My brother-in-law John once remarked that the bad things that happen on vacation are much more memorable than the good. Very true! Joel and I vividly recall the times we ended up at different places than we intended. This started early in our marriage when we drove to Chicago in 1977 specifically to see a King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum. This was before the era of timed tickets, and we heard a discouraging report on the radio on our way into town about the long lines. When our alarm went off at 5:30 am and we heard rain pouring on the roof, we turned over and went back to sleep. We ended up never even going near the Field Museum, but discovered the miniature Thorne Rooms in the Chicago Museum of Art instead. Ever since, we have referred to ‘that trip we took to Chicago to not see King Tut.”
In 1995, we took a family spring break trip to Kentucky and North Carolina. We wanted to visit Chimney Rock, a “towering 315-foot monolith located on the very edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains high above beautiful Hickory Nut Gorge.” You can walk to the top or ride the elevator up a “26-story shaft blasted through solid granite.” Unfortunately, the route to Chimney Rock from our state park base consisted of mile upon mile of scenic curves, and I got so carsick that we abandoned our plans of reaching Chimney Rock (the rock) and pulled into Chimney Rock (the town), home of Bubba O’Leary’s General Store! We had a grand time buying souvenirs and sipping Coca-Cola in icy bottles on the front porch, and I soon felt well enough to return to our cabin via a different route.
As my final example of getting off-course, last summer I joined Joel in Washington, DC, while he took a class. Knowing Joel’s interest in astronomy, I had encouraged him to apply early for the free, but limited tickets to the evening Naval Observatory tour. Before leaving home, we had received detailed instructions about how/when/where to show up for security clearance. Anyone not arriving in the specified half hour time slot would be killed. (Actually, just not allowed on the tour.) As the Naval Observatory is near the Vice-Presidential mansion, I was somewhat worried that there might be a WANTED sign on the wall with my picture (in seeds) featured. But, not to worry, because of course, true to this travel theme, we never got to the Observatory.
The problem began because we allowed too much time. As the Observatory was fairly close to our hotel, we decided to walk and got to the turnoff more than an hour before the official check-in time. Trying to decide what to do, we noticed a stunning building on the hill ahead of us, glowing in the setting sun. Could that be the National Cathedral? It was! As we had never seen the Cathedral, we naturally decided to walk a bit further and take a look around. Although it was fairly late, the building was open and we had a wonderful time exploring. Unfortunately, when we left the Cathedral we attempted to take a shortcut and got hopelessly lost. It was a very quiet neighborhood with no taxis or gas stations, and the few pedestrians we asked for directions were no help. After missing our window of opportunity to be strip searched at the Observatory, we gave up trying to find the dang place, and painfully and slowly and sweatily (this was July) retraced our steps all the way back to the Cathedral and then to our hotel, a three hour walk in all. I looked on my map (which I had left in the room) to see where we had gone wrong, and couldn’t find any of the landmarks we’d passed. I had to turn the thing over to get to the greater DC area, and realized we had walked to Maryland!
As Joel said, “Yes, sometimes you discover the National Cathedral and sometimes, Bubba O’Leary’s.”
A fun game for all my readers... match the picture to the name. Don't write on your computer screen!
Bubba O'Leary' General Store
The National Cathedral
One of the Thorne rooms
Chimney Rock
The Naval Observatory
King Tut
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