Tag Archives: Holiday

Happy 247th

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There are twenty “Underrated Attractions in Cincinnati” identified in the CityBeat article that motivated me to visit the Lucky Cat Museum last week. With that museum visit, I could count thirteen of the twenty as things I have seen. There are a few more that I will probably get to before long and a couple of others that I have little interest in. I thought it highly unlikely that I would ever experience one listed attraction despite being interested in it very much. “Stricker’s Grove“, the article said, “is closed to the public…”. It could be rented for private events but, unless I could get myself invited to somebody’s company picnic, it seemed I was out of luck.

Then, barely a week after the CityBeat article appeared, I saw another article announcing that the park would be open to the public on July 4th. I had, I now realized, stopped reading that opening sentence too soon. “Stricker’s Grove is closed to the public for most of the year”, is what it really said. It is actually open to all on a handful of days each year and Independence Day is one of them.

But the amusement park next to cornfields and a two-lane state highway would not open until 2:00 o’clock. I filled the morning and put myself in the general area by attending the Fourth of July parade in Hamilton, Ohio.

This parade was significantly different from the only other parade I recall attending in Hamilton. That was the Short, Sweet, Wet, and Irish inaugural Saint Patrick’s Day parade held earlier this year. That parade had just one fire engine and, with a route length of approximately 575 feet, barely had room for it. This parade route was well over two miles long with several fire department vehicles including a couple of real classics.

The Corvettes and firetrucks did not surprise me but the low riders did. And it wasn’t just one or two. The number of these incredibly tricked-out cars rivaled the number of Corvettes and they jumped higher, too.

I was also surprised by this group’s presence. They had already passed me when the word “militia” caught my eye. I snapped this belated photo then looked up The Last Militia at the end of the day. They describe themselves as “a preparedness organization that focuses on the needs of families during times of strife” and dispute their classification as an antigovernment movement by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Their camouflage-patterned vests display the motto, Molṑn Labé. Greek for “Come and take them”, the phrase is often considered an expression of defiance but in this case is probably just an invitation to avail oneself of some of the bottled water pictured on their website.

I had no trouble Identifying the hot air balloon burner and gondola in the bed of this truck but sorting out the headgear took a bit longer. Only when I saw the Hops in the Hangar sign did I realize they are foam-topped beer mugs.

Getting inside the structure behind the four-foot flame was a bonus. I am fairly familiar with the Butler County Soldiers, Sailors and Pioneers Monument from the outside but had never been inside. It is even more impressive than I anticipated. Built on the site of the original Fort Hamilton, it honors all county residents who served in wars fought before its construction in 1902. Non-military pioneers are also recognized on the second floor. Original stained glass copies of the seals of the State of Ohio and the Grand Army of the Republic are opposite each other on the first floor.

Even larger stained glass windows on the second floor honor Civil War nurses and mothers. A clear glass window provides a wonderful view of the Great Miami River.

This is the place the day was organized around. Stricker’s Grove opened at 2:00 with the rides beginning at 3:00. Admission is free. Parking is $5. The pictured pavilion filled with picnic tables is just inside the park. There are also lots of tables outside the pavilion. Picnicking is not just tolerated; it is encouraged. The one-hour lag between opening and the rides firing up might actually be part of that encouragement. Reasonably priced food is available for anyone not packing a cooler at home. I had actually started the day thinking of a place to eat but when I learned of the parade I had just enough time to drive directly there. I now had time for breakfast — mett $4, chips $1, pink lemonade $2. Hotdogs were available for $2 and a 14 once draft beer for $4.

Eating was not the only thing available for filling in that rideless hour. A couple of Skee Ball areas and a large arcade filled with video games and pinball machines were in full swing as were other games of skill.

The rides had been operating for a while by the time I made it to the midway and purchased tickets. The best deal was clearly the $20 armband that let you ride anything all day. Single tickets were $2.50 or 5 for $10 or 20 for $25. That last option only makes sense if the tickets were to be shared by multiple riders. The only thing I really cared about riding was the Tornado roller coaster which was one of the very few rides, or possibly the only ride, that required three tickets. $7.50 seemed like a lot for one ride so I went for the five-ticket deal which made it seem like a bargain. It was then that I saw the coaster in motion for the first time ever but I decided not to get in the line just yet.

