The Skunk Train, Willits, CA

Friday, October 13th, 2023

All aboard the Pumpkin Express!   What a way to celebrate fall and Halloween by taking the Skunk Train through the redwood groves!   During the month of October, the Wolfe Tree Turn is renamed to the Pumpkin Express and as an added extra, we got Halloween candy and got to take a pumpkin home with us.

I had heard about the Skunk Train in a Visit California magazine.  It looked interesting offering different rides on different routes along with different themes.  They also had rail bikes that looked fun but I decided to stick with the train ride.

The Skunk Train website had quite a bit of history, the railroad was installed in the 1800s to haul redwood lumber to Fort Bragg as well as transport workers.   In the early 1900’s the steam engines were replaced with motorcars that used gasoline powered cars and used crude oil stoves to heat passenger cars.   The people along the line said that you could smell the train before you could see it and nicknamed the train, “The Skunk Train”.   Eventually, the lines became part of the California Railroad. Continue reading

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On the Road – Pea Soup Andersen’s

Oct 12, 2023

If you have taken a road trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco, you would have seen the signs for Pea Soup Andersen’s.  I remember seeing the signs the first time I drove up the 101 decades ago.   I am not a fan of pea soup, so I never stopped but a few years back, a couple of friends mentioned that the food is actually pretty good and not only is their pea soup wonderful, their fried chicken is delicious.  We  decided to give it a try and we loved it.

There are two locations, the original is off of the 101 and the second location is off the 5 freeway so it doesn’t matter if we are taking the 101 or the 5 freeway, we always plan on stopping. This was the first time I went to the one in Santa Nella and I was glad to see that it was almost identical to the one in Buellton, complete with the windmill, Danish bakery and gift shop. Continue reading

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Little Italy

Little ItayAugust 25th & 26th, 2023

It was our last full day in NYC before flying out.   We were going to head to the Chelsea neighborhood where my friend Allan had lived.  I was glad that I checked to see if my friend’s favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Co Ba) was still open along with my favorite kitchen supply store in Chelsea Market.   Both of them had closed.   We decided to check out a few stores in the Bowery Neighborhood and to head over to China Town and Little Italy.

We spent most of the day wandering through neighborhoods and looking at restaurants.  We did stop at bakery in Little Italy to have piece of cake and something to drink before we headed back to a restaurant that was close to the hotel that I wanted to try.

Not the most exciting day but it was enjoyable! Continue reading

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Sweeney Todd

August 24, 2023

The highlight of the week was seeing Sweeney Todd.  This is one my all-time favorite musicals.   I remember seeing a recorded version of the play with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn back in the 80s, I will never forget when they sang “A Little Priest” and realized this was musical was much darker than I thought it was. I was familiar with some of the songs including “Not while I’m around” and “Pretty Women” and had no idea of the context.

While on my flight to NYC, I received an email indicating that Annaleigh Ashford wasn’t going to be in Thursday night’s production. I learned a long time ago, to selecting shows based on what I wanted to see as opposed to the leading starts who was in them.   You never know when you show up if the you are going to see be an understudy.  I wanted to see this show, but having Josh Groban star in it made it even better.   I was glad to see he would be in the production.

Overall, the night was a walk down memory lane.   Back in the 80s, I did a project in the Hotel Edison which was next door to the Lunt-Fontanne Theater.   Back then it wasn’t nearly as nice as it is today.  The Cafe Edison restaurant that was in the hotel (known as the Polish Deli) had closed years ago and they opened up the Bond 45 restaurant.  The story behind Bond 45 was that the restaurant ordinally opened int he the space where the Bond Clothing store occupied in Times Square. The restaurant moved to the Hotel Edison.

Continue reading

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The Nintendo Store

August 23, 2023

It wouldn’t be a trip to NYC without stopping by the Nintendo Store at the Rockefeller center.   After getting back from Coney Island, we walked to the Nintendo store to see what their latest and greatest t-shirts.   They used to have a small Nintendo museum with a history of the games and consoles.   I noticed that the display had shrunk to make room for more large screen displays.

After the Nintendo store we stopped by the skating rink.  It being summer, they had roller skating instead of the ice skating.  There were only a few people roller skating and I noticed the kids were using a device that was similar to a walker  to help prevent them falling down. Where is the fun in that?

We decided to check out FAO Schwarz which is right around the corner.   I should have known better, as soon as I got in the store, I found myself wanting to get away from the overly stimulated hyper active children. Continue reading

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Coney Island

August 23, 2023

I have been to New York city quite a few times for both work and pleasure. On this trip, I wanted to do something that I hadn’t done before.  As I looked at things to do, I saw Coney Island.   I had never been to Coney Island and yet I have seen it on TV and in the movies over and over again.  I loved the TV series Mr. Robot and the F Society was based there.  A few weeks earlier, I saw the last episode of  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel where they all went to Coney Island.  I googled directions on how to get there and then took the Q Train through Brooklyn to get there.

