Trips With James blog

Early Holiday Run to Solvang

“Let’s go to Solvang this weekend,” my Danish friend said.

“Why?”

“Cause it is fun and I miss all the Danish stuff this time of year.”

“In Solvang? It is a tourist trap!”

“No, it will be fun. Plus it is all based on real Danish traditions and foods. I want to go. Come on!”

So reluctantly I set off with my friend to see Solvang, a small California town about 30 miles above Santa Barbara just off the 101 Freeway at Buellton, CA. At Buellton, you take California 246 and soon you will arrive in the quaint semi-Danish village of Solvang. The town was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish settlers who were looking to establish a Danish school and community on the West Coast.

A LITTLE HISTORY

Between 1850 and 1930, a considerable number of Danes left Denmark, which was suffering from poor economic prospects. According to some estimates, as many as one in ten Danes emigrated during this period, mostly to the United States.

The name Solvang means “sunny field” in Danish, and the original band of settlers bought almost 9,000 acres of the Rancho San Carlos de Jonata Mexican land grant. The city is home to a number of bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California. The architecture of many of the facades and buildings reflects a traditional Danish style. There is a copy of the famous Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen, as well as one featuring the bust of famed Danish fable writer Hans Christian Andersen. A replica of Copenhagen’s Round Tower or Rundetårn in the scale 1:3 was finished in 1991 and can be seen in the town center. Much of the Oscar-winning film Sideways (2004) was filmed in Solvang and in nearby Buellton.

Initially, most of Solvang’s buildings were built in the same style as other buildings in the area. The Lutheran church was the first to be based on Danish architecture and bears a close relationship to Danish equivalents. But after World War II, interest grew in the concept of a “Danish Village”. The pioneer of the Danish Provincial style, as it came to be known, was undoubtedly Ferdinand Sorensen, originally from Nebraska. In the mid-1940s, after returning to Solvang from a trip to Denmark, he first completed Møllebakken, his Danish-styled home, and then went on to build the first of the village’s four windmills. A little later, a local architect, gave the older buildings a new look, adding façades in so-called “Danish Provincial” style. Buildings in the half-timbered style of Danish rural houses proliferated, creating a new tourist attraction.

Thanks in large part to its unique half-timbered architecture, Solvang has become a major California tourist attraction, with over one million visitors per year. In particular, today’s visitors appreciate the Danish windmills, the statues of Hans Christian Andersen and the Little Mermaid, the half-timbered houses, the Danish rural church, the Round Tower as well as Danish music and folk dancing. In addition, several restaurants and pastry shops serve Danish specialties. A replica of a 19th-century Danish streetcar, the horse-drawn Hønen (“the hen”), takes visitors on sightseeing tours around downtown Solvang. Partly as a result of the 2004 film Sideways, which was set in the surrounding Santa Ynez Valley, the number of wine-related businesses in Solvang has increased appreciably, attracting oenophiles to the downtown area.

One of Solvang’s attractions is the 700-seat open-air Festival Theater, which was built in 1974 following the success of a makeshift performance of Hamlet in 1971 in the town park. The theatre is used here year round and especially in the summer by the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts located in Santa Maria. The style of the exterior is reminiscent of both Danish and Elizabethan architecture.

At night all the trees are lite giving the village a warm glow.

THE PRESENT

We drove into town about 2 PM on a cold but sunny Saturday, and the town was filled with people. Finding a parking place is not easy, but we managed to find one on a side street. Solvang has a small population (5000+) so it is easy to walk everywhere. Taking off on foot, my Danish friend was very excited to point out stores and items that were truly Danish.

A Viking Warrior carved in wood hoping to get his favorite wish of Christmas!

We stopped at one really Scandinavian type store with its clean lines and gleaming wood floor and tried on pairs of wooden clogs for men and women. Their big selling point is they help relieve pressure on your back when standing and correct your posture. Comfortable and at 70 dollars not too expensive. We found pairs in other stores in Solvang selling for as much as 150 dollars.

After cruising through lots of small stores, bakeries, and taking lots of pictures of Danish flags, we decided to get something to eat. We choose the Red Viking Restaurant which featured classic Danish food along with American dishes as well. Decorated in an old, rural Danish style with Royal Copenhagen plates hanging on every wall, the place was packed with tourists. My friend in spite of her desire to see all thing Danish that day only wanted a basic salad with chicken. It was up to me to really check out the Danish style food and see what if it was authentic or not. I choose a Traditional Danish Roast Beef sandwich featuring thinly sliced medium rare Roast Beef with pickles, a dollop of horseradish, and a dollop of Remoulade on top. All of this was served open-faced on rugbrød! I washed this down with a local Danish Red Lager brewed locally by Figueroa Mountain Brewing, a brewery in Buellton.