I had already decided to start off with a ride on the train (1 ticket) thinking it might give me a better feel for the park layout. Disappointingly, it did not go through the park but around its periphery of which corn and the Great Miami River are major components. It did give me a different view of the Tornado, however.

With the train ride behind me, it was time to join the queue at the Tornado. Reportedly there has been only one man in the United States to build his own roller coaster That man was Ralph Stricker and this is that coaster. Al Collins designed it and Stricker built it between November 1990, and June 1993.

The line was fairly long but it moved with reasonable speed. I used to ride roller coasters quite a bit but it has been a while. It felt good to climb into the car and start through that first slow curve past that corn. Being “homemade” and all, I kind of expected this to be a little wimpy. Not so. It was a good ride and all the coaster this old man needed. Nicely done Ralph and Al.

I used my one remaining ticket on another ride with a view. The extra fallout protection blocked the view to some degree but I could still see the corn and some people seem to always find a way to live life on the edge.

I submit these pictures not as examples of good fireworks photography but as evidence that I did expose myself to Independence Day pyrotechnics as required of all U.S. citizens. Fireworks were scheduled at Stricker’s Grove but I left long before that happened. I watched these from the parking lot across from King’s Island. Note that I live close enough to the park to hear these every night. The structure at the right edge of the first photo is the Drop Tower which I assume was closed during the fireworks.

The show also included the synchronized drones that the park introduced during last year’s 50th-anniversary celebration. I reported on my first viewing of them here. Formations not shown here included the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, and more. A good con man might be able to convince you that the lights in the middle of the map are there to mark King’s Island’s location but they are really lights on the replica Eiffel Tower standing between the camera and the drones.

Another Season of the Fish

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I like fish and therefore like fish fries. During Lent, I try to patronize some of the Friday fundraisers although I rarely manage to check off every week. I doubt that was even possible during the COVID-19-ravaged years of 2020, ’21, and ’22. Even without a pandemic’s interference, going 7-for-7 isn’t always easy. I thought I’d accomplished it a couple of times but maybe not. 2014 is the only year that I’ve boasted about in this blog so maybe it’s the only perfect run I’ve ever accomplished — until now.

Lent, and the seven weeks of fish fries, ends with Easter. That 2014 boast was my Easter Day post for the year. I wasn’t completely confident of my ability to manage a fish fry every week this year and I had another Easter post ready just in case. When another 7-for-7 run began to look likely, I started thinking that I’d have to scrap that other post. Then I noticed that my calendar identified both an Easter Sunday and an Easter Monday. Easter Sunday got an Easter post and Easter Monday gets a fish post. 

The first week of Lent somehow caught me by surprise. I worked in a stop at nearby Saint Margaret of York on the way to something else. I’ve eaten here at least twice before. I do like to try new places but this is convenient and I like their baked salmon.

I did find a new-to-me place for the second week. At Saint Gertrude, I again had salmon but it wasn’t just any old salmon. This is “Roasted Lemon Dill Salmon”.

There is reason to think my choice for week three was a cheat but I think I can justify it. The Crow’s Nest is a commercial establishment and I did go there to see a musical performance (Ricky Nye) but the kitchen has been temporarily closed for renovation and food was not regularly available. A cooking tent has been set up in the courtyard for the duration of lent and fish is available for a few hours on Fridays. Only fish and only Fridays. Just like the churches.

Do you like Kolping? I don’t know. I’ve never Kolped. I found that silly joke, originally referencing author Rudyard Kipling, stuck in my head as I ate some really good baked fish at the Kolping Center on the fourth Friday of Lent.

During Lent’s fifth week, I went to Saint John the Evangelist in West Chester for baked tilapia. The meal, including drink, was only eleven dollars but the two-dollar pie pushed me to the teens.

There was no baked option at American Legion Post 484 so, for only the second time this year, I did not sully the name “fish fry” when I placed my order in week six.

