In My Days

Our website hosting service regularly offers up a number of questions to consider and post on our sites. My approach to this website has been to offer up useful information without adding personal commentary and I tend to write in the third person. I’m trying to change and this months challenge subject asks:

What major historical events do you remember?

I’ve been alive now for over three-quarters of a century, so I have a number of events to consider. Today I’ll offer up a half dozen, but I reserve the right to add more in the future. So here goes:

The Assassination of President Kennedy

I was living in the D.C. suburbs of Virginia and was in my junior year of high school. On November 24, 1963 a little after noon the school principle came on the PA system to announce that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas Texas. School was let out early and I drove to pick up my mother, who had MS, from the school where she taught. I don’t remember much until that evening when I took a bus into Washington alone.

I went to the Capitol and got in line and walked by the casket at around 2:00 AM. President Kennedy was laying in state in the Capitol Rotunda until the funeral procession up Pennsylvania Avenue. Staying in Washington I was standing at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the funeral procession as it passed by. The funeral was attended by world leaders and other dignitaries as it marched up Pennsylvania Avenue.

Two things stand out in my memory; there was a ceremonial riderless horse behind the casket and the soldier that held its reins was having a lot of trouble controlling the animal as it was constantly rearing up. Second, right behind the riderless horse were ranks of dignitaries and in the lead rank walked General Charles de Gaulle of France standing about 6’6″ next to Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia standing 5′”4″. Both in uniform all decked out with medals and those two walking together were a very odd sight.

Later that week I remember learning that two of our neighbors were in Dallas. Col. Bill Barnes was pilot of Air Force One and he appears in the photograph of Lyndon Johnson being sworn in inside the plane. Mr. Youngblood, who lived across the street and next door to Col. Barnes was Secret Service and he was the agent that dove over the trunk of the car when the shots were fired and covered up VP Johnson.

The Attack on the USS Liberty

8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War my Navy ship was tied up in Souda Bay Crete having off loaded cargo. Suddenly we got orders to immediately set sail and steam at full speed towards Israel to offer assistance to a ship that had been attacked. Oddly it was the same hull class as ours, and was named the USS Liberty. We were the second U.S. ship to reach her and she was full of holes from aircraft cannon fire but still flying the American flag from her mast. We came along side and provided medical assistance and transferred 34 bodies and 18 wounded to our ship for transport back to Naples, Italy.

The Capture of the USS Pueblo

On 23 January 1968 my ship was at a pier in Barcelona, Spain when we heard about the Pueblo. We were half a world away but it also was the same hull class ship as ours and the USS Liberty. Since we were all utility ships we were very lightly armed and between those two incidents along with two recent run ins with Soviet ships at sea trying to ram into us it was beginning to look as if U.S. ships at sea in international waters were becoming dangerous places to be.

The Moon Landing

July 20, 1969 found me home ready to get out of the Navy and start attending college. That day, like most of the world, found us glued to our televisions. I don’t think that I have ever felt more proud to be an American nor believed that as a person there wasn’t anything we couldn’t achieve. It truly was “a great leap for mankind”.

The Challenger Disaster

Over the years I had done some work for NASA, mainly in photography (technical stuff) and had even attended the night launch of Apollo 14. By January 28, 1986 I was living in South Florida and working for myself. That morning, with my infant son in a backpack I entered the post office to check our box. On the radio in the car I had listened to the countdown for the launch of a space shuttle and made a note that I could probably see the shuttle’s contrail in a few minutes. The front doors of the post office faced directly north and as I exited there was a strange cloud in the sky directly ahead. I went straight up from the ground some distance and then branched off like a tree with contrail branches going off in several directions. Back in the car I sat stunned and listened to the news of the disaster as it unfolded.

The 9/11 Attacks

I had been on a business trip to Charlotte, North Carolina and on that morning I had packed my suitcase and headed to the lobby to check out. In the lobby there were several people standing and watching television. Going over I saw one of the New York Twin Towers with smoke billowing out of its side and someone said it was a plane accident. In just another minute or two the live television image clearly showed another plane fly directly into the other tower.

I went back to my room and called my wife and told her to turn on the television and that I would call her back shortly. After a short time I learned that airports everywhere were being closed. I drove over toward Charlotte airport and the roads had already been barricaded with police cars everywhere.

