Author: Tara Taft

Glimpsing Elon University

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As we drove through North Carolina, we learned that in many ways this state is similar to Massachusetts (e.g., mountains to the west, ocean to the east), if a tad bit warmer or at least more temperate. Many high school graduates must agree, as 10 percent of the students at Elon University hail from Massachusetts, second only in numbers to North Carolina itself. The rest of the student body is from another 46 states, D.C., and 47 nations. Located in the town of Elon, the campus is just 25 minutes from Greensboro and another 40 minutes to Chapel Hill.

Elon 4

Once on Elon’s campus, we parked the car and walked around noting the new buildings and construction interspersed among older buildings on the 620-acre historic campus (Elon was founded in 1889). Though quiet when we visited (just days after Christmas), the campus accommodates 5,500 undergrads and 700 graduate students.

Elon 1

Elon emphasizes community service and sends many of its students abroad while offering over 60 undergraduate majors in the areas of arts and sciences; education; health sciences; and law in addition to dual degrees in business and engineering.

At Elon, there are 17 intercollegiate sports (NCAA Division I), 40 intramural and club sports, over 200 student organizations, and 23 international fraternities and sororities. While its students are active, Elon stresses its academic environment.

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According to Elon’s mission statement, the school “embraces its founders vision of an academic community that transforms mind, body and spirit and encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience.”

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Trip taken December 2013.

Driving By James Madison University

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We did not intend for our winter southern road trip to be a college tour, even so, with teenagers in the car, we made a point to drive by a few college campuses. We were curious enough to want to catch a glimpse and close enough that the detours did not interfere with our ambitious schedule. James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Pennsylvania, was our first drive by.

James Madison 1

Disclaimer – we did not take a campus tour or sit in on an information session. The schools were quiet; their students home for winter break.

Situated in the Shenandoah Valley, James Madison’s 640-acre campus is surrounded by mountains and farmland and is conveniently located off Interstate 81, just 2 hours south of D.C. Its slightly less than 20,000 students (1,800 of them are grad students) have a choice of 71 majors and 34 masters in the areas of business; communications; education; health and behavioral studies; humanities and social sciences; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and visual and performing arts.

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James Madison has a Division I football team and according to an alumni survey, homecoming and football are among the top 10 things about the school.

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According to its website, James Madison University is about “spirit, tradition, community,” while “changing the world one person at a time.”

Trip taken December 2013.

Quick Stop in Asheville

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According to Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss, Asheville, North Carolina, is the happiest city in the U.S. Coincidentally, just after reading his book, I read Serena, a fictional tale of a timber empire in the mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. So, on our recent trip through North Carolina, it seemed logical to stop in Asheville. No matter how brief.

The rain and winter evening skies prevented us from seeing what must be beautiful views of the Great Smoky Mountains on our drive from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Asheville. As we drove, I read about the Biltmore, George Vanderbilt’s 8,000-acre estate and tourist attraction located just south of Asheville. With its size and opulence, the Biltmore sounds like a southern version of one of the East Coast’s Newport mansions or the West Coast’s Hearst Castle.

We arrived late in the evening, in time to sleep at a nondescript hotel before catching a glimpse of Asheville on our way out of town the next morning. It was Sunday, our hotel did not provide breakfast, and we were hungry. My son and I checked out Yelp. We chose the restaurant with the highest ratings, the earliest opening, and a few gluten-free options. We were not disappointed.

Sunny Point Cafe is located in West Asheville, just a few miles from downtown. Although we arrived when it opened, at 8:30 a.m., there was already a line out the door. We waited our turn on the protected and heated outdoor patio (it was 20 degrees outside), before being seated at the last inside table. Within minutes, even the tables on the patio were full, and the line stretched around the building outside. This place must be good.

Sunny Point Cafe

Healthy yet trendy with a southern flair, Sunny Point’s menu includes grits and biscuits alongside its tofu or local bacon options. We pondered our choices. Steak and potato hash. Creamy chipotle cheese grits or biscuits.

I chose the breakfast salad, leaves of arugula tossed with honey hemp vinaigrette provided the bed for maple black pepper bacon, a poached egg, warm herb tossed potatoes, and tomatoes.

Breakfast Salad

Other choices included oatmeal or cornmeal hot cakes, huevos rancheros, or omelets. The gluten-free diner? She was happy with her Mighty Good Breakfast (MGB): two free range eggs, local nitrate free sausage, potatoes, and the chipotle grits.

MGB

We all shared a side of the gluten-free organic cornmeal hot cakes.