Of course, the internet and online lists play an important role in all fish fry scheduling but it was extra important in locating a fry that I could work into a road trip without going too far off course. The event at American Legion Post 737 in Lake Milton, Ohio, met my Good Friday needs perfectly.

This may not be the last year with a “fish season” post but I expect it to be the last one with a set of stops like these. On the way home from one of the churches, I listened to a report on the boarding schools of nearly a century ago that were part of the effort to erase Native American culture. It told of physical, mental, and sexual abuse in which the United States government and the Catholic Church were involved. The report reminded me of a news article I’d read just the day before about a Cincinnati priest being sentenced on nine counts of rape going back decades. Arrest and prosecution had only recently occurred despite his “upsetting and alarming” behavior having long been noted. The specifics were new but the basics of the stories were not. When I started going to church-sponsored fish fries, I thought my patronage was harmless and was possibly even doing some good. Reflecting on these stories and the many others they reminded me of caused me to think otherwise. I may continue to frequent springtime fish fries but in the future they will be at fire stations, VFW and American Legion halls, and Irish pubs with closed kitchens and a grill setting outside the back door. So long churches, and thanks for all the fish.

Found on Easter Island

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An entire lake dried up and all we got was this lousy moai. This previously unknown carving with “recognisable features but no clear definition” was found in a dry Easter Island lake bed on February 21. Regular readers may recall that Easter Island (a.k.a., Rapa Nui) is kind of special to me because it was on my -225th birthday that Europeans gave it the name Easter Island. By coincidence, that day in 1722 when Jacob Roggeveen and crew first bumped into the island was Easter Sunday. I first wrote about all that in 2016.

Moai are those large stone heads that Easter Island/Rapa Nui is known for. The lake where this unfinished moai turned up is inside the crater of the extinct Rano Raraku volcano. It used to look like this. The quarry where the stone came from for most of the moai is nearby. The lake started shrinking in 2018 and is just one sign of the impact that global warming is having on the island. There’s a broader view here.

On top of global warming, the island suffered an arsonist set fire in October. There is naturally some temptation to consider finding the statue in the lakebed a bright spot in the midst of all the bad stuff going on. I guess it is in a way, but it’s kind of like finding that quarter you lost last year in the wreckage of your house after a hurricane came through.

Many will find real joy in munching on this year’s new Dr. Pepper-flavored Peeps and maybe even washing them down with their namesake beverage. It’s definitely a sweet image. But that won’t be happening for Easter Islanders. The DP Peeps are a Walmart exclusive and Walmart has yet to reach the island. Hmmm. Perhaps that, and not the moai discovery, is actually the bright spot in this story.

Spring Fling 2023

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Birthday trips may have become a thing. I used my birthday as an excuse for running the COVID blockade in 2021 and last year it served as justification for a drive to an overnight that had long been on my list. The 2021 trip was a three-day affair that got the full journal treatment (Birthday Breakout).  The one-night 2022 trip was covered in a blog post (Celebrating). This year’s outing started as a two-night deal that has grown to three nights and will be covered in a regular journal. The first day, which consisted of a drive to a historic inn, has just been posted. Following days will include a railroad roundhouse and museum and a concert.

This entry lets blog-only subscribers know about the trip and provides a place for comments. The journal is here.

Spirit of 76

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For the second consecutive year, I’ve created a post specifically for my birthday. I didn’t expect to. I did it last year to note a milestone in age and a change in appearance. I’m doing it this year primarily to record some thoughts. I ended last year’s post with the observation that “birthdays are good occasions for remembering all the folks I’ve known who have been denied the privilege of growing older”. I intentionally used “older” rather than “old” without knowing the significance that the difference would hold this year. During the year since my last birthday, a very close friend of mine stopped growing older. John was born a few years before me so the privilege of growing old was something we shared. Sure, lots of people live to be much older but lots more don’t.

The day before John turned seventy-six, he commented about having that number of trombonists serenade him for his birthday. On the day. I shared a Youtube clip of The Music Man‘s signature song.

