Category: Travel

Posted in Travel

Home sweet home

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Cozy armchair by window with coffee mug labeled HOME, book, candle, and mountain view
A warm reading nook invites quiet relaxation beside a mountain sunset.

The Airbnb was nice. Really nice. It was located in a quiet northwest corner of Columbus, Indiana. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two big TVs, well-equipped kitchen, nearby walking trails, and a bonus room over the garage. The best feature was he outdoor fireplace, a perfect spot to sit on a cool night with a glass of wine and perhaps a few marshmallows to toast for s’mores.

It wasn’t till I got home that I realized what I missed.

Comfortable places to sit. All three sofas were nice, but they were deep. So deep that I couldn’t really sit without a pillow behind my back. I needed to sit on a pillow to make the folding chair tall enough to sit at a desk for writing. I felt like I was sitting really low out by the fireplace. Back home, I really appreciated our love seats where I could put my feet up and indoor and outdoor tables where I comfortably sit to read and write. The irony: lots of place to sit, but nowhere I wanted to sit.

Lighting. As in most Airbnbs, there was only harsh overhead lighting, and no dimmers. Two settings: daylight or midnight. I moved the one lamp around from bedside to the desk and back. I’m sure too many lamps have either walked off or been damaged, so I understand the scarcity. I just appreciate the subtle lighting of home.

My favorite coffee mug. I know that sounds silly. But morning coffee or tea is a daily ritual, and the heavy, white ceramic mug I use each day is anchoring. Airbnbs usually have an interesting collection of scenic, tall, and large coffee mugs, plus a few small cups. They just don’t feel right in my hand. I can adapt for a day or two. But it’s unsettling.

So when I get up in the morning, turn on a table lamp, and sit with a mug of coffee, I know I’m home.

Posted in tourism, Travel

Fall? Yes. Festival? Not so much.

Posted on by William Douthwaite
How to Visit Brown County State Park, Indiana's 'Little Smokies'

A fall festival in Brown County State Park? Yes! Images of vendor booths, local music, apple cider, and pumpkin-flavored donuts filled my mind. After hiking a trail or two to enjoy the near-peak yellow and orange foliage, we’d stop by to enjoy the tastes, smells, and sights of southern Indiana in the fall.

Upon entering the park, we saw no signs directing us to the festival. Uh-oh. Was this the wrong weekend? I double-checked. This was the right day. Where were the lines of people waiting to get in? Where was the parking lot teeming with cars?

I had to ask Google. It was centered at the Nature Center, in the heart of the park. I headed down the road, certain I’d hear and smell it long before I arrived.

The park features a wonderful nature center, featuring displays about county history, what plants and animals to see, and geological formations. A few turtles posed for pictures.

Where were the booths? Where was the food? I didn’t hear any music.

Everything must be around back. I wandered around the path only to encounter a wedding on a back deck. A chilly wedding party was posing for pictures above a scenic overlook.

But no festival.

I headed the other way and discovered a marker board listing fall festival activities. They included a birds of prey presentation at the pavilion, pumpkin carving judging, and an evening flashlight hike and campfire. Twelve pumpkins sat on a table competing for the prize.

That was it.

No food trucks. No music. No vendors. No crafts. No photo spots. No people. Nothing. Just a sign proclaiming “Fall Festival.”

In Florida, we import all the makings of a fall festival. From pumpkins to leaves to apples to cider, it’s all from out of state. I expected to find all that and more in a place where fall happens full force with the onset of shorter days and cooler weather.

I have to admit the park was beautiful and the weather autumnal. Just no hot cider. Or apples. Or hay rides. Boo.

Posted in mathematics, people, Travel

Unexpected Encounter on a Flight

Posted on by William Douthwaite

On my flight home from Dallas I verified the timeless adage that one ought not judge a book by its cover.

As we like to do, we were the last to board our flight to minimize our time sitting in the economy section. Just ahead of us was a short woman with a substantial carryon bag stuffing popcorn into her mouth from a large bag. While we had the middle and aisle seats in our row, guess who had the window? You are correct, this very woman concealing another carryon bag under one of her jackets.