Corn Hot Cake

Our tummies full, we drove through Asheville slowly, noticing the mountain feel, the lack of chain stores, the small but inviting downtown with plenty of shops to peruse. We read about the seasonal outdoor pursuits, including zip lining and hiking and kayaking, and the Asheville’s proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail. Asheville looks like our kind of place. We’ll have to make it a destination. And next time, we’ll allow plenty of time to tour the Biltmore.

Fish in Chattanooga

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The Tennessee Aquarium lived up to its reputation. My brother-in-law described its inhabitants to my daughter with promises to visit. Nine years later, we finally did, and although he was disappointed that part of the aquarium was closed for renovations, with little expectations, we were entranced.

Tennessee Aquarium

With enough fish and exhibits to keep you busy for at least a couple of hours in its two buildings, the Tennessee Aquarium is located just a few hundred feet from the banks of the Tennessee River. Inside, ramps bring its visitors down level after level and then back up. In the River Journey, exhibits tell the story of the freshwater aquatic creatures and their habitats in the Chattanooga area. Alligators grinned at us, and fish and turtles made us smile.

IMG_1866 Breathing

In the Ocean Journey building, undulating jelly fish mesmerized us.

Jellyfish

Tiny sea horses awed us. Waddling and diving penguins entertained us.

Penguins

And butterflies flew among the orchids.

Orchids

If you go, allow yourself plenty of time. The entrance fee is $24.95 per adult and $14.95 per child (3 to 12 years).

Object: the Ball

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Some are obsessed with exercise. Others with chocolate or some other substance. But not my dog. She is obsessed with an object. And not just any object. She is obsessed with tennis balls.

No matter where she goes, she finds one. Near a lake or in the woods. Near a ball field or in a parking lot. In the grass or in the snow. She finds one.

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With a ball in her mouth, no one else exists. Not a stick or even a rabbit. Just her, the ball, and the potential ball thrower.

She would rather chew a ball than eat or drink. The yellow-green fuzzy sphere wreaking havoc on her teeth but keeping her busy and focused.

Chewing

She throws the ball herself or drops it at my feet. She waits. And hopes for someone to attempt to pick up the ball, to throw it, so she can retrieve.

More waiting

Finally, she pounces, chews the ball for a few times, and then throws it again. Ready to wait again, as long as it takes, for someone to throw her the ball.

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This post was written as part of a weekly photo challenge. To see photos of other objects, click here.

Trip taken February 2014.

Ribs, Hushpuppies, and Fried Okra

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On our trip down south, we ate a lot of barbecue. After all, that’s what the south is known for, right? We tried the local spot, Smokey’s BBQ, in Madison, Alabama, and the chain restaurant, Sticky Fingers, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Pulled pork, roasted chicken, country style ribs, cole slaw, baked beans, and corn bread. Smoky, sweet, vinegar, and mustardy sauces. Our party tried them all. And except for the corn bread, everything was gluten free.

Sticky Fingers BBQ

Combo Plate: Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet

But while everyone else ate the ribs and pulled pork, I tried the Brunswick Stew. At Smokey’s, sweet strings of pulled pork competed with potato and peppers in the warm and mildly spicy broth. The stew was not thick but chunky. The meat distinct from the potatoes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlai321/3165704954/

Brunswick Stew

I ordered fried okra. Dipped in a batter and deep fried, cooked okra has an unusual texture, somewhat slimy between the crispy fried outer later. Definitely not for all. Because we were there at closing time, our party was served the restaurant’s leftover peach cobbler and corn bread. Both yummy.

I ordered Brunswick Stew again when we dined at Sticky Fingers in Chattanooga. Though the ingredients were similar, the Brunswick stew was thicker, its meat strewn throughout the stew, its pieces less distinct from the other ingredients. We liked the sauces so much at Sticky Fingers, we bought a sampling of their barbecue sauces (the Memphis Original sauce is particularly good). Both restaurants offer stuffed potatoes: a baked potato filled with pulled pork. Huge and satisfying.

Though it’s atmosphere was unassuming (looking more like the inside of the fast food place it is), the food at Smokey’s relies less on its sauces than Sticky Fingers. The pulled pork and the ribs, were flavorful on their own. But don’t get me wrong. I’ll go back to Sticky Fingers next time I’m in town or to one of its other locations (there are Sticky Fingers in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida).

If you’re hankering for hushpuppies or catfish with your barbecue, you might want to check out the Old Greenbriar Restaurant located in Madison, between Decatur and Huntsville, Alabama. Unlike Smokey’s and Sticky Fingers, the Greenbriar Restaurant is rustic and full of local atmosphere.

Trip taken December 2013.