For dessert, I had an old Danish favorite called Æbleskivers. This is a Danish dessert pastry which is really Pancake dough that is deep-fried, covered with powered sugar and raspberry jam. A good meal.
More walking around the small village, more taking of photos, sampling some of the local Santa Ynez Valley wines in the seemingly endless tasting rooms, and some Danish style candies. As it was December and the sun was setting, we decided to head home earlier and get dinner on the road.

There is certainly a lot more to do in Solvang. There is the live theatre run by PCPA that was featuring a whole round of Christmas and holidays plays and pageants. Live music was just starting when we headed for the car and the village was covered with Christmas lights. Some of the local restaurants have excellent ratings for dinner so you could easily make a weekend of it if you wished.

A very nice and fun day in Solvang, and experiencing it with a real Dane makes all the difference in the world. Highly recommend for a day trip within 3 hours from LA.

Enjoy!!

Rogue One Premiere – The Night Before

Los Angeles is a very famous city and the most famous part of LA is Hollywood. The Movies and their premieres are a huge business here in Tinseltown. Disney just blocked off Hollywood Blvd. and part of Cahuenga for a huge Hollywood premiere party, the opening of Rogue One, A Star Wars Story. Two streets are blocked off, there is a full size x-wing fighter in the middle of Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Pantages Theatre, and there are huge tents that cover an entire block of street for all the celebs to arrive and mingle with each other.

The Pantages is a 2700+ seat live theatre that Disney has rented and put in a state of the art projection and sound system. And this is the holiday event of the Christmas season for Disney.

I was up on Hollywood Blvd. on Friday night and the photos that follow are what I saw. The party tents and the red carpet and the X-Wing Fighter take up two blocks on Hollywood Blvd.

They do everything big for the Movies in Hollywood.

May the Force be with you!

Museum of Jurassic Technology – Los Angeles

THIS IS A REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE FROM 2016. THE INFORMATION IS STILL CURRENT.

Los Angeles has a lot to offer a visitor. Sunshine, mountains, beaches, hiking, stars, world-class museums and some truly wonderful dining with up and coming new chefs. Yet, it is also one of the weirdest places on the planet. While the term “Film noir” was coined in France, the term describes films made in and around Los Angeles during the 1940’s. In LA, there is always a sense of pessimism and menace.

Behind or under all that sunshine, there is a dark, troubling Los Angeles full of weird and sometimes dangerous things. This is also the city of corruption, the Black Dahlia, mad power grabs, famous unsolved murders, cults, and Charlie Manson.

This is also the city of strange, peculiar, and wondrously interesting people and places. Like the giant Randy’s Donut sign seen in so many movies about Los Angeles, the Watts Towers, or the Bronson Caves. One of the strangest yet most popular off-beat attractions in the City of Angeles is the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Located in Culver City, also the home of MGM and Sony Studios, the museum is located at 9341 Venice Boulevard in the Palms district of Los Angeles, California.

The museum itself seems to be a unique combination of interactive performance art and a provocative little haven of curiosities and rarities; scientific, historic and artistic in nature. Obscure exhibits feature everything from an extensive exhibit on a Soviet designer/engineer who influenced the Soviet space program but never actually made a rocket to folk curses and cures through the ages. Examples include “the restorative properties of urine” and “cures from eating mice.” Is it a parody or is it a witty homage to private museums of the 16th and 17th century or just some crazy collector’s obscure items that only they truly care about? Truth or fiction, myth or reality? You have to decide for yourself.

TripAdvisor.com lists this as the #1 thing to do in Culver City, and it is sure worth the couple of hours you could take to wander through this warren’s den of small, dimly lit exhibits. The setting is very theatrical, mysterious and bizarre as you move from one unrelated exhibit to another. At some point you start to ask yourself where the joke is as you bump into an array of microscopes focused on tiny almost invisible arrangements made from butterfly wings and sculptures so tiny that they fit into the eye of a needle juxtaposed against a clearly made up exhibit of cheap items from junk shops called a “History of Trail Park Art”. Yet the exhibit is so painstakingly made with a history of the movement, models of trailers, several cases filled with plates and photos of supposed collections and in-depth histories of each of the collectors that you almost begin to believe that it is truly real.

The museum was founded by David Hildebrand Wilson and Diana Drake Wilson (husband and wife) in 1988. Wilson won a MacArthur Foundation Award in 2001. The museum’s pamphlet itself states the museum is “an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the Lower Jurassic.” The link to the term “Lower Jurassic” and how it pertains to the museum’s collections is left unexplained.

At the end of your tour on the top floor, there is a lovely little tea room which is included in the price of admission, where you can ponder your vague, disquieting visit or reflect on the challenging originality and dry humor of the place.

