It's just a little more than two weeks until our group, travel-ography.com, travels to New York City.
We have some terrific travelers going with us and we hope to visit as many of the 'must see' sights as 4 days and 3 nights will allow. However, sometimes it's the 'unexpected' sight or event that really provides a treasured memory of one's travels.
A couple of 'blog posts' ago, I mentioned that we will walk to Strawberry Fields in Central Park and see the memorial tribute that celebrates the life of John Lennon. It is a very simple and peaceful memorial that you could almost walk by without noticing. But every day, hundreds of folks do stop by and spend some time in this small portion of the park, just across the street from the Dakota Hotel, where the former Beatle was gunned down more than 26 years ago.
On that blog post, I added a photograph I had taken of the 'Imagine' stonework, where so many have laid roses and other mementos in tribute to Lennon. In the background of the photograph was an elderly man sitting on a park bench, appearing to be deep in thought.
More on this man in a moment.
The last time Linda and I were in New York City, we were strolling through Central Park on a beautiful November afternoon, when we came upon an 'event' of which we had no prior knowledge.
There, before us, was a middle aged man with a guitar, performing for a diverse group of people, who had gathered on a small hillside overlooking a serene lake, which was dwarfed by a beautiful backdrop of the skyscrapers of Manhattan looming in the background.
We found the music of this troubadour in the park incredible....but it was his stories, between songs, that were quite captivating. One such story followed the request from a young girl to play a Beatles song. Before playing the song, he told the crowd that there was someone very special among us....then he pointed over toward me. He continued by saying that the gentleman seated on the park bench (I was seated on the bench) was an instrumental figure in the history of music in America. He then stated that this man, sitting right next to Linda and I, was the man who brought the Beatles to America....Sid Bernstein.
Mr. Bernstein, we found out, was a big time music industry concert promoter and had, indeed, been the man who contacted Beatles manager Brian Epstein in 1963 in Liverpool, England and won him over by promising to put the Beatles in Carnegie Hall. Ed Sullivan, the host of the popular TV talent hour bearing his own name, found out about Mr. Bernstein's deal and signed the Beatles to perform on his show on that historic Sunday evening, February 9th, 1964. Three days later, the Beatles performed to a frenzied American crowd at Carnegie Hall, and Mr. Bernstein looked like a genius.
Anyway, after exchanging smiles and a polite hello, we watched as several people came over to talk to the elderly, gentle man, who brought the Beatles to America.
The next day we walked back and again listened to the guitar man in Central Park for awhile, before walking a few hundred yards up a wooded trail that led us to Strawberry Fields. The mood was somber, as people of all ages paused to reflect on the life, and death, of a musician, whose songs and lyrics had meant so much to so many.
I was photographing a couple of roses, that had been placed on the memorial, when I looked up and noticed, none other than, Sid Bernstein, sitting in quiet contemplation on a park bench just to the side of the memorial. Choosing not to disturb him, I quietly took the photograph shown below of 'the man who brought the Beatles to America', undoubtedly reflecting on the senseless loss of one of the worlds most revered musicians, as the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death drew near.
'The man who brought the Beatles to America'
A little bit about that guitarist, who became one of our 'unexpected' highlights of our trip to the 'Big Apple'. It turns our that he has become quite famous. His name is David Ippolito, but he is known locally as, 'That Guitar Man from Central Park". In fact, he has a very good web site called www.thatguitarman.com.
Ippolito has been performing impromptu concerts on a hill along side the scenic little lake in Central Park for the past 15 years, mostly on weekends. He is a charismatic vocalist and storyteller, and although he specializes in Beatles music, he sings songs from a wide variety of genres, including some he has written and recorded himself. I also recently read, although I didn't see him on TV, that he had won $64,000 on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. Apparently, he's talented and smart.
Anyway, just a little story on how the 'unexpected' often turns out to be a travel highlight. I hope we get to see him this November with our travel-ography.com group. If not, we'll probably run into something else 'unexpected' that will add to the memories of our trip.
Steve
Did you ever notice how a smile is contagious? Or a yawn? Or singing? Dancing?
I'm sure you get the picture.
Just being NICE is also contagious. And it certainly isn't very difficult or doesn't cost much to be NICE. I discovered this simple premise at a very young age and it has served me well through the years. I've steered clear of many confrontations just by being NICE and I know I've received a great many favors because I was NICE to someone. It really isn't that hard to be NICE and the world becomes a much happier and better place if you are NICE.
It's one of my favorite four letter words.
That being said, I would be remiss not to mention the great fortune we had on our recently completed Duluth trip, as every tour guide, hotel worker, waitress, etc. were all extremely friendly, helpful and nice. It's something I think all of us on the trip noticed and were very appreciative of.
Take this gentleman for example.
He served as our guide when we went inside and up the spiral stairs to the top of the famous Split Rock Lighthouse. He not only looked the part, but he seemed genuinely happy in what he was doing. As I mentioned before, everyone we came in contact with was very NICE.
This has all been leading up to a special 'thank you' to our extremely NICE (and very competent, I might add) bus driver.....Don.
I don't know if he reads this blog or not, but his patience, sense of humor, willingness to offer help and suggestions and cooperation did not go unnoticed. To the best bus driver we could have asked for, on our very first travel-ography.com excursion, a big and sincere THANK YOU, Don.
Less than a month away !
The group that is going with us to New York City has less than a month to wait for a very exciting adventure into the most exciting city on Earth.
The 'pulse' of the 'Big Apple' is undeniable. From Times Square, to the Theater District on Broadway, to Central Park, to Museums, Restaurants, the Statue of Liberty, and did I mention 'shopping'....we'll do and see as much as possible during our 4 day 3 night stay.
