A little traveling music please?

Since this Blog is supposed to have information on traveling and what to do on your trips I guess I should tell something about my last trip.  Wish I had had a trip recently, but I haven't, so how about a little information on the area I now live and work in?

The Upper Valley of the Connecticut River is comprised of the towns around White River Junction, VT Hanover and Lebanon, NH.  There are some great places to visit all around here.

Today I think I will talk about White River Junction (http://www.whiteriverjunction.org/).  The name is derived because it was a major train junction at the intersection of the White River and the Connecticut River. It is a strange little town.  It struggles with it's identity like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.  When you get off of I-91 at Exit 13 you see it's nature spread out before you.  Some industrial bleak and some high culture. If you go west you come to a plethora of moderate to high end hotels on the south side of the road across from the stately old buildings of the Veterans Hospital.  Even there it is a struggle between the upper end motels and the low end. There is a gas station and liqueur store just up the street before the turnoff to the modern Aquatic Center (http://uvac-swim.org/swimming/).  Going to the east off the exit brings you to North Main Street which goes down to the main part of town.  Immediately at the exit are a few places to eat and get gas. I am not a huge fan of China Station, a buffet restaurant, but it is inexpensive.  If you turn onto Sykes Mountain Avenue just down the street past the McDonald's you will come to the Cross Roads Cafe.  It's food is good over all and worth a stop if you don't want the usual fast food stop while traveling.  A little further down is  a place I really enjoy.  I must admit it is owned by a friend of mine, Sing.  The Taj-E-India (http://taj-e-india.com/) is a takeout only and catering place.  It serves Indian and some Chinese food.  You can order it as hot/spicy as you like and, unlike many places in New England get it spicy.   I highly recommend this place.

Going back to Main Street you will come to an interesting place to visit the Tip Top Cafe (http://www.tiptopcafevermont.com/) and the other shops located in the same building and nearby are upscale and diverse.  You can get antiques; make a stained glass window; have a costume made; bind a book; fire a pot; or dance the night away at the nearest thing to a club kid scene the Upper Valley offers.  Further down the street are a couple of day restaurants that do breakfast and lunch.  I have not tried either the Tucker Box or the Polka Dot Dinner nor Bo Ho's.  In the same block of buildings are the Hotel Coolidge (http://www.hotelcoolidge.com/about/index.html) an old Railroad hotel; the Northern Stage Theater (http://northernstage.org/), which brings Broadway Shows to our area, and a number of artsy or funky shops.  Near by on South Main Street is the Center for Cartoon Studies (http://www.cartoonstudies.org/) an internationally recognized art school.  Further dawn the street is a fine dining establishment called Elixir (http://www.elixirrestaurant.com/) and a music venue called Tupelo Music Hall (http://www.tupelohallvermont.com/) which also functions as a dance club called Club 188 on some of the nights that there is no concert offered. 

Bridge Street takes off from North Main just as it turns into South Main.  along this street you can visit one of two museums in town, if it is still open, or get a yoga lesson.  The Main Street Museum (http://www.mainstreetmuseum.org/) is an eclectic mixture of art and taxidermy displayed in an old Fire House, it also host an occasional evening of local music.  Just off of Bridge Street is Depot Street where the second museum is located.  The Rail Road Museum (http://cvrr.railfan.net/glorydays/pages/allaboard.html) is located at the Am Track Station and has a real steam engine as part of it's display.  They also have a scenic railway that has special trips all year long, the Green Mountain Railroad (http://www.rails-vt.com/) it is a great alternative to leaf peeping from your car in all that traffic. 

Across the bridge on Bridge Street is Maple Street and if you follow it on out to Hartford, VT you will come across a nice little historic society and Big Fatty's Barbecue (http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/315/1420487/restaurant/Vermont/White-River-Junction/Big-Fattys-BBQ-Hartford) their barbecue is OK, but they are the only place in New England outside of a Cracker Barrel Restaurant that I have found fried okra!

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in...

It's been far longer than I meant it to be since I made my last post, sorry about that.  Since this is about my current condition I'll tell you about my situation as it stands.  I drive cab, and dispatch, in the Upper Connecticut River Vally on the border between New Hampshire and Vermont.  This area includes Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, Lebanon and White River Junction.  It is really a great area of New England to live in.  I am renting a place in Enfield, NH.

At my job we have just gone through a major schedule change that is kicking my tail while I adjust to it.  Two nights per week I work from five in the evening to five in the morning, then three nights I work from midnight to eight in the morning.  Starting today I believe I have found the right sleep schedule that will allow me to function on this schedule better than I had been. At this point my scheduled days off are Friday and Saturday which will allow me to start attending more nearby SCA events as well as some Living History Association events down at Old Fort Number Four.

That's the good news, the bad is that my car broke down and it will cost excessively ($3000.00-$4,500.00) to get it repaired.  I will have to save for a good long time to get it fixed.  So I am on the lookout for a cheep car to get me back and forth to work, before my boss's good nature about getting me picked up to come to and from work is too greatly strained.

I plan to put up another crowd funding campaign to get the money together to attend the Metal Smith's Symposium (http://ekmg.eastkingdom.org/mss/) on September 27-29.  It is my intention to teach a class or two down at the site in West Virginia this year.  My hope is to get enough money to rent a van or car for the trip.  If it is unsuccessful I will not be able to attend since my income just covers my bills and all my reserves have gone to help resolve an untenable situation down in Georgia.

For the past month I have been thinking how to proceed with Project Trollhiem.  I have come to the conclusion that it might be more practical to start by establishing the campground and then developing the school from there.  I will attempt to teach classes in metalsmithing at every chance I get, but the development of the school will have to wait until we can get the campground going.  At this point I am three years from being old enough to take early Social Security Retirement.  If nothing else happens I plan to do that and I will use it to establish the campground. 

So that's where I am at.  Thanks for reading the blog.