Street and free meter parking were pretty easy to find on a Sunday afternoon. Admission is a donation of $8.00 per adult (well worth it!) with varying discounted costs for other visitors. Uniquely stocked gift shop to peruse at the completion of your visit. No photos allowed and the staff is amazingly friendly. This is a very small and peculiarly offbeat museum and it is well worth the time to visit and wonder about its mysterious and confusing exhibits, and the apparent randomness of it all.

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Imire Safari Ranch – Zimbabwe 2012

IMIRE – First Safari – ZIMBABWE 2012

(Taken from the original post at http://jamesrcarey.blogspot.com/2012/07/sunday-june-24-day-5-imire-game.html)

As I told you in my previous post, I was going on a safari. What is a safari? Well, the origin of the word in Arabic meaning “to travel” and the word has come to mean “an expedition to observe or hunt animals in their natural habitat.” And the game preserve that we were going to was pretty tame, but this is not Disneyland where there is almost no danger. What we were going to watch were real animals – in the wild – and while they were pretty used to humans and having interaction with humans, they were still wild elephants, rhinos, lions and other animals.

Got up early and had breakfast around 6:30 in order to meet Kathy Norman, a volunteer with NIAA. Kathy has played a huge part in my trip by arranging all parts of my travels and workshops. Kathy had volunteered to take me to Imire Safari Ranch about an hour and half outside of Harare on the Mutare Road. That is pretty brave to volunteer to spend your entire day with a perfect stranger.

So we jumped in the 4 wheel drive and drove like bats from hell to try to get there by 8 AM so I could enjoy an elephant ride. The elephant ride was scheduled for 7 AM so I had missed it. I was disappointed because this is the one thing that I really wanted to do – ride an elephant – but there was so much else to see that it was quickly forgotten.

So we missed the elephant ride, but upon arrival we had a light breakfast at the Sable Lodge which is also a small hotel in the Park. We met the owner of the preserve, Kate Travers. I talked to her about Imire and her life there. Turns out the preserve has been in her family for 3 generations. They had lost part of the farm to the Mugabe land reforms, but had managed to hang on to the preserve. She came back to Zimbabwe after a very successful career in London and Europe as a Chef with her partner, Chris. They gave that lifestyle up to return back to her home and run the park and lodge for the family. Plus Imire is not only a game park to see animals in a less controlled setting, but is also a game preserve where they try to protect endangered animals especially the Black Rhino. The Preserve specializes in trying to save Black Rhinos.

Imire is like a smaller, more real version of San Diego Zoo Safari Park. After the breakfast, we climbed on to a wooden wagon for a tractor ride through the park. Pretty low tech, but perfect for watching the animals as they are free to wander in the bush. Yet, they also know that everyday around a certain time they will get a meal, so they do not usually wander too far.

The first animal that we met was a fairly friendly female giraffe that came out to greet the guests for treats. She does a bunch of tricks for the crowd including a very funny bit where to get food off the ground, she throws her front legs out in a wide V shape so she is able to bend down close enough to the ground. It is a very funny sight.

The picture above is of me standing in front of a giant ant hill. And that was not the biggest one I saw! To think how long the ants worked to build a structure this big just amazes me.

BLACK RHINOS

The story of the Travers family and Imire goes something like this. In 1972, Norman Travers, the grandfather pioneered the integration of cattle ranching and commercial farming with wildlife management at Imire in the south-east province of Zimbabwe. Imire soon provided a nucleus for various breeding herds in a safe and ideal wildlife environment. Norman’s dream was fulfilled and over the years, he had been recognized for his vast knowledge and contribution towards conservation. But the highlight of Norman’s contribution to the wildlife of Zimbabwe was in 1987, when he became the privileged custodian of seven orphaned baby black rhino.

Black Rhinoceroses have been on this earth for 40 million years. So numerous were they in the Zambezi Valley at one time, and so magnificent was the valley itself, that the United Nations declared it a World Heritage Site in 1984. The Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe became a place where the black rhino would survive forever amid spectacular surroundings.

In 1975, thousands of black rhino roamed this valley. By 1980, 3000 black rhino had survived the liberation war of Zimbabwe. But then a poaching onslaught ensued… and by 1987, just three years after the United Nations’ declaration, the black rhino became extinct in the Zambezi Valley.

During the late 1980s, at the peak of rhino poaching, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife removed the remaining 120 black rhino out of the danger zones of the National Parks and into Intensive Protection Zones of Conservancies. Imire Safari Ranch offered their expertise and were given 7 baby rhino aged between 4 and 6 months. All 7 calves were hand-raised on a bottle for at least 8 years. The rhino were kept on the milk formula for that length of time to continue the human contact and of course as a comforter.

The black rhino have bred successfully; to date, 14 births have taken place on Imire. Nine were returned to the bush. Sadly, Imire Safari Ranch also suffered great loss. Three black rhino and an unborn calf were shot and murdered on 7th November 2007. Imire Safari Ranch lost a generation of black rhino in this brutal poaching incident. The remaining Rhinos are now followed 24 hours a day with two heavily armed guards.

