MALVERN, PENNSYLVANIA

Sorry to drop off! I'm stopped in Malvern, Pennsylvania. I'm spending a little time with Kate and Brook (my sister and brother-in-law).

And also Dublin! :-)

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

Oh dear. TOURISM. Eighth grade school groups, living history actors... Actually, the actors/history buffs were super cool to chat with. :-)



Gorgeous original and recreated colonial buildings. Colonial Williamsburg was restored/recreated by Rockefeller in the 1920's.



Two great museums: DeWitt and Folk Art.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

Charlottesville is another cute little college town. Lots o'brick buildings and standard fare college town shops, restaurants and coffee. One can sense D.C. is near...



Monticello
Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello is smaller than I imagined - it looks more grand on the outside - and on the nickel ;-).


Here's some fun facts from today:
1
Over his lifetime, he owned over 600 slaves. At any given time there were 200 slaves living at Montecello.
2
He read and wrote 5 languages.
3
Jefferson had a passion for plants. He even had an exotic ginko tree imported from China for his property (1 of 2 in the U.S. at the time). Meriwether Lewis spent a year with Jefferson prior to his westward journey. Lewis then sent back seeds for Jefferson to attempt to cultivate at Monticello. Like this echinea plant:


4
He had a large vegetable garden as he ate mostly vegetables and meat only occasionally. This semi-vegetarian view was particularly unusual for the time.



5
Each morning he put his feet in cold water to ward off illness.

6
DNA testing has indicated that he fathered children with slave Sally Hemmings (who was mulutto and likely the half sister of his late wife). Later, he helped to free these children. Two these children married and 'passed' as white once out of Virginia.

7
He was a total Francophile - even sending slaves to France to learn French cooking in Paris so they could cook for him at Monticello. Additionally, he brought back many ideas from French gardens and architecture that he used at Monticello - such as skylights and meandering gardens.

TO CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

Looked around a few of the shops in Asheville a little more in the morning. Started out to take the Blue Ridge Parkway (National Park and road) today until I learned it would take over 12 hours to get to Charlottesville that way from a Park Ranger! I ended up taking some of the major highways there instead - it was still quite pretty!



I took the above picture in Virginia. I'm off to check out Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello and Charlottesville in the morning.

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Asheville is a cute town. It has a old school and neo hippie element but also has retired and tourist folks milling around. There is an excellent bookstore, lots of little B&B's around town. healthy food co-op, yoga, a farmer's market, animal wellness center ;-) vegetarian restaurants and a store that handmakes sandals - just to give you an idea. I saw a few "Keep Asheville Wierd" bumper stickers on cars - it's THAT sort of town. I'm aware of Portland, OR and Austin, TX having those movements too - to keep unique small business and the crafts thriving with a citizen watch on big chain corporations. Like Santa Fe, it clearly has strong zoning, for example, the McDonalds has a small 'tasteful' wooden sign.

The Biltmore
That said, after looking around town in morning, I spent the ENTIRE afternoon at The Biltmore - a mansion built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt - I didn't anticipate to spend so much time there but the house was just enormous. They are REALLY set up for tourists too. The audio tour took about 3 hours alone - and was very well done and very interesting. It has a full size swimming pool underground and in Mr. Vanderbilt's room he had the walls covered in burlap (for texture) then actual gold. I believe they said the house alone is 4 ACRES! As many of you know, I gave house tours in San Francisco on Victorian architecture and customs so there were many extreme examples Victorian lifestyle - like the two story butler's pantry. Here's a few more pictures of outside, unfortuately you can't take pictures inside the house!

TO ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

A long drive today, mostly across Tennessee. The picture is of the Blue Ridge Mountains in eastern Tennessee/North Carolina. I'm hoping to spend a little time to look around Asheville tomorrow. I've heard great things.

HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS

Saturday.

