Ausable Chasm Boat Ride.
MAP! https://goo.gl/maps/FBtQX5Ts3nXZsi9i8
The first time I went to New York was with my parents. We took a Thrilling Boatride down the Ausable Chasm. Steep Cliffs. DEEP! It's way far north near Lake Champlain. (the Border between NY and Vermont) - That was the Trip that we drove all over the North East USA. We Went to Yale University where I bought a Sweatshirt with LARGE Letters... That was When I was Very Young... Before I Stopped using my Clothes as a Billboard for Corporations to Advertise on... and Mystic Seaport... and Bangor Main... With my Father Singing "King of the Road" because we also had a Destination, Bangor Maine...
The NEXT Journey was to Visit my Brother That Lived in Rural New Jersey near Suffern. He was a College Student at NYU. The Student Housing was an apartment on a Lake in a Forest. I took the PATH Train to Downtown Manhattan and Wandered all over Looking at the Tall Buildings... I was a senior in high school... 1972...
On another Day My Brother, His Wife and I went Downtown... She Insisted that She Dress Up Formally since we were going "To Town" and that Meant Wearing a Dress. It was Astonishingly Cold that Day and I was Wearing Long Johns under my Pants. She was Freezing so we Stopped and Bought her Boots that Covered her Legs Up to Near the Knees... Just to Fight off the Cold... Of Course we COULD Have Bought her Pants and Long Johns but THAT Wouldn't Have Been Fashionable... Just Wasn't Done!
That Year Martin and I Went to Times Square for New Years Eve... The only thing I remember about that was Cold Weather, Large Crowds and a Ball Dropping...
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in 1975 I was working at the "Old Paint Store" in Valley Fair and two other Employees took an EPIC Bicycle Ride along the Coast of New England... So after hearing Stories all Winter Long, Jo Ann and I Took Our Own EPIC Bike Ride... (last chance to do something like that before we got married...) From New York City to Washington DC. It took us about Two Months... We rode a Greyhound Bus to the Station in Manhattan where a Friend of My Brother's Picked us up. The Three Day Bus Ride Caused Her Feet to Swell Up and she Had Difficulty Walking for a Day... So we just Rested at a Hotel...
He lived in Upstate New York on the Hudson River in Nyack. We assembled the Bicycles in his Garage. Before we Rode away he suggested we drive thru Harlem just son we could see it... Halfway thru, a Radiator Hose Burst on his Car Spewing STEAM Everywhere... a Local man Shouted "Fuego! Fuego!" - Thankfully we were able to pull into a Gas Station that Had a Hose... and We Were able to Leave... Safely... It was Odd that He Thought we Ought to Visit Harlem... Like a Cultural Awareness Trip... Or Something...
The Man, Guy Something 'er Other Worked as an Architectural Designer and He Designed the Lobby of Corning Glass Works... Many Cubes with Glass Products Painted on each Face and Stored in a Matrix of Cube Holders. That Way They Could be Rearranged at Will to Show Different Glass Products Every Day... Sadly there are No Photographs of this Installation on Google Image Search... or I Would Show You What It Was Like...
anyway... During the 1980s I Visited the Museum of Glass in the Town of Corning. I remember they had a Giant Telescope Mirror and a LOT of Corningwear... Dishes that Could Stand The Heat in an Oven... They Were Famous For Cooking Casseroles... and they Had a Movie Called "The Story of Glass"that explained History... What I Remember was it had a Soundtrack of Extremely Bad Synthesizer Music... I was playing the Synthesizer at that time and Thought, DANG! I Play better than That! Maybe I Could Sell Recordings for Industrial Flims Myself... But That Never Happened... Leon, a Guy in Our Band (Solarwind) took a Demo Tape to NYC but No Sale...
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Link to The Corning Museum:
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Then we rode our Bicycles Out of Nyack and Towards New Jersey. I Had Assembled Her Bicycle WRONG and the Rear Tire Rubbed against the Brake Shoe... a Bad Way to Start an EPIC Journey... However, it was easy to Fix once I Was Alerted to The Problem. We Rode about 20 to 50 miles a day thru Farmland of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland... Sleeping at Campgrounds and on Private Farms...
MAP! https://goo.gl/maps/YvejmiSBPyCZPUr47
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Years Later My First Wife, Jo Ann and I Moved to Washington DC and It was a Short Drive to New York City... A Co-Worker quit the Job at the Agency and Moved Back to Manhattan... We Went to Visit and She Gave Us an Insiders Tour... We Went to an Authentic Italian Restaurand where they had a Lady Singing Opers in Italian as she wandered between the Tables...
We Also Decided to Go to The World Trade Center because on TOP there was a Bar with Excellent Views... We Were Quite a Distance Uptown co we Called a Cab and I Said: "I'll Give you an Extra Twenty if You can Get us there before Closing Time." - Challenging a NYC Cab Driver to Drive Fast! - We Made it... Sadly, Gentlemen were required to wear Neckties and Dianne's Date and I were NOT Allowed to Go Up there... So we waited at the Bottom while the Ladies went up... "Hey, It's not our problem that they won't let you in. Were going UP!" So I never Made it to the "Windows on the World" and on 9/11 all three Buildings Fell Down. WTC1, WTC2 and WTC7...
