’s in Pawtucket, RI (18) and BT Lanes Divine Swine in Griswold, CT (19).
5) Church – St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea Episcopal in Narragansett, RI (18). It’s not actually by the sea, probably 8 blocks away.
6) Movie – Rhode Island (19)
7) Baseball – Pawtucket Red Sox (13)
8 ) Community College – Rhode Island (16) and Connecticut (17).

I had other ambitions, but realized that I was on vacation and should slow down a bit. I also managed to visit my first stand-alone Dunkin’ Donuts, visited a random colonial museum in Wickford, and finished reading a massive book.

Slater Mill in Pawtucket

Walking in Memphis

This is a recap of a trip I took to Arkansas and Memphis over Memorial Day Weekend 2008.
(Marc Cohn gets credit for the title.)
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As you know, I have been at 25 states for the Barber Shop Project for awhile now. This past weekend I did #26. That state was…Arkansas! I had some things I had yet to see in Memphis and managed to work in Arkansas while I was at it.

Here’s the quick log of my trip (with number of states where I have done each):

Friday (Little Rock)
1. Little Rock Central HS
2. State Capitol (17) – It looks like WV’s.
3. Cotham’s – for a Hubcap Burger (roughly 3x the size of a regular burger). Cotham’s has campaign signs for every candidate who ran statewide in Arkansas in the last 25 years.
4. Clinton Library and Museum – Monica is barely mentioned, plus it sounds like the campaign is still going on.
5. Back Porch Barber Shop, N. Little Rock (26 states) – little time for observation, so I’m rating it higher based on potential for what I saw.
6. Corky’s Ribs and BBQ, N Little Rock (16 states)

Saturday (Memphis)
1. Drove to Memphis
2. National Civil Rights Museum (it’s in the same hotel where King was shot and you can see the balcony and imagine how things were – pretty powerful stuff).
3. Walked along Beale St (took pictures and listened to live music in W.C. Handy Park)
4. Had authentic Memphis barbecue at Pig on Beale (17 states)
5. Stopped at East Arkansas CC in Forrest City on the way back (13 states)
6. Watched the new Narnia movie in N. Little Rock (18 states)

Sunday (Hot Springs)
1. Church at Central Baptist Church (17 states)
2. Hot Springs National Park

Monday (Scott)
1. I was the sole visitor to the Plantation Agriculture Museum in Scott, a town roughly the size of Kingscreek.

So that’s the trip in a nutshell. I didn’t see too many good signs, but managed to sneak a picture of the panel that discussed Clinton’s impeachment. It’s hopelessly partisan. I can also say that I have fallen asleep in church in Arkansas now too. It was a bland “God Bless America” sermon with approximately 65 attending – 10 of them under the age of 65.

Chaining Up Area Only

The Veteran’s Day Parade 2007

To celebrate turning 30 in November 2007, I did the most responsible thing possible…I went to Reno.
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I had a great time this past weekend exploring the great state of Nevada. When I got back to work today a number of people asked me about going to Reno, most of whom I never told I was going there. Most people asked the “Are you doing anything special for your birthday?” as a throwaway question, then was impressed that I went to Reno to celebrate turning 30.

Here’s what I did while I was out there (and # of states I’ve done them in):
Thursday to Nevada (34 states I’ve been to)
– Barbecue at BJ’s in Sparks (15 states)
– Visited the Keck Museum at the Univ. of Nevada-Reno (minerals and rocks)

Friday
– Haircut @ Wild Hair Barbers, Minden (25 states), most unusual was the barber cutting my eyebrows and nosehairs. Had a deer head mounted on the wall with a hat: “You Can Take My Gun from Me, But Take the Bullet First.” Waived the name rule, since it proved to be a good experience.
– Drove to Lake Tahoe. If you ever want to golf Nevada, I recommend the Tahoe Golf Club – it’s situated at approximately 6,000 feet.
– As soon as you leave Carson City at 4,500 ft, you climb up to 7,146 ft. You also immediately see signs advising “Bear Xing Next 9 Miles” and “Road May Be Icy Next 11 Miles.” Drivers crossing the mountains Sat night/Sun morning were advised to pack tire chains.
– Went along shore to South Lake Tahoe, CA (35 states I’ve been to). Now the whole family has been to California. I stopped less than a mile across the state line, ate at Subway, and patronized a local independent bookseller. It counts.
– Pictures of Lake Tahoe. I probably slanted my horizon on some of them, but they still look good.
– Movie in Carson City, Fred Claus (17 states)