I stayed at a very beautiful but very strange hotel in Hot Springs. There was a Harley-Davidson rally in town so the hotel was extra crazy noisy with bikes and bikers. I swear the hotel is haunted. Two people I met in the hotel told me (unsolicited) that they were 'a bad person' (one in the elevator, one in the bathhouse). I thought that was especially strange. I learned that I was staying on Al Capone's floor. He had a special room with a secret tunnel into the mountain so he could escape into the forest when need be. I had a headache from shortly after I walked into the hotel until shortly after I left. I didn't know Hot Springs had a southern Vegas-type history - gambling, drinking, opium, prositution. It also was a mecca for the elderly and ill in Victorian times. I believe it had a very strange vibe from those two things. Hot Springs has gorgeous old Victorian buildings downtown is getting a little gentrified - however there are still boarded up buildings on the edge of town. The Bath House was *very* old fashioned, Victorian with metal contraptions (where you get in and just your head sticks out) and old school clawfoot bathtubs lined in a room. It remined me of an aging 'Road to Wellville'. There was peeling paint on the walls, hand-printed signs taped around here and there such as 'Please be qiuet.' (misspelled with a backwards S) and little dusty shrines with plastic flowers and porcelain figurines. Also, anytime I wrote down my name - like on the card for the bath house or signing in to the hotel- I was called "Miss Shannon", not "Ms. Riley". I think since it's half-way inbetween - it's a mix of Ozark Hillbilly with New Orleans - I've never been to New Orleans - but it's just a guess.

I love Disney Haunted House but this hotel was a little much for me! (Maybe because I was on the 4th floor?) I would recommend to all those who love scary 1950's movies - I think the Adams Family would love it ;-)

Later, I found this online:

And gangster Al Capone came to Hot Springs on vacation, he rented the whole 4th floor of the Arlington Hotel. Legend states the room he personally stayed in has been locked and will not be currently rented to anyone. It is said to be haunted...

It was REALLY interesting, old and beautiful - I just had such a bad feeling there and feel ill the entire time.

TO NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

This morning I drove down the 'Turquoise Trail', Highway 14 that passes through Madrid, New Mexico.


Madrid is a totally cute town - and old mining town - the buildings have wood construction - so it looked a little bit different than other places I'd seen in New Mexico. It has galleries, a country store and a even live theater! :-)



I then drove Highway 40 through New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma until Oklahoma City. Here's a couple pics of Texas and Oklahoma:




Then down on 35 to Norman, Oklahoma. I'm in Norman tonight and will look around a bit in the morning - Norman gets a few votes and is on the 'C List'.

TAOS, NEW MEXICO

I spent the morning in Taos, New Mexico. The town of Taos is adobe style with a small plaza with trinket shops around. There are a few galleries. Then I went to the Taos Pueblo. I'd never been to a Pueblo before. Currently about 200 Native American people live (without electricity or plumbing).



Abiquiu/Ghost Ranch
In the afternoon, I took a tour of Georgia O'Keefe's home and studio in Abiquiu. Afterwards, I drove out to Ghost Ranch. The landscape along the way changes dramaticly.

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

People have told me for YEARS that I would like Santa Fe. And YES, I like Santa Fe very much!


This morning I went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum. In my view, it does not contain a very good selection of her work - I've seen better elsewhere. However, a docent made the experience very interesting and they have a very good documentary on her life.

The Spanish combined with Native American and 'Anglo' is really interesting. I was told that the blue paint on the doors and windows is traditional - to ward off evil spirits. Someone else told me today that sometimes people ask if US Dollar is the currency here!


Saint Francis
I really love Saint Francis. There is a Saint Francis Cathedral here.

And you see Saint Francis everywhere as you walk around town!






Travel Bug
I stopped for coffee at the best travel store I've ever seen. It had drawers of maps, travel books galore, wireless internet access, coffee, computers to use, travel everything but I think the best part was literature intermixed with the various travel books. I think it was a great business idea.



Canyon Road
I spent a large part of the day on Canyon Road - a street lined with galleries. Here are some of my favorites were C, NuArt, Selby Fleetwood, and Lew Allen.

The one downside I see to Santa Fe is that it seems somewhat 'geriatric'. I felt all day when I saw someone who looked my age - we noticed each other - because most people here seem a little older.

TO SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

This morning I dropped Ana off at the airport in Denver. The new airport is very far away from Denver. We got stuck in dead standstill traffic so we backed off the highway and figured out an alternate non-highway route. We were short on time and everything slow that could happen did - got behind super slow dump truck, had to wait for train, etc. Ana did make here flight though - she called from Atlanta.



Today I pretty much drove highway 25 from Denver to Santa Fe. It was sunny, then it would rain a little. Overall it was a nice drive (the highway is WAY better in New Mexico than Colorado).

So tonight I'm in Santa Fe (or as some say, Fanta Se ;-). I'll report more on the town of adobe tomorrow.