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I went to The Guggenheim Museum. On that day there was an "Interactive" Giant Foam Sculpture on the Floor in the Center... With Places Carved out for People to Lie Down In... and Look at the Ceiling... Later I rode the Elevator to the Top and Walked the Circular Ramp Down... admiring the Paintings and Sculptures...
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In the 1980s My Friends Ken, His Son Ken, Mark and I went to Visit the Museum of Holography.
That was an art form that had recently been invented and the Only place we could see it was in New York City. Basically, it was a Clear Piece of Plastic that Projected a Rainbow Colored Three Dimensional Image of a Person blowing a Kiss... and as I Viewed it from Different Angles her Hand Moved Close to her Lips and then Far Away...
Magical!
On that Trip I got a Speeding Ticket on the Jersey Turnpike. 75 MPH Speeding? Of Course, most people were driving 75 or Even Faster... The Policeman waved over Five Cars at a time and Wrote Tickets... I refused to Pay and Learned that The State of New Jersey and the State of Maryland Have "Reciprocity" which means that when I went to renew my Registration, they refused until I Paid off my Ticket and a Fine... I also learned that the State of New York Does NOT Have "Reciprocity" because I Have an Unpaid Speeding Ticket there also...
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and then One Day I decided to Go See the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden... I didn't have a Ticket but was able to find a Scalper... I drove my Car and Parked in the Long Term Parking at Newark Airport. A Convenient and Safe Place to Leave a Car... Better than on the Island of Manhattan... Took a Bus to The Show... Had a Great Time... Met some people called "Wharf Rats" who had a Table set up promoting a Clean and Sober Lifestyle... I guess that even in the Late 1980s I had an Interest in That...
After the Concert I walked Downstairs to Pennsylvania Station - Trains and Many Restaurants, Gift Shops, News Stands... etc etc etc... It was as if the Entire Party had simply moved Downstairs... I got a Train to New Jersey and a Taxi to the Airport...
Old Time Drawing
I was feeling Optimistic and Energetic so Instead of Driving Home, I Drove to Boston... Arrived in the Early Morning and Camped at a Campground near Lexington and Concord... The Next day I Took my Acoustic Guitar to Walden Pond... I wrote some Chord Progressions for some Lyrics that a Young Girl had Written in My Songbook. I didn't have a pen to write them down so I lit a Twig on fire and used the Charcoal to Write...
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During the 1990s, When I Worked at the USPS Engineering Center, A Co Worker asked if I would Drive to a Hindu Wedding in the Bronx... I Said Yes and So: A Hindu Man from Guayana named Locknut Dewandan and Leroy Brown, a Black Man from the USA and I Travelled to New York City. The First place we stopped was at Leroy's Mother's Apartment. She was the Owner of a Rastafarian Bar. She said we couldn't Visit It because the Air Conditioner was broken and she had pride of Ownership... Come Back on another day when The Bas is Presentable...
So We wnt to an Apartment Building that was 100% Hindus... With a Temple in the Basement... Almost Everyone was a Recent Immigrant from Guayana, South America... a Former British Colony... Long Ago The British Gathered Indians from India to Work in the Sugar Cane in Guayana... Somehow Slavery was Ended and It Became a Country of Its Own... They had No Knowledge of Jim Jones. He was Just a Crazy Amarican...
The Family had the Groom sit on a Blankey wearing a Loincloth and spread Saffron on his Body... He had a Bad alergic Reaction so they washed it off... Just another Ancient Religious Ritual that Actually Makes No Sense... We Sat Around the Apartment Eating Home Cooked "Sacred" Rice Dishes... After I Had Eaten Enough and was Refusing to Eat any More... they Kept On Serving it and Trying to Get me to Eat More and More and More... Because it was "Holy" and Refusing Food was an Insult to The Family... I Refused anyway and they Gave Up...
On the Night before the Wedding Many of Us went to a Hindu DISCO and Danced to Indian Music... It was Excellent! Modern Music with Electric Guitars, Synthesizers, Drum Machines but Obviously Indian Vocals and Melodies... The Young Women were Very Attractive... A Great TIME!
The Actual Wedding Ceremony Happened in the Basement with an Old Lady Playing Drums... and Chanting... Of Course the Ceremony was Spoken in a Foreign Language... Then We Ate More "Sacred" Food and Listened to a Ghetto-Blaster Turned up Very Loud - So Loud the Sound was Horrible Distorted...
At Night We Walked the Young Ladies from One Apartment Building to Another because It was Just Too Dangerous for them to walk Unescorted... Wonderful Place, The Bronx!
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Niagra Falls... I rode the Maid of the Mist Boat... Walked Across the Rainbow Bridge and Observed the Falls from BEHIND the Water In Canada. Enjoyed a LaBatts Beer at the Fancy Hotel...
If you ever Go Anywhere in this Life... GO HERE!
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Strawberry Fields. A Memorial to John Lennon In Central Park near the Dakota Apartments. I Did Not Know that I was Approaching a Sacred Space but as Soon as I Entered... I Felt a Holy Mood... All the People were Silent and their Eyes were Looking Down... I Didn't Know Why until I Stumbled upon the Word IMAGINE in a Tile Mandala... Then Everything Made Sense... Except for WHY That Guy Murdered John Lennon... That Makes NO Sense... Never Will...
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More to Come Later!
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