15 photos (+/-)

my favorites from the road, w/commentary

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We’ve just returned from our two-week sojourn, which included a trip through the mountains to visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, a spate of camping on Ocracoke Island off the coast of North Carolina in the Outer Banks, a couple of days in Washington DC, then on to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania to visit with my sister and the gang there.

I’ve not much time and want to get something out as scheduled on Thursday, so I thought this would suffice.

The trip was framed by the fact that it took place during one of the largest protests in the country’s history, the “No More Kings” protests. Plus, we landed in Washington D.C. during the Juneteenth celebrations and the mad king’s bombings of Iran. Perhaps I’ll ramble on about that at a later date. For now, I just want to share some images.

By the way, this posting may be truncated in your email program. Just follow the instructions to get to the substack site to see the entire posting, or click on the title in your email and you should be taken there

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While traveling through West Virginia and witnessing protests and signs in support of the protests in many little towns across the state (In the little burg of Elkins we drove through a joyful protest of about 300 people waving anti-Trump banners, rainbow flags and other protest accoutrements), we were pleased to see various rainbow banners hanging from buildings in most of the little towns and cities we drove through. We took secondary routes, as usual. A much more interesting way to see the country.

These first photos are from our subsequent visit through Shenandoah National Park after we crossed into Virginia.

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Above? An empty chair looking out from Monticello into the humid misty day.

The following is one of the poppies in the gardens around Jefferson’s house.

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Here are a couple of visitors to Monticello, followed by a shot of one of the staircases in the house. Jefferson thought wide stairways were a waste of space, so….

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I think I like the following shot mostly because of the nicotiana in the foreground. A kind of flowering tobacco. It is a different variety than the type I grow (which can grow taller than me), but I think this variety is pretty satisfying and so I bought a packet of seeds from the garden shop at the visitor center.

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On to Ocracoke Island. We were greeted by a tremendous rainstorm as we entered Hatteras National Seashore and crossed the long, high bridge over the inlet between Bodie Island and Pea Island on our way to catch the ferry to Ocracoke. The visibility as we crossed this bridge was as limited as it might be during one of Northern Michigan’s blizzards. The storm was visible for miles before it engulfed us, a wide dark pillar that appeared to be sitting on Pamlico Sound and moving slowly over the long narrow islands that make up the Outer Banks. By the time we got to our campsite on Ocracoke however (and to our relief), the rain had all but disappeared and we were able to set up in dry weather. That night, however, we were rudely and very suddenly awakened by a fierce storm that shook the tent and bowed the sides all while drumming the tent with torrential rains while flashing lightning and constant thunder. We came through it dry and unharmed, though the night before we left the island there was a repeat that managed to get us a little wet.

The following picture is from one of our beach days on the island. A big family came out on the beach all at once. It seemed clear the kids had never seen the ocean before and they were thrilled. Soon everyone was wet, squealing and getting knocked around by the breaking waves. The ocean did not disappoint. It was wild and rough that day and for the duration of our stay.

And then, the next day, with our wet tent rolled up and packed away, it was back to the mainland via ferry… but first, here’s a look at the Ocracoke lighthouse, the oldest on the North Carolina coast and one of the oldest in the country.

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It seems most common, even cliche, for those who visit the country’s capital to take pictures of its famous memorials and official buildings. I have a couple of those I’ll share before I finish today’s entry, but first, here’s the man in the red shoes in the coffee shop near our hotel… and then a building I thought was really interesting along my walk to the Chinese restaurant, where I picked up take-out for dinner.

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We made it a point to visit the Lincon Memorial. It seemed appropriate for some reason during these times. We were almost overwhelmed by the number of people there, and the diversity represented. Both of us have been to the Lincoln Memorial in the past and never visited when it was so busy. It was close to dusk and the sheer number and variety of people present seemed to represent something completely antithetical to the aims of our current commander in chief and his die-hard followers, as if people had dropped what they were doing to make pilgrimage to the memorial on that day. More than one person present was tearful.

Eventually we loaded Susan into a cab to get her back to the hotel in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, a few blocks from the end of the mall opposite from the Lincoln memorial and the capitol itself, and I walked the distance as the sun set. It was a good walk. There were still Juneteenth related celebrations going on around the Smithsonian.

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Finally: a shot of the gang in Pennsylvania, after a great dinner in a little Thai restaurant in Altoona.

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L-R: my partner Susan, my niece April; Dasan, April’s child; my sister Linda, and April’s partner, Dave.