At present they have 4 sub-adult rhino. The rhino are penned in two separate sites nightly and during the day are taken out onto the ranch with their handlers and armed guards to browse.

We saw the rhino, and elephants (a family of four), kudo, wildebeest and other bush game animals like sable and impala. Then I got the biggest surprise of the day when we met a full grown female elephant that thinks it is a buffalo. What? Yes, she thinks she is a buffalo.

ELEPHANT AS BUFFALO

Now the African buffalo is different from but the same species as our American buffalo – just a lot less hair and different horns. This is not a water buffalo. About 20 years ago, Imire got an orphaned female elephant, Nzhou and somehow because there were no other elephants around at the time, she began to run with the buffalo herd. To such an extent that she bonded and began to think as a buffalo. She is now the alpha female of the herd and kills male buffalo that try to mate with the other females. She is now 43 years old and has so far killed 14 male buffalo. This is a problem in that this is a breeding herd so to avoid other deaths, at night they pen her up and let the males in with the other females. Thus the herd continues to breed and in the morning, they pen the male and release her back with the other females. They have tried to have her bond with the other elephants but she refuses contact with them.

And a bigger surprise is that when a female elephant goes into heat, a male elephant can smell her up to 7 K away. A male elephant will stop at nothing to come to a female elephant in heat. In 20 years, no male elephant has ever approached our heroine. She has ceased to produce the needed signals to invite male elephants to her side. She no longer thinks that way. In her head, she is a buffalo.

After the trek around the preserve that included a wonderful lunch by a small lake cooked by Chris. While we were stopped there, they provided us with the opportunity to watch the feeding of the elephants and allowed us to do some of that as well.

Finally, we had afternoon tea back at the lodge, then we were off toward Harare again like bats from hell as Kathy was determined to make the city before dark. Driving at night is very dangerous in Zimbabwe because of lack of any street lighting and many autos with no lights or reflectors. (A pretty common thing in poorer parts of Africa as I can attest too. Once while in Malawi, my car almost ran into a ox drawn cart on the main highway with no reflectors or lights at all. We just saw it at the last moment.) Although it seems pretty dangerous to me as well to go 110 K per hour on a two lane road passing 3 to 4 cars at a time.

Imire Safari Park was a wonderful introduction to the bush of Zimbabwe and what a beautiful place this country is. Highly recommend Imire if you are in Harare and have a day to spare.

After that fabulous day, it was back at Jeannette and Keith’s for a late dinner and then to bed. Thank you Kathy!!

Festival starts in the morning with a drive to Gweru, Zimbabwe.

Cricket Anyone? – Zimbabwe 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Day 4

It was Saturday and Keith took me to see my first cricket match. We drove around downtown Harare on the way to the cricket stadium. The Brits laid out this city in a beautiful way. Wide streets and on a partial grid that makes it somewhat easy to get around in.

The constant jaywalking and almost non-existent traffic laws takes a little getting used to. I forget that Americans seem to have some of the most rigid traffic laws in the world. Here it is a complete mess with everyone going everywhere at once but it seems to work somehow. Driving here for the new comer would be extremely overwhelming. I have not had to make that choice yet, as everyone as been so kind to take me where I need to go, or I am walking distance from shopping areas. http://wikitravel.org/en/Harare

We got to the stadium to watch Zimbabwe’s national team play South Africa in a Pan-African Cricket tournament. I knew something of the game but not enough to describe anything to anyone. WOW. I love cricket. We were watching a type call Twenty20 cricket as opposed to Fifty/50 or One Day cricket which takes all day, or the 5 day classic Test match cricket. Can you imagine watching a 5 day match of the same two teams playing the same game for 5 days and still maybe ending in a tie. My head would explode, but people here are totally into it.

I cannot explain the game here in just a few words, because it is as complex as baseball in the record keeping and strategic moves. Yet once you get the basics down it is a really fun and exciting game to cheer for. Zim lost, but due to a tournament rule they somehow got into the finals.

We were in private boxes enjoying the game. Like watching football in a luxury box – only way to watch a sport really! I was taken to two other boxes as I continue to meet the sponsors of the drama festival here in Zim.

I am a bit of a local celebrity or curiosity since I have come all this way to do the festival on my own dime. Some appreciate it, some are worried that I will bring an American influence to a festival that is 100 years old next year, and some are worried that I will underestimate Zim’s education system. It is strange to be an American on the ground in a small country. They respect us and dislike us with equal measure. They know more about our country and elections then we do because we are such a huge influence in the world that what we do affects them as much as ourselves. I cannot tell you how many conversations that I have had about how they see the Obama/Romney contest.