I recalled that as my own seventy-sixth birthday approached but thought of a couple of other things associated with the number 76. One was (Union) 76 gasoline and another was The Spirit of ’76 painting shown at left. Probably because I would like to think I have some spirit left at age 76, I felt more of a connection with the painting than with the gasoline, and I felt more of a connection with the painting’s title than with its appearance.

Archibald Willard, who painted The Spirit of ’76, was an Ohioan. Some of his more notable work is in the somewhat nearby Fayette County courthouse. Apparently, Willard also liked the word “spirit”. The three largest of his 1882 murals are The Spirit of the U. S. Mail, The Spirit of Electricity, and The Spirit of the Telegraph. While those were no doubt high-tech futuristic subjects in 1882, today all three would probably be combined in something like The Spirit of the Internet, and Willard would have to come up with a couple additional ideas to fill all three walls.

The image with the old phrase on an updated background at the top of this post should now make sense but in case it doesn’t, I’ll explain. A few days ahead of my 76th birthday, I sat on a bench in Washington Court House, Ohio, gazing at the Fayette County courthouse in which there are three “Spirit” murals painted by the man who created a painting in 1875 that he called Yankee Doodle but which was soon renamed The Spirit of ’76. Happy Birthday to me.

A more readable version of the sign in that last picture is here.

Short, Sweet, Wet, and Irish

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It took place on March 17 so obviously it’s Irish. It’s wet because of the heavy rain that fell before it started and the light rain that fell later. It’s sweet because that’s what most short things are said to be and it’s short because that’s what Hamiltonians wanted. The title quite accurately describes the first-ever Hamilton Ohio Saint Patrick’s Day Parade which those Hamiltonians labeled Ohio’s Shortest. I think the parade route was about 575 feet long but the margin of error isn’t much less than the distance separating the piper leading the parade and the fire engine at its tail. I’ve since learned that the piper is Thomas Eickelberger and that the fellows next in line are Jim Goodman, from Municipal Brew Works, and Michael Ryan, Hamilton’s Vice Mayor. Hamilton’s Mayor, Pat Moeller didn’t actually march in the parade but I did get a shot of him chatting with Eickelberger during the staging.

Municipal Brew Works was listed as the parade’s starting point with the route ending around the corner and up a block at Tano Bistro. I got a full frontal of that bicycle leaning against the brewery before the big kickoff.

Here is the parade after turning the corner. The official end point is behind me but not everyone made it that far. Many departed the route when they reached The Casual Pint or The Pour House. Tano and Chick’nCone got a few of the marchers and would get more later but most initially headed to the adult beverage dispensaries including MBW back at the start point.

The city of Hamilton is no stranger to celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day or to promoting shortness. The parade was followed by the second annual O’DORA Dash. DORA stands for Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area where adults can carry alcoholic beverages and, as everyone knows, adding an ‘O’ will make anything Irish. Despite the word “dash” in its name, speed in covering the 0.1K course doesn’t seem particularly important. In fact, I saw no evidence of any time or speed-measuring devices anywhere near the event.

Much of the chatter about the event concerns not spilling your beer and I saw several participants meet that requirement by chugging their beverage at the beginning. But the official goal was to get as much liquid (either green beer or local Pahhni Water) as possible to the other end. True competitors were not deterred in the least by winds taking down the finish line marker. The Hamilton Community Foundation will benefit from the fundraiser regardless of who won or how much rainwater was in their cup.

I was already planning on attending the parade when I found out that someone I know would be playing at North Second Tap and Bottle Shop. When I got there, the new-to-me Bedel and Hibbard were on stage. Elijah Bedel and Sam Hibbard perform mostly American folk music on a variety of instruments. That’s a gourd banjo on the right side of the first picture and the banjo and fiddle on the picture’s left side are part of the mix too. Today’s song list was naturally slanted toward Ireland. Not only were they doing an afternoon set, but they would also be returning later to close out the night.

