Saturday, July 23, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

ST SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia — For more than a year, our friends Cathy and Ric have been inviting us to sail with them. Somehow our schedules just hadn't clicked. Last week we realized that the opening of school would end their summer adventures this weekend, so we needed to make a big push to try to get together with them. Thanks to their terrific blog, we knew exactly where they were— St. Augustine.  After wintering the vessel in the Florida Keys, they've been sailing their dreamboat Amplexus up Florida's east coast for the last six weeks.

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We caught up with them at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, just south of the Georgia/Florida border, and found a room in a hotel across the street from the marina where they were tied up.  "We're on the face dock," Cathy said when we called, reminding us that we were entering a whole new realm where a different and unfamiliar language is spoken.  Reading their blog, we often have to ask Google for translation:  abaft the beam, portside finger dock, bow thruster, close reach, athwartship, etc.  This time Cathy kindly explained that they were moored along the long dock running on the outside edge of the marina, rather than in a slip.

Soon we hooked up with them and walked over to Cafe Karibo, a local family-owned restaurant with an eclectic menu and its own microbrewery.  The food was excellent, the service great, and the beer very tasty.  But the opportunity to catch up with our friends after not seeing them for more than six months was definitely the best part of the evening. We made plans to meet at the boat the following morning.  Ken and Ric would sail to St. Simons Island while Cathy and I drove and did some letterboxing.

Friday dawned sunny and clear.  Ken got on board and had a quicktime tutoring session in safety and sailing basics while Cathy and I reviewed letterboxing clues.  Then we were all off.  The guys motored out of the marina headed for the channel and open sea.  Cathy and I loaded up our letterboxing gear for some enthusiastic searching.
  
Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island
After locating a box on Amelia, we drove across the Georgia line to Jekyll Island.  Though the scenery was beautiful, the weather was sweltering.  With the temperature surging toward three digits and the humidity even higher, we were dripping but trying to make the best of things and appreciating the car air conditioning with a new fervor.  We had located four letterboxes, including two very clever HIPS (hidden in plain sight) boxes, when the guys called with an estimate of their arrival time.  We had just enough time to drive to St. Simons and maybe grab some lunch before they arrived. 
  
Departing Fernandina Beach                                                       Arriving at St. Simons
By the time we reached the marina, it was almost time for Ken and Ric to blow in.  They had enjoyed an uneventful trip with good conditions and even a few cool breezes.  Both reported a pleasant cruise with calm seas, adequate wind, and interesting conversation.  Much to Ken's relief (due to his complete inexperience with sailing), no situation arose that would have required him to assist Ric too much.

After we parted ways for some much needed showers, we reconvened for dinner at Tramici, a neighborhood restaurant offering rustic Italian cuisine and friendly service in a casual environment.  Prices were reasonable and our dining companions were the best.
  
Ken and I found a few letterboxes on St. Simons the following morning before we picked up Cathy and Ric for the drive back home.  They stowed their gear, battened down the hatches, and left their cherished friend Amplexus to set sail in our van for their home and, for Cathy, another year of teaching.  It was a fun-filled couple of days, and we were so glad we finally had the opportunity to enjoy their passion with them.
  
Aboard Amplexus
Christ Church, St. Simons Island

FRIDAY, 22 JULY—SATURDAY, 23 JULY 2011


Goodbye, New York

Friday, July 15, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

YAYA SISTERS IN NY, Chapter 4:  
IN WHICH ONLY TWO REMAIN
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Friday, the last day of our Yaya sister adventure, how I hated to see it end!  Pam caught a very early train back to D.C., and Heather and Marion left for the airport shortly thereafter, leaving just Jeanne and me to enjoy one last day in the city.  After a brief walk in Central Park, we headed for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which promised Jeanne the opportunity to meet one of her favorite paintings face to canvas.  It was obviously a good match.  She unknowingly color-coordinated with the MoMA signage.
  
MoMA always delivers an interesting experience with the diversity of art in their collection.  Works by Rodin, Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, and other well-known artists are there as well as more avant-garde items like Lawrence Weiner's A Wall Pitted by a Single Air Rifle Shot, which is... well, a large white wall pitted by a single air rifle shot.  Seeing this definitely generated one of those forehead-slapping, why-didn't-I-think-of-this moments.  Who knew someone would buy such a thing as a piece of art?
  
