We’re moving a bit south for a few weeks to try to stay warm until Christmas.
We’re now at Moro Bay State Park about a hundred miles south of Hot Springs and still on the Ouachita River. The park lies between Moro Bay to the west and Raymond Lake to the east and there is only a small bit that’s along the river where those two bodies of water join it.
There are just 23 campsites and today…
we are the only campers here; a perk of winter camping.
Small though it is, it has a couple of nice little trails…
and its own herd of deer that are not at all shy.
It also has the old ferry that used to cross the river here.
There is evidence that the water here is not always well behaved. Notice how far up along the old ferry approach the tie off rings go.
These cabins sit well above the water, but they are still up on stilts.
And the pilings anchoring the floating marina are certainly ready for much deeper water.
This is a pretty and tranquil place now, I wonder what it’s like when the river is in flood.
Friday was our last day in New York City, and it was about the busiest. We started by walking over to Rockefeller Center and going to “The Top of the Rock”, 70 floors up. Here we are, clockwise from the bottom, Jamie, me, Terry, David, Renee, Tia, Jacey and Sean.
The views were spectacular. This is looking north across Central Park.
A great photo op.
The winter sun made it hard to get a good picture towards the south. The density of buildings in central and lower Manhattan is staggering. That’s the Empire State Building with the tall spire.
I tried to find St. Patrick’s Cathedral; there it is, visible through the Art Deco fretwork on the edge of the observation deck.
Here we are recreating one of the most iconic photos taken during the construction of the Rockefeller Center. Except those guys didn’t have little hidden back rests, safety belts, or an over width beam. And they really were dangling over nothing and not 15 feet above the deck.
Tia, tough as she is, does not like heights. Since the beam will only hold seven people she volunteered to video our photo session.
After that we had no time for lunch; instead we hurried over to Radio City Music Hall and our backstage tour. Our tour guide was from Texas and on learning that this was a group from Arkansas let loose with plenty of “y’all”s. She was fun and the tour was, too.
My favorite part was going up into a private viewing room. That stage is a city block wide. They’ve had a full sized basketball court in there. The theater is built so there are no pillars to block the view.
That is a real bus the Rockettes are in, and before it made its entrance in the show it was hanging in the wings. Many parts of the stage can be raised or lowered for effect, including the orchestra pit, which when I took this photo was lowered. The stage is moved with a hydraulic system, still the original built in the 30’s and still in good working order. In WW II the navy studied it and used the same technology to lift planes to the fight decks on aircraft carriers.
I also enjoyed learning about the Rockettes. This is Ellen, who talked to our group and then posed for pictures with us. Terry and I fit right in the dance line, ha, ha, ha.
The Rockettes, as a dance troupe, predate Radio City. Some of their routines are as old as the original Christmas Extravaganza. This wall mural is a composite of photos taken decades apart, but the routine and the costumes remain identical.
Everything about Radio City Music Hall is elegant, from the hanging Christmas tree made of Swarovski crystals,
to the wood veneer friezes in the elevators,
to the chairs…
tile floors, and turquoise sinks in the Ladies Lounge. All of this was restored in 1999 following original plans and matching the original colors and fabrics.
Radio City Music Hall embodies the spirit of New York City at Christmas.
We grabbed a bite to eat from the food carts and then headed over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
A huge and beautiful space.
There was just about enough light on this cloudy day to show off the stained glass windows.
We came out of the relative hush of the cathedral into the Black Friday mob of shoppers and a pro-Palestinian protest.
Shopping along 5th Avenue on Black Friday is not for the faint of heart!
Our day was far from over. Next up was a dinner cruise for all the members of the band, the directors, the chaperones and the friends and family group. We had the whole boat, The Spirit of New Jersey.
Adler said he tried to save a table for us, but his friends just came and sat down. You’ll notice in this picture with Jamie that the friends are all girls. Not sure how hard he tried to keep the seats for us.
In any case, it was a beautiful cruise. We saw Lady Liberty at night,
The Empire State Building,
and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The cruise ended across the Hudson River in New Jersey where the seven tour buses were waiting for us.