Although I’ve seen Rob McAllister do sets that would qualify as American folk music, that would not be happening today. Today it would be Dead Man String Band at full throttle. Usually checking out a guitarist’s pedal board will reveal an array of effects boxes with buttons. The Dead Man’s has real pedals and he uses them all. And somehow, replacing the tom rack on a bass drum with a microphone just seems to fit.

With the exception of the cold, I enjoyed everything about my day in Hamilton. I especially appreciated the sheer fun of the parade which kind of reminded me of the Cincinnati parade before all the sanctimonious family values posturing took over. The O’DORA Dash was fun to watch and I enjoyed a few malt beverages although none were green. And I appreciated hearing music in a place where others appreciated it too. Can there be any doubt that a place is cool when there is a wizard on the soundboard and a leprechaun on the bar?

Hearts and Blues Afire

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I originally planned to do what I did for last year’s Inaugural Hearts Afire Weekend, and just attend the 2023 Hearts Afire Weekend on Saturday. By showing up mid-afternoon in 2022, I had been able to see some of the ice carvings in both darkness and daylight. Then I realized that Saturday was the day of the Cincinnati Winter Blues Experience and it wasn’t long until friends convinced me I should be there. So, without actually reading the schedule, I headed to Loveland Friday evening thinking I’d get to see at least some of those ice sculptures. Nope. There were plenty of festivities happening but no ice carvings. I told myself they were probably delayed because of the warmish temperatures but eventually learned that the plan had always been to have all the frozen art appear on Saturday.

So I headed over to Cappy’s where the Charity Date Auction was in full swing — inside. Outside, only a couple of teddy bears were hanging out with the roaring fire and the giant Chair-ity Date Auction chair. Inside the big tent, local TV and radio personality Ken Broo was MCing the auction. When a representative of auction beneficiary Women’s Health Initiatives Foundation came forward to talk about the foundation, she ended up getting auctioned off as part of the Saturday night group date.

Although I did pop into a couple more local businesses, I basically made it an early night with intentions of coming back on Saturday to check out those ice sculptures. As I headed home, I snapped a shot of this Loveland home decorated very appropriately for the location and the holiday.

I made it back on Saturday to see the ice carvings. I’m sharing photos of a few starting with these on or near the bike trail. I generally avoid posting pictures of children and really make an effort to avoid posting children’s faces even when I’m sure they are very happy ones.

Here are half of the six sculptures that Cappy’s, where last night’s auction was held, has this year. Some of them are sponsored by suppliers.

I did not have time to hang around for the ice carving demonstrations but I did get to watch one being started while a couple of future carvers looked on. I also spotted some blocks of ice being prepared for carving.

Remember that event that kept me from the ice sculptures tonight? There were eleven bands performing at the Cincinnati Winter Blues Experience and that included seven that I’d not seen before. I caught just the last few notes of The Mojo Blues Cats and got no picture. Here are the other six.

To be honest, I think I may have seen The Tempted Souls Band before but if so I don’t believe it was this lineup. Tullie Brae’s piano was initially missing in the mix but things were soon sorted and sounding good. Ivy Ford led her trio with good vocals and very good guitar work.

Gabe Stillman fronted his own trio as did King Soloman Hicks. Hicks might have been best of show. GA-20 is an unusual two-guitar trio. The band’s guitarists took turns playing bass lines on their fat strings while the other took the lead.

The Blues Experience was a one-night affair but Hearts Afire continues through today, Sunday, February 12.

Happy Imbolc Again

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I’ve made it known that I use canned posts when my world is “too busy or too boring for a current events piece”. Although my life was neither this week, the things that kept it from being boring were not the sort of things that make interesting reading. I was on the verge of scheduling a Trip Peek when I decided to instead reuse this article from 2016.

gknob2010Groundhog Day has long been one of my favorite holidays. In fact, attending America’s biggest Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, PA, was among the first things I did with the newly available time that retirement brought. The photo at right was taken at 4:58 AM, February 2, 2010. Sunrise was more than two hours away and the temperature was four degrees Fahrenheit. I had a good time and I’m glad I went but the experience did not lead to plans for an annual return. Standing outside in pre-dawn single-digit temperatures is something I prefer to discuss in past tense only.