Rockets in Huntsville

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Drive down Highway 565 through Huntsville, Alabama, and you’ll get a clue as to why so many PhDs reside in its city. An illuminated rocket stands tall against the sky, and through glass, you can see the Saturn V Rocket.

Illuminated Rocket

Home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and the Redstone Arsenal, the sprawling city of Huntsville is located in northern Alabama, just a 2-hour drive from both Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s the home of Space Camp, and the home of Earth’s communication with astronauts doing research on the International Space Station (ISS).

Residents may drive by it every day, but to tourists like us, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center is a big draw. On past trips, we’ve spent hours reading displays, watching an Omni film, and taking photos outside next to some of the rockets. This trip, instead of entering the main museum, we took a bus tour ($12 in addition to the price of museum admission) of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at the Redstone Arsenal.

ISS Sign

After showing our identification, we boarded the bus for the Redstone Arsenal, a short drive from the museum.

Tour Bus

During our 2 1/2 hour tour, we saw and visited the test launch sites of the first rockets.

Historic Sign

Redstone Test Site

Through glass windows, we watched employees of the Huntsville Operations Support Center (aka Payload Operations Instruction Center) and learned that they are NASA’s primary science command post with the ISS.

Payload Operations

We learned more about the astronauts and their habits in space.

ISS Model 1

After the tour, we stopped at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration and checked out a real Saturn V Rocket.

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If you go, be sure to allow yourself plenty of time. It would be easy to spend a full day at the museum, including the displays, a tour, the rides, and a movie.

Trip taken December 2013.

Road Trip with a Dog

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Trip after trip and year after year we’ve left one of our family members behind. Her eyes droop and her tail sags when we tell her, “We’ll be back,” as we close the door behind us.

Dog For 8 1/2 years, we’ve left her in someone else’s care when we’ve traveled all over the U.S., to Europe, and to Africa. But last week, she came with us. She never liked the car. As a puppy, we coaxed and pleaded before finally lifting her into the back. Often, she would tremble as we started to drive. So, except for short excursions across town, we left her at home. Then this fall, after turning 8 1/2, she changed. Now she would rather go with me in the car, even when no walk is involved, rather than being left behind. This Christmas, instead of flying to Alabama, we decided to drive, just so we could bring her with us.

The trip was an ambitious one, even for the human passengers, 1100 miles one way; two long days and one overnight. With a box on top of the car and bags tucked around our feet, we found a space for her bed in the back and drove from Boston to Alabama. She never whined or fussed. Here’s how we did it:

Food – we packed food in a plastic container and doled it out each morning and evening, using her water dish as a food dish on the road.

Water – we used a dog water bottle to give her water each time we stopped.

Bathroom – when we had to go, we made sure she did too. Each one of us took turns taking her to the “trees”  to do “her business.” We brought plastic bags to use when necessary.

Canine Rest Area

Overnight – we used a few websites to determine where we could sleep: bringfido.com and tripswithpets.com. We discovered that several hotels are now willing to host pets, as long as their owners are willing to pay. You can pay $10 or $100 extra for Fido’s stay, depending on the type of hotel and the size of your pet. We stayed at three hotels during our 2500 mile trip and never paid more than $10 to legally bring our 65 pound dog into our hotel room.

In the hotel. IMG_1691 Would we do it again? Absolutely. It turns out, our dog is a great traveler in her middle age. There were no accidents. She never whined or cried, and she was excited at each new place we arrived. Should you bring your dog on a long road trip? Only you can decide if it’s the right, smart, or convenient thing to do. Next time, why don’t you ask her?

IMG_2008Trip taken December 2013.

Stop and Focus

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It’s hard to take time for yourself during the holidays. But this last week, I made it a point to get outside. With several inches of snow and a stir crazy dog, I strapped on my snow shoes two days and my cross country skis another two days. I didn’t go out for long – as little as 30 minutes one day and as long as an hour another, but the fresh air and exercise helped me slow down and take a break from my never ending list.

Tracks

During these last few days before Christmas and the end of 2013, remember to stop and take a break and find a focus in the holiday blur.

Dog in Snow

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Trip taken December 2013.

Reveling in Cambridge

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I traveled to Spain the other night. To a place called Galicia. I traveled down an ancient road, the Camino de Compostela, with the singers and dancers and actors of the Christmas Revels at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. It was my first experience with the Revels – watching and then participating, singing along with the cast and the audience, holding hands with the people next to me, and watching other audience members dance around the theater at intermission. It was fun and joyous. I will go again.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2013/12/17/christmas-revels-follow-milky-way/qwgTUAZwbXiGHUmIwbyaFI/story.html

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Trip taken December 2013.