One last look at Manhattan and we were off.
We drove all night and all the next day. We only stopped to get off the buses twice. Can you imagine what the other folks at Buc-ees thought when seven buses rolled in? The place swallowed us up with barely a blip. A typical Buc-ees is a hundred gas pumps with a convenience store the size of a Walmart and bathrooms the size of most convenience stores. Their food is pretty good, but no tables at which to eat.
We finally got back to the High School at 10 PM Saturday. That was one long day. I spent the rest of the night on Jamie’s couch.
On Sunday Bud came to get me. Now I’m back at Lake Catherine State Park, and happy to be where the ratio of trees to people is pretty much flipped from New York City. It was a great trip, but I prefer traveling at a slower pace to quieter places.
The band will not be doing that parade again while Adler is a member and he and I are both fine with that.
By 6:30 AM the advance crew, Jamie, Sean, David (orange poncho, no face showing) and I had our place staked out. Even at that hour our 6 little folding camp chairs were in the second tier. It was a long cold wait. We learned that the folks in front of us were from Fort Smith, Arkansas, here to watch their dance team march by. There were also a couple of Mom’s of University of South Carolina Marching Band players just behind us. Of course this morning it was in the forties and raining off and on hard enough to count.
David’s wife, Renee, came later after walking quite a ways to get across to the other side of 6th Avenue, where we were.
Terry, Tia and Jacey came down at eight o’clock. They could not find a place to cross and so set up opposite us. Unfortunately, we had all the camp chairs and Jamie had the clear rain ponchos.
Finally, at just after 9, the parade made it to us. We cheered deliriously…for everything!
We cheered the floats.
We cheered the balloons.
We cheered the dance teams, cold and wet in their skimpy outfits.
We cheered the bands, especially the bands. This is the East Tennessee University Band that played for us at the Regional Band Competition in Johnson City. When the University of South Carolina band came by we let those mom’s in front of us.
We cheered the mounted police. We even cheered the sanitation workers who came along behind with shovels and waste bins on wheels to pick up the horse poop…and they deserved it.
And then, finally, at 10:45, the second to the last band, along came Lake Hamilton. The folks from Fort Smith, having already cheered their cold wet dancers, let Jamie and I up into the front row. There was a pause in the parade, maybe because of the protest we heard happened, but in any case, they played in front of us for six minutes.
Here’s one minute I took from that. I will try to send the full video Jamie took via email to anyone who wants it.
We couldn’t see Adler while they were playing because the reeds walk behind the horns and drums, but as they marched past we called him and got this smile. I asked him afterwards if he’d heard us cheering earlier. “Oh yes,” he said “you have a loud voice.” The kid next to him asked who that was cheering, “That’s my Gramma.” He may have been a bit embarrassed, but he was also very pleased.
Fifteen minutes later it was all over.
And there we were, soggy but happy.
And there was Tia, completely soaked and all alone on the other side. Terry and Jacey had gone back to the hotel about an hour into it, not being able to manage without a poncho or chair, but Tia stuck it out. “It was the whole reason for the trip,” she said. She gets the Toughest Fan award.
As soon as we could we started back…
as we crossed 6th Avenue we saw the parade marching away from us.
Jacey and Terry had it on the TV in the room and just as Tia and I got our soggy bodies back Lake Hamilton came on, so we saw their performance, too.
After we got warm and dry we took the subway down to Lower Manhattan.
We waited in a block long line…
to have lunch at Katz’s.
We walked over to Chinatown and took the subway back from there.
That evening we had a Thanksgiving banquet with the kids.
The “Friends and Family” group were all seated together when the band arrived. As they walked in and past us we all spontaneously rose and applauded.
A couple of minutes later, when the band director came we repeated the standing ovation.
I know I thought they did great, but one of the kids found this posting on a band site about the high school bands in the parade.
Wednesday was a fine day for me. Sunny again and a lot of walking. We walked as a group from our hotel to the southeast corner of Central Park. Ahh, trees.