I credited my original fondness for Groundhog Day to a belief that it had no religious connections and was basically folklore that had been adopted by some Pennsylvanians largely to promote silliness. While both of those claims are sort of true, there is more to it. I started to doubt the “no religious connections” when I discovered that America’s Groundhog Day shares its February 2 date with Christianity’s Candlemas. But sharing a date does not a connection make and there are no direct ties apparent between Groundhog Day and any of the three events (presentation of the child Jesus, Jesus’ entry into the temple, and Mary’s purification) Christians attribute to the day.

February 1 is also a day recognized by Christians. It is the day that Saint Brigid of Ireland is reported to have died and is celebrated as her feast day. Before Saint Brigid was born (in 451 they say) a Gaelic festival was celebrated about this time to honor a goddess also named, perhaps by coincidence though probably not, Brigid. I have to say “about this time” because man-made calendars had not yet taken over and feast days were not yet tied to specific numbers on pages. Brigid’s was associated with a point halfway between Winter Solstice and Vernal Equinox called Imbolc which happens near the beginning of what we call February. In 2016 it occurs at 4:30 EST February 4. (See 2023 comments at end of article.)

Without donut shops and corner diners, it isn’t clear where ancient Irish farmers gathered to talk about the weather but it’s a safe bet that they did. Around Imbolc, the coming spring would have been a big topic. Farmers without donut shops and cable television are quite observant of their environment and they no doubt noticed that bright clear days in the middle of winter were usually a little colder than cloudy ones. With Imbolc being the most “middle of winter” you can get, giving some special significance to the weather on that day was likely fairly natural. That’s about as close to science that the groundhog and shadow story gets.

I’m guessing that making a determination at sunrise was also fairly natural. Even if those early farmers were capable of determining Imbolc’s exact moment — and I’m not saying they weren’t — in those years when it did not occur during the daytime they weren’t about to get up in the middle of the night to see if the sun was shining. The crack of dawn probably seemed about right.

So there really are no direct connections between Groundhog Day and religion and there is plenty of silliness in its fairly recent (1887) use to bring fame to a small Pennsylvania town but its timing is firmly linked to the workings of the solar system and there is a tiny bit of logic in it being a day to make weather predictions. If nothing else, the days around Imbolc are most likely the coldest of the year meaning there’s a good chance that it’s all up-thermometer from here.

My 2010 Punxsutawney visit is here. I will, as usual, celebrate Groundhog Day on Tuesday by consuming pork sausage at some point. I have no plans to be awake at 4:30 Thursday to observe Imbolc.

I don’t know where I got the time and date for Imbolc 2016 but I know I did not calculate either. This year, my first searches turned up the date February 1 but no time was given. I decided to calculate it myself and came up with 11:48 GMT February 3. Of course, I initially doubted my math but quickly found reassurance at the Farmer’s Almanac that February 3 indeed is the midpoint of winter and eventually found support for that being the date of “Imbolc exact” in the Witches Astrological Calendar at Patheos. I cannot say for certain why so many sites give February 1 as the date but am guessing that some have decided that Imbolc is just another name for Saint Brigid’s Day. Regardless, I now have some confidence in my calculations being reasonably close and there is even a possibility that I’ll be awake when Imbolc 2023 rolls around (at 6:48 EST) with the previous day’s serving of pork sausage completely digested and sunrise not quite an hour away. 

Boar’s Head Festival

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Back in 2013, I posted an article about the four oldest Cincinnati Christmas Traditions after learning about them by way of a lecture at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Three of the four were displays and I had seen all three multiple times and that year I saw them all again. The fourth was not something displayed for a period of time but was an event that required advance ticketing and scheduling that I never made work. I missed a chance to see it online last year when the pandemic caused it to go virtual. Guess I just wasn’t paying attention. This year the event is again live but ticket distribution was online and that really worked for me. I attended the 5:00 performance yesterday.

I’m talking about the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival at Christ Church Cathedral. It has been going on since 1940 and it was identified as the third oldest of Cincinnati’s big four Christmas traditions in that Museum Center lecture.