We can reproduce this art work at home.  Where's that BB gun?
Of course, the main reason for our visit was the most famous painting of Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, which has been in the MoMA permanent collection since 1941.  Painted in 1889, the painting represents Van Gogh's night view from his room in a Saint-Remy sanitarium, though he is said to have painted it from memory during the day.
  
Jeanne studies Van Gogh's brush strokes.
We were fortunate to be viewing the painting when a guide came through with a tour group.  We listened as she talked about this famous work, finding both enlightenment and dubious speculation in her comments.  If you'd like to get an up-close and personal look at this beautiful art work, check out the extremely high resolution image of it from Google's Art Project site.

No visit to MoMA is complete without a peek at the incredibly clever items for sale in their gift shop.  In addition to the expected poster reproductions of works in the collection, the shop searches out ingeniously designed products that are both useful and whimsical.  Prices are quite reasonable and the inventory includes something for everyone from infants to adults.
  
Definitely a place to return to
After getting our fill of modern art, we found a fabulous lunch just off 8th Avenue at Nocello, a neighborhood Italian restaurant.  It turned out to be the perfect laid-back place for lunch.  Prices were reasonable, service was attentive, and the food was delicious.

One last trip to Times Square was in order to find a souvenir for Jeanne's husband, Don.  On our way we saw the line for the TKTS booth.  It was 2:40, twenty minutes before the discount seller opened, and the line was snaking all the way around the square.
  
TKTS line in Times Square
We thanked our lucky stars for the serendipitous experience that allowed us to avoid this waiting nightmare earlier in the week and promised to keep our secret solution silent.  Our week was finally drawing to a close and it was time to head back to Newark airport for the flight back home.  There was no doubt we had enjoyed a fantastic adventure with our Yaya sisters.  Our only regret was that it had to end.  But we'll be back for more... someday... somewhere.
  
FRIDAY, 15 JULY 2011

Rising to the Top

Thursday, July 14, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

YAYA SISTERS IN NY, Chapter 3:  
IN WHICH WE FIND OUR VOICES
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By Day #4 of our 'Yayas Take New York' adventure, we were ready to rise to the top. So we headed for... what else? The Empire State Building. Along the way, we took time to enjoy our five seconds of fame at Forever 21's interactive Times Square billboard.
  
Finding a way to stand out in the jungle of giant plasma-screen billboards in Times Square is no small feat, but that's just what the Forever 21 store did last summer when it debuted its interactive video billboard above the store's entrance.  What better way to get people to look at this new monster screen than to put them on it?  From time to time, a model walks in front of the image of the crowd in Times Square and makes things more interesting by magnifying, drawing hearts around, or taking a photo of parts of the crowd.  Brilliant!  (We're the tiny ones in the circle on the photo above.)

As we continued on our way to the top, we made a stop at the 34th Street flagship location of Marion's favorite department store, Macy's.  No way could we let her miss an opportunity to visit this retail behemoth, often billed as the largest store in the world (though a Chinese store has since claimed that record).  At nearly 3 million square feet, the store was a bit large for us to see everything, but we did locate some lovely hats.
  
Hat chance at Macy's
After evading the Macy's executive who wanted to hire us as models, we escaped from the store and finally made our way to the Empire State Building.  Ticket hawkers on the street offered dire warnings of hour-long waits, but they were willing to sell us a pass which would propel us to the front of the line.  We declined their expensive offers and made it through the security, ticket, and elevator lines and to the 86th floor observatory within about 20 minutes.
  
Empire State view from the top
Immortalized in films such as King Kong and Sleepless in Seattle, the 1,453-foot Empire State Building, the most famous of New York's skyscrapers, provided amazing views of Manhattan and beyond.  The remarkable structure reigned as the world's tallest building for more than 40 years— from the time of its completion in 1931 until the North Tower of the World Trade Center was opened in 1972.  After the tragic destruction of the WTC towers in 2001, the Empire State once again became the tallest building in New York and second tallest in the Americas behind only Chicago's Sears Tower.

Since none of us was eager to perform a rendition of "Danny Boy," we felt safe going for lunch at Foley's Pub and Restaurant across 33rd Street from the Empire State.  After listening to too many drunken renditions of the legendary Irish ballad over the years, the pub's owner famously banned the song from his pub in 2008, declaring it too depressing.
  