She couldn’t fit her carryon under the seat in front of her, so we convinced her to put it up in an overhead bin. With one of her jackets against the window, she fell asleep for the next ninety minutes.

With about an hour to go before arrival, she woke up and got out her laptop. I was reading from the Kindle app on my phone, looking out the corner of my eye to see what she was doing. I immediately recognized mathematic equations, matrices, theorems, and proofs. The article was about Cholesky factorization. This was interesting.

I asked her, “Are you a teacher or a student?”

“I’m a teacher.”

I told her I recognized some of what she was reading, although it had been a long time since I saw anything like this. I told her that I had an undergraduate degree in mathematics, did some programming, and then switched my career trajectory to theology and pastoral ministry.

She asked me, “Why can’t you do both?”

With a chuckle I explained that my studies enabled me to help my daughter through AP calculus and help my grandson through pre-algebra. I told her I had programmed for Bell Laboratories in the early 80’s.

She asked, “Fortran?”

“Yes, and some Cobol.”

She told me that Fortran is a programming language still used in her field, even though most current programmers use some iteration of C or Python. It just works better for some applied math applications.

She added, “See? You can still do that!”

I laughed. It’s been forty-five years since I programmed with Fortran on pre-PC, room-filling IBM mainframe computers.

I asked, “Where do you teach?” It turns out she is from Brazil, has her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Arizona, and teaches at Texas A&M.

I am so glad I broke the silence and engaged in conversation. Something in me still comes to life when I come across math and mathematicians in this world.

Posted in Travel

Sleeping with the horses (again)

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We are back in the horse barn loft for our most recent trip to Rowlett, TX. We’ve been coming here for three years and were so glad to see our friends again. Proton the Arabian and King the paint were glad to see us, too. Somehow they knew we would show up with carrots and apples.

The other day, though, we didn’t see Proton for a whole day. King roamed the small pasture area, but no sign of his friend. Strange. Finally, from the deck above the stable, I heard a neigh. I looked over the edge and saw his head poking out over the closed door of his stall. It had been a windy day, so I figured the door had blown shut, trapping him inside. When I slipped through the fence and opened it, he happily trotted out into the yard.

I texted the owner and let them know how I found the horses. She replied that they sometimes closed the door since the other horse, King, would eat his food. Oops. Well, it had been a whole day, and there was a whole load of hay in the field. So I think I did the right thing.

Looking out from the deck tonight, I watched one of the neighboring Shetland ponies slip under the fence and make his way into the stall I opened. Oops. I think he might be the one helping himself to the food.

Anyway, everyone seemed happy, especially since we brought another batch of apples and carrots, enough to share with everyone.

Posted in Travel, zoo

A lot of new at the zoo

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We visited the Jacksonville Zoo for the first time in about six months, and wow, has it changed! They’ve finished the new entrance, added many new walkways and a 330,000 gallon manatee rescue/rehab tank. These three manatees sure enjoyed their new environment, as did a large crowd of folks on a cool, sunny, spring break day.

After watching the manatees for a bit, we walked around the back side of the zoo to the tiger exhibit. I’ve never seen any of the tigers this close before. She is a beautiful cat!

The warty pigs gathered at the window for us, too.

Unfortunately, the zoo no longer lets you bring food or drink in. We tailgated our picnic lunch in the parking lot after seeing all the animals, feeding giraffes, and riding the train.

The entrance and manatee upgrade cost $72 million! Quite an upgrade.

Posted in Life, Travel

Traveling the world on a drive through Florida

Posted on by William Douthwaite
The tower of a citrus processing plant somewhere in southwest Florida

We took two of our grandsons to an Atlanta Braves spring training baseball game at Cool Today Park, a beautiful stadium nestled between Port Charlotte and Venice, Florida. Our drive from northeast Florida took us down interstate highways through Daytona Beach and Orlando, before the GPS routed us down back roads to avoid ever-present slowdowns on I-75.

I took in a part of Florida I had not yet experienced. Some of the roads took us through abandoned orange groves. Others took us through vast cattle ranches and expansive strawberry fields. We passed thetowering citrus processing plants, endless rows of fabric-covered infant orange trees, tobacco stores, gun shops, and Latin-American food trucks of southwest Florida.