A couple of hours later after checking with Avis about my rental car I checked out of the hotel and started driving south. Late that evening I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and drove to the airport where I was directed to park in a field with hundreds of other cars, turned over the keys and contract to a representative and went home.

South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore

People love statues from high art like Michelangelo’s David to ancient wonders like the Sphinx in Egypt that measures 66 feet standing above the desert floor. There’s Christ the Redeemer in Rio a tall statue standing high above the city at 2,453 feet above sea level. It seems if you are looking to really get noticed go BIG. That was actually the original idea for Mount Rushmore, that was actually created to be a tourist attraction.

It seems to have become a success. Tourism is South Dakota’s second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state’s top tourist attraction with over 2 million people visiting the park each year.

We visited these monuments as part of a long planned trip and while these were not on our “must do” list, we are glad we took the time to visit. Mt. Rushmore is an impressive sight, the museum is informative and the hiking trails range through some beautiful terrain.

If you are planning to visit Mt. Rushmore take a few extra hours and visit Crazy Horse. It is an inspiration to see what people can aspire to create.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered around sculptures carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota by sculptor Gutzon Borglum. It was carved from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son Lincoln Borglum and chief carver of the mountain Luigi del Bianco. The sculptures feature the 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The park covers 1,278 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level. The National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction in 1933.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse Monument

A model of the sculpture with the mountain in the background.

Not far from Mount Rushmore work is progressing on what will eventually be the worlds largest sculpture. The Crazy Horse Monument, referred to as The Eighth Wonder of the World in progress. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance toward the lands of his ancestors. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski (who also worked on Rushmore). It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is still being worked by the Ziolkowski family. It is far from completion.

Cruising Antarctica

A Trip To The End Of The Earth

Occupying a land area about the size of the United States and Mexico combined, Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest and brightest place on Earth. It is completely covered by a layer of ice that averages more than one mile thick, but is nearly three miles thick in some places. It is without question the loneliest place on the planet.

Over the past decade the frozen continent has hosted only about forty-two thousand researchers and along with some visitors per year. To protect this incredible place the requirements that define and manage how visitors travel in Antarctica is controlled by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. One of the rules is that any vessel holding more than five hundred people is not allowed to put anyone ashore while visiting.

It’s hard to believe that we actually live at a time when there is actually something called the Antarctica Tour Association.This group sets the rules for vacations to this frozen continent. Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought something like this possible.

Today there are a number of options for visiting. If you would like to visit and go ashore there are a number of expedition boats that travel to Antarctica that carry about one hundred passengers and go ashore using Zodiac rubber boats. We talked to several people while making our way south that were taking advantage of that option and indicated that the fare runs between $10,000 and $20,000 per person for a week-long trip. The major expedition cruises include:

  • Hurtigruten
  • Quark Expeditions
  • Silversea Expeditions
  • Lindblad Expeditions
  • Ponant
  • G Adventures
  • Oceanwide Expeditions

More luxurious accommodations can also be booked on larger cruise ships starting at about $3,000 per person for a two week cruise. Current cruise lines include:

  • Celebrity
  • Princess
  • Holland America

One of the reasons Antarctica is so isolated and harsh is that it is ringed by the Southern Ocean with a circular current that races around the continent. Some of the worst weather on Earth is in Drake Passage, that is the gap between Cape Horn in South America and Antarctica. Often the passage is afflicted with high winds and heavy seas.

Expedition boats dock next to the Celebrity Eclipse in Ushuaia, Argentina

Many of the expedition trips to Antarctica start from up the Beagle Channel at the city of Ushuaia at Terra Del Fuego. This city has grown to a population of almost 100,000 with much encouragement and funding from the Argentine government. It is also usually a last port stop for cruise ships heading south to round Cape Horn or sail into Antarctic waters.

Lighthouse in the Beagle Channel

For our trip to Antarctica we chose to travel with a bit more luxury and a lot more stability and cruised with the Celebrity Eclipse out of Buenos Aries. Each year the number of choices in cruise ships fluctuates greatly. Our cruise started with a port stop in Ushuaia, visiting the park at Terra Del Fuego, before we headed out for Antarctica and a day in Paradise Bay. On the way to Antarctica we passed the “light house at the end of the world” and crossed Drake Passage facing high winds and twenty foot plus seas for a rocky afternoon. The next morning the Sun broke out as we approached Antarctica cruising past icebergs the size of Manhattan. The seas calmed, the sky turned blue and the temperature soared to 35°F as our ship, the Eclipse became the largest ship to ever enter Antarctica.