Chilling at Foley's, just before the transformation
A hybrid Irish pub-sports memorabilia showcase, Foley's occupies a space which has housed some type of public house for 100 years.  Our server, a friendly Irish lass named Deirdre, contributed to the old sod atmosphere.  We lingered at Foley's undisturbed for upwards of two hours as we went through a secret and unexpected Yaya transformation which had a dramatic effect on the remainder of our day and on the city of New York.

Where do you go from an Irish pub except to visit St. Patrick, or at least his cathedral on Fifth Avenue?  The seat of the archbishop of New York, the Neo-Gothic Cathedral of St. Patrick was completed in 1878.  At the time, its massive spires dominated the neighborhood.  Today it is dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers, but the hush inside once you enter the massive doors provides a calming respite to the bustle of the streets.
  
St Patrick's interior
Following our theme of rising to the top, we continued our stroll up Fifth Avenue.  Originally a residential street for the city's ultra-wealthy, Fifth Avenue is now home to some of New York's priciest retailers and often cited as one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.  Cartier sells its fabulous jewelry from one of the greatest Renaissance mansions on Fifth Avenue.  Next door, Versace occupies an elegant building which formerly housed the Vanderbilt family.
  
Cartier (Photo from Wikipedia)
Even dolls can enjoy the pampered life on Fifth Avenue.  At the American Girls doll store, we were stunned to discover a doll hair salon.  According to the promotional ad, this is "where dolls get the special attention they deserve."  What about the moms who are paying for all this attention to be lavished on a $100 doll?  They deserve some special attention also, like maybe some advice on sound economic training for your daughter.
  
American Girl salon (not kidding!)
For a mere $20, your doll can have her hair styled by one of these talented hairdressers.  Throw in another $5 for dolly to have a facial, and, of course, tiny Miss Adorable would like her ears pierced for only $14 more.  And don't forget to budget a nice tip for the stylist.  The budget will also need to cover some new clothes for your special doll ($30 per outfit) and a matching set for dolly's 'mommy' at $75 per outfit.  A meal at the American Girls Cafe in the store will set you back another $150 or so for mother, daughter and doll.  Well, we could go on, but then it is Fifth Avenue and why shouldn't your doll get the royal treatment?  Now that we're pampering inanimate objects, we should find a massage therapist for our shoes.

Channeling our inner Rockettes
Tiffany, Diesel, Lego, and numerous other over the top Fifth Avenue retailers provided more than enough free entertainment, most with jaw-dropping prices, as we made our way to Rockefeller Center for an audition as Rockettes.  The powers that be recognized our talents immediately and wanted to sign us on the spot, but we never could reach an agreement on salary and benefits, so we had to walk dance away from their offer and head back to the hotel and our last dinner in the Big Apple on this trip.

For our 'last meal' together, we returned to Thalia on Eighth Avenue near our hotel.  The food was excellent as it had been before, but this time we found the service disappointing.

One last visit to Times Square and we were ready to wrap up our final big day in New York.  Pam had an early train back home the next day and everyone else was scattering later in the day.  Based on the reactions we had experienced, we had to agree when Jeanne assessed our visit:  "We touched this town."
  
Our last visit to Times Square together
Sorry, New York.  We'll miss you, too, but we'll be back.

THURSDAY, 14 JULY 2011

From Central Park to Washington Square

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

YAYA SISTERS IN NY, Chapter 2:  
IN WHICH INNER CHILDREN ARE UNLEASHED
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We began the day with a visit to the legendary toy store FAO Schwarz. Founded in 1862 by German immigrant Frederick August Otto Schwartz, New York's most famous toy store is the oldest toy retailer in the U.S.  It was the first store in New York to host visits with Santa and a pioneer in the concept of "entertainment retail," the notion that visiting a store should provide a memorable experience for its customers. (Yaya sisters pictured above with the store's toy soldier greeter)
  
Within the store are many unique mini-shops featuring huge selections of unique merchandise or allowing customers to create their own custom toys, from jigsaw puzzles to Muppets to Barbies.  If you have $25,000 you're eager to get rid of, you can purchase your very own one-of-a-kind Barbie foosball game.
  
