Berlin – Part 1
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
I had trouble convincing everyone in my family to go to Berlin. Part of the problem was a pesky travel agent who told my Mom and Diana that there was no reason to go there, that only the southern portions of the country were scenic. I knew that it wasn’t going to ‘beautiful’ there, but still was desperate to make the trip (having arrived too late in Germany when I visited in 2008 to see Berlin with the Wileys). Basically, the bulk of what was on my bucket list could be found in Berlin. Admittedly, this had more to do with American history – or at least things that Americans had been involved with. Thankfully, eventually I was able to sway everyone into making the trip, even if it wasn’t scenic and it was roughly six or seven hours away from our home base in Trippstadt. By the time it was over, I think everyone concurred that it was a most important city to tour. Read the rest of this entry »
I haven’t made any secret of my affinity for the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it’s episodes like the incredibly creepy, freaky, and utterly original Hush that explain why. This particular episode aired in 1999 and caused nightmares the world over with some of scariest creatures ever to grace any screen. Even apart from the originality of making the monsters steal the voices of our heroes (thus rendering the episode mostly silent), are the Gentlemen themselves, which were inspired by a nightmare the show’s creator Joss Whedon had as a child. The characters immediately became iconic, and thus getting the chance to meet two of them was quite cool indeed. 
I had been on the road for two and a half weeks: two weeks on a road trip traveling with Bob throughout New England – inhaling the historical sites, the Presidential locations, famous graves, Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, a National Park, local cuisine, roadside curiosities, TV locations, and the beauty of the great northeast – plus another half-week at the 18th International Sons of the Desert convention in Manchester, New Hampshire. Yes, that was a long sentence…so just think how long the trip had been. But on Sunday, July 22, 2012, it all came to an end. 
If the Hardy Boys series from the 1970’s didn’t exude that timeless 1970’s feel, I would find it pretty difficult to sit through. Most of my memories of the show are relegated to seeing the cast routinely featured in the teen magazies of the era, the one’s I was purchasing because they featured KISS. Truth be told, I actually prefer the Hardy Boys serials from the Mickey Mouse Club that starred 
The second half of the New England road trip began on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Bob and I had seen and experienced a great deal and it seemed like it had been forever since we began the road trip. But even though there was as much time on the road ahead of us as there was behind it, I could feel the pressure that time was pushing on us, knowing how much we still had left to see as we began the descent toward the end. Nevertheless, it was nothing worth stewing about so we pressed on as best as we could, beginning with the sights in Hyde Park, where we had just spent the night.