Robert (gurdonark) wrote,
Robert
gurdonark

erie islands

I took a whirlwind business trip to Columbia, SC, where the state capitol has the statue of Strom Thurmond on one side, the Confederate flag on the other side, a very-well-done African-American heritage monument on a third side, and a giant memorial palmetto in memory of a Mexican war regiment on the fourth side. I had not been to Columbia in twenty years. It has grown a good bit, but it still feels like a small town, despite having the population of a city. I had barbecue chicken along with a concoction called "hash on rice", which was not really hash. I strolled the University of South Carolina campus, which is very compact, and noted the landmark by the building saying that James Dickey had written Deliverance and his other works there, and reflecting on how it's a curious thing to remember James Dickey most for "Deliverance".

On the flight back yesrerday morning,between reading interesting articles in "Paste" magazine, I read a tour guide to the state of Ohio. I like to envision going to places a bit off the beaten path. Appalachian Ohio, with its pottery factories, sounded really interesting, but the Lake Erie Islands, with fishing charters, sounded like a positively fun weekend.

We made plans to go to a provincial park in Manitoba in June, so I don't think that Lake Erie will be imminently on the map. I like the way that so many places have cool places to see, little touristed other than by locals, and yet intriguing. I like magazine travel writing, but so often there is kind of a Society of American Travel Writers rut, plowing the same furrows, with even the exotica being pickled and predictiable.
I like places so commmonplace they're fascinating.

The mallard duck at our park with eight little ducklings continues to delight. The ducklings grow so quickly.
Fortunately, our dogs still never notice them, which is a very good thing.

I ordered the new Sparks CD, as well as DAC Crowell's latest. I'll probably review the DAC Crowell at Ambient Review. I see that Brian Eno and David Byrne have released the tracks to "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" on a Creative Commons license, so that anyone may remix them. I look forward to giving that a try.
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