Barbie foosball?  Where else but FAO Schwarz?
In this ocean of tantalizing toy temptations, we managed to resist all but two small purchases. However, we all enjoyed the full measure of the founder's entertainment philosophy. 
  
Shopping for the little girls back home
As difficult as the adorable plush animals were to leave, we had lots of ground to cover.  We headed underground to the fabulous New York subway.  With our seven-day unlimited ride passes, the subway was a great method of transportation and it all seemed so much easier with some experience behind us.
  
We got this subway system mastered.
On our way up 5th Avenue toward the Metropolitan Museum, we encountered a group of gawkers on the sidewalk along Central Park.  They were watching the taping of a scene for an episode of the CW network's Gossip Girls across the street.  For the taping, the French consulate had been transformed into a consulate for Monaco with the temporary addition of an appropriate sign and careful framing by the videographers to exclude the French flag which was still flying from the building.
  
French consulate plays role of Monaco agency
We couldn't gawk long because another New York icon beckoned, the legendary Metropolitan Museum of Art, which welcomed its first visitors in 1870. Today the museum hosts five million visitors annually, making it the most visited art museum in the U.S. and ranking third worldwide.
  
Metropolitan Museum
After standing in an interminable line, we visited a special exhibit by the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, whose fashion house designed Kate Middleton's royal wedding dress.  We were uniformly amazed by the variety of surprising materials and styles employed in the designs on display-- shells, feathers, human hair, vulture skulls, aluminum, worms, horsehair, gold bullion, fiberglass, wire, crocodile heads, and impala horns, among others.  Check out some photos of these fascinating fashions on the Met web site. 
  
Alexander McQueen designs
Near this special exhibit, we located the section of the museum's permanent collection that most interested Jeanne— the Impressionists.  She was certainly not the only one of us eager to view some of these amazing paintings, but she definitely seemed to glean the most from them, as she thoughtfully studied each of the 15 Van Gogh works on exhibit, as well as paintings by Monet, Manet, Seurat, Cezanne, and others. 
  
Jeanne meets Vincent
We couldn't leave the Met without a visit to the fascinating Temple of Dendur, a shrine to two brothers who drowned in the Nile River during Roman times.  Constructed on the Nile in 15 BC, the temple had to be removed from its original site in 1963 to prevent its submersion when the Aswan Dam was completed.  In recognition of American assistance in saving various other monuments threatened by the dam's construction, Egypt presented the temple and its gate as a gift to the United States. 
  
Temple of Dendur
The temple was dismantled, packed in crates, and shipped across the Atlantic.  The Met won a bidding war to exhibit the temple and designed a special room with a reflecting pool representing the Nile to house the structure.

Though the Met's exhibits could easily have kept us entertained for another week or more, we had to move on to lunch, ensuring there would be plenty to visit on our next trip to this peerless museum.  On our way to the exit, we passed through the sculpture gallery in the American wing with its superb exhibit of works by U.S. artists.  That's when Jeanne challenged us to a little performance art:  select a sculpture and imitate it. 
  
Life imitates art.
More life imitating more art
It was great fun and soon we observed other visitors following our lead.  You can try it also.  As part of Google's Art Project, using their street view technology and high resolution images, you can take a virtual tour of this very sculpture gallery and try a little performance art yourself.  

After a quick visit to the Met's rooftop garden, we headed off to lunch at Caffe Grazie on E. 84th Street.  Located in a converted townhouse, the restaurant was very convenient to the Met and offered a nice variety of choices for a light lunch.  We especially liked the "Bento Box" option of two perfect size samplings of savories plus a sweet.  By the time we finished our meal after 3 p.m., the room we were in had emptied, so we telephoned my mother to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her, prompting our server to rush into the room offering a candle.

Back to the subway, we rode the train down to Greenwich Village, where we explored the area, including a nice little bar that offered some respite from the heat.  After cooling off we made a sojourn to Washington Square Park.
  
Located at the end of Fifth Avenue, Washington Square is one of the best-known of New York's 1,900 public parks.  It measures almost 10 acres and has long served as a site for meeting friends and enjoying cultural activities.  Though it is now in the center of the New York University campus, Washington Square continues to operate as a public park, welcoming locals and tourists, and serving as a great place for people watching.
  