Even the subway entrances are pretty here.
We broke into 3 smaller groups and went with our guides on a tour of the park.
I took lots of pictures. The juxtaposition of park and city made them both more beautiful.
Although extensively landscaped when it was built, starting in 1858, the many rocky areas were left as they were.
There are two ice skating rinks in the park, this is the more popular one on the southern edge.
This is The Dairy, which is now a gift shop. Our guide told us one of the reasons for the park was to fight the diseases that were becoming a problem in the now crowded city. Good quality milk was hard to get, so a dairy was installed in the park to provide it.
And yes, the Sheep Meadow once had sheep.
Now it’s a beautiful lawn and home for this gorgeous oak.
We walked along the divided Promenade, the only straight path in the park.
As we drew near I saw this sign, I asked our guide and he confirmed, they do still have American Elms in Central Park! The only mature elms I remember seeing were in my childhood, before Dutch Elm Disease took them out.
Farther along I saw this beauty, mature and healthy.
There are vistas galore in the park. Some include places where movie scenes were shot.
Some include famous buildings, like the peaked roof of the Dakota behind Jamie and Sean. Judy Garland lived there along with other famous people, but for me it will always be the place where John Lennon lived and died.
With all of that it is the trees that made the park special to me. There are over 17,000 trees and 200 species. There were beautiful specimens like this…
and more wild places like the Ramble. Our guide did a detour through there because we were showing such an interest in the trees and birds. Nice. There are small birds there that will take peanuts from your open palm. I saw it, but wasn’t quick enough to capture it.
Walkers, runners, bikers and carriages all have a place to be in Central Park.
From there we walked, again, back past our hotel to John’s Pizza.
We had all you can eat pizza and salad in an old building that had been a church.
We went to the 5:00 PM performance of Christmas in NYC at Radio City Music Hall. It’s billed as a Christmas Extravaganza and it is, with a real bus and live camels and a calf as part of a staged nativity scene.
It wouldn’t be the Christmas Season in New York without skating at Rockefeller Center, although the giant tree was not yet decorated. Jamie, Sean, Tia, Jacey, and David gave it a try. Jamie loved being back on skates even though the rentals hurt and the ice was crowded.
Afterwards we went for a bite to eat at Sean’s Bar and Kitchen. Had to try that place. I had a potato leek soup that was very good. By then it was around nine and we called it a night because the parade was the next morning! Another full day in the city.
We are now in hour twelve of the bus ride back to Arkansas. It’s morning, I sort of slept. I will try to post pictures of the rest of this incredible week.
This is Tuesday morning at 7:50. I walked out to meet Jamie, Sean and Terry as they returned from outside the Today Show set. They got there at about 5:45, the cameras went by once and then they were told it would be another 45 minutes before they returned. They were cold, damp and achy and so decided to come back for breakfast.
After lunch the group did a tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jamie and I wanted to see the special exhibit advertised on the front, here.
We wandered through the ancient Egyptian collection.
My favorite was the Temple of Dendur which was displayed in its own room.
The space itself was most impressive.
The whole building was huge and beautiful. Here are Jamie and Sean, behind them Tia, Jacey’s shoulder and the back of Terry’s head. It was hard to stay together.
Eventually I took off by myself and started walking quickly to find the exhibit. I saw more of the gorgeous space.
While I was taking this shot a man near me was telling his companions that the wall to the right was the outside of the building at one point. Then everything to the left was added. I finally found the exhibit but had very little time to view it because I had to find my way out of the building and back to the bus for our departure.
That evening we all went to see “Wicked” at the Gershwin Theater. The kids were there, too, but again we just saw them in passing. It was a great show.
This is our group in front of the theater after the show. Front row, David, Renee and Jamie. In back, Sen Jacey, Terry, me and Tia.
Because it was already after 10 and we had no early morning activity planned we decided to go to Times Square just before midnight. Terry had heard they replaced the video advertising with an art display from 11:56 until midnight. (We did have time to go back to Junior’s for more dessert.) This video was taken at 11:51.