Stark, snow drifted mountains towered above the horizon and ice floated everywhere with many icebergs being as big as our ship. We sailed for hours up the channel toward Paradise Bay. We were told the area had the most snow covering the shoreline for this time of year that’s been seen in decades. The water around us was full of breeching whales and penguins that shot by like little black torpedoes. Albatros and other sea birds where everywhere.

Come along and join us…

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The Remarkable Hoi An, Vietnam

A Day In The Ancient Trading Port Of Hoi An

Hoi An is a city located in central Vietnam, near the coast of the South China Sea. It is famous for its rich history, charming ancient town, and well-preserved architecture. It is renowned for its traditional Vietnamese culture, vibrant lanterns, and beautiful riverside setting. Hoi An is also known for its skilled tailors who can create custom-made clothing.

Hoi An was an important trading port from the 15th through the 19th century, attracting merchants from China, Japan, and Europe. Hoi An was known throughout Asia as a melting pot of cultures, with Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish merchants all living and trading in the city. The merchants brought with them their own architectural styles, which can still be seen today in Hoi An’s unique blend of Chinese, Japanese, and European-influenced buildings.

In the late 19th century, the Thu Bon River began to silt up, making it difficult for ships to access the port. As a result, Hoi An’s importance as a trading port declined. However, this also helped to preserve the city’s historic architecture, which has made it a popular tourist destination today.

The Japan Bridge

In 1999, Hoi An was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in recognition of its well-preserved historic architecture and its status as an important trading port in Southeast Asia. One structure of major importance is the Japan Bridge that dates back to the 16th century and was built by the Japanese community in Hoi An to connect their neighborhood with the Chinese quarter across the stream. The bridge was originally named “Lai Vien Kieu” which means “Bridge of Love and Longevity”. The bridge is a unique blend of Japanese and Vietnamese architectural styles. It features a wooden pagoda on top of the bridge, with a statue of a dog on one side and a monkey on the other. These animals are believed to represent the years in which many Japanese Emperors were born.

Crafts of particular importance include:

Lantern shop Vietnam

Lantern Making: Hoi An is famous for its lanterns, which are handcrafted using traditional techniques. Lantern making is an important part of the local culture, and you can find various sizes, shapes, and colors of lanterns adorning the streets and shops.

Embroidery Crafter

Intricate Embroidery and Cross-Stitch: These two art forms have a long history in the region and are deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of Hoi An. Many local artisans and craft shops in Hoi An specialize in creating beautiful embroidered pieces and cross-stitch images and designs, which are often inspired by traditional motifs and patterns.

Silk Painting: Hoi An is renowned for its silk production, and silk painting is a popular art form in the city. Artists use silk as a canvas to create intricate and colorful paintings depicting traditional Vietnamese scenes, landscapes, and local life.

Pottery: Hoi An has a long history of pottery making. The local artisans produce beautiful ceramic items such as vases, bowls, and decorative objects using traditional techniques. You can visit pottery workshops to witness the craftsmanship or even try your hand at creating your own pottery.

The World’s Best Hot Dogs

As American as hot dogs and apple pie is how the expression goes but here are some great hot dogs you have to leave the United States to get.

There was a joke among business flyers years ago about the South. “If you die in the South you cannot go to Heaven without first connecting through Atlanta”. A business associate from Atlanta had an add-on comment. “That’s because God wants you to have time for lunch at Varsity Hot Dogs for one last Earthly pleasure.”

“What’ll ya have? What’ll ya have?” For those in the know, it’s a sin to drive through Atlanta without stopping for lunch at the famous Varsity Hot Dog next to the campus of Georgia Tech. It isn’t hard to find as it takes up almost a whole block near the dense area around the university. The size of this hot dog place speaks a lot about the value and quality of this remarkable hot dog. To grow to that size you know their hot dogs have to be really good.