BOULDER, COLORADO

Okay. Boulder. Well, for those of you who don't know already. The Subaru (who Ana is now calling Ladybug or LB) started smoking a little on the Utah mountain passes. We opened the hood in Heber City, Utah to discover that bread and acorns were embedded throughout the engine. Yes, you read that correct - BREAD and ACORNS! I had my car looked at one week before I left (by mechanics I adore in Seattle) and they gave me the go ahead. However, the neighborhood that I live in Seattle there are many retirement buildings and the retired folks are often feeding animals (squirrels/birds) in the park near my house. I guess some squirrel decided he got lucky and packed my engine with a loaf of bread! We couldn't even begin to get it all out in Heber City. We also later learned there was an oil pump issue. We ended up with a great auto place in Boulder but it took them 4 HOURS to clean out the BREAD and ACORNS in the engine today. Unbelievable.

Since our car was in the shop - we rented a car for the day. Our first site seeing spot was Celestial Seasonings (the tea company). It was homey little factory that smelled amazing with all the tea ingredients from around the world (lemongrass, peppermint, etc.)

Everyone recommended Pearl Street. So, that was our next stop. An area with shops and restaurants. Ate lunch at a place called 'Dish' - small joint with homemade sandwiches. Then we strolled the downtown for a few hours - people watched and looked in stores.

Overall, Boulder is a college town. There are a few interesting stores. Mostly, I saw: A)students B)extremely physically fit, attractive people everywhere in spendy outdoor clothes C)tourists D)'unique individuals'. I suspect most folks who live here may not be native of Colorado.

TO BOULDER, COLORADO

Left Park City today and drove Highway 40 most of the way to Boulder. It was absolutely beautiful. Seriously. I thought Montana had big mountains. These in Colorado are huge.

We got pulled over by a cop in Kremmling, Colorado for allegedly going 53 in a 35 zone through town. Luckly he was super nice and after a few minutes of talking he actually gave us better directions to Boulder (and let us go without a ticket)! Otherwise, we would have takens some huge mountain passes there in the dark which could have been very scary.

Anyhoo, here's some picture of the day! All along highway 40...







This one is just something you don't see in Seattle much! ;-)

PARK CITY, UTAH

Ski town home Sundance Film Festival. Construction all over. A few galleries, some historic small Victorian-ish houses but clearly everything was overhalled by 2002 Olympics. Clearly lots of tourism here. It has all the standard shops, more mid-range rather than trinkets or high-end. In my view, not very interesting. The area around here is very beautiful.




One thing I found interesting is that we went to the 2002 Olympic Park where they hosted the luge, bobsled and skeleton events. We were able to go to the start/top of runs - amazing views, yet totally frightening! We also some kids practicing freestyle arial jumps - who know they did that in the middle of summer? It was cool to see.

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO

Yesterday Ana and I met her friend Rebecca and her 2 year old son Tanner (who is so cute) at the Heathman Hotel in Portland for breakfast and got on the road at about 11am. It is beautiful around Hood River, Oregon and we quickly got off the 84 and drove around that town - it is famous for windsurfing, Full Sail Ale and has some Victorian houses and a little brick downtown. I'd been there before and I really like it. We then briefly got of 84 again at LaGrande, Oregon for gas and went on to Boise, Idaho. Boise is very bland (seems there was a sale on the color beige). There are some new brick buildings building downtown but hardly any pedestrians anywhere. It was all very nice but sorta seemed like a fake Hollywood set.

So we figured out that Sun Valley was only two hours away. We decided to go on. Long story short, we arrived at 11pm (after a 12 hour drive) and stayed in the historic Sun Valley Lodge. Ernest Hemingway lived in Ketchum, Idaho and wrote in the lodge. This morning, I wanted to just take a picture of the door of his room but it was open because they were cleaning it. So we got to go in and look around.

TROUTDALE, OREGON

Well, Ana flew in today. It's so much fun to see her. I'm happy she is joining me until Denver! Anyhoo, we spent the afternoon (till about 3pm or so) in Seattle then headed down to Portland area. We are outside Portland tonight and will meet up with Rebecca (a friend of Ana's who apparently I met at her wedding last summer?) in Portland tomorrow.