It is like we are the Mafia Don at the end of the street protecting his neighborhood. We can provide protection and benefits to the local street, but it comes at a really big price. And even when we do nothing, it affects them. They have taken the Chinese money because of all the international sanctions that were leveled at President Mugabe because of his Land Reform measures where his government seized white owned farms and gave them to native Zimbabweans.

The sanctions are against him and his government personally, but the effect trickles down to all the businesses and people here. Whether the sanctions were right or not, they are one reason that the Zim economy is a disaster. They did not effect the leaders, it effected the every day person destroying jobs, pensions, and savings.

While we were fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese quietly came in to Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular and have bought all the minerals rights. So Zimbabwe has taken all that the Chinese will give them, because they were getting very little now from the US and Europe.

The final score to the cricket match was 129 to 126. I can kind of explain the scoring if you are interested at some other time, but I can tell you it was a nail biter right down to the last over. Yes, I said Over. It is like an inning/turn/bat in baseball but shorter.

Then I went to over to Gavin’s house for a really quick dinner and off to the local theatre called Reps. Not professional, it is more like a community theatre. Reps Theatre is a private non-profit enterprise with two theatres, one large and one small and an excellent pub bar that is open all during the show. I saw part of the Norman Conquest trilogy. It was ok. Couple of really good actors, but felt like an actor’s showcase in LA.

Back on home and to bed. Tomorrow I am going on SAFARI.

Cheers

Ethiopia and Harare – Zimbabwe 2012

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Travel Day

Day 1

I am flying high over the Atlantic on Ethiopian Airlines. Talk about luxury. Certainly no American airline offers this kind of service any more. Blankets and pillows for everyone. Free meal and free booze and basically free everything. The people are incredibly friendly. They ask what I am doing and when I tell them, they all give me advice on how to survive in Zim and Africa in general. People are friendly everywhere if you take the time with them, and are courteous yourself. But this was really very pleasant.

My stop-over in Washington was completely uneventful. I landed at 1:45 AM, and I had booked a hotel room. I am just too old to try to sleep in a row of chairs in the airport. It was worth it, because I was exhausted after a day of taking care of last-minute details and the stress that I have every time I fly. Plus is was really nice to spend one last night in what I perceive as American style luxury. TV, ESPN, ac, coffee in the room and a very large hot shower.

I am currently watching the cutest little Ethiopian boy run up and down the aisles. Big smile on his face as he laughingly runs back and forth. How can you not smile at that? The pure joy of just being able to run around with no cares.

Even with the help of alcohol and a few pills it is very hard for me to sleep on a plane. Although for one stretch I did manage to until a beautiful air hostess woke me up because I was drooling. How romantic and sexy is that image?

I am about halfway to Addis Abeba, and I still have 9 more hours after I land there. I will arrive in Harare around 12 PM on Thursday. This jet lag is going to be awful.

(For spelling junkies – Addis Ababa can be spelled two ways. I choose to use the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority Addis Abeba.)

I will try to send this out when I get to Addis Abeba as there is no internet on my planes. I marvel at people who can do all their work from the skies, but unfortunately I am not booked on one of those flights.

My two seat mates are two Ethiopian men who are returning home after long times away. One is a college professor in computer science in North Carolina, and the other is a man who has not been home for over 15 years who lives in Seattle and has three kids. They have been very kind answering all my stupid questions about Ethiopia and trying to teach me useful words.

Listening to Miles Davis at the moment – on the airline sound system – he is so cool, that he makes me feel cool just listening to him.

“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France.

Sunday, June 24, 2012
Day 2

(It is hard to get online here for a number reasons. So please bare with me. I will write as often as I can.)

I have been flying for about 10 hours now and it is dawn. I am watching the sunrise over the east coast of Africa and it is amazing. It is the same sunrise as in any part of world, but since I have never seen anything in Africa this is especially amazing. I am flying over Somalia and Khartoum. The view screen on the back of our seats shows us flying over places that I have seen on maps all my life but never imagined that I would ever come near too.

As we flew into into Addis Abeba, it was grey and dreary. It is winter here and grey seems the main color. The airport seems in a total state of chaos, but it makes sense to them. Must be 20 or more duty-free shops selling everything that you can imagine. Pray rooms in all corners of the airport for men and women to pray separately. No clear idea of what gate that a flight is landing or taking off from, yet everyone but me seems to know exactly where to go. Someone in LA taught me a phrase in Ethiopian that means “good health to you”. A common greeting I was told. So I have tried it on about 10 people in the last day or so. I usually get a strange stare. It is due to my amazing and very special pronunciation I am sure.