Humans have been eating pigs, including boars, for a long time. Their roasted and garnished heads had been the centerpiece at many a banquet centuries before Christianity was invented. Wild boars are ferocious critters and Christians probably weren’t the first to think of them as something evil. They may not have even been the first to equate the killing of one with the victory of good over evil but they do seem to be the first to make that connection formally and construct a ritual around it. That apparently happened in fourteenth-century England as explained in a legend. The legend says that a student at Queen’s College in Oxford, England, was walking through the forest on his way to Christmas Mass in 1340 when he was attacked by a wild boar. Lacking any other weapon, the quick-thinking student jammed the metal-bound volume of Aristotle he had been reading down the beast’s throat which almost immediately brought on the animal’s demise. The garnished head was presented at that night’s feast and people have been repeating and enhancing the festivities ever since. There is a fair amount of doubt associated with that legend but I hope it’s true. Having Aristotle even slightly responsible for the founding of a Christian ritual is certainly something worthy of deep contemplation.

I know there are hundreds of people involved in the production although I don’t have an actual count. In addition to the visible players, there is a sizable orchestra and choir mostly hidden from sight behind something resembling giant poinsettias. There are many non-speaking roles. The cast includes literal spear carriers although those are probably technically called pikes. But there are lots of singing roles and every vocalist was outstanding. The orchestra and choir were also outstanding meaning that if this was only a musical performance, it would be quite impressive. The lavish costumes and pageantry make it considerably more so.

The storyline is not the easiest thing to follow. It includes — among many other things — good King Wenceslas, the lord and lady of the manor, and the Nativity complete with shepherds and Magi.

At one point, and this just might be my favorite part even though I don’t quite understand it, cast members are climbing over and standing on top of the pews.

It is quite the spectacle and the music is superb. I can understand why it has drawn crowds for more than eight decades. There are just four performances each year. All four for this year have been “sold out” for some time. I put that in quotes for two reasons. One is that tickets are not actually sold; they are free. The second is that the performance I attended was far from full. I know that tickets have always gone quickly and I assumed that meant a full house at every performance. My crude guess is that nearly a third of the seats were empty Saturday.

Today’s (Sunday’s) performances are to be live-streamed. Maybe that’s the reason for the empty seats or maybe there have been empty seats every year. Maybe people who hurriedly scarf up the free tickets balk at putting out any effort to use them.

Posts of Christmas Past (2022)

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This is the third time this blog has been published on Christmas Day. The first time apparently caught me unprepared. It was in 2011, just a few months after this blog was launched with a promise to post every Sunday. I was in the middle of a road trip but managed a short Merry Christmas post that consisted mostly of apologies for being caught off guard. I must have been ready when Christmas again fell on a Sunday five years later. I was again in the middle of a road trip on Christmas Day 2016 but the Another Christmas Squirrel post shows no signs of distress so was likely written well in advance of the holiday. This post is also being prepared in advance.

Soon after realizing that Christmas is on Sunday this year, I thought of Posts of Christmas Past that I put together for the stay-at-home Christmas of 2020. I first thought of simply pointing to it with a short explanatory post but decided to republish it with updates. What follows is a recounting of the sixteen Christmases when I’ve run — or at least tried to run — away from home. The opening picture is from the blog’s first Christmas post in 2011. It was taken just ahead of Christmas on December 22. All other photos in this post were taken on Christmas Day.

2006 — Natchez Christmas was organized around a drive of the Natchez Trace Parkway that began the day after Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas Night were spent in a room above the Under the Hill Saloon in Natchez, MS. It’s between the two white-fronted buildings in the picture.

2007 — I decided to go a bit farther south the next year for Crescent City Christmas. New Orleans had recovered sufficiently from Katrina’s 2005 devastation to welcome tourists to bolster the recovery effort, and it’s a pretty good place to celebrate anything. The tree and Joan of Arc statue are in front of the French Market.

2008 — My great-grandparents spent Christmas on the Alafia in 1920, and I tried to do something similar. I could not camp on the river bank as they did but I could stay in a nearby motel. On Christmas Day, I had breakfast at Showtown USA in nearby Gibsonton. At the time, Showtown still had plenty of carnival people as both employees and patrons.