All kinds of talents being shared at Washington Square
By the time we left the park at 7 p.m., we were ready to find some dinner and get back to the hotel for a shower to rid ourselves of the grimy mementos of a very hot day in the city.  Before we reached the nearest subway station, Mother Nature intervened and changed the order of things a bit.  A sudden downpour blew up with no shelter immediately available, so we had our shower before we returned to the hotel.
  
After a downpour, the rainbow reward.
We hailed one of New York's yellow carriages for a taxi ride back to the hotel.  Drenched and wringing water from our clothes, we were treated to a beautiful rainbow as we made the trip back to Midtown.  After changing into dry clothes, we headed to the nearby Food Emporium, picked up a bottle of wine and some meals from their gourmet shop and enjoyed a quiet and economical meal, eating in before falling into bed exhausted to rest up for another day of escapades New York style.

WEDNESDAY, 13 JULY 2011

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

YAYA SISTERS IN NY, Chapter 1:  
IN WHICH WE LAUNCH A SISTER ACT

When the teen Yayas bailed out of our planned trip to New York for cheerleading camp(?!), there was only one thing to do... round up some Yaya sisters to help take a bite out of the Big Apple.  Yesterday we gathered in Manhattan to begin our exploration of this global center of finance and culture, art and entertainment, fashion and commerce.  My cousin Pam, niece Heather, sister-in-law Marion, sister Jeanne, and I were ready for some Yaya sister fun, and we chose a great place to search for it.
  
After a delicious dinner at Thalia's on 8th Avenue last night, Times Square was our first destination.  Just a few blocks south of our hotel, this iconic New York landmark has often been called the "crossroads of the world."
  
Times Square
No matter when you visit this busiest of intersections, it is teeming with people, most of whom seem to be just enjoying the people watching as we were.  The dominant attractions are the multitude of illuminated signs, which zoning ordinances require Times Square building owners to display.  The signs are called "spectaculars" and the largest boast the name "jumbotron."

Shopping opportunities abound in Times Square and stores selling whimsical products are everywhere.  A mega Toys R Us store with an indoor ferris wheel, an elaborate Disney store, and rivaling Hershey's and M & M's stores all compete for the attention and spending of kids of all ages.

The TKTS ticket booth is a popular feature of the square, not only for its deeply discounted theater tickets but also the illuminated, stepped roof, which provides seating for events and for just hanging out in this energized spot.

After a good night's rest, it was time for us to hit the streets of New York in earnest, seeking out those other icons the city is so famous for.  With lots of ground to cover, we took advantage of the excellent New York subway system.

Ready to take on the city
On the R train
It was a full-blown initiation for the Yaya sisters as we boarded the subway during rush hour.  Some of the natives seemed to get a kick out of our banter, and we were happy to provide some entertainment of our own in return for all we were finding.

Jeanne & Pam & the lady
From Battery Park, we boarded a ferry to Liberty Island to visit that most recognized of New York and American symbols, the Statue of Liberty.  Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the statue's architect, built the statue in France and shipped her in crates to the United States, where she was assembled and placed on her pedestal.  Upon the completion, the statue was dedicated in 1886 by President Grover Cleveland and inspired New York's first ticker-tape parade.

After paying our respects to the Lady, we rode the ferry to Ellis Island, the busiest immigration processing center for the United States from 1892 to 1954.  More than 100 million Americans today are descended from the 12 million immigrants who passed through this gateway.  Excellent exhibits tell the story of the hopefuls who arrived there and the government officials who conducted the inspection and registration processes that helped the immigrants begin the transition to American citizenship.

Strolling downtown
For an authentic ethnic lunch in New York, we tracked down Alfanoose, a Syrian/Lebanese restaurant just east of the site of the World Trade Center.  With a reputation for making the best falafel in New York, Alfanoose has long been a popular downtown lunch spot.  Like many business owners in the area, the owner suffered financial setbacks after 9/11 but stuck it out in his financial district location until a rent increase forced him out of his original storefront.  Loyal fans of his award-winning Middle Eastern cuisine pitched in to help the owner find a new, and bigger, facility and helped him get back on his feet.