The train ride was about an hour and as we went through Brooklyn, I thought of my mother who grew up there.   When I asked her questions about her childhood, she would always say that she didn’t remember much of her childhood.  I always wondered if that was true, she seemed to have very fond memories of my grandfather and how he would take her into the city.  She loved sharing the memories but besides those memories, she didn’t talk much about her childhood. Continue reading

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New York City 2023

August 22, 2023

I love to travel, but when COVID hit, I put travel on hold.  I did not want this summer to come and go without taking a couple of trips.   I was watching the Tony awards and saw that Josh Groban was starring in one of my favorite plays – Sweeney Todd.  I spent a couple of days debating if I should or shouldn’t.  I finally came to the conclusion that life is short and should be enjoyed, I would probably regret not going.

When I fly to the east coast, I typically take an early morning flight.   This time, I decided to take an afternoon flight which landed me in Newark around 9:30 PM.  Throughout the day, I kept thinking how nice it was to have slept in, had breakfast and didn’t feel rushed getting to the airport. We arrived late evening and getting into the city was much easier than if we had landed during rush hour.

The downside to this trip was that unfortunately, my long time friend Allan Bierman, who lived in NYC,  passed away in January, 2022. It seemed strange that I was going to be in NYC and was not going to see him. Continue reading

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Michigan City

July 30th, 2023

We decided to drive up to Michigan City.  It took about an hour to drive from Hammond.  I had to keep reminding myself that although the dunes, sandy beaches and waves made me thinking I was visiting the ocean, this was a lake.

I grew up around the great lakes.  Winters were long and it felt like summers came and went far too quickly.  I loved summer, there was nothing better than wearing shorts and a t-shirt and being outside.   When you only had a couple of months of warm weather, you took advantage of it and got out of the house and did things.

The beach was crowded and there were plenty of people grilling their favorite cookout foods – hot dogs, hamburgers, and BBQ chicken served with chips, baked beans, potato salad and watermelon. I have often wondered, did I like the food because it was associated with summers, picnics and family reunions or did I like it for other reasons.   As I walked through the grilling pavilion,  I was glad to see that things haven’t changed much but I did notice that I didn’t see any Jell-O dishes!

We walked out to the lighthouse and on the way back, I noticed a sign warning about the danger of walking on the ice. Hard to believe on this warm sunny day that in another few months it would turn cold again.  Continue reading

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The Indiana Dunes – A National Park

July 29th, 2023

Off we went to explore Indiana, our first stop was the Indiana Dunes which is a national park.  I grew up close to Lake Ontario and I went to college in a town close to Lake Erie. I have fond memories of heading to the lake on hot summer days but I have no recollection of sand dunes.   I was impressed with the lake Michigan and the Indiana dunes.   There was plenty of hiking and beautiful beaches.

While growing up, my parents threw all us kids into the back of the family station wagon and we drove to Cape Cod.   I kept reminding myself, this was not Cape Cod, this was not the Ocean, it didn’t have the salty smell, it smelled earthy and yet, the dunes and the beaches reminded me of Cape Cod.

I realized that across the lake, we could see Chicago! Continue reading

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Indiana 2023….A Christmas Story.

July 29th, 2023

After we landed in Chicago, I picked up a rental and headed to Hammond, Indiana.   As we drove, I realized that I had not been to Indiana before and realized the only thing I knew about it was that the Music Man, was from Gary, Indiana (which was repeated over and over again in the song).  When I booked the trip, I thought I would spend my time at the festival and revisiting the places that I used to go when I worked outside of Chicago.  Maybe I should explore Indiana to see what it has to offer.

It turns out that the hotel is next door to the Indiana Visitors Center which again, got me thinking that I should explore Indiana.   I stopped by after the we went to the festival and it was a very nice visitors center.   I was immediately confused, just outside the front door was a statue reenacting the triple dare from a Christmas Story. Inside there was a place to take selfies next to the leg lamp in the front window of the house, the gift shop was filled with magnets and souvenirs from the movie.

I am not a huge fan of the movie but not too long ago, I saw a news story about the house which had been converted into a tourist attraction.  The house was located in Cleveland, Ohio.  I grabbed my phone to make sure I remembered it right.   It turns out, Jean Shepard used the fictional town of Hohman, which is Hammond and where she grew up.

My next question was “What is Hoosier”.   I guess people from Indiana call themselves Hoosier.  You should google it, some of the theories as to how that name came to be is pretty entertaining! Continue reading

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