Bring it on !!!
Much more about New York in the following posts. You can subscribe to this blog absolutely free simply by signing up at the top of the page.
Steve
Hello, again.
You probably thought you had a 'lost blog writer' since I haven't entered a post for almost a week.
Truth is, we've been crazy busy photographing about 1,000 children and students this past week and then following up by carefully preparing all of these wonderful images and sending them off to our professional photo lab. It's a pretty big job....but certainly worth it.
In fact, just today a mother called from another school we had photographed and told me how appreciative she is that we have documented, by virtue of priceless photographs, her children as they have grown through the years.
She said the pictures have not always been 'perfect'....but have always been 'precious' (bumps, bruises, missing teeth, blemishes, braces, oversized glasses, etc. included). Now there's a mom with a great attitude and perspective on what school photographs are really all about and her call really warmed my heart.
This is one of my favorite school pics we took this year. I figured that since this is a travel blog I just had to share this photo. Who knows, this young man just may be our pilot on some future travel-ography.com adventure.
Now that you know what we've been doing, let me get to the title of this particular post, which is not 'lost blogger'.....but 'lost travelers'.
We continue, every day since our return from our Duluth trip, to hear positive comments on what a great time everyone had on our very first travel-ography.com adventure. And I must say, Linda and I had just as good a time as everyone else apparently did.
However, there was one element to the process that I must confess I wasn't really prepared for....that being the prospect of having some of our party get 'lost'.
It happened on our first stop on the second day, as we all hopped off the bus to enjoy the sights and sounds of the beautiful and powerful Gooseberry Falls, along the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was a magnificent morning, made even more so by the fact that the forecast had called for inclement weather.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the various stages of the falls, taking photographs and hiking on an assortment of paths that all gave different perspectives to this awesome display of Mother Nature. A time had been set to reboard the bus and everyone, after enjoying fresh air and falling water, walked back at their own pace and got on board. Almost everyone!
I was one of the last ones to board, since I had ambitiously hiked quite far back into the woods to photograph a part of the falls that I new would be beautiful. At that point, I had shared the great view with two of our more 'adventuresome travelers'....Linda and Phyllis. As I hoisted my camera and tripod to my shoulder, I started back, while noticing that they went just a bit higher for an even better view. Assuming they would be following, I made it back in pretty good time and even stopped for a couple of other good shots along the way.
Once back on the bus, we took a head count and noticed we were two short. I knew which two.
Linda (wife) and I walked back down the trail but didn't see them. We searched two or three alternate paths but still no sign of them. Finally, just as we were going to call in 'Search and Rescue' (kidding !), there they were, a bit tired and a bit out of breath, but with big smiles on their faces. They had become lost after making a couple of wrong turns (and asking the wrong person for directions on how to get back). I didn't let on at the time, but I sure was relieved that nothing had happened to either of them and that the worst thing to come out of this slight misstep would be the gentle ribbing they would take from their fellow travelers on the bus. All ended well.
Although, I might ask you to look back on the previous post and note that, while I said 33 people were with on our trip, there are only 31 on the group photo by the big ship. Guess which two are missing. Once again, their 'adventuresome spirit' had separated them from the group. I must say, however, that Linda and Phyllis were a delight to have with us and because of this, I'm going to try 'photoshop' them in to the group photo. They'll be the ones wearing the 'blaze orange' or 'hiway department green'. Ha Ha. The trip wouldn't have been as fun without them.
I think the above photo I captured, shows why the adventuresome ones were so adventurous. As always, click on the photo to see a larger version, then hit the 'back' button to return to the blog....or if you are reading this in email, hit the X to return to blog.
By the way, Bob was missing for a few minutes at the Split Rock Lighthouse later that day, to the point where we had him paged. I must admit, Laurie and I were a little concerned for him too, but, alas, he had ventured to a better vantage point to get a good photograph of the lighthouse and was found shortly thereafter. It was kind of 'cool' to hear the man's voice on the loudspeaker blare throughout the grounds: "Would Bob of the travel-ography.com tour group please report to the motorcoach."
Later that night, Bob and Laurie again had left the group and went down by the harbor to see if they could see a big ship come in. After waiting over an hour, they finally saw faint lights approaching in the distance. Thinking of the rest of us, Laurie called the hotel and reported to us that a '1,000 footer', one of the largest ships on the lake, would be entering the harbor within minutes. Most of our group had just retired for the evening, however, Linda and I literally ran the three blocks to the harbor and made it just in time to share the remarkable moment with Laurie and Bob. When a '1,000 footer' comes in, especially at night, it's a pretty special sight.
I'll share more stories from our Duluth adventure in future posts.
New York in November is only one month away! And we have a great group going with us on this exciting 4 day and 3 night journey to the 'Big Apple'.
Ironic, that today I had planned to start posting a series of photographs from the last time Linda and I were in New York City, and the first one was going to be of the Strawberry Fields Memorial to John Lennon in Central Park. It turns out that today would have been the former Beatle's 67th birthday and to commemorate the event, Yoko Ono unveiled the Lennon Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The tower is a beam of light, radiating from a wishing well bearing the words "imagine peace" in 24 languages. The plan is for it to be lit each year between his birthday, Oct. 9, and the anniversary of his death on Dec. 8.
To see the 'Peace Tower' will be a priority of travel-ography.com.
Anyway, here's the photograph I took a couple of years ago in Central Park and it has quite a story attached to it. The man in the background is, none other than, the man credited with bringing the Beatles to America. I'll tell the complete story in an upcoming post.
We'll be visiting this site when we travel to New York City this November 10, 11, 12 and 13.
I can't wait !!!
Steve