Varsity Hot Dogs
Portillo’s Chicago

As American as hot dogs and apple pie as the expression goes. The American approach to the hot dog has a number of regional variations like the Chicago Dog. Said to have originated with Portillo’s in Chicago, it is really the series of toppings that define it. The classic is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle slice, tomatoes, hot peppers and celery salt. A bit too much for my taste but still a great dog. If you want a taste of Chicago dogs and can’t get to Chicago, the second best is Hot Dog Heaven with locations around the country. There’s one in Ft. Lauderdale and another in Orlando. Since 1987, Hot Dog Heaven has been specializing in Authentic Chicago Hot Dogs prepared with Vienna Beef Products. Their quality ingredients are shipped from Chicago directly to their stores for a truly authentic taste. The hot dogs, buns, and the toppings are all from Chicago.

Nathan’s Coney Island

New York has Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog made famous at the beginning of the twentieth century when Nathan Handwerker, a Polish/Jewish immigrant sold them on the Coney Island boardwalk for a nickle. His wife Ida created the hot dog recipe and used her grandmother’s secret spice recipe. It is recognized as a classic all-beef hot dog today and served traditionally with mustard and/or sauerkraut.

Oddly enough, Ft. Wayne Indiana is also famous for a Coney Island Wiener Stand. Opened in 1914 by Vasil Eschoff, a Macedonian immigrant who’s descendants have operated the restaurant ever since. The Coney Island in Fort Wayne is described as a small, pink hot dog with a “peppery-sweet” coney sauce on a soft bun and the coney sauce brings the flavor of a savory pork sausage to the dog.

Icelandic Got Dogs

A lot of purists will argue that the United States has the best hot dogs in the world. However, the origin of the hot dog goes back to Germany with the invention of the Frankfurter in the late 1600s by Johann Georghehner and Germany still has a tradition of selling similar hot dogs today.

Today it isn’t just America and Germany that are famous for hot dogs as there are variations in countries around the world from Austria to Iceland to Vietnam.

As we travel food is always part of the experience and oddly we have had people recommend local hot dog stands as something to try in a number of places. Often it’s the dressings that makes many of these dogs unique. In Vietnam they add pickled vegetables and in Hawaii, it’s a pineapple relish.

Iceland – Famous for hot dogs
Bill in Iceland

The Icelandic hot dog is sold at hot dog stands and convenience stores everywhere but in Reykjavik, the recommended hot dog stand is Bæjarins beztu pylsur (pylsur means hot dog), which has been open for over 60 years. Icelandic hot dogs rank near the top of the list of world’s best. Icelandic dogs are traditionally served with sweet mustard, a crispy onion relish and remolaði sauce. You can also order it Clinton style which is with just mustard the way Bill liked his.

Würstelstand Vienna
Würstelstand hot dog

When visiting Vienna our Austrian friends, who were out of the country when we visited Vienna, were very specific about trying a hot dog at Würstelstand, a hot dog and sausage stand behind the famous Vienna Opera House. The dog ranked way up on our list and judging by the lines Austrians agree. Their dogs are served in a long baked bun where they hollow it out with a counter mounted spike producing a “pig in a blanket” effect. Order yours Vienna style with a squirt of brown mustard.

Since first venturing into the wonderful world of hot dogs we’ve had a number of recommendations sent to us as belonging on a list of America’s bets hot dog:

  • Schaller’s Drive-In, Rochester, N.Y.: Meat Sauce, Mustard, Onions
  • Olneyville N.Y. System, North Providence, R.I.: NY System Dog
  • Rawley’s Drive-In, Fairfield, Conn.: “The Works”
  • Coney Island Wiener Stand, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Coney Sauce
  • Flo’s, Camp Neddick, Maine: Hot Dog with Mayo, Celery Salt, Relish
  • Dew Drop Inn, Mobile, Ala.: Dew Drop Dog
  • Varsity Hot Dog, Atlanta, Georgia, Chili, Slaw
  • Lafayette Coney Island, Detroit: Coney
  • Skyline Chili, Cincinnati, Ohio, Chili, Cheese (another favorite of ours)
  • American Coney Island, Detroit: Coney
  • Ben’s Chili Bowl, Washington, D.C.: The Half-Smoke
  • J. S. Pulliam Barbecue, Winston-Salem, N.C.: Chili Slaw Dog

We’d love to hear about your favorite hot dog stand?

Würstelstand Vienna

This just in from the UK – Dog the Bounty Hunter a hot dog from Burger in Edinburgh, Scotland needs to be added to the list of world’s best hot dogs.