2009 — My retirement in mid-November meant I now had time to drive to US-62’s West End from my most western contact with the route in western Kentucky. After spending a day snowed in in Altus, OK, I reached Lubbock, TX, on Christmas Day and stopped by Buddy Holley’s grave. Lubbock possesses no snowplows so most of the record five inches that fell the day before was still there although much had been blown from the area in the photograph.

2010 — My Chattanooga Christmas was also a white one. The depth may not have been a record but the fact that this was the first Christmas Day snowfall in Chattanooga in forty-one years meant it was something special. The Delta Queen had been forced to quit cruising in 2009 and was serving as a stationary hotel. I had spent Independence Day 2009 aboard her, and couldn’t resist the chance to spend another holiday on board.

2011 — Although my path reached as far south as Alabama, Nashville, TN, was the target for George for the Holidays. The title refers to George Harrison whose 1970 album All Things Must Pass was performed by The Long Players on December 23. Oven Master Mary had supplied me with a whole gingerbread family for the trip, and I photographed one family member on stage at Legends Corner.

2012 — The plans for Christmas Escape Repeat included New Year’s Eve in Raleigh, NC, and some time in Atlanta, GA, but were timed to allow me a second Christmas stay — this time without snow — on the Delta Queen in Chattanooga. It was the first of only two times I used the word “escape” in the title.

2013 — A Wild and Wonderful Christmas was spent at North Bend State Park in West Virginia where “Wild and Wonderful” is a slogan. After a fine holiday meal at the lodge, I went for a drive that took me to “America’s Oldest Five and Dime” in Harrisville. Berdine’s was not open on Christmas Day but was open the day after so I got to check out this delightful store on my way home.

2014 — Christmas Escape 2014 turned out to be quite the escape indeed. There was Christmas Eve with friends in Savannah, GA, Christmas Day with a friend in St Augustine, FL, (where the picture was taken), and some time with an uncle near Lake Alfred, FL, to start the new year. Plus a lot of Dixie Highway and a little time in the keys.

2015 — That WV state park had worked out well in 2013 so I tried out a neighbor on the other side for It’s a Wanderful Life. The holiday meal at Indiana’s Turkey Run State Park was fairly late in the day so I helped my appetite by doing a little hiking before dinner.

2016 — I stayed fairly close to home and used Ohio’s new tourism slogan for Finding It Here. Home base was the lodge at Burr Oak State Park. A Christmas Day drive took me to the town of Cambridge and a long stroll through the Dickens Victorian Village erected there each year.

2017 — With this trip, I proved that I Can Drive Twenty-Five. I followed the current US-25 from its beginning at the Ohio River to its other end in Brunswick, GA. Holiday dining options were somewhat limited and I ended up with a not-so-traditional Christmas dinner of crabcake, grits, broccoli, and cookies. In honor of the holiday, I named these four gingerbread men — a gift from Oven Master Mary, of course — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Ringo.

2018 — The focus of Kitty Hawk Holidays was the 115th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Big Kill Devil Hill. That was on the 17th so I did a bit of running around before ending up in Knoxville, TN, on Christmas Day. A selfie in Worlds Fair Park let me show off the new mustache my grandson had given me for Christmas.

2019 — Finding (More Of) It Here had me back in Ohio at a park lodge. This time it was at Geneva-on-the-Lake State Park. The photo was taken just before dinner and just outside the dining room as the sun set to my left and illuminated the clouds over Lake Erie.

2020 — The COVID pandemic had me staying home for Christmas for the first time since 2005. Since there was no trip journal to document the day, I used the blog to post a picture of my Christmas dinner spot and a listing of Posts of Christmas Past.

2021 — After just one travelless Christmas, I was able to be Wild and Wonderful Again in 2021. The title comes from it being my second Christmas spent in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. This time I stayed at three different state parks with Christmas dinner at Hawks Nest. The park isn’t far from New River Gorge which is where the picture was taken. The little red spot near bottom center is a fairy door.