And this one at 11:57. Honestly we weren’t sure if it was an art installation or a technical error, but it was interesting and fun to be there. Another long day.
We had a full day of sightseeing yesterday starting with a bus trip to Lower Manhattan.
Our first stop was the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Here’s the family outside in front of the plaza. From the left: Sean, me, Jamie, Tia, Jacey and Terry, Sean’s mom.
This is looking across the south reflecting pool to some of the new buildings beyond. The footprints of the twin towers are now pools.
The building that replaced them sits off to the side, One World Trade Center, 1776 stories. In front of that is the museum.
Also new is a transportation hub whose outline suggests a phoenix. The sculpture in front, that was at least 20 feet high, is not a permanent installation. We were amazed to learn that this huge sculpture is just one of a series of changing displays that have been here.
I found the museum very moving. It starts above ground, with some of the huge steel beams.
Most of it is under ground. That column is the last piece of framework taken down with the cleanup and is signed by some of the rescuers and workers.
You wouldn’t think viewing twisted metal could be such an emotional experience, but it was. These beams took the impact of one of the planes.
A docent explained what was learned from analyzing the twisted beams as to how the tragedy unfolded.
Seeing the recovered dedication plaque was sobering,
Ladder 3, New York Fire Department. As one of the millions who watched in horror as the second plane hit and the towers fell this exhibit brought back that day. It must be very difficult for those who lived and worked in Manhattan to even come here.
By the time we worked our way through the artifacts and information to what we realized was the main museum it was time to meet our tour back outside. We needed more time here.
We walked down past Trinity Church…
to Battery Park.
We went through security that was like a small airport…
and took one of the ferries to Liberty Island. On the way we got a great view of Lower Manhattan…
and Lady Liberty herself.
Once there we had time to grab a quick lunch, pose in front of the statue, and walk around the island.
We went in a building where they have some of the history of the statue and the original torch.
From a viewing area on top of that building I was able to capture Liberty Enlightening the World and the American Flag.
It was a beautiful day, there are lots of people in town for the parade and the lines to get back on a boat to take us to Ellis Island and back to Manhattan were the longest our guide had seen.
By the time we were able to board a boat our guide asked us not to even get off at Ellis Island, so this is all we saw. I would have very much liked to spend some time there.
We went to supper as a group (there are about 80 of us) and then those who wanted to walked the half mile down to Macy’s on 34th Street to watch the kids do a dress rehearsal for the cameras. I have some pictures of that but was asked not to post anything until after the parade. The group that went cheered the band on, but there was no opportunity to talk to them. Everything was strictly business.
We did find out that they were number 121 – wherever that puts them in the parade; not near the front, anyway. If you are watching look for Lake Hamilton Marching Band. The band is wearing maroon pants and maroon knit hats, the color guard has maroon velvet dresses with white ear muffs.
The five of us that walked down there (Sean, Jamie, David, Renee and I) then took a tour of Macy’s.
It’s at least three buildings long and nine stories high with a lower level.
The store has several sets of escalators and many of them are old wooden ones. Those are wooden treads on the moving stairs. What a fun place.
We then walked a bit over a half mile back to the hotel, but treated ourselves to dessert along the way at Junior’s,
It was a long day, but we needed more time at both the 9/11 Museum and Ellis Island. Oh, well, if I ever get back here again…
Saturday morning I took Matey for a walk through the misty and quiet campground back at Lake Catherine State Park.
At noon Bud took me to meet Jamie and her family at Lake Hamilton High School where two charter buses were waiting to take those going on the Lake Hamilton Marching Band Fans and Friends Group New York City Macy’s Parade Tour. Jamie, Sean, Tia, Jacey, Sean’s mom Terry and I and two friends, David and Renee all came. We eight made up a tenth of the 80 traveling on these two tour buses. The band, leaders, and chaperones left just before us. Bud and I saw the five! buses it took to carry them.
This morning as the sun came up we were cruising through Virginia.
Late afternoon found us crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey under a lowering sky.