FOR THE DAY

TRIP PLAN

May change, but, here's the plan is thus far:

Day 1: Seattle, WA (via Portland) to Boise, ID (8)
Day 2: Boise, ID (via Sun Valley, ID) to Park City, UT (6-8)
Day 3: Park City, UT to Boulder, CO (7)
Day 4: Boulder, CO
Day 5: Boulder, CO to Santa Fe, NM (6)
Day 6: Santa Fe, NM
Day 7: Taos, NM/Santa Fe, NM
Day 8: Santa Fe, NM to Norman, OK (8)
Day 9: Norman, OK to Hot Springs, AR (6)
Day 10: Hot Springs, AR to Oxford, MS (4)
Day 11: Oxford, MS to Asheville, NC (9)
Day 12: Asheville, NC
Day 13: Asheville, NC to Charlottesville, VA (6)
Day 14: Charlottesville, VA
Day 15: Charlottesville, VA to Malvern, PA (5)

And great news! Ana signed on for Seattle to Denver! Ping me if any part of this sounds interesting to YOU and I'll pick you up at the nearest airport! :-)

AH, THE BUBBLE

I can't find the source article for this graphic. I saw it on a random real estate person's blog yesterday. I was able to find this. Let me know if you can find the article with the below graphic.

Some of the advice articles seem to recommend: Get prepared and rent in the meantime. ;-)

SURVEY SAYS...

Well, I totaled up the "best place" lists I have. To be frank, it's not what I expected. A friend suggested that the results maybe skewed because I used some retirement lists. I'm surprised that towns like North Adams, MA or Madrid, NM is not appearing here because I know I've seen them in a couple lists.

Also, if a town was referenced in an article that I printed or saved for ANY reason - a point was given for that. For example, I recently pulled an article on the unique stores popping up in downtown Oxford, MS. So, Oxford got an extra point for that.

I am certain there are errors in my methods. However, it's an interesting listing none-the-less. I don't have the energy at the moment to redo it.

MORE TO TALK ABOUT

Some other things I hope to discuss on this blog space: gentrification and shifting population.

And this general premise:
Historically, culture developed in big city places like Manhattan, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles where there was a large population and fusion of different kinds of people. To add fuel, artists, creatives and younger educated people tended to relocate to these urban locations (think: Left Bank Paris, Greenwich Village or even Hollywood).

In the 1990's, smaller cites started getting attention. Seattle, Austin and Boulder picked up population and were touted as 'digital age leaders'. It has been said this is because they had the lifestyle amenities like access to outdoor recreation that tended attract the 'knowledge worker'. (a 2000 Richard Florida sorta thing). Additionally, aging hippies turned yuppie tend to be found in these 'latte town' locations. (a year 2000 David Brooks term).

Seems however, last several years, cites like Omaha, Boise, Baltimore and Dayton have been tagged as affordable and up-and-coming with the idea set. Or a created art community in a rural, low population town, like Marfa, Texas or Paducah, Kentucky.

But, with broadband internet access, will we need to be bound to a physical place at all for an exchange of ideas in the future?

BLOG BEGINS

Blog begins with a trip. At this time, the trip will take place from June 1 to June 22. It will start in Seattle, Washington and end in Malvern, Pennsylvania. You may ask such questions as "Why Malvern?", "Why the 22nd?" Well, a garden tour is planned at Kate and Brook's house on that date with Miss Livy and Mr. Kevin in attendance. This is an unusual confluence that I don't want to miss! (Translation: family gathering at my sister's involving mom and dad.)

Or, you may go right to the root, and ask "Why The Trip at all?". Well, the purpose is threefold: trends, ideas and relocation. I'll get into that more as we go along...

But first, a diversion. For as long time, I've had an interest cross-country America travel combined with an interest in emerging _______ . (You fill in the blank: places, patterns, ideas, trends, design, art, social comments, people, boutiques, architecture, real estate, history, historic architecture, landscape, diy, crafts). Can this be collected under one term? Let me know if you know...

The place interest comes from a mixed-up, mash-up of influences. Take all the classic American road trip books and movies, then add Alistair Cooke "America" series (a particular favorite), plus Art Towns by John Villani, then Creative Class studies by Richard Florida, add something like"Bobos in Paradise" and "On Paradise Drive" by David Brooks. Then, a now ancient Utne Reader list titled "Most Enlightened Towns". Also, place lists always grab my attention (or are sent to me), like this one or this one (I can't help but think, 'Why wait to retire? Why now move there now!' :-).

At the root, I can't help but notice the same places keep hitting these lists and are talked about in these books. What's going on? I guess I want to see a few more (than I have) to assess the situation in person.

A recent read of "Peace Pilgram" did not help matters either ;-)

So, clearly this trip will not even BEGIN to touch on what I would like to see and do! It's been near impossible to keep it trim.

I plan to keep you posted here on what I'm seeing and learning along the way.