Saturday
– Nevada State Capitol (16 states)
– Nevada State Museum with re-created silver mine in basement
– Awful-Awful Burger @ The Nugget casino, it’s an in-famous delicacy according to UNR students. It’s “Awfully Good”!
– Nevada State Railroad Museum

Sunday
– Mass @ St. Therese Church of the Little Flower, Reno (16 states)
– Reno Veteran’s Day Parade (I got a shot of the parade passing under the famous Reno arch, a little confetti and it looks like the soldiers are returning from war)
– Fitzgerald’s Casino. I lost $3.50, played video poker and the slots (including one with old-fashioned arm). Ate at the buffet. Took a coin bucket. Therefore, I broke even.
– Visited the Duncan Hunter for President town hall meeting at the Airport Plaza Hotel where I stayed that night. He’s against illegal immigration and running 7th among Republicans. Of the other 50 in the room, I think 48 of them may be crazy enough to vote for him. First presidential campaign event I’ve ever attended.

Monday
– Flew back.

Nevada was fun to visit. It’s not a flat desert, but rather has a series of mountain ranges across the state. Reno and Carson City are in a long valley about 20 miles wide. You can see the mountains from anywhere. It snowed Sunday morning (the first snow of the year) and I took pictures. I discovered the joy of AM PM’s 44 oz. fountain drink refills. I discovered that one must first unlock the passenger doors of a PT Cruiser before unlocking the trunk – if one fails to do so, the panic alarm goes off (it took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to shut it off). I ate at a Jack-in-the-Box. Stopped at the Sak ‘n Save. I finished two books and left them in public locations (War and Peace in the Douglas County Library and a Rick Bragg book at Gate E7 in the Atlanta airport). If you wish, you can gamble at the slot machines at the CVS Pharmacy while waiting for your prescription to be filled.

I have now been in 35 states, had haircuts in 25, saw 16 state capitols, attended church services in 16, watched a movie in 17, and ate barbecue in 15.

Baseball and KC

This is a recap for a trip I took to Kansas City in late August 2007.
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I have now had my hair cut in my 24th state. Friday afternoon I had my hair cut at Doug’s Barber Shop in Independence, Missouri. I took a long weekend to Kansas City – saw the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the Truman Library and Museum, the Missouri State Capitol, and a Kansas City Royals game. So, Missouri is now the 24th state in which I’ve had a haircut.

I didn’t go just for the haircut, I’ve wanted to see the Truman museums. I’ve wanted to see a Kansas City Royals game since I was last in KC 13 years ago. Now that I have seen the Royals, I have reached another baseball goal of mine – I have now seen all levels of organized professional baseball this season, each in a different state.

In my quest for historical euphemisms, I found this gem at the Missouri State Capitol on Sunday. If you remember from your American History classes, the Kansas-Nebraska Act enabled states to determine whether they entered the union as slave or free. Passed in 1854, it was the high-water mark of Stephen Douglas’ career. Let’s just say that Missourians stuffed the ballot box in favor of slavery, the votes were declared null and void, and then civil war ensued (Jayhawkers, Quantrill’s gang, John Brown, Frank and Jesse James, etc). Or in the historian’s words Missourians “chose to get involved by having public meetings and influencing elections in Kansas.” A bit understated, I might say…

My trip to Maryland

This is a brief note about my trip to western Maryland in early June 2007.
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Here are a couple pictures from the trip I took to western Maryland a couple weeks ago. The theme was the Civil War (as I stopped at the Antietam and Monocacy and Harper’s Ferry, WV battlefields), as well as the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick (our motto is “All Amputations Were Necessary and Carefully Done”). I had barbecue at Redneck Ribs in New Market, watched a Frederick Keys baseball game, and had my hair cut by Pete of Pete’s Barber Shop in Boonsboro. That’s 23 states for those keeping track.

A store in Boonsboro is advertised here as being open, but actually being demolished. Struck me as an ironic use of the term “open.” Is ironic the right word?

Delmarva

This is the recounting of a trip I took to the Delmarva peninsula in April 2007.
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It’s been a couple weeks, but I recently did the Delaware haircut. My theme was the Delmarva peninsula (which includes Delaware and the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Delaware). Visited the Delaware State Capitol (where I was allowed to walk all over the place, including up to grab the Speaker’s gavel), visited the Zwaanendael Museum to celebrate the Dutch settling Delaware, found the unmarked Mason-Dixon monument (yep, it’s an actual line), watched baseball in Salisbury, MD, and oh, yeah, had a crab cake in Maryland. The barber shop was Walt’s in Laurel, Delaware and Walt Hearn cut my hair.