Since the National September 11 Memorial Plaza won't open until the tenth anniversary of that horrific event this fall, we just walked around the Ground Zero area, still stunned by the destruction that occurred there and inspired by the rebuilding that progresses day by day.  In addition to the memorial and museum, six new towers are planned for the 16-acre site, one of which has opened with another to be completed in 2013.

Though we'd had a busy day, New York theater was still on our agenda.  Since we were downtown, we decided to avoid the lengthy queues at the Times Square TKTS booth and try their location at South Street Seaport.  What a stroke of luck!  There was no line whatsoever and we scored five tickets to our first-choice Broadway musical, Sister Act, playing at the Broadway Theatre.
  
Broadway bound
Not only was this the perfect show for a group of Yaya sisters, it definitely lived up to the rave reviews it has received from theatre-goers.  Based on the 1992 movie of the same name, the musical opened in April of this year, produced by the movie's star, Whoopi Goldberg.  Though we all had doubts about any actress measuring up to her stellar performance, Patina Miller more than filled the bill.  
  
Sister Act cast  (Photo by New York Times)
The rousing gospel numbers by Miller and her choir of increasingly sequined nuns had the audience clapping in rhythm and cheering at the end of most numbers.  Just as impressive were the impossibly elaborate and ever-changing sets that rotated off and on stage flawlessly.  Brilliant lighting in rhythm with the music and energetic choreography completed the full picture of a rollicking and entertaining night of theater.
  
Celebrating sisterhood
As we toasted our fabulous day with a little Yaya nectar, we were unanimous in our assessment that the best song of the show was "Sister Act," a tribute to the friendship and loyalty that the character of Deloris shared with the nuns, a new song to add to our Yaya songbook.

As a sister and a friend,
I'll be a sister till the end,
and no one on this earth can change that fact.
I'm part of one terrific sister act.   

MONDAY, 11 JULY—TUESDAY, 12 JULY 2011

Thursday, July 07, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

Recently I had the opportunity to transport my 8-year-old nephew Steven from his home in Tennessee to a visit with his grandmother in Alabama.  I jumped at the chance because he is a bright and witty kid who is fun to be with.  What I didn't learn until later is that he's also a great traveling companion, which was fortunate since Ken, my favorite partner on journeys, had a scheduling conflict and couldn't join us for the first part of the trip.

I arrived in Tennessee just in time to watch Steven and his best pal Joshua practicing a bit of tae kwon do, the Korean form of martial arts.
Sparring with Joshua
Observing their sparring activity night at the local tae kwon do studio, I was very impressed.  The studio's emphasis on building self-confidence in students through respect and discipline was evident in the way the kids interacted with each other and the instructor.  An extra dose of courtesy, self-control, respect... definitely positive traits in a road buddy.  

As I was to learn, Steven brought even more to the vehicle, leading me to give some thought to the question of what to look for in selecting someone to hit the road with.  Since I am usually partnered with my ideal companion, I'd never had to think about this before.  Here is my list of essential qualities of a great traveling companion.
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1.  Open Mindedness  
A good traveling companion should be receptive to following your suggestions sometimes and not focused only on his own agenda.  For example, when I asked Steven if he'd like to find some letterboxes, he replied, "Sure!  I'd love to do it."
Stamping in
And he dived in with enthusiasm and flair, quickly learning the routine of stamping in and absorbing like a sponge a variety of terms associated with the hobby.  We soon realized that Steven seems to be a "hitchhiker magnet," discovering one after another of these traveling letterboxes within the boxes we found.

2.  Eagerness to Explore the Unfamiliar
If the person you're traveling with wants to just hang back and watch while you try something new, it will detract from your enjoyment.  It's much more fun if your companion jumps in with you, as Steven did when we had a close encounter with a dolphin at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi.  
Meeting a dolphin up close
In another water-filled experience, we marshaled our courage to slip and splash wildly out of control in a raft on our way down a three-story water slide (his idea).  Then we did it two more times, although neither of us would ever have attempted it even once alone.
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3.  Thinks for Himself/Has Good Ideas
While being receptive to your suggestions, your traveling companion should also be able to bring ideas to the table.  Our family frequently plays a card game called Golf in which kings and aces are wild.  To give it a new twist, Steven suggested we change which cards were wild depending on the time of day.  This tweak in the rules definitely made an old game more interesting and kept us on our toes.