We came to New York City as darkness fell,
and in the early evening crept through the streets of Manhattan…
to the Hotel Edison on 47th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.
After checking in to the hotel…
we went back out on the streets and walked through Times Square and
past the Ball Drop Building to Carmine’s Restaurant on 44th Street.
Along the way we passed the band kids going to Times Square to have their picture taken and Jamie managed to snag Adler for a quick photo. The band is staying in a different hotel and following a different itinerary to allow them time to practice. We don’t do anything with them until Tuesday evening.
Here’s our group just before a huge and delicious meal at Carmine’s. Clockwise from the left: Terry, Jacey, Tia, Jamie, Sean, David and Renee.
This is going to be a fun week, but a far cry from my usual days among the trees and the quiet.
We now know the Arkansas State Marching Band competition is in November, so we planned to be here for it. It was postponed from the first week in November because of rain, so was held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The Class 6A schools competed Wednesday afternoon and we were there. This is Lake Hamilton, our grandson Adler’s band, ready to go.
You would never know watching them come out onto the field that they were really nervous. Their band sent an audition tape for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and were selected. So besides preparing for their regular competitions, they were preparing for the parade. Money for costumes and props had to be tightly budgeted because taking all these kids to New York City is costing a bundle! Lake Hamilton won states last year, but a couple of schools were out to get them.
Although their props were simple, they played very well.
As usual, I forgot to take pictures during the performance, so these are from the woman next to me whose daughter is the girl in front of the fence holding her baritone horn.
Of course she didn’t take pictures of Adler, but Jamie was down near the field having helped with props again this year and she got this nice one. Adler is the tall one, he’s 6’3” now.
I love this one she caught of the horn soloist.
It’s hard to tell without a video, but these kids were moving!
Every step is choreographed.
And they really put it all together.
And in the end, although they lost best visual by a tenth of a point, they took first place overall. Here’s me getting excited while I try to video the award.
These are the drum majors, who accepted the award, and they were pretty excited, too.
So they did it, state champions two years in a row.
Adler did not want us to forget that.
And mom…
and grandparents were all pretty proud and happy, too.
We’ve moved to the Hot Springs National Park campground at Gulpha Gorge and this morning at eight o’clock Matey and I set out to walk over the Hot Springs Mountain. Our first leg was up Gorge Trail from the campground. The morning sun was beautiful on the old stone steps that have been here for a hundred years.
I love the rocky folds of this mountainside.
At the top of the steep bank along Gulpha Creek I paused to take a picture of the campground, but the trees hide the valley.
The majority of our walk was along the Oertel Trail, a lovely wooded path that goes around the south end of the mountain.
These trails are well maintained. Here a huge tree fell across the trail, but had been cut and cleared from the path.
I was glad to see that besides clearing the trail they left this giant lay where it had fallen. Downed trees make great habitat for many small creatures and eventually add needed organic matter to the forest floor. Glad to see this great tree continue as part of the woods.
After about a mile and a half we started to see the city through the trees.
There are a lot of great old buildings in Hot Springs.
The end of the trail took us down to the Promenade behind Bath House Row.
This is a view I love.
The old Army and Navy Hospital looks over the south end of the Promenade not far from where Bud met us at the end of our two mile walk.
After a busy day of appointments and chores Matey and I got to sit out for a bit in this lovely little campground.
We’re back in Hot Springs at Lake Catherine State Park. We have site 55, where we’ve stayed before. We are in the area until December third, although we’ll be moving sites twice, due to time restrictions at the State Park and at the National Park campground at Gulpha Gorge.
This is a nice site with full hookups and plenty of room.
Our site is just across the loop road from the lake.
There are nice trails here and Saturday Jamie came out and she and I took the dogs for a walk. It’s been very dry here so there was no water in the little creeks, but there might be soon as it’s rained at least some of the day for the last five days straight.
The rain might have prompted this huge mushroom which grew in Jamie’s lawn in one day.
I’ve been enjoying the fall despite the rain and the many chores and appointments we have.
On the Roam Again 