Three pictures are attached:

1) A picture of the actual crab cake I ate, at the Crab Claw in St. Michaels, Maryland.
2) The Zwaanendael Museum, built to resemble an actual 17th-century town hall from Holland.
3) A Pewter store in Salisbury Maryland.

I went down to the Crossroads

Mural near former Tutwiler MS train station, where WC Handy “discovered” the blues

This is a recap of a trip I took to Mississippi the first of October 2006.
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I flew into Jackson on Thursday, saw the State Capitol. There is an eagle on the front that faces south. This is “in defiance of Washington” (the other way to say this is more colorful), given their lingering resentment on civil rights. I stopped in and visited a guy who I last saw when he attended LSMI at Minnesota five years ago. I drove up to Greenville that night. I went through Belzoni, the Catfish Capitol of the World, with various catfish sculptures around town. Had some catfish that night. I also ate at Tabb’s BBQ in Greenville, “The Best Dang BBQ in the Whole Dang Delta.” Yep, Ned Flanders of the Simpsons could have written the slogan.

I drove up through the Mississippi Delta region on Friday (as far north as Clarksdale) and south to Vicksburg on Saturday. I visited a number of sites related to Delta blues music (stopping at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale and the Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland), saw a working cotton gin, saw the MS River at a low point, climbed up the levee at Greenville, tooled around the Vicksburg National Military Park, etc. The locals greeted me warmly in Onward, where the Teddy Bear was invented. I had my hair cut by Marty Eubank, a 66-year-old marathon runner who owns a small two-chair barber shop in Clarksdale. The overall experience was a 3.5 (out of 5) – mainly because the others knew I was a tourist and steered their conversation accordingly. That’s 20 states for the haircuts.

I realized that “Bridge May Ice in Cold Weather” as they feel the need to point this out every time. Apparently the thing to do in Flowood, MS is to take the family to the Saturday matinee, get dinner, and then go home. I went in to see a movie about Huey Long. It’s not terribly exciting, but it sure beats “getting into a fight in Jackson, MS on a Saturday night.” Went to a Methodist church in Brandon before flying out Sunday afternoon. That’s 11 State Capitols, 14 for church, and 13 for movies.

So the trip overall was fun. I had planned to go to MS several years ago, but things kept coming up. Driving through the Mississippi Delta reminds me of west Texas. As flat as can be, hardly anyone on the road, and you can literally see for miles. I passed through Tutwiler, a town where W.C. Handy claims to have discovered the blues. Most of it is falling down. There are a lot of lower-end businesses (pawn shops, liquor stores, etc) and vacant storefronts in the towns I went through. The poverty is obvious to you, but I had seen similar places driving around southwest Georgia. There seemed to be very few folks interested in the same areas as me – I would have expected a larger crowd given the recent resurgence of interest in blues music.

Blueberry Hill

This is a recap of a trip I took to New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware back in August 2006.
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Thought I would share with you a couple of things about my trip up the Eastern Shore this past weekend. I left Friday morning and got back last night. I accomplished several things – I saw the Maryland State Capitol, got my New Jersey haircut, went to church in New Jersey, saw a Wilmington (DE) Blue Rocks baseball game, stopped in my first stand-alone 7-Eleven in La Plata (MD), saw the James Monroe Museum in Fredericksburg, VA, and saw George Washington’s and Robert E. Lee’s Birthplaces. My biggest disappointment was not finding a Rocky Bluewinkle to add to my collection of mascots. For the record, it’s 19 state haircuts, 13 states for church services, 10 state capitols.

My New Jersey haircut came in Hammonton, New Jersey. It’s in south Jersey, and advertises itself as the Blueberry Capital of the World (and has blueberries on the city sign). It also has a plaque commemorating a 1984 campaign speech made by President Reagan (the transcript is accessible on the town website 22 years later). Hammonton is also the Gateway to the Pine Barrens (where I went afterwards). The town is about 70% Italian, so it should not surprise you that Susanna Vaccarella cut my hair at Paul’s Barber Shop. I rated it a 4+ for its authenticity, crowd, the haircut, and the hair left on the floor. Susanna slipped into the stereotypical Italian accent a few times while I was there.

I am attaching two pictures I took this weekend. One is a sign in a Hammonton business. It’s a rather unique way of dealing with solicitors. I don’t know what type of business it is, either. The second picture is from a church in downtown Mays Landing. It struck me as fairly innovative, given the millions of church signs I’ve seen.