Friday, 7:30am. As I walk to the gas station to buy toothpaste, I get a taste of what it is that brought me here. Everywhere I look there are pine trees, tall, deep green and swaying gently in the wind. Outside my hotel window and lining every road, they move like some verdant choir, under […]
Friday, 7:30am. As I walk to the gas station to buy toothpaste, I get a taste of what it is that brought me here. Everywhere I look there are pine trees, tall, deep green and swaying gently in the wind. Outside my hotel window and lining every road, they move like some verdant choir, under […]
Never before have I planned a trip to which people’s reaction universally included the word “crazy.” Well, this was the one. I was going to Death Valley in July. My father and his friend Kim—my childhood dentist with the tattooed forearms—were planning to run the Badwater Ultramarathon course, a 135-mile race that starts 282′ below […]
Am I allowed to say “ass”? Too late. At least I have no trepidation about saying “freezing,” “my” and “off.” Destination:Chicago in FebruaryLocation: The brittle shores of Lake MichiganDistance from Charlottesville:741 miles Chicago Office of Tourism:cityofchicago.orgArt Institute of Chicago: artic.eduNavy Pier: navypier.comOrchestra Hall: cso.orgChicago blues clubs: http://center stage.net/music/clubs/styles/blues.htmlChicago Architecture Foundation: architecture.org Those four words came […]
“Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-JulyAnd I just hit town and my throat was dry,I thought I’d stop and have myself a brew.”—From “A Boy Named Sue” I’ve been to Gatlinburg, Tennessee—one of the two main entrances to the 814-square-mile Great Smoky Mountains National Park—two times. The first was with a roommate (and a few […]
There is some special place in my heart reserved for cities and towns well past their prime, an affection that comes, I suppose, from having lived in places like New Haven, Connecticut, and rural eastern North Carolina. So I was delighted when I had the opportunity recently to check out Danville—for few Virginia cities are […]
Somewhere on the New Jersey Turnpike, I tell my girlfriend about my grandfather’s only rule about the cabin in Ryegate Corner, Vermont. “Turn the clocks to the walls,” he said. “Eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired.” It’s the same schedule kept by the cows at the Nelson family farm, the closest residence to […]
A four-day blur of tacos, sun, Lone Star beer, pizza and—of course—bands. That’s the short and easy description of my trip to the annual four-day live music orgy known as South By Southwest. Destination: South By Southwest Music and Media Conference Location: Austin, Texas Distance from Charlottesville: 1,403 miles Dates for 2009 festival: March 18-22 […]
I am inclined to disbelieve in life’s exactness, but I swear this to be true. Precisely in the middle of the 10-hour drive that connects my old home of Washington, D.C., to my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, a drive I have made many times in many emotional states and will continue to make for the […]
When Bob Pruett was hired as defensive coordinator for the UVA football team in February 2008,
The University is trying to “go green” in many aspects of its operations. Yet most of UVA’s 10,000 full-time staff continue to drive their own vehicle to and from work, despite efforts to offer alternatives. Over the course of the last academic year, UVA Parking and Transportation has unveiled a series of new programs geared […]