A Great Georgia Wine Drive

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Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville

Looking for an opportunity to see some great scenery and sample some really good American wines? Try a few days driving in the north Georgia mountains, hiking and visiting wineries. Georgia wines were a real pleasant surprise. In general, their quality is very good and the wineries are fun to visit. Before you go it’s a good idea to check in with the wineries first, as many have seasonal reduced hours so be sure and update days and hours before you head out and also ask about pricing, as each winery has a different charge for sampling. Today most have websites you can check for information.

If you’re new to driving around Georgia or you’re flying into Atlanta we have suggestions on a good way to get started.

Amicalola Falls

Head north out of Atlanta on I-75 and for a great first stop check out the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville, Georgia. The gardens are beautiful and diverse featuring over 1,200 different plants including 80 varieties of magnolias, oaks and maples. There are some nice lily ponds and a mountain stream flowing through the plantings. The gardens are also home to an impressive concert series in the summer.

Sunset Amicalola Falls Lodge

A couple of hours north from the gardens is  Amicalola Falls Lodge inside the state park. The lodge is great, with modern, well furnished rooms. It sits atop the tallest cascading waterfall in the Southeastern U.S. (729 feet). The falls are paralleled by a staircase with 604 steps and the park is also crossed by The Appalachian Trail. Spend an evening sitting out on the deck of the lodge watching a mountain sunset. The Lodge also features a nice restaurant with reasonable prices.

Wolf Mountain Vineyards
Dahlonega, Georgia

WNearby is The Cottage Winery in Cleveland, and Cavendar Creek Vineyards, Montaluce Winery and Wolf Mountain Vineyards & Winery near Dahlonega, Georgia. Dahlonega is a quant mountain town that also offers tasting rooms for many of the region’s wineries – sort of one stop shopping and tasting.

Tubing thru Helen

From Dahlonega check out the Alpine town of Helen. The town has been a tourist destination for years. There you’ll find the Habersham Winery with a nice tasting presentation and gift shop. Years ago to save the town, Helen rebuilt itself as an Alpine village featuring Bavarian food and gifts and offers a number of interesting restaurants and accommodations. The town is also popular for the tubing stream that flows through it. Be sure to look into The Old Bavaria Inn, an old-world tavern specializing in imported beers and classic German fare.

Helen, Georgia
Helen, Georgia

Not far from Helen is Brasstown Bald, the highest peak in Georgia at 4,784 feet above sea level operated by the National Park Service. Not far from Brasstown Bald is the town of Hiawassee on Lake Chatuge. From there you’re near Crane Creek Vineyards in Young Harris. Friday happy hour may require reservations as it is a very popular evening event in the area.

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Crane Creek Vineyards

For area accommodations there’s the Chatuge Lodge within walking distance of the Fred Hamilton Gardens and the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds opened in 1978, and are home to several popular events throughout the year including the Georgia Mountain Fair, Georgia Mountain Moonshine Cruizin, Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, Superstar concerts, and Georgia’s Official State Fiddlers’ Convention. Any of those events have impact on room availability and rates so, if you’re planning on going, check dates and make plans well in advance. In the same area are also Odom Springs and Paradise Hills Wineries.

Red Barn Café

Down the highway forty miles is Tiger Mountain Vineyards & Winery famous for their wine and restaurant, the Red Barn Café. It was selected as a top-ten winery restaurant by USA Today. Their Petit Manseng won a gold medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition some years back. They also offer a highly recommend Sunday Brunch.

For an off-beat tourist stop there’s “Goats on the Roof” in Tiger, a throwback tourist stop featuring gifts, food, ice cream and yes – goats on the roof. Nearby is also Tallulah Gorge for some serious hiking. This is a beautiful and rugged area and was the setting of the Burt Reynolds movie Deliverance as well as Disney’s The Great Train Chase.

Tallulah Gorge

Tallulah has an interesting visitors’ center and a number of trails with steps that go to Tempeste and Hurricane Falls and then further down into the gorge. To go beyond the main trail into the creek to slide on the rocks, you need a permit. You can get them at the visitors center but only a small number are issued each morning so you need to be there when the park opens.

Another nearby stop is the Mark of the Potter in Clarkesville, an interesting store featuring local pottery and crafts.

Still, the main attraction in north Georgia is the wine. Growing in popularity and quality it offers a number of great wines that can hold their own aainst any other region. Following is a partial listing of North Georgia wineries:

Find More on Georgia Wineries Here