The plane that I am taking to Harare is the size of a sardine can. We have not even taken off the man behind me is already snoozing loudly and every third person on this flight is Chinese. Talking with people on the other plane they confirm that while we were fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese have bought all the minerals in Africa. They own Africa just like the Europeans owned it in the last century. This is the new form of colonialism, so has anything really changed? It just seems a new master is all.

Finally I am in Harare dog-tired, yet I still have customs. The people are very nice but the process is clumsy at best. I stood in three lines over an hour while one man in one booth processed about 60 people. I arrived with a temporary work permit, my passport, my contract with the Festival and proof of my ticket out of the country – all required to enter the country. They never asked of any of it. They only wanted my 45 dollar fee for my visa. Oh well.

I finally got through and met Gavin Peter, the festival director. We have spoken for months by email and Facebook – but to finally meet him in person was great. A big, friendly, gregarious man who drove me through Harare to the home of my hosts for the next week, Keith and Jeannette ——. Keith is the chairman of the board of the NIAA who sponsors the festival.

A quick shower and a brief nap. I was so knackered, but I got up so that I could try to get on the Zim schedule. It was still about 4 PM, so they showed me around their property. The homes in the suburbs seem to consist of large to moderate homes on large tracts of land (2 to 3 acres) surrounded by high walls and fences. Their garden is amazing with so many beautiful plants and flowers that blazed with color even in winter. Then a very pleasant evening in their lovely home with a fire (it is winter here), dinner and a bottle of wine. What a very lovely introduction to this interesting country and what promises to be a very life-changing adventure.

Zimbabwe 2012

In 2012, I accepted an offer to take a temporary job in Africa. At the time I did not know that this opportunity would quite literally change the entire fabric of my life. This trip would be so much more than just an adventure but in fact would be an overwhelming experience that would lead me to change the entire direction and focus of my life.

In 2011, my life was kind of falling apart. A three-year relationship with a woman who I loved very much had ended. I was still reeling from the aftermath of the world-wide economic downtown that had closed my real estate investment business and was forcing my house toward foreclosure. To cover the expenses of running my suddenly upside down house, I was renting out every extra bedroom that I had to college students who went to school at the close-by University of Southern California. My only other income at the time was running a small non-profit theatre where I served as Producing Artistic Director. Theatre is one of the great passions of my life, but after 25 years leading a small non-profit arts group, I was exhausted and burned out.

I desperately needed a break, or as one friend put it best – I needed an escape from my life. Yet, there was no life-line nor escape. As my house edged ever closer to foreclosure, my despair grew and my options were shrinking fast.

It was at that moment that one morning an email arrived in my inbox. It was an email that I had been expecting, but I was not really sure how I felt about it. I had been communicating about a possible job with an arts group in Zimbabwe. One of my former theatre students when I taught at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA., was from Zimbabwe, and her mother was a volunteer administrator for this organization. My former student had put us together and on a lark I had applied to work for them.

The job was to be the Judge or Adjudicator for a national drama festival that takes place in Zimbabwe every year. The drama festival was part of an even larger series of arts festivals run by a group known as the National Institute of Allied Arts. The National Institute of Allied Arts is a 100-year-old volunteer organization founded by the British colonials to instill public speaking, drama, music, literature and visual arts into the white children of Zimbabwe. But over time and with the change of governments and Zimbabwe getting its freedom in 1980, the organization become one of the first to open its doors to all the children of Zim. Every year about 30 thousand+ children take part in 4 festivals a year in music, visual arts, literature and drama. If hired I would be the first American to adjudicate their national drama festival.

The job would take about 2 to 3 weeks and the adjudicator would see about 15000 children perform in various theatre and public speaking categories. The job paid a small salary and promised all living expenses would be covered. The catch was the adjudicator had to figure out a way to get to Zimbabwe, and pay for it themselves. But whom ever came as a reward, they would be given a two-week tour around Zimbabwe. They would see places with names that I had never heard but would soon become very familiar with in the coming weeks and years. Places like Harare, the capital city, Kwekwe, Gweru, Great Zim, Matopos National Park, Vic Falls, Bulawayo, and so many more.

The email offered me the job and seeing this as the escape that I needed and desperately wanted, I quickly said yes. The Festival would be in June and so the plans began in earnest. Being broke and not having the money to pay for the trip, I lied and told them I did. I swiftly started a campaign to raise the money. I wrote a small grant through my theatre, held a garage sale, and ran a Kickstarter fundraising campaign. Plus I also got 500 dollars from the US Embassy in Zimbabwe, but more on that later. In a matter of 3 weeks, I raised the 1500 dollars needed for the flight.

Zimbabwe here I come!!!