I thought I understood redneck Florida. I was wrong. Our drive took us through a whole different world, a strange new world in a state where I have lived for thirty years.

I trusted the Airbnb host’s recommendation for a casual supper place. I haven’t been out to eat in a place where people were smoking for a long, long time. The seating area was technically outside, so they got away with the few patrons who lit up a cigarette. I was happy when they finished up their meal and left.

On the way home, we were the only English-speaking folks inquiring about the restrooms. Nevertheless, everyone was friendly and helpful.

I don’t have to travel far to experience other cultures. They are right down the road.

Posted in Travel

I wonder where they’re all going

Posted on by William Douthwaite

What a beautiful morning for contrails! The atmospheric conditions were just right to preserve the telltale path of jets heading up and down the east coast of Florida.

Early morning flights take people to business meetings. Families load up the kids to vacation destinations. Couples take off for their honeymoons. Others return home to be reunited with their loved ones.

When I’m up in the air, I look down and wonder if anyone is watching us pass overhead. Unless there’s a nice contrail, I don’t notice all the planes overhead. From the ground, I wonder if anyone is looking down at me. From what I’ve seen, most fliers are asleep or watching a movie, not paying attention to anyone down below.

Flight still amazes me. We can travel so far so quickly. It’s a paradox though. It’s slow getting to the airport, through security, and waiting to board at the gate. But a few hours later we’re in a different country, in a different part of the world, where many speak a different language.

One source says that a million people may be in the air at any given moment. That’s a lot of folks squeezed into metal cylinders miles above the ground!

Posted in Life, Travel

Yard art for everyone

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We’ve passed it dozens of times on our way to Ocala, Deleon Springs, Blue Spring State Park (to see the manatees), Eustis, and Mount Dora. Finally on our way home from Umatilla after a grandson’s baseball game, we stopped to see what the Barberville Yard Art Emporium was all about.

The emporium is three acres of every size and shape of aluminum, glass, wood, concrete, ceramic, and clay animals, pots, mailboxes, birdbaths, fountains, lampposts, and any other kind of statuary you can imagine. Right out front is a twenty foot tall giraffe alongside life-size cows, lions, elephants, and flamingoes. Lots of bigger-than-life chickens and roosters line the road. These large animals are bolted to the ground, as if a thief would have the means to steal one.

The emporium is filled with over 800,000 pieces in every shape and size. Most item’s aren’t cheap. A modest three-foot rooster was $445. A life-size ten-piece aluminum nativity had a $7,995 sticker price. (Where would you store that after Christmas?) We looked at walls filled with Haitian tin art, hammered from used oil drums. Overhead we saw shelves filled with brightly painted pots. This is the place to find that six-foot extraterrestrial giving a one-finger salute you’ve been searching for.

We didn’t purchase anything this time. At least we know where we can find a gorilla or unicorn when we need one.

So I wonder who would buy a giant chicken for their yard? A farm sellling eggs? A fried chicken restaurant? How about a huge cow by the entrance to a dairy farm?

Now that I think about it, I used to ride my bike past a house in our community that had a triceratops statue in the front yard. A friend has a life-size dog statue by their front door. Giant Santas smile at me from lawns in December. Some day I’ll have to count all the flamingo statues I see on a morning walk.

Posted in Food, Travel

A little cheese with our wine

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We had time for some wine and cheese at the Antler Hill Village wine bar before our Christmas tour of the Biltmore House last night. The Fireside Ember & Oak Flight featured a Cabernet, red blend, and a Zinfandel. The cheese plate we ordered to go along with it was huge!

Before (a fourteen inch oval plate)

The generous slices of Swiss, Gouda, and Brie were joined by some balls of fresh mozzarella, dried cranberries, Marcona almonds, little bitty toasts, long crackers, peach preserves, and some coarse spicy mustard. And olives. Lots and lots of olives. When I ordered, the server asked if I’d like to add olives. “Sure.” There must have been about a hundred olives in the bowl.

After

We gave it our best shot. We made a respectable dent in the cheeses, nuts, crackers, and olives, but couldn’t finish it off.

Another option on the wine bar menu was a meat and cheese plate. We could have had all the above and three cured meats, too! And olives. Lots and lots of olives!