Radically Retired

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  • The Day the Music Died

    The Day the Music Died

    Two days ago, hubs and I made another bucket list hit.

    We visited Clear Lake, Iowa where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) played their last concert before they were all killed in a fatal plane crash just a few miles out of Clear Lake.

    After watching the documentary about Don McLean’s song, “American Pie”, (titled the same as this blog post), we knew we could drive a new route to be sure to visit the Surf (feature photo) and the memorial site in the farmer’s field that has been maintained since the crash on Feb 3, 1959. The memorial is about 3 miles from town.

    Because I was introduced to 50’s R&R from the time I was around four years old (by my aunt, who was a teenager at the time), the whole day was powerfully meaningful for me.

    This immersive experience building just opened in September and is very well done
    Not Fade Away is a 360° experience about the history of rock and roll music at the Surf
    The museum in the new building houses many great photos and artifacts
    Buddy Holly’s jacket and mic from the last performance of his life
    If you love music, you’d love the Surf Ballroom
    This is the adjacent lounge. The number of artists from every genre of music who have played here is staggering
    The stage and dance floor of the surf. I felt like I had stepped into history
    The booths and tables were numerous
    Enough seating for 2100 people here and another 160 in the lounge
    Standing on that stage for a selfie was an emotional moment for me
    The green room next to the stage. Every entertainer who has played there has signed
    Hubs found the booths a tad snug
    The streets in Clear Lake are named in tribute
    This is the parking lot for the memorial site
    The glasses mark the beginning of the walk to the memorial site. People leave glasses as a tribute. I left a pair of sunglasses
    It’s a quarter mile walk through a field to the memorial
    Memorial to the pilot of the plane
    The memorial to the artists is simple and still very powerful
    This will no doubt be my only visit to a memorial in a corn field
    It was a windy day, and I was quite sombre because of the experience
  • Ho-Ho-Ho

    Ho-Ho-Ho

    We’re enjoying a new route south this year.

    Our bucket list hit yesterday was the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota – the home of Green Giant Vegetables.

    We enjoyed visiting the giant statue of the Jolly Green Giant, as well as a visit to the museum on the same property, which told the history of this well known brand of canned and frozen vegetables.

    That’s me standing between Jolly’s size 78 feet!
    Great info about the statue
    Hubs and Sprout
    Lots of old processing equipment was on display in the museum
    Green Giant Merch from the past was endless!
    I was surprised to see the Pillsbury doughboy there
  • Memoryville

    Memoryville

    A while ago, I wrote a post about my office … the special place just for me in our home.

    In this space, I’ve surrounded myself with meaningful memories.

    My feature photo today is of a souvenir hubs and our daughter brought me from Graceland, when they travelled there together in the semi. On either side of the musical teddy bear is a photo of each of our grandkids when they were little. They both loved pressing the belt buckle to hear Elvis sing “Love Me Tender”

    The parlour guitar above was gifted to me by Mom. She learned to play on it when she was a young girl. Her parents bought it for her from an old lady who had been a classical guitarist.

    As a young girl, Mom was involved in a musical production for the soldiers who returned home from WW2. This is the same guitar, which, unfortunately, was refinished in much later years.

    Mom eventually taught me to play on this same guitar. The instrument is well over 100 years old. I have fond memories of my mom playing this guitar and singing in her clear, sweet voice, at all of our family gatherings. (BTW, at 91 years young, my mom still plays guitar and sings beautifully- she graduated to a 12-string about 20 years ago).

    Today, we start making our way to Texas, where we’ll spend the winter.

    We’re taking a new route again to catch some travel bucket list hits, so I’ll try to do a few posts along the way.

  • Space X Mural

    Space X Mural

    It’s about an hour’s drive from our winter home to Boca Chica Beach, TX.

    This is where the Texas SpaceX rocket production facility and launch pad is located.

    We visit there at least twice each winter to see what’s new.

    Last year, by the time we made our first visit to Space X, the new rocket production facility had been completed and the massive building had an equally massive mural on an end wall.

  • Bright and Blah Lunch

    Bright and Blah Lunch

    3/4 Cup canned white albacore tuna mixed with a bit of chopped onion and miracle whip dressing, on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and surrounded by home grown cherry tomatoes gifted by a friend … simple, refreshing, and nutritious, albeit a bit boring.

  • 2016 – Home for a Bit and then Off Again!

    2016 – Home for a Bit and then Off Again!

    Before we left Arizona in mid February of 2016, I learned that through a MLM company I had joined just prior to my retirement from nursing, I had earned an all expenses paid trip for two to The Hard Rock Resort, Mayan Riviera, Mexico. The trip was to take place in mid March.

    Absolutely everything was paid for from flights, to airport transportation, to the all-inclusive resort, and to side tours from there. The only time we had to use our wallets was to tip someone.

    Hubs and I had time to unpack, do laundry, and repack for the next trip.

    It was a whirlwind defined, and we loved every single second.

    My feature photo is of our hotel lobby.

    Mid March at the Mayan Riviera was hot and so humid that my camera lens kept fogging up, but that was truly the only issue. Everything else was perfect.

    Rugged but beautiful beach
    Family Area Pool
    Adult Area Pool
    We were there over St. Patrick’s Day and the staff made the day fun and special
    Our last day was extended because we didn’t fly out until 9pm – we had zero complaints about that
  • Taos Plaza and Pueblo

    Taos Plaza and Pueblo

    In 2023, en route home from our winter in Texas, we explored New Mexico from bottom to top and side to side.

    My feature photo is of a mural at the Taos Plaza in downtown Taos – an extremely artsy and cultural area.

    Our main reason for visiting Taos, NM was to tour the Taos Pueblo. Both the town and the Pueblo were among our favourite New Mexico stops.

    We did a leisurely self-guided tour
  • Easy Eggs

    Easy Eggs

    This simple, two-egg cheese omelette is filling and almost (1.5 grams carbs per tablespoon of chunky slasa) carb free.

    One nice thing about switching to low carb for a while, is that large portions aren’t necessary to keep hunger at bay.

  • 2016 – A Scenic Detour

    2016 – A Scenic Detour

    After touring my cousin around the Las Vegas area for a week, we took her to the plane and then made our way home via a different route than usual.

    My feature photo is of a portion of Arches National Park near Moab, UT. We didn’t take any side roads to see the actual arches, but even without that, the scenery “on the way by” was spectacular.

    We’d hoped to drive from there to Denver, Co.

    At Grand Junction, Co, where we spent the night, we were advised the next morning by the hotel clerk, that there had been a rockslide ahead, so the road we planned to take was closed. We were also informed that roads out of Denver (from our direction) were closed for the winter.

    Enter Plan B:

    We drove on as far as Aspen, Co, toured the place and watched some skiing. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a fun little “been there done that” trip.

    One of the many Aspen ski runs

    After Aspen, we turned around and headed back to Grand Junction.

    From there, we headed north to and through Wyoming and more incredible scenery.

    Hoodoos in South Wyoming

    After Wyoming, it was South Dakota and then North Dakota (which I’ll cover in a future post) and then home.

  • They’re Everywhere!

    They’re Everywhere!

    In 2013, hubs and I spent 10 days exploring the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

    On a walkabout around the capital city of Willemstad, we came across a courtyard adorned with two giant murals that depicted both every day life and some of the history of the city.

    Here’s a closer shot of one of the sections of my feature photo:

    Here’s the historical one:

    This one needs lots of post processing. I’ll edit out a few of the distracting elements in the photo, and try to improve the clarity. This is a complicated one so I’ll wait until I’m further along in my photo editing course.