The entries that you are about to read are from my first travel blog called Dispatches. You can find the blogs here if you want to read ahead. I will be posting them here as part of my 2012 series with new photos, more stories both published and new, plus comments.

http://jamesrcarey.blogspot.com/

This epic trip did not end with Zimbabwe. I had landed another guest artist position with a theatre in Rome for a couple of weeks which was going to start right after I left Zimbabwe. This was going to lead to a month of roaming around Europe before I headed back to Los Angeles. The stories of Italy will also be part of this 2012 series.
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Whitewater Rafting in Kernville

So after the day at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, we woke up early and drove the 40+ miles to Kernville through some really beautiful country on California 178. At the town of Lake Isabelle, you turn on to California 155 that takes you up to Kernville.

The Kern River is a river in the state of California, approximately 165 miles (270 km) long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snow melt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the only major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction. Nearly all of the river is publicly accessible. Its swift flow at low elevation makes the river below the reservoir an extremely popular location for rafting.

The Kern is well-known for its danger, and is sometimes referred to as the “Killer Kern”. A sign at the mouth of Kern Canyon warns visitors: “Danger. Stay Out. Stay Alive” and tallies the deaths since 1968; as of June 9, 2012 the count was 266. Merle Haggard’s song “Kern River” fictionally recounts such a tragedy. Most of the people who died in the Kern River were recreational users who entered the water without proper life vests. Less than 2% of the deaths in the Kern River have occurred during commercial raft trips. (Wikipedia)

Kernville itself, is a very small town on the Kern River of only about 1300+ people. For its size, Kernville has a large tourist industry focused on the white water rapids of the Kern River. While white water rafting is the main attraction, one can also enjoy mountain biking,rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. Fly fishing is also popular; in particular, the golden trout is highly sought after for catch and release fishing. Downtown Kernville which consists of a large tree-shaded square and buildings on three sides with highway 155 on the 4 side, has an Old West look and contains a number of restaurants, antique shops, bars and motels.

We had taken advantage of a Groupon special for the last weekends of rafting with a company called SoCal Rafting. TripAdvisor gives them a 4.5 rating out of 5.

It was 4th of July weekend so it was extremely busy with people literally everywhere waiting for their tour or buying items for the float. The first step after checking in was getting fitted for a life jacket which they clinch up extra tight and getting your paddle.

Then there was a short safety speech about how to act on the water and such. Then on to the bus to take us to the drop in spot on the river.

While on the bus, a longer safety speech with a few tales of tragedies and mishaps on the river along with the creation of buddy teams to help watch out of each other. Also a demonstration on to float the rapids in case you fall out of the raft.

Then we were on the river in rafts of different size some holding up to 8 people and some holding just 4, all with a guide to steer the raft. Both sides of the river have beautiful homes and open areas that the locals use as their beaches. And all the way down the river, locals on both sides are splashing you with water as you pass by. So you are part of this running water battle all the way down the river with Class 2 and 3 rapids in between.

This was a lot of fun. Yet, there were some very scary moments as you went over the rapids backwards or sideways with the possibility of always falling out in the rushing water. That is not the danger – falling into the river. The danger comes from the extremely fast current and you hitting one or more of the huge rocks that could knock you out or hurt you badly. Or getting your foot caught in the rocks and breaking an ankle or drowning. Twice we had people in the front of the raft fall out and our guide was quick to respond by getting the people back into the raft swiftly.

The guides for Socal Rafting were total pros. They were knowledgeable and fun with interesting tales about the history of the area and the river. I would recommend this again. We did the short one hour run, but there were longer two-hour and four-hour tours, plus all day floats.

Because of the California drought now in its 5 straight year, the river has been down and the season for rafting is shorter each year. Please check before you go to make sure that the river is open for rafting.

After getting off the river, we were hungry and the only non-bar on the square in Kernville was Big Blue Bear. Combo gift shop and eatery, the counter person was a little intense but we got our food and it was good. It seems the main place for locals to gather so a real combo of tourists and locals. Worth checking out.

Great trip within 5 hours of LA and worth the time for something different.

Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace – Bakerfield, CA

I have lived in California for about 30 years and I can honestly say that I have never been to Bakersfield except passing through on my way to somewhere else. And this time was not going to be any different. My friend and I were on our way to Kernville to go white water rafting.

However, that same weekend everyone else in California was as well. There was no “room in the inn” anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Kernville. We had no choice, we were spending the night in Bakersfield.

We jumped into our trusty car and made it across the Grapevine on I-5 to the turnoff at US 99 (the Golden State Highway) toward Bakersfield. Pulled into town about 4 PM and headed for our motel. Now this was a budget trip so we were not staying at the Four Seasons or any where like that.

We had picked the Quality Inn and Suites at 200 Union Ave in Bakersfield. We were about a mile north from California 58 (the Barstow-Bakersfield Highway). We also about a half mile south from California Avenue which is one of the main drags in Bakersfield. Lining the street for several blocks are chain restaurants and shopping malls. Maya Cinemas are on California Ave., which is a huge multiplex with 16 screens.