4.  Good Listener, Interested in Others
A traveling companion who wants to dominate conversations with talk of only what he is interested in could quickly become a drag.  Steven is very interested in hearing about the experiences and opinions of others.  He especially liked listening to stories that featured memorable sayings by various members of his extended family.

Visiting the USS Alabama
One of his favorite stories was that of a 1962 event in which a "double dog dare" from his father (my brother) led me to touch an item in the captain's cabin exhibit at the USS Alabama, a battleship museum in Mobile.  He was thrilled to visit the site of this incident in which I was almost caught and carted off by security when a very loud alarm sounded throughout the ship.  We were both disappointed when we reached the captain's cabin and found it padlocked.

5.  Smart and Sophisticated
It's nice when the person you're traveling with can converse on a wide variety of topics, not only listening but also bringing new information and insight to the conversation.  An avid reader, Steven retains an amazing store of information from the hundreds of books he reads annually on a wide variety of topics.
Knows the answer

During the presentations we heard at Gulfport's Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, his hand went up to answer almost every question, and his response was always correct.  In fact, one of the biologists mentioned hiring him as an assistant.

Steven's culinary tastes are a bit more refined than those of most 8-year-olds.  Never did he ask to go to a fast food restaurant.  He was quite content eating at restaurants like Carrabba's, where he declined a child's menu and ordered grilled bruschetta, pizza and a creme brulee for dessert, though he was tempted by the tiramisu.

6.  Joie de Vivre
When your traveling companion has a cheerful enjoyment of life, everything you do together takes on an added zest.  Steven often expresses his exuberance with one word sentences, like  "That.  Was.  Awesome!" or "I.  Love.  Letterboxing!"  

Loving the beach
Watching him play in the surf at Gulf Shores and challenge the waves to a tae kwon do sparring session was so.  much.  fun!

7. Generous and Giving
It's never pleasant to be around someone who is selfish, and even less so when you're traveling.  When we needed to fill 24 jugs with water from a special spring to take to someone who has been ill, Steven was the first to volunteer to help with the project.
Always eager to help
And he made sure to buy a souvenir to take home to his best pal Joshua.

8.  Great Entertainer
Nothing makes life on the road more enjoyable than when you have a traveling companion who loves to entertain you.  From card games to magic tricks, Steven always thinks of something fun to do.  
 
Entertaining companion!
He will even imitate marine animals engaged in random nonsense activities if it will make you laugh.  When you express your amazement about his magic tricks, he openly admits, "I love it when people say that."

9.  Patience
Let's face it, things on the road don't always go exactly according to plan.  At times we have to wait for something to happen, even something we're eagerly anticipating.  Having a traveling companion who knows how to be patient makes the delay so much more tolerable. 

When Ken and I were driving Steven home to Tennessee, we encountered a sudden very strong thunderstorm.  As it happened, we were at the end of a six-hour game of "Camera Cab," in which he had the opportunity to win a new digital camera as a prize for answering 100 trivia questions correctly.  He had just answered question #99 when we were engulfed in a pounding downpour.  His response when I told him we had to suspend the game until the weather let up was to sit patiently for about 20 minutes, never uttering a word, until we could resume the game.
 
Patience paid off.
After the storm abated, the game continued, and he won his prize.
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10.  Good Sense of Humor
You never know when the unexpected may occur when you're on the road.  Having a traveling companion who can handle life's ups and downs with good humor goes a long way to smooth out the rough spots.  Steven demonstrated this well when the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich that he ordered wasn't exactly what he expected.
 
There was no way he or any other human could have eaten this ridiculously large sandwich.  So he divided it up into healthy snacks-- a lettuce lollipop, tomato cookies, and bacon popsicles.  His wittiness and humor kept me laughing throughout the trip, like the time he had a 20-minute playtime in the hotel pool before bath time.  I had been helping him keep up with how much time he had left to play until we approached the end.
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Me:          You have one minute left, Steven.
Steven:     So I should choose wisely?
 
And that must be what I did when I packed Steven up into our van.  Next time you're headed off on a great adventure, choose your traveling companion carefully.  You'll enjoy your trip so much more.

FRIDAY, 24 JUNE—THURSDAY, 30 JUNE 2011
WEDNESDAY, 6 JULY—7 JULY 2011
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