The Quality Inn and Suites are listed on TripAdvisor as #39 out of 61 hotels in Bakersfield. Yet, it does have a 3 star rating based on 197 reviews. Ours was a first floor room just off the pool. You could tell that the hotel had been recently refurbished and all the rooms upgraded. Overall, we were very pleased with the room and the pool was excellent. We ended up staying for 2 nights and the total for a weekend in a double room was about $85 per night with tax. Free pool, free breakfast, and free internet are included.

So what to do in Bakersfield? TripAdvisor says that Bakersfield has 34 points of interest with the Crystal Palace listed as #2. We wanted dinner and the Crystal Palace offers full dinner service as well as being a concert venue with a very reasonable cover. So that is where we decided to go.

First a little background for strangers to Bakersfield and Buck Owens. Buck “was an American musician, singer, songwriter and band leader who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music.” (Wikipedia). He lived in Bakersfield and decided to create a full-service concert venue and restaurant. As time and his fame grew, it also became a museum for memorabilia of his long career in Country Music and TV. Aside from this music career, Buck is most famous for being co-host of the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. The show started in 1969 and Buck left the cast in 1986.

The Crystal Palace is designed in the Western Revival style, a style that resembles buildings from the 19th century American Old West. The exterior/interior resembles an American western town from that same period. The museum is located in display cases around the first floor, which resemble the windows to the building. (Wikipedia)

We entered the lobby and the western motif continued into the building itself. The lobby was filled with case after case of his memorabilia and bronze statues of famous country singers. We paid a small cover as noted before and we followed a hostess into the main room. It was surprising to me how large it was. The focus of the entire room is the music and the stage. The main room rises three stories and completely surrounds the stage. There is a giant bar at the back of the first floor that has seats that overlook the dance floor. Each floor is open to the main room with railings running along the length each floor. All the dinner tables on each floor are pushed up right against railings so every table and seat in the room has a clear view of the stage and dance floor. Plus there are giant video screens on each side of the stage so you can see the band has they perform on stage. Yet while the main room is large and tall, no seat is further away then 100 feet from the stage I would guess.

We heard three bands that night. They were good and professional playing a combination of rock and down home country. I do not know if they were local groups or bands that were on tour in the area. The most impressive thing about the stage was there was no down time between acts. It was really slick to watch. As one group finished their last song, the next band and crew came on stage. They plugged their instruments in, did a very quick sound check, and started playing right away. The longest gap between bands was probably about five minutes. Both the sound and film crews of the Crystal Palace were on it. They moved so fast that you hardly noticed that they were there.

They placed us in the bar area with seats that faced the stage. They pack them in pretty tight, because there was no space between my friend and myself and the couple sitting next to us. It is a very basic menu that they offer. Steak, fish, salads and burgers. I got the grilled salmon which really was very good with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. My friend got a grilled salmon salad which was also very nice. The only part of this that I did not like was the size and price of the cocktails. I ordered a vodka tonic and what came was in a very small glass with not much vodka in it. I thought the price of $10 for that size drink was way to high for the amount of liquor was in it.

After dinner we took a couple of turns around the dance full that was full of big groups doing line dancing and the “boot scootin boogie,” while couples danced close together on the edges of the dance floor.

All in all, this was a really fun night filled with good food and music. Plus the sheer amount of stuff to look at in the museum cases is daunting.

Totally recommend the Crystal Palace for your next trip to Bakersfield.

Why Another Travel Blog

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That seems like a fair question to me. Why read another travel blog? What new information can I bring you or reveal to you for your next adventure or experience?

I like doorways, archway, corridors, staircases, or alleyways. Just like the photos in this blog. An archway/staircase, a door, and an archway. They each are different and they each beckon you with the mystery and desire to know and see what is on the other side.

The first photo in this post is a stairway that leads through an archway from the courtyard of a 15th century convent out to a modern street in Barcelona. Or the second photo of a carved doorway found in one of the oldest towns in Denmark. Or the final photo of an archway in a Moorish fort overlooking a valley on the island of Mallorca, Spain. Each one of these had the potential to lead me to a new place, a new site or a new experience that I had never had before.

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That is what I would like my travel blog to provide. A vehicle that leads you to a new place or experience, that challenges you, makes you ask a question, or look at the world a little different. Whether that is in another country or right in your hometown.

I am an American. I live in Los Angeles. I work as a director/producer of theatre and short films, and as a college professor. My passion, my hobby, the thing that makes me smile is traveling. To another place like Cuba, or experiencing a venue/event like Buck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakerfield, CA., or being pulled inside the world of an amazing film like “Captain Fantastic” with Viggo Mortensen currently out in theaters now.

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I hope you will travel along with me. Please feel free to leave your comments on the blog or photos. Look forward to hearing from you.

James